The long-time voice of the Final Four for both NBC and CBS from 1974-2008, Billy Packer was the point guard in 1962 for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons that reached the Final Four for the only appearance in the program's history.
Packer's Voice was part of the ACC regional network that brought ACC games to networks along the conference's footprint and was such a part of my youth.
Packer with play-by-play man Jim Thacker worked as the top commentary team with Packer often taking the public address microphone to announce the starting lineups for each team with a player at a position meeting at center court to exchange a high five or handshake.
The Thacker/Packer duo on the Jefferson Pilot and later Raycom ACC network brought almost every ACC game to the fans of the league and were for my money the best pairing of the time, even better than Packer's more heralded partners in Dick Enberg and later Jim Nantz.
Packer was known by the national audience for his sometimes crabby disposition concerning the game's issues and for a perceived ACC bias, which made sense considering his playing career and where his broadcasting career began.
I always liked Billy Packer's work, although it could have been that I liked him for the above reasons that many disliked him!
He'll be missed as a bridge to college basketball's past that the game always is in need of.
Goodbye to Terry Holland at the age of 80.
The long-time head basketball coach at Davidson and Virginia as well as serving as athletic director at both schools, is remembered as the coach that gave Virginia its first ACC tournament championship as the 1975-76 Cavaliers swept through the tournament with wins over the top three seeds (North Carolina, Maryland, and N.C. State) after finishing sixth in the regular season in a seven-team league.
Holland also brought Ralph Sampson to Virginia for the best four-season stretch in its history to that date, won the 1980 NIT, and led Virginia to two Final Fours (1981 and 84) with the latter occurring in the first post-Sampson season.
Holland played for Lefty Driesell at Davidson and would replace Driesell as the head coach for the Wildcats when Driesell moved to Maryland in 1969, taking Davidson to the NCAA in 1970.
Holland's 1982 Virginia team may be the team most responsible for the shot clock as in the highly-anticipated ACC final against North Carolina, Dean Smith's Tar Heels held the ball for most of the second half in an attempt to mute the impact of Ralph Sampson in front of a national television audience.
North Carolina won 47-45 but the outcry of so much talent on both teams being forced to play stall ball began the outcry to start college basketball towards adding a shot clock.
Goodbye to Willis Reed at the age of 80.
The center for the last two New York Knick championship teams in 1970 and 1973, Reed was the physical heart and soul of the team and even casual basketball fans remember his dramatic start in game seven of the 1970 Finals when he wasn't expected to play after missing game six due to a severe thigh injury.
Reed started, drilled the first two shots of the game for the Knicks, and played twenty-seven minutes as the Knicks defeated the Lakers to win their first world title.
Reed was voted as the MVP of the playoffs in both of the Knicks title teams during his career, was voted as the league MVP in 1970, and was named to one of the All-NBA teams on five occasions during his ten-year career.
After retirement, Reed served as the head coach at his alma mater, Creighton, and for both the Knicks and Nets along with working in the front office for the Nets and the Hornets.
Goodbye to Billy Hahn at the age of 69.
Hahn was the head coach at Ohio U. and LaSalle for three seasons apiece but is most remembered for his tenures as an assistant coach for Gary Williams at Maryland and Bob Huggins at West Virginia.
It was Hahn's time at Maryland where he was the key recruiter from 1989-2001 where he made much of his reputation as Williams rebuilt the Terrapins program.
Hahn's final year at Maryland saw the Terps reach the first Final Four in program history and when Maryland won the national title the following season with Hahn in his first season at LaSalle, the players that Hahn had recruited to Maryland were the stars of the championship team.
Hahn was given a national championship ring by Maryland for his role in the title season.
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