Hundley WVU's 1st Celebrity Athlete
March 28, 2015 01:22 PM | General
| Produced by Chris Ostien |
Harris once got write-in votes for the 1988 state gubernatorial election during his sophomore season at WVU when he quarterbacked the Mountaineers to their first undefeated, untied regular season in school history.
Nearly three decades later, Major can still draw big crowds wherever he goes in the state.
The same goes for Pat White - the greatest winner in West Virginia history. White led the Mountaineers to their two most important football victories over Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.
Like Harris, there isn’t a place White can go in West Virginia and not be immediately recognized.
Clearly, Jerry West is the most legendary and beloved sports figure in our state’s history - his celebrity status extending far beyond our borders.
But as wildly popular as West is in the state - and will forever be - I’m not sure even Jerry West’s great popularity can match the effect Hot Rod Hundley had on West Virginians.
That’s because Hot Rod was our first celebrity athlete.
Plus, he was one of a kind.
Hundley was an abandoned child while growing up in Charleston, and although there were many generous families who took care of him, most of his adolescence was spent in the Charleston pool halls, a cigarette dangling from his mouth and a can of beer in his hand.
He was the underdog’s underdog who picked himself up and made something of his life, someone all hardworking West Virginians could immediately identify with.
Nearly 60 years after Hot Rod Hundley last played a basketball game at West Virginia University, there is someone, somewhere who has a Hot Rod Hundley story to tell.
For instance:
- Hundley trying those two free throws behind his back in the Southern Conference Tournament, or bouncing the ball off of his head while going in for a layup during a game in Beckley.
- The time he made a basket at the old Field House and kept on running outside to grab a hotdog and then running back on the court as he was finishing his last bite.
- Hundley lining up his teammates in the T-formation and running a football play - during a college basketball game - with Hundley, of course, playing quarterback.
- The time he took the first 12 shots of the game while trying to go for the school scoring record against Rutgers.
- The time he got the crowd whipped into a frenzy chanting WE-WANT-HUNDLEY! WE-WANT-HUNDLEY! … To the point where Coach Fred Schaus had no choice but to put his star player back into the game.
When Hundley checked in, he asked who West Virginia’s second leading scorer was so he could replace him, just to make sure he was the team’s top scorer at the end of the game.
- The time Hundley and WVU teammate Clayce Kishbaugh showed up for practice with their hair dyed blond. The Mountaineers were about to go down to Miami to play a basketball tournament and Hot Rod wanted to get a head start on his beach look. Then, when he was down there, Hundley threatened to remain for a couple of extra weeks to work on his tan while the team returned to Morgantown.
- The countless times Hundley left school chasing around old girlfriends or trying to make a few extra bucks playing with semi-professional teams, only to return each time with his tail between his legs and begging for forgiveness.
- The large amount of money Hundley made following his senior year when he took a team of touring all-star players (Hot Rod’s All-Stars, of course) to small gymnasiums around the state.
Hundley kept a massive wad of 20s rolled up in his pocket and would peel off a couple to the other players after the games while keeping the rest for himself. It is unknown how much Hot Rod made doing this, but the guys that played with him swore it amounted to several thousand dollars, which was quite a bit of money in the late 1950s.
- Hundley was the first player taken in the 1957 NBA draft because the team owner wanted to add more value to his basketball team before selling it.
- Author Bill Libby interviewed Hundley for a book he was writing about Jerry West (Mr. Clutch) and came away with so much material that he wrote a second book about Hundley (Clown: number 33 in your program, number 1 in your heart).
Forget the Betas being on double-secret probation at Faber College, Hundley spent his entire career at West Virginia University on double-secret probation - and the majority of his brief professional career, too.
And the fans loved every minute of it.
Hundley had a Peter Pan quality about him that is almost unfathomable today. Had there been social media during Hundley’s heyday it’s difficult to imagine what would have become of him.
In the late 1950s, Hundley was Pistol Pete Maravich, Dennis Rodman, Duck Dynasty and the Kardashians all wrapped up into one.
Hundley once said of Virginia’s Ralph Sampson, “Sampson was the biggest No. 1 bust in the NBA draft since me.”
Hundley was always the life of the party, and he rarely missed them. His stories were endless – particularly if someone else was picking up the tab – but whenever the topic veered into a more serious direction, Hot Rod would often excuse himself and slip off into the night.
I recall something Kishbaugh once said about Hundley, which is very telling. “Hot Rod had millions of acquaintances, but no real close friends,” he said. “You would see Rod around for a while and then he was gone. Off to another place.”
Surely, that goes back to the difficult childhood he endured.
Still, Hundley was able to overcome that to become West Virginia University’s first celebrity athlete, and probably the first in the state among collegians.
And the first is always the first.
In the mid-1980s, when Dale Blaney was trying to make the Los Angeles Lakers, Coach Pat Riley had a tradition of assembling his players at the end of training camp and having them tell the rest of the team about the history of their school.
James Worthy stepped forward and said he was from North Carolina and the greatest player in school history was Michael Jordan. Then Adrian Branch told the history of Maryland basketball, then Magic Johnson told them about the history of Michigan State basketball and so on.
When it got to Blaney, he paused for a minute.
“The greatest player in West Virginia University history is Jerry West,” Blaney began. “But they tell me Hot Rod Hundley was the most popular (West was the Lakers' General Manager at the time).”
Hundley used to love to tell that story to anyone who would listen, but he would always add his little twist to it.
“Right after Blaney had said that, Jerry cut his ass the very next day!” Hundley deadpanned.
Indeed, Hot Rod Hundley was one of a kind – one of the great West Virginians of all-time!
Rest in peace Hot Rod.
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