.jpg&height=300&type=webp)
Hundley-Main-21816(1).jpg
Campus Connection: Hot Rod Hundley - Forever Young
February 18, 2016 11:51 PM | Men's Basketball
The bronze statue depicting Hot Rod Hundley’s likeness is now mounted and sitting outside the WVU Coliseum for everyone to enjoy when the official unveiling takes place before Saturday afternoon’s game against Oklahoma.
The only detail remaining is the removal of the blue tarp covering it.
The list of speakers for Saturday’s dedication includes Mountaineer great and teammate Jerry West, West Virginia University benefactor and Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, WVU director of athletics Shane Lyons, coach and close friend Bob Huggins, and Hundley’s daughter, Kimberly.
All of those presentations will undoubtedly be terrific, but the one person that would have really completed the occasion was Hundley himself.
Sadly, that’s not possible because Hot Rod passed away last March at age 80.
I can’t pretend to know what he would have said if he were here on Saturday, but the two lengthy interviews I had with him provides some clues.
First of all, Hot Rod would have been deeply moved because he was deeply moved when I asked him to talk about his feelings when he first learned that his jersey was officially being retired at West Virginia University.
In fact, “flabbergasted” was one of the words he used.
My first lengthy discussion with Hot Rod took place on March 7, 2005, and from that I was able to get a better understanding of Mountaineer basketball here at West Virginia University in the late 1950s.
Our other extended talk occurred on January 21, 2010 - two days before his No. 33 was officially retired during an on-court ceremony at halftime of West Virginia’s game against Ohio State.
As I pored through the transcriptions of both interviews, it became immediately clear to me that the stories he told were nearly identical, almost as if he had spent the last 50 years memorizing and rehearsing them in his mind.
He knew exactly what to emphasize when he told the story about the time he talked coach Fred Schaus into letting him go back into a game when West Virginia was killing Pitt at the old Field House, right down to his pause for emphasis when he reached the punch line … “I’m in for Kishbaugh!”
Hundley went through in great detail the time he once tried three behind-the-back shots during a game against VMI in Bluefield, West Virginia.
“The damned thing went in – at least that’s the way it was written in the paper the next day – but the truth was the first time I tried it the ball hit the backboard and came right back to me,” Hundley confessed. “I threw it up from behind my back once more and the same thing happened again. The third time I threw it from behind my back it went right through the hoop.
“Well, I stood there for about three minutes wiping my arms off (to milk the applause) and the guy I was supposed to be guarding scored about 10 points during that time,” said Hundley, before quickly adding that the Mountaineers were leading by “at least 30 points” when he began his comedy routine.
“Fred always told me, ‘I don’t care what the hell you do when we’ve got a big lead,” he said. “You can kick the ball up in the stands for all I care, but just make sure we’re leading by 20 points when you’re doing it!’”
Hot Rod Hundley scoring two points during a game against VMI in Bluefield, West Virginia in 1957.
Hundley talked about the time he once introduced Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during a banquet in Phoenix, Arizona, “I said, ‘You people probably don’t know this, but Kareem and yours truly have combined to score the most points in the history of the NBA wearing the same uniform number (33) – 42,000 points.
(Long pause)
“Of course, 41,000 of those were scored by Kareem!”
Laughter and applause.
Immediately, Hundley pivoted to the other memorable NBA moment he shared with Laker legend Elgin Baylor when the two combined to score 73 points in a single game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
“The punch line is he had 71 and I scored two,” Hundley laughed.
Hundley was full of great stories, and he would have likely told many of them on Saturday afternoon.
My personal favorite was the time he was fined $1,000 dollars for missing a team flight back to Minneapolis, which if Hundley is to be believed, was the single largest fine in NBA history at the time.
It happened early in his pro career.
“Bob Leonard was with me and we were playing in New York and we got back to the hotel too late and the team left us,” Hundley began. “We told them we went to a party in Philadelphia and we couldn’t get back in time. Well, of course we were lying like hell. We had to pay our way back to Minneapolis and when we arrived at the airport there was a message waiting for both of us to get down to the Laker offices immediately.
“So we went to Bob Short’s office, he owned the Lakers then, and he called me in first. We didn’t know if he was going to fine us, cut us or whatever, so I go in there and he sees right through all of my lies and he said, ‘Rod, I have no choice but to fine you $1,000!’ I said, ‘A thousand dollars! Oh my God, I only make 10! That’s 10 percent of my salary!” Hundley recalled, pointing out that NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan or LeBron James being fined 10 percent of their salaries today would equate to several million dollars.
Hundley continued.
“So I left his office and Bob was standing outside and he asked, ‘Did you get fined?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Well, how much was it?’ I said, ‘A thousand dollars. (Short) said he was placing us on probation for the rest of the year and he was keeping the money in a bank account and he will give it back to us at the end of the season if there are no more problems. Now what this means is when we go out and break curfew in the future we are going to have to be EXTRA careful because I don’t want Short catching us again and fining us $2,000!”
Only Hot Rod!
Hundley would have also told a few jokes at the expense of West, his WVU and Laker teammate. It was evident that Hot Rod really liked and admired West – there was not a single hint of animosity or jealously I could detect from Hundley for anything that Jerry has accomplished through the years.
And believe me, that’s not always the case when it comes to high-profile athletes.
If Hundley were here on Saturday, he probably would have told the story about the time former West Virginia University player Dale Blaney was about to make the Los Angeles Lakers during the franchise’s heyday in the mid-1980s when West was general manager.
“At the time, they had a big rookie thing where they had to get in front of the team and sing their alma mater and talk about the greatest players in school history,” Hot Rod explained. “Pat Riley was their coach and they had Jabbar and Magic Johnson on the team then.
“Well, they had this kid from Kentucky and he gets up in front of the team and Magic asked, ‘Who is the best player to ever play at Kentucky?’ The kid answered Pat Riley. Pat said, ‘You’re pretty smart. You just made the team now.’ Then they get to Blaney and they ask him, ‘Who is the best player to ever play at West Virginia?’ Jerry West is sitting right there. Blaney gets up and says, ‘I know what I’m supposed to say, but back in West Virginia they say it’s Hot Rod Hundley!’”
Hundley chuckled, paused for a moment, and then added for emphasis, “The very next day Jerry cut his ass!”
Finally, Hundley likely would have brought up the old gag he used to play on West whenever they would get together for team reunions through the years.
Hundley would get up in front of everyone and say, “Jerry West was undoubtedly the greatest player in WVU history – one of the all-time greats in the entire history of the sport, but that new basketball arena they’ve got down there in Morgantown (WVU Coliseum) … well, I used to pack them in at the old Field House and I built that thing!”
Jerry would always get a big laugh out of that. This went on for years until finally West answered, “Rod, that may be true, you did get the Coliseum built, but I was the one who paid it off!”
Hundley loved it, and he would love what is going to take place on Saturday. He would have soaked in the moment just as he did six years ago when he was in Morgantown for his jersey dedication.
If you recall, once the presentation was finished, he was handed a basketball and was asked to try one more hook shot for the Mountaineers – one more unforgettable moment for West Virginia University basketball fans everywhere to enjoy.
Hot Rod, then 74 years young, grabbed the ball, looked up to the crowd one last time (the late Myron Cope once wrote in 1954 that Hundley was the first athlete he ever saw acknowledge applause during competition), bounced the ball, dramatically flipped out his arms, smiled, and tossed up a hook shot toward the basket.
The ball bounced on the front of the rim, hit the backboard and fell through as the crowd roared! Both arms went up in the air and then Hundley gave a little underhanded fist pump. Yes, he still had it.
In retrospect, if put in the same situation, West’s shot would have been a swish … perfection.
That wasn’t Hot Rod. Nothing about Hundley was perfect, and he was always the first person to admit it. That last hook shot hit everything before it finally fell through the cylinder. It wasn’t easy – and Lord knows Hundley’s life was far from being easy, especially growing up as an orphan in Charleston, West Virginia – but he made it.
Hot Rod Hundley was the cat you dropped upside down that always turned around just in the nick of time to land on all fours.
He was our Peter Pan.
That’s how he will always be remembered by those who knew and loved him.
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
