UGA Basketball
ABH: How Bruce Pearl, John Calipari view Mike White's move within the SEC from Florida to Georgia (Subscription)
Recruiting
Thanks to the author:
Legacy Early College (Mari Jordan UGA commit)
SEC Basketball
Kentucky
Lexington Herald Courier: Resetting the Kentucky basketball recruiting board. Will Calipari get his superclass?
College Basketball
CBS Sports: WAC altering basketball tournament formats by introducing bold new seeding concept based on advanced analytics
Ohio State
Columbus Dispatch: Buckeye Bruce Thornton shows pace but Brice Sensabaugh injured in Kingdom Summer League
Oklahoma
Spokesman-Review: ‘This is definitely home’: Oklahoma’s ‘Groves bros’ refuel in Spokane, determined to leave mark on Big 12 in second season
NBA
Miami
Miami Herald: An in-depth look at how Heat’s Martin compares with 76ers’ Tucker. And a Durant challenge
Washington
Wash Post: Big man Taj Gibson is set to join the Wizards on a one-year contract
World Cup
USA Men Take Gold at 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup
TSN: DJ Wagner's got next: From FIBA U17 Gold to college basketball commitments, meet the third-generation NBA prospect set to make history
History
Hoops Birthdays 7-11
Pat Cummings C Cincinnati MIL, DAL, NYK, MIA, UT 1979 to 1991 born 7-11-1956 died 6-26-2012
A.J. English SG Virginia Union WA 1990-1992 7-11-1967 56 YOA
Clem Haskins SG Western Kentucky CHI, PHO, WA 1967-1976 7-11-1943 79
Overcoming it all: Clem Haskins shares experience of integrating WKU’s basketball program
“Two African American athletes joined the Western Kentucky basketball team in the fall of 1963 during the height of the civil rights movement. Their presence and success on the court helped kickstart change in American culture, society and history.
These athletes were Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith. The duo became the first black athletes in the south to integrate college basketball in a time of widespread racial hatred and prejudice…
The two put up historic numbers together. For his college career, Haskins averaged 22 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He was a three- time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year from 1965-67 and a First- Team All-American in 1967. His No. 22 Jersey was retired. Smith averaged 14.6 points and 11 rebounds per game and finished on WKU’s 1,000 points list before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The duo won back-to-back OVC tournament championships together while making a big splash in the NCAA tournament. In 1966, the Hilltoppers were just two points away from beating Michigan and playing the University of Kentucky in the Mideast regional final. Haskins broke his wrist in 1967, preventing him from playing like his usual self, but WKU still won the OVC.
Both players finished their Hilltopper careers as members of the program’s 1,000 points club and made their way into the WKU Hall of Fame. Haskins was part of the inaugural class in 1992, and Smith was inducted shortly thereafter in 1995.
Haskins and Smith were like family. They were each other’s support systems in a time when the world was against them. Then tragedy struck. On May 14, 1967, Smith was in a horrific car accident that cut his life short.
“We became very close, like brothers. We were roommates. When he was killed… it was one of the saddest days of my life,” Haskins said. “It was a totally different world being a black athlete, playing in it, and being a black athlete at WKU. Because you look around and see no other black faces.”
In the face of adversity, racism and hatred, Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith set records and formed a brotherhood with white players in the south to show that love will always trump hate.””
Lou Hudson SG Minnesota STL/ATL LAL 1966-1979 born 7-11-1944 died 4-11-2014
AJC: Hawks great Lou Hudson to enter Basketball Hall of Fame (4-02-2022)
“Hudson, who died in 2014, will be enshrined posthumously as a selectee from the veterans committee. Hudson was selected fourth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in 1966, played 11 seasons with the franchise in St. Louis and Atlanta and is third on the franchise’s all-time scoring list with 16,049 points.”
““In the 1972-73 basketball season in the NBA, Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks made 15 magazine covers by actual count, three fashion layouts, and most of the 10-best lists from everything to the guy you would most like to be stranded on a desert island with to the three most-cool guys in the world. His nickname was “Clyde.” Walt Frazier had a good season in 1972-73. He was 16th in the league in scoring with 681 field goals, 286 free throws, and a 21.1 average.
“Down in Atlanta, Lou Hudson had a better one. He usually did. He had 816 field goals, 397 free throws, and a 27.1 average. His middle name really was Clyde. But nobody cared how many fur coats or Rolls Royces he had. He was fourth in the league in scoring. He was last in the league in ink. He couldn’t make a magazine cover if he put himself through the basket. The trouble with this Hudson was, he was west of it. He performed his magic too far from the RCA Building . . . “
“It was strange—because his team was a model of consistency. The Atlanta Hawks finished fifth in their division with monotonous regularity. Until it expanded to six. And then they finished sixth. The Atlanta Hawks were what every New Yorker thinks is West of the Hudson.
“Still . . . Hudson was in some pretty elite company. Only five active players have scored more total NBA points than Lou Hudson. Only 18 have in the history of the game. And, if you put all of Lou’s baskets together, they might total more footage than any of the leaders. Lou did not get many layups or garbage points. Lou’s were from the perimeter. They were not cheap shots, they were 1-irons. If Lou got to the key with the ball, you might as well foul him. These were “gimmes.” Lou could score from 15 feet blindfolded and shackled.
“Lou Hudson may be the only guy to make the All-Star team in back-to-back years, first as a forward and then as a guard. But even when he switched to guard, the other guard was Pete Maravich. This is like showing up at a party with Elizabeth Taylor or doing a movie scene with a dog. Hudson became The Other Guard—even though he outscored Pistol Pete in their three-year collaboration by 749 points. Lou scored 16,049 career points for the Hawks, which is like pouring money into condominiums in Siberia.
But more than 40 years later, few people today remember Hudson and all the numbers above. Some of it has to do with Sweet Lou’s steady, no frills, play and demeanor. “Lou Hudson is a man always in control,” wrote Atlanta sportswriter Ron Hudspeth. “An easy rider. A man who does not make unnecessary waves. A man who seems comfortably at home with himself.”
.Hudson would get traded to the Lakers a few months after this article ran. On paper, the trade was a blessing. It would allow Hudson to extend his career as a complimentary outside threat to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s inside dominance. But two seasons later, the Lakers cut him. “Lou has been a tremendous player throughout his entire career,” explained Lakers’ GM Bill Sharman, “and I think he still has more good years left. However, with Norm Nixon and rookies Magic Johnson, Brad Holland, and other young guards, our direction is toward youth.”
His NBA career now over, Hudson’s once-happy marriage ended in divorce. He remarried and moved with his new bride to Park City, Utah, where life was good for several years. In 1996, back in Atlanta, his son died at age 18 from a blood clot in his lungs. Then, in 2005 at the age of 60, Hudson suffered a serious stroke that greatly limited his mobility and speech. He rehabbed like a man possessed. Hudson moved back to Atlanta. But in April 2014, another major stroke felled him. A few days later, Hudson died. He was just 69 years old.
And yet, despite these tragic twists of fate, Hudson stayed true to himself and remained a person beloved and respected by all. His was a wonderful life and an NBA career to be remembered for generations to come. Why Hudson isn’t in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame defies logic.”
From 1977:
“Hudson, who will soon turn 33, is entering the twilight of his career, but he’s been making big money since the Hawks moved here from St. Louis in 1969, and his salary was raised from $35,000 to $80,000.
He’s been making more than $100,000 a year since 1971. And he’s presently finishing the 4th year of a six-year contract worth $900,000. Even if he retires in 1979 when it expires, he’ll receive deferred payments through 1989.
And—hold on, America—he’s done it without an agent’s help. Oh, Ed Cohen, a Minneapolis lawyer, advises him on occasion. But mostly, Hudson takes care of his own finances. Going it alone, he figures, has cost him money over the years, but Hudson feels they added peace of mind was worth it.
He can’t understand why anyone who can add and subtract and write would trust someone else to manage their money. Also, Hudson doesn’t like the fact that almost all agents take their cut “off the top,” leaving only the athlete to suffer financially if he can’t live up to his contract.
“If a guy gets me some money,” Hudson says, “I don’t mind him getting 15 percent of it. But I’m not giving him money that I got for myself. He’s gonna spend two or three days and get 15 percent. I’m gonna have to run for years.
“My whole thing wasn’t money to begin with, anyway. To get what you want, you don’t need a whole lot of money. All you have to do is pay the monthly notes.”
Besides the monthly house payment, Hudson makes payments on the Mercedes and a purple Porsche Carerra. He also has a silver Corvette—paid for. Cars are Hudson’s passion. He has owned “about 10” since turning pro.
He has plenty of clothes and a first-rate sound system, but is obsessed with neither. He and Bernadette go to dinner theaters, movies, and ballgames, but, all in all, he spends less money socially than when he was single.
“When I was single, I did a lot more traveling,” Hudson says. “And if I’d been in a town for two days and hadn’t met a chick, I panicked.”
One of seven children, Hudson grew up in a Greensboro, N.C. housing project. His father worked in a textile mill. His mother was a domestic. His first social contact with white people didn’t come until he was a University of Minnesota freshman. Before that, Hudson thought anyone who made $8,000 a year was rich. He didn’t know anyone who did.”
Ron King SG FSU KEN 1973-1974 7-11-1951 61 YOA
Ron King/Hugh Durham connection:
“King was unsurprisingly a highly-recruited commodity. Although he had offers from basketball powers like Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan and Purdue, King wouldn’t sign unless the team offered his teammate, 5-foot-7 guard Otto Petty, a spot too, which most refused due to Petty’s small stature. However, Florida State head coach Hugh Durham knew that the star wouldn’t go without Petty and offered Petty a scholarship which he would accept. King would follow and would continue his brand of high scoring offensive play for the Seminoles.
“Me and Otto Petty were a package deal because we were like magic; we knew each other so well,” King said. “I wasn’t going nowhere without him, it’s just as simple as that. … Hugh knew I was going to go where Otto went so after Otto signed, the next week I went with him.”
During his time with the Seminoles, King rewrote the record book. It didn’t take long for King’s offensive prowess to be on full display as during his sophomore year of 1970-71, King dropped 46 points against Georgia Southern, which still stands as the school record for most points by a player in a single game. The biggest reason why King lit up the scoreboard was that his mom was in the stands, only the second time she had seen one of his games since he started playing at Central.
“I got 46 points that night so I guess it was because she was there,” King said. “I wanted to do good for her. … That record still stands to this day which I don’t understand with the 3-pointers they got. It’s amazing.”
That year, the offense ran through King as he averaged 22.7 points, which ranked as the third-best single-season average in FSU history at the time and still ranks No. 5 in school history. His junior season of 1971-72 would be the most memorable for both King and Seminoles fans alike.
That year, Florida State would be the surprise Cinderella of the NCAA Tournament, advancing all the way to the national championship game for the only time in program history against a John Wooden coached UCLA team. Though the Seminoles would fall, 81-76, King would again make his presence felt as he would score 27 points against the Bruins which would earn him NCAA all-tournament honors. Even though he had a great game, King thinks that if he wasn’t sat for 10 minutes by his coach the Seminoles would’ve ended up winning it all.
“My thought was, ‘They don’t know me, I think I’m the best there is,’ that was my mindset going into the game,” King said. “If I had played the whole 40 minutes there is no doubt in my mind that we would’ve beat them.”
King would finish his career at Florida State University as one of the best basketball players the school had ever seen. King’s 1,252 points still rank in the top 25 in Seminoles history and his 19.6 points per game in a career is No. 4 in program history. Though the critique of his game was that he was just a scorer, King has words for the doubters.
“Coach always said, ‘Everybody says you’re not a defensive player.’ I said, ‘I might not have been a defensive player, but my man never outscored me so I played better defense on him than he did on me,’” King said. “My man never outscored me, never.”
“But FSU’s predominately black team featuring African-Americans King, 6-11 Lawrence McCray, 6-10 Reggie Royals, 6-6 Rowland Garret, and 5-7 playmaker Otto Petty, believed they were making a statement too and the decisive win over Kentucky spoke volumes. (It should be noted that King, a Parade high school All-American, was recruited by Kentucky in 1969 and actually visited the Lexington campus. But he chose FSU to follow in the footsteps of a fellow Kentuckian, future NBA star Dave Cowens.)
The Seminoles’ win over Kentucky also marked the end of the coaching career of the Wildcats’ legendary Adolph Rupp, who was forced into retirement by an age limit (70) imposed on all University of Kentucky employees. His teams won 876 games, two national championships, and 27 Southeastern Conference titles in his 41 seasons in Lexington.
As it turned out, FSU wasn’t finished in dismissing teams with iconic coaches. Awaiting them at the Final Four played at the Los Angeles Sports Arena were the North Carolina Tar Heels, whose Coach Dean Smith would go onto win 879 games and two national championships (one with Michael Jordan on the squad). With King scoring 22 points, the Seminoles vanquished the Tar Heels 79-75 and earned the right to play for the national championship.
But standing in their path to glory was UCLA, winners of five consecutive national championships under Coach John Wooden. FSU led 21-14 six minutes into the game – UCLA’s largest deficit of the season – but the Bruins, led by Player of the Year Bill Walton, went on a 36-17 run to take a 50-39 halftime lead and never looked back en route to an 81-76 victory.
It would be the narrowest win of Wooden’s ten national title game victories.
The title-game defeat could not diminish the lasting impact of the ’72 team on FSU’s sports history. King, Royals, Garrett, and Petty would all earn their rightful place in the FSU Athletic Hall of Fame. Durham will be forever remembered as the coach who helped open the door for black athletes to excel at FSU.”
Malcom Mackey PF Tech PHO 1993-1994 7-11-1970 42 YOA
Eduard Najera PF Oklahoma DAL, GS, DEN, NJ, DAL, CHAR 2000-2012 7-11-1976 36 YOA
Rod Strickland PG DePaul NYK, SA, POR, WAS, MIA, MIN, ORL, TOR, HOU 1988-2005 7-11-1966 56 YOA
George Trapp PF LB State ATL, DET 1971-1977 born 7-11-1948 died 1-21-2002
LB State HOF: “Trapp was Jerry Tarkanian's first prime-time recruit at Long Beach State. The 49ers were 47-10 during Trapp's tenure. In 1971, the Trapp-led 49ers lost to eventual champion UCLA, 57-55, in the NCAA West Regional championship game. Trapp finished his 49er career with more than 1,000 points and was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks.”
ABH: How Bruce Pearl, John Calipari view Mike White's move within the SEC from Florida to Georgia (Subscription)
Recruiting
Thanks to the author:
Legacy Early College (Mari Jordan UGA commit)
SEC Basketball
Kentucky
Lexington Herald Courier: Resetting the Kentucky basketball recruiting board. Will Calipari get his superclass?
College Basketball
CBS Sports: WAC altering basketball tournament formats by introducing bold new seeding concept based on advanced analytics
WAC altering basketball tournament formats by introducing bold new seeding concept based on advanced analytics
More than just wins and losses: Seeding will be based off KenPom formula, the NET and reward teams for winning against tougher schedules
www.cbssports.com
Ohio State
Columbus Dispatch: Buckeye Bruce Thornton shows pace but Brice Sensabaugh injured in Kingdom Summer League
Buckeye Bruce Thornton shows pace but Brice Sensabaugh injured in Kingdom Summer League
Get updates on Ohio State's Bruce Thornton, Brice Sensabaugh, Tanner Holden, Kalen Etzler and others from the Kingdom Summer League.
www.dispatch.com
Oklahoma
Spokesman-Review: ‘This is definitely home’: Oklahoma’s ‘Groves bros’ refuel in Spokane, determined to leave mark on Big 12 in second season
'This is definitely home': Oklahoma's 'Groves bros' refuel in Spokane, determined to leave mark on Big 12 in second season
A single, nondescript basketball hoop sits in Pacific Park in the ever-growing Indian Trail neighborhood of northwest Spokane.
www.spokesman.com
NBA
Miami
Miami Herald: An in-depth look at how Heat’s Martin compares with 76ers’ Tucker. And a Durant challenge
Washington
Wash Post: Big man Taj Gibson is set to join the Wizards on a one-year contract
World Cup
USA Men Take Gold at 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup
USA Defeats Host Country Spain for Gold
The USA Basketball Men's U17 National Team defeated Lithuania 89-62 on Saturday, moving on to the final at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup.
www.usab.com
TSN: DJ Wagner's got next: From FIBA U17 Gold to college basketball commitments, meet the third-generation NBA prospect set to make history
DJ Wagner's got next: From FIBA U17 Gold to college basketball commitments, meet the third-generation NBA prospect set to make history | Sporting News
The top-ranked player in the high school class of 2023 sat down with The Sporting News to talk through his FIBA World Cup experience, areas of his game he's trying to improve, his favorite NBA players to watch, the potential of being the first-ever third-generation NBA player and his big...
www.sportingnews.com
History
Hoops Birthdays 7-11
Pat Cummings C Cincinnati MIL, DAL, NYK, MIA, UT 1979 to 1991 born 7-11-1956 died 6-26-2012
A.J. English SG Virginia Union WA 1990-1992 7-11-1967 56 YOA
Clem Haskins SG Western Kentucky CHI, PHO, WA 1967-1976 7-11-1943 79
Overcoming it all: Clem Haskins shares experience of integrating WKU’s basketball program
“Two African American athletes joined the Western Kentucky basketball team in the fall of 1963 during the height of the civil rights movement. Their presence and success on the court helped kickstart change in American culture, society and history.
These athletes were Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith. The duo became the first black athletes in the south to integrate college basketball in a time of widespread racial hatred and prejudice…
The two put up historic numbers together. For his college career, Haskins averaged 22 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He was a three- time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year from 1965-67 and a First- Team All-American in 1967. His No. 22 Jersey was retired. Smith averaged 14.6 points and 11 rebounds per game and finished on WKU’s 1,000 points list before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The duo won back-to-back OVC tournament championships together while making a big splash in the NCAA tournament. In 1966, the Hilltoppers were just two points away from beating Michigan and playing the University of Kentucky in the Mideast regional final. Haskins broke his wrist in 1967, preventing him from playing like his usual self, but WKU still won the OVC.
Both players finished their Hilltopper careers as members of the program’s 1,000 points club and made their way into the WKU Hall of Fame. Haskins was part of the inaugural class in 1992, and Smith was inducted shortly thereafter in 1995.
Haskins and Smith were like family. They were each other’s support systems in a time when the world was against them. Then tragedy struck. On May 14, 1967, Smith was in a horrific car accident that cut his life short.
“We became very close, like brothers. We were roommates. When he was killed… it was one of the saddest days of my life,” Haskins said. “It was a totally different world being a black athlete, playing in it, and being a black athlete at WKU. Because you look around and see no other black faces.”
In the face of adversity, racism and hatred, Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith set records and formed a brotherhood with white players in the south to show that love will always trump hate.””
Overcoming it all: Clem Haskins shares experience of integrating WKU’s basketball program - WKUHerald.com
Two African American athletes joined the Western Kentucky basketball team in the fall of 1963 during the height of the civil rights movement. Their presence and success on the court helped kickstart change in American culture, society and history. These athletes were Clem Haskins and Dwight...
wkuherald.com
Lou Hudson SG Minnesota STL/ATL LAL 1966-1979 born 7-11-1944 died 4-11-2014
AJC: Hawks great Lou Hudson to enter Basketball Hall of Fame (4-02-2022)
“Hudson, who died in 2014, will be enshrined posthumously as a selectee from the veterans committee. Hudson was selected fourth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in 1966, played 11 seasons with the franchise in St. Louis and Atlanta and is third on the franchise’s all-time scoring list with 16,049 points.”
““In the 1972-73 basketball season in the NBA, Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks made 15 magazine covers by actual count, three fashion layouts, and most of the 10-best lists from everything to the guy you would most like to be stranded on a desert island with to the three most-cool guys in the world. His nickname was “Clyde.” Walt Frazier had a good season in 1972-73. He was 16th in the league in scoring with 681 field goals, 286 free throws, and a 21.1 average.
“Down in Atlanta, Lou Hudson had a better one. He usually did. He had 816 field goals, 397 free throws, and a 27.1 average. His middle name really was Clyde. But nobody cared how many fur coats or Rolls Royces he had. He was fourth in the league in scoring. He was last in the league in ink. He couldn’t make a magazine cover if he put himself through the basket. The trouble with this Hudson was, he was west of it. He performed his magic too far from the RCA Building . . . “
“It was strange—because his team was a model of consistency. The Atlanta Hawks finished fifth in their division with monotonous regularity. Until it expanded to six. And then they finished sixth. The Atlanta Hawks were what every New Yorker thinks is West of the Hudson.
“Still . . . Hudson was in some pretty elite company. Only five active players have scored more total NBA points than Lou Hudson. Only 18 have in the history of the game. And, if you put all of Lou’s baskets together, they might total more footage than any of the leaders. Lou did not get many layups or garbage points. Lou’s were from the perimeter. They were not cheap shots, they were 1-irons. If Lou got to the key with the ball, you might as well foul him. These were “gimmes.” Lou could score from 15 feet blindfolded and shackled.
“Lou Hudson may be the only guy to make the All-Star team in back-to-back years, first as a forward and then as a guard. But even when he switched to guard, the other guard was Pete Maravich. This is like showing up at a party with Elizabeth Taylor or doing a movie scene with a dog. Hudson became The Other Guard—even though he outscored Pistol Pete in their three-year collaboration by 749 points. Lou scored 16,049 career points for the Hawks, which is like pouring money into condominiums in Siberia.
But more than 40 years later, few people today remember Hudson and all the numbers above. Some of it has to do with Sweet Lou’s steady, no frills, play and demeanor. “Lou Hudson is a man always in control,” wrote Atlanta sportswriter Ron Hudspeth. “An easy rider. A man who does not make unnecessary waves. A man who seems comfortably at home with himself.”
.Hudson would get traded to the Lakers a few months after this article ran. On paper, the trade was a blessing. It would allow Hudson to extend his career as a complimentary outside threat to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s inside dominance. But two seasons later, the Lakers cut him. “Lou has been a tremendous player throughout his entire career,” explained Lakers’ GM Bill Sharman, “and I think he still has more good years left. However, with Norm Nixon and rookies Magic Johnson, Brad Holland, and other young guards, our direction is toward youth.”
His NBA career now over, Hudson’s once-happy marriage ended in divorce. He remarried and moved with his new bride to Park City, Utah, where life was good for several years. In 1996, back in Atlanta, his son died at age 18 from a blood clot in his lungs. Then, in 2005 at the age of 60, Hudson suffered a serious stroke that greatly limited his mobility and speech. He rehabbed like a man possessed. Hudson moved back to Atlanta. But in April 2014, another major stroke felled him. A few days later, Hudson died. He was just 69 years old.
And yet, despite these tragic twists of fate, Hudson stayed true to himself and remained a person beloved and respected by all. His was a wonderful life and an NBA career to be remembered for generations to come. Why Hudson isn’t in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame defies logic.”
From 1977:
“Hudson, who will soon turn 33, is entering the twilight of his career, but he’s been making big money since the Hawks moved here from St. Louis in 1969, and his salary was raised from $35,000 to $80,000.
He’s been making more than $100,000 a year since 1971. And he’s presently finishing the 4th year of a six-year contract worth $900,000. Even if he retires in 1979 when it expires, he’ll receive deferred payments through 1989.
And—hold on, America—he’s done it without an agent’s help. Oh, Ed Cohen, a Minneapolis lawyer, advises him on occasion. But mostly, Hudson takes care of his own finances. Going it alone, he figures, has cost him money over the years, but Hudson feels they added peace of mind was worth it.
He can’t understand why anyone who can add and subtract and write would trust someone else to manage their money. Also, Hudson doesn’t like the fact that almost all agents take their cut “off the top,” leaving only the athlete to suffer financially if he can’t live up to his contract.
“If a guy gets me some money,” Hudson says, “I don’t mind him getting 15 percent of it. But I’m not giving him money that I got for myself. He’s gonna spend two or three days and get 15 percent. I’m gonna have to run for years.
“My whole thing wasn’t money to begin with, anyway. To get what you want, you don’t need a whole lot of money. All you have to do is pay the monthly notes.”
Besides the monthly house payment, Hudson makes payments on the Mercedes and a purple Porsche Carerra. He also has a silver Corvette—paid for. Cars are Hudson’s passion. He has owned “about 10” since turning pro.
He has plenty of clothes and a first-rate sound system, but is obsessed with neither. He and Bernadette go to dinner theaters, movies, and ballgames, but, all in all, he spends less money socially than when he was single.
“When I was single, I did a lot more traveling,” Hudson says. “And if I’d been in a town for two days and hadn’t met a chick, I panicked.”
One of seven children, Hudson grew up in a Greensboro, N.C. housing project. His father worked in a textile mill. His mother was a domestic. His first social contact with white people didn’t come until he was a University of Minnesota freshman. Before that, Hudson thought anyone who made $8,000 a year was rich. He didn’t know anyone who did.”
Lou Hudson: Finding the Good Life, 1977
Lou Hudson may be the only guy to make the All-Star team in back-to-back years, first as a forward and then as a guard.
from-way-downtown.com
Ron King SG FSU KEN 1973-1974 7-11-1951 61 YOA
Ron King/Hugh Durham connection:
“King was unsurprisingly a highly-recruited commodity. Although he had offers from basketball powers like Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan and Purdue, King wouldn’t sign unless the team offered his teammate, 5-foot-7 guard Otto Petty, a spot too, which most refused due to Petty’s small stature. However, Florida State head coach Hugh Durham knew that the star wouldn’t go without Petty and offered Petty a scholarship which he would accept. King would follow and would continue his brand of high scoring offensive play for the Seminoles.
“Me and Otto Petty were a package deal because we were like magic; we knew each other so well,” King said. “I wasn’t going nowhere without him, it’s just as simple as that. … Hugh knew I was going to go where Otto went so after Otto signed, the next week I went with him.”
During his time with the Seminoles, King rewrote the record book. It didn’t take long for King’s offensive prowess to be on full display as during his sophomore year of 1970-71, King dropped 46 points against Georgia Southern, which still stands as the school record for most points by a player in a single game. The biggest reason why King lit up the scoreboard was that his mom was in the stands, only the second time she had seen one of his games since he started playing at Central.
“I got 46 points that night so I guess it was because she was there,” King said. “I wanted to do good for her. … That record still stands to this day which I don’t understand with the 3-pointers they got. It’s amazing.”
That year, the offense ran through King as he averaged 22.7 points, which ranked as the third-best single-season average in FSU history at the time and still ranks No. 5 in school history. His junior season of 1971-72 would be the most memorable for both King and Seminoles fans alike.
That year, Florida State would be the surprise Cinderella of the NCAA Tournament, advancing all the way to the national championship game for the only time in program history against a John Wooden coached UCLA team. Though the Seminoles would fall, 81-76, King would again make his presence felt as he would score 27 points against the Bruins which would earn him NCAA all-tournament honors. Even though he had a great game, King thinks that if he wasn’t sat for 10 minutes by his coach the Seminoles would’ve ended up winning it all.
“My thought was, ‘They don’t know me, I think I’m the best there is,’ that was my mindset going into the game,” King said. “If I had played the whole 40 minutes there is no doubt in my mind that we would’ve beat them.”
King would finish his career at Florida State University as one of the best basketball players the school had ever seen. King’s 1,252 points still rank in the top 25 in Seminoles history and his 19.6 points per game in a career is No. 4 in program history. Though the critique of his game was that he was just a scorer, King has words for the doubters.
“Coach always said, ‘Everybody says you’re not a defensive player.’ I said, ‘I might not have been a defensive player, but my man never outscored me so I played better defense on him than he did on me,’” King said. “My man never outscored me, never.”
State of Kentucky basketball legend Ron King retires from Louisville Parks, but legacy lives on
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BVM) — Ron King, 69, still knows his way around a basketball court today. While he hasn’t played in an organized league basketball game for a couple decades, King kept his love for the sport at the forefront of his life, first working in the California Community Center in west...
bvmsports.com
“But FSU’s predominately black team featuring African-Americans King, 6-11 Lawrence McCray, 6-10 Reggie Royals, 6-6 Rowland Garret, and 5-7 playmaker Otto Petty, believed they were making a statement too and the decisive win over Kentucky spoke volumes. (It should be noted that King, a Parade high school All-American, was recruited by Kentucky in 1969 and actually visited the Lexington campus. But he chose FSU to follow in the footsteps of a fellow Kentuckian, future NBA star Dave Cowens.)
The Seminoles’ win over Kentucky also marked the end of the coaching career of the Wildcats’ legendary Adolph Rupp, who was forced into retirement by an age limit (70) imposed on all University of Kentucky employees. His teams won 876 games, two national championships, and 27 Southeastern Conference titles in his 41 seasons in Lexington.
As it turned out, FSU wasn’t finished in dismissing teams with iconic coaches. Awaiting them at the Final Four played at the Los Angeles Sports Arena were the North Carolina Tar Heels, whose Coach Dean Smith would go onto win 879 games and two national championships (one with Michael Jordan on the squad). With King scoring 22 points, the Seminoles vanquished the Tar Heels 79-75 and earned the right to play for the national championship.
But standing in their path to glory was UCLA, winners of five consecutive national championships under Coach John Wooden. FSU led 21-14 six minutes into the game – UCLA’s largest deficit of the season – but the Bruins, led by Player of the Year Bill Walton, went on a 36-17 run to take a 50-39 halftime lead and never looked back en route to an 81-76 victory.
It would be the narrowest win of Wooden’s ten national title game victories.
The title-game defeat could not diminish the lasting impact of the ’72 team on FSU’s sports history. King, Royals, Garrett, and Petty would all earn their rightful place in the FSU Athletic Hall of Fame. Durham will be forever remembered as the coach who helped open the door for black athletes to excel at FSU.”
Missing sports? Savor the sweet memories of FSU's amazing run to the 1972 Final Four
On March 25, 1972, FSU played in the NCAA National Championship game against UCLA at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, falling 81-76.
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Malcom Mackey PF Tech PHO 1993-1994 7-11-1970 42 YOA
Eduard Najera PF Oklahoma DAL, GS, DEN, NJ, DAL, CHAR 2000-2012 7-11-1976 36 YOA
Rod Strickland PG DePaul NYK, SA, POR, WAS, MIA, MIN, ORL, TOR, HOU 1988-2005 7-11-1966 56 YOA
George Trapp PF LB State ATL, DET 1971-1977 born 7-11-1948 died 1-21-2002
LB State HOF: “Trapp was Jerry Tarkanian's first prime-time recruit at Long Beach State. The 49ers were 47-10 during Trapp's tenure. In 1971, the Trapp-led 49ers lost to eventual champion UCLA, 57-55, in the NCAA West Regional championship game. Trapp finished his 49er career with more than 1,000 points and was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks.”
