RIP Orlando Woolridge

[Uncle.Ruckus]

He was 52.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-former-bull-orlando-woolridge-dies-20120601,0,4520530.story

 

[HejiraHenry]

Damn. He was on several of my fantasy basketball rosters back in the day. None of the really good ones, but still ...

 

[JosephC.Myers]

I remember him from back in the day. RIP.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I loved Orlando Woolridge as a player. Way too young to go. Am thinking he had a troubled life, but don't know for sure, other than that he had some substance abuse problems.

 

[qtlaw]

Damn, he had some serious hops and a great NBA "body." May he RIP. (I believe Jordan did not think O was a winner though.)

 

[Iron_chet]

My memeory of him is that he never passed the ball. If he got the ball he shot the ball.

RIP, way too young to go.

 

[tripleoption34]

Same age and same ailment that claimed my dad 12 years ago. One of the most vicious dunkers of the 80s. Godspeed, O.

 

[Mark2010]

Dang. I remember him all the way back to his days at Notre Dame playing for Digger Phelps.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Damn... All these people dying early...

RIP

 

[Michael_ Gee]

This is sad news. I was fortunate enough to be at the 1986 playoff game where Jordan got 63 against the Celtics, and the little remembered element of that game is that Woolridge went something like 9 for 28 from the floor. You've got to be the all-time ballhog to take 28 shots on a night a teammate is going for 60-plus.

 

[Drip]

RIP to "0"

 

[JosephC.Myers]

Here's a link to the boxscore from the 1986 game referred to earlier. It's hard to read, because it was hand-written, but there's a lot of history in it.

http://z.cdn.turner.com/dr/nba/teamsites/release/bulls/sites/bulls/files/jordan63_boxscore_110420.jpg

One thing that jumped out at me (besides Woolridge's 9-for-27 performance) was the Jordan actually played with former Kentucky great Kyle Macy. The other was all five of Boston's starters had at least 13 points and Walton added 10 off the bench. That's a lot of offense right there.

 

[Football_Bat]

Woolridge was one of the first stars I remember watching when I started to follow college basketball, and there were bunches of them at the time that I followed into the NBA: Bird and Magic, of course, but also Moncrief, Tripucka, Blackman, Spanarkel and Gminski (before Duke became Dook), Griffith, Ainge, and lesser-known ones like Vinnie Johnson (Baylor) and Ricky Pierce (Rice). Kind of my golden age.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

The '86 Celtics were a pretty good team.

 

[HanSenSE]

Dang. I remember him all the way back to his days at Notre Dame playing for Digger Phelps.

I remember the Notre Dame pa guy would always pronounce it "Orlano Woooooooooooooooooolridge."

RIP

 

[joe]

Woolridge was one of the first stars I remember watching when I started to follow college basketball, and there were bunches of them at the time that I followed into the NBA: Bird and Magic, of course, but also Moncrief, Tripucka, Blackman, Spanarkel and Gminski (before Duke became Dook), Griffith, Ainge, and lesser-known ones like Vinnie Johnson (Baylor) and Ricky Pierce (Rice). Kind of my golden age.

Reminds me of a time when DePaul was a power under Ray Meyer, with stars like Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings. As a grade-schooler, early teen, I was flat-out in love with college basketball back then. Hell, that lasted all through college, too. These days, unless it's alma mater, I watch very little.

 

[93Devil]

Here's a link to the boxscore from the 1986 game referred to earlier. It's hard to read, because it was hand-written, but there's a lot of history in it.

http://z.cdn.turner.com/dr/nba/teamsites/release/bulls/sites/bulls/files/jordan63_boxscore_110420.jpg

One thing that jumped out at me (besides Woolridge's 9-for-27 performance) was the Jordan actually played with former Kentucky great Kyle Macy. The other was all five of Boston's starters had at least 13 points and Walton added 10 off the bench. That's a lot of offense right there.

Jordan scored 63 on seven white guys, D.J. and Parrish.

 

[jr/shotglass]

0.

RIP.

 

[tripleoption34]

Here's a link to the boxscore from the 1986 game referred to earlier. It's hard to read, because it was hand-written, but there's a lot of history in it.

http://z.cdn.turner.com/dr/nba/teamsites/release/bulls/sites/bulls/files/jordan63_boxscore_110420.jpg

One thing that jumped out at me (besides Woolridge's 9-for-27 performance) was the Jordan actually played with former Kentucky great Kyle Macy. The other was all five of Boston's starters had at least 13 points and Walton added 10 off the bench. That's a lot of offense right there.

Offense? Postseason? Sure as hell not today, where a 101-96 game is considered "high scoring."

 

[Stoney]

Dang. I remember him all the way back to his days at Notre Dame playing for Digger Phelps.

I remember the Notre Dame pa guy would always pronounce it "Orlano Woooooooooooooooooolridge."

RIP

Me too. I think that ND guy may've been the first basketball PA "performer" I can remember. It was cool when he did it, but would soon grow obnoxious and annoying when all those NBA schmucks were trying to outdo each other.

Digger Phelps really had a load of talent on his roster at that time--Woolridge, Tripucka, Laimbeer, Hanzlik, Joe Kleine (pre-transfer) Duck Williams, John Paxson. etc. But you didn't really realize it at the time because, except for O, they were mostly unimpressive looking white guys. It was only years later when all those guys were succeeding in the NBA that you realized "wow, those ND teams were frickin loaded."