As busy as Ted Juneau has been these days preparing for the start of the new school year, he admits he has been thinking about Eric Lienhard.

Juneau is principal of Central Junior High. Nineteen years ago he was head coach of the Lawrence High boys basketball team that captured the 1983 Class 6A state championship.

Lienhard, who died last Friday at the age of 37, was a starter on that 1982-83 title team a 6-foot-5 forward who averaged 10.8 points a game and later signed a letter of intent with Emporia State University.

Eric was, in effect, a lot like his father Bill, a starter on Kansas University’s 1952 NCAA championship team. The Lienhards, father and son, subscribed to the proven theory that the word team contains no personal pronouns. Eric’s teammates were on the same mailing list.

“The greatest thing about that group of kids,” Juneau recalled, “was that they were such a great team. There were eight seniors and they were all real close.”

Chris Piper is probably the best known member because he became a starter on KU’s 1988 NCAA championship club. The other starters were Kevin Armitage, Paul Johnson and Robb Zinn. Coming off the bench were seniors Scott Seratte, Rob Steere and Jamey Steinhauser, who later played football for the Jayhawks.

Of the five starters, four had seen considerable action as juniors during the Lions’ dismal 6-14 season of 1981-82. Lienhard had spent that year with the junior varsity.

“Eric saw those guys he knew playing on the varsity, but that never deterred him,” Juneau said. “That just made him work harder. His work ethic made him better.”

Work ethic runs in the Lienhard family. Eric’s sisters, Amy and Betsy, were talented volleyball players who earned scholarships to Big Ten schools Amy from Wisconsin, Betsy from Iowa.

“What I remember most about Eric was how steady and consistent he was as a player,” Juneau said. “He worked hard on defense. He had a great shot, too.”

As a matter of fact, Lienhard made a glossy 84.2 percent of his free throws during that championship season, a school record.

“He was a great shooter,” Piper said, recalling his former teammate. “He got that from his dad. He’d set up out on the wing and yell, ‘Woo, woo,’ for us to get him the ball. We’d smile. He was spotting up for the jumper all the time.”

Thus this team with the marvelous chemistry, this team with eight seniors and junior Jeff Johnson became a team of destiny, stunning Shawnee Mission South, a club that had defeated the Lions twice during the regular season, by the lopsided score of 59-35 in Wichita State’s Levitt Arena to capture the 6A crown.

From the ashes of a 6-14 season to a 20-4 record and a state title. Life doesn’t get much sweeter than that. And yet life doesn’t get much sadder than what happened to Lienhard about 4 1/2 years later.

In the early morning of Oct. 10, 1987, Lienhard was driving alone on 15th Street when he lost control of his car near the Orchards Golf Course. The vehicle flipped and dropped about 20 feet into a creek where it came to rest on its top.

Firefighters had to cut through the wreckage to remove Lienhard who was flown by helicopter to the KU Med Center. He was listed in critical condition with serious brain damage.

“It was devastating,” Piper said. “It was shocking because we’d been together the night before.”

For five months, Lienhard lingered in a coma. More than a year after the accident he was undergoing rehabilitation therapy. Bill and Jeanine Lienhard hoped against hope their only son would regain a quality of life, but the damage was too severe and Eric spent the rest of his life in and out of rehab facilities.

Two years ago at a celebration of Lawrence High basketball, many of the members of that 1983 championship team, including the wheelchair-bound Lienhard, were on hand.

“It was bittersweet,” Piper recalled. “But it was great. He was happy to be there. It was a good time.”