re: SEC Traditions: The Legend Of The Pistol

In the summer of 1967 I went to basketball camp at Campbell College. It was one of the few in the country at that time. Press ran the week long program with Hot Rod Hundley. During the week Pete came. A camp full of boys watched in awe as he put on a display of basketball skills we could not have dreamed of. I had seen the Globetrotters in person twice and seen their trick shots and basketball magic, but Pete was astonishing. If you were a kid in the 1960's growing up in ACC country, college basketball was the king. When I saw Pete and what he could do with the ball, I had seen a god. Remember that Julius Erving began college 2 years after Pete, so Pete was the first, and still the greatest, of all shooters and passers. I say this having watched Michael Jordan play at my college and David Thompson play at NC State. Pete was better than both of them in college. He was something special. I was 35 when he died and I cried like I was still that kid at Campbell College basketball camp many years before. A hero is not supposed to die.