RIP Orlando Woolridge

[TigerVols]

In honor of his departed daddy, I present Swiperboy:



(Swiperboy graduated this month but has a year of eligibility remaining, so he's transferred to USC next season.)

 

[Drip]

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.

Dave Zinkoff weeps. I grew up on those "Juliuuuus, EEEEEERVING" announcements:

The best PA announcer of all time. The Zink!!!!!!

 

[JosephC.Myers]

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.

Dave Zinkoff weeps. I grew up on those "Juliuuuus, EEEEEERVING" announcements:

I'm not even a 76ers fan and I loved that call.

 

[LanceyHoward]

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."

You are forgetting Austin Carr.

 

[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."

You are forgetting Austin Carr.

No, I am not. Austin Carr's college career preceded Woolridge's by about a decade, he never even played for Phelps. My point was to list players who were Woolridge's teammates at ND, not every damn Notre Dame player ever. Yeesh.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

I remember him from high school. Later, a woman I dated, an ND grad, thought it was cool he was from my state.

RIP, O.

 

[Football_Bat]

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."

Duck Williams was the only African-American starter on Notre Dame's 1978 Final Four team. Woolridge was the first or second player off the bench as a freshman.

 

[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

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.

Dave Zinkoff weeps. I grew up on those "Juliuuuus, EEEEEERVING" announcements:

I'm not even a 76ers fan and I loved that call.

At the risk of topic drift ... oh, for the days at an NBA game when they just announced the lineups without turning it into a bad floor show or rock/rap concert!

 

[Mark2010]

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.

Those were the days. The NBC Game of the Week was actually a big deal, because there weren't like 99 others on during the week.

Makes us all feel old.

 

[Blitz]

I remember Woolridge's college days, too, and his time with the Nets and (my at that time beloved) Lakers.
This was when I was finalizing college and moving to Dallas (where I subsequently adopted the Blackmon-led Mavs and their awesome aqua color scheme).
RIP to a long, long force around the basket
So long, O