OldGoldandGrobe
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I always liked Mr. Cash. He was the only announcer willing to give El Deano hell.
Billy Packer
- Thread starter DeacsPop
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- Latest activity Latest activity:
New York Times with a big piece today on Wake/Packer in 1961. Behind paywall, so pasted below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/s...dison-square-garden-tournament-game.html?_r=0
Remembering a Tournament ‘Final’ at the Garden
Fifty-three years ago, Billy Packer played in the last N.C.A.A. tournament game at Madison Square Garden before Friday’s Connecticut-Iowa State East Region semifinal. A point guard for Wake Forest, Packer did not have a memorable night, as St. John’s Ivan Kovac effectively defended him throughout the game, but the Demon Deacons prevailed, 97-74.
After leaving CBS in 2008, where he worked as a college basketball analyst for 27 years, Packer no longer studies the game with the same intensity and may not even watch when the tournament returns to Manhattan this weekend.
Reflecting on the 1961 tournament at Madison Square Garden, Packer said the night resulted in a mixture of triumph and tragedy that altered the future of college basketball because of a point-shaving scandal that he unexpectedly found himself enmeshed in.
To qualify for the N.C.A.A. tournament, Wake Forest defeated Duke, 96-81, in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C. Packer scored 16 points, and Len Chappell led the Demon Deacons with 33 points. The day before their matchup, St. John’s Coach Joe Lapchick told The New York Times that Packer, “although small at 5 feet 11 inches, is a definite threat.”
A box score showing the results from the last N.C.A.A. Tournament game played at Madison Square Garden. Credit The New York Times Archive
St. John’s participation in the tournament was surprising. The Times reported in February 1961 that the National Invitation Tournament, also to be held at the Garden, was counting on the team — then known as the Redmen — to draw a large home crowd. St. John’s Athletic Director Walter McLaughlin said at the time that the university entered the N.C.A.A. tournament instead out of a desire for a “change of pace.” St. John’s had appeared in the N.I.T. 15 times since 1939, more than any other team.
Wake Forest had played in the Garden for the first time earlier in the season, losing to New York University. To relax before the St. John’s game, Packer said the team went to a movie theater on Broadway to watch “Spartacus,” but were unaware of its more than three-hour running time and returned to their hotel having missed curfew.
“Kirk Douglas was so good in that movie, we took the gamble,” Packer said.
Early on, the Demon Deacons played sluggishly against St. John’s, which, at 20-4, was a favorite to contend for the national title, led by Tony Jackson, LeRoy Ellis and Willie Hall. Packer said that with Wake Forest trailing at halftime, 46-36, and with Jackson’s outside shooting pacing St. John’s, Coach Bones McKinney asked his players if anybody could “put an elbow right up through his nose on the next jump shot.”
Instead, Wake Forest neutralized Jackson by switching to a three-guard lineup and commenced a 33-point swing in the second half, led by the post play of the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Chappell and Bill Hull, who Packer said he recruited from the football team after the lineup was decimated by injuries earlier in the season.
Packer, who scored only 5 points, remembered the game as particularly bruising. Lapchick and McKinney had played against each other in the N.B.A., Packer said, and “there was a rivalry between those two fellas.” A majority of the 18,327 fans in attendance rooted for St. John’s, and the Wake Forest captain Jerry Steele had to leave the game after an inadvertent elbow from Ellis fractured his eye socket.
As the Demon Deacons retreated to their hotel to rest before taking a train to Charlotte for the next round’s games, Packer was in his room when his friend Dick Markowitz knocked on the door. Markowitz played for George Washington, which had lost that night to Princeton, 84-67, in the first game of what was an N.C.A.A. tournament tripleheader that concluded with the Wake Forest-St. John’s matchup.
After the loss, Packer said, Markowitz had gone out for the night. But when Markowitz returned he discovered his team had traveled back to Washington, and he now needed a place to stay. Packer had a roommate but was able to put Markowitz up with a Wake Forest teammate, Jack Jensen.
Soon after the Demon Deacons were eliminated by St. Joseph’s in the 1961 East Region final, reports surfaced that Jack Molinas, a Bronx native and former player with the Fort Wayne Pistons, had been fixing college games since the late 1950s by bribing players to shave points. By May, Packer had all but forgotten his hotel encounter with Markowitz. As Packer was preparing for final exams, officials from the New York Bureau of Investigation came to his room and asked him to go to the office of the university president, Harold W. Tribble.
Packer was unaware that the police had been conducting surveillance near Wake Forest’s hotel the night after the victory over St. John’s and that officers had confused Markowitz for Molinas, who according to Packer were both about 6 feet 6 inches. What originated as a favor to a friend eventually resulted in Packer’s being questioned in the office of the Manhattan district attorney Frank S. Hogan over accusations that he had been involved in shaving points.
Packer said he pleaded his innocence to Tribble and McKinney, who supported him, but he flew to New York to clear his name.
“They took me to Mr. Hogan’s office, and I was questioned for two days there,” Packer said. “They showed me pictures, all these kind of things, and there were a lot of guys that were there being questioned likewise. I said, ‘Hey, I don’t know nothing about this,’ and held strong.”
After two days of interrogations, Packer returned to Wake Forest and talked to Tribble. There, Packer said, he finally remembered that he had sent Markowitz to Jensen’s hotel room. Markowitz was eventually questioned by the police to confirm Packer’s story. Soon after, Tribble released a statement publicly supporting Packer, and charges were never leveled against him.
In all, the scandal led to 37 arrests and the involvement of players on 22 campuses, including Jack Egan of St. Joseph’s, a close friend of Packer’s. Tony Jackson of St. John’s was also criticized for not reporting an earlier bribe offer. Court testimony against Molinas and his associates implicated players from Columbia and N.Y.U., as well as city high school players who attended college elsewhere.
Packer said the 1961 scandal was a key factor in the tournament’s absence from the Garden until this year.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “for a lot of guys, it ruined their life.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/s...dison-square-garden-tournament-game.html?_r=0
Remembering a Tournament ‘Final’ at the Garden
Fifty-three years ago, Billy Packer played in the last N.C.A.A. tournament game at Madison Square Garden before Friday’s Connecticut-Iowa State East Region semifinal. A point guard for Wake Forest, Packer did not have a memorable night, as St. John’s Ivan Kovac effectively defended him throughout the game, but the Demon Deacons prevailed, 97-74.
After leaving CBS in 2008, where he worked as a college basketball analyst for 27 years, Packer no longer studies the game with the same intensity and may not even watch when the tournament returns to Manhattan this weekend.
Reflecting on the 1961 tournament at Madison Square Garden, Packer said the night resulted in a mixture of triumph and tragedy that altered the future of college basketball because of a point-shaving scandal that he unexpectedly found himself enmeshed in.
To qualify for the N.C.A.A. tournament, Wake Forest defeated Duke, 96-81, in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C. Packer scored 16 points, and Len Chappell led the Demon Deacons with 33 points. The day before their matchup, St. John’s Coach Joe Lapchick told The New York Times that Packer, “although small at 5 feet 11 inches, is a definite threat.”
A box score showing the results from the last N.C.A.A. Tournament game played at Madison Square Garden. Credit The New York Times Archive
St. John’s participation in the tournament was surprising. The Times reported in February 1961 that the National Invitation Tournament, also to be held at the Garden, was counting on the team — then known as the Redmen — to draw a large home crowd. St. John’s Athletic Director Walter McLaughlin said at the time that the university entered the N.C.A.A. tournament instead out of a desire for a “change of pace.” St. John’s had appeared in the N.I.T. 15 times since 1939, more than any other team.
Wake Forest had played in the Garden for the first time earlier in the season, losing to New York University. To relax before the St. John’s game, Packer said the team went to a movie theater on Broadway to watch “Spartacus,” but were unaware of its more than three-hour running time and returned to their hotel having missed curfew.
“Kirk Douglas was so good in that movie, we took the gamble,” Packer said.
Early on, the Demon Deacons played sluggishly against St. John’s, which, at 20-4, was a favorite to contend for the national title, led by Tony Jackson, LeRoy Ellis and Willie Hall. Packer said that with Wake Forest trailing at halftime, 46-36, and with Jackson’s outside shooting pacing St. John’s, Coach Bones McKinney asked his players if anybody could “put an elbow right up through his nose on the next jump shot.”
Instead, Wake Forest neutralized Jackson by switching to a three-guard lineup and commenced a 33-point swing in the second half, led by the post play of the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Chappell and Bill Hull, who Packer said he recruited from the football team after the lineup was decimated by injuries earlier in the season.
Packer, who scored only 5 points, remembered the game as particularly bruising. Lapchick and McKinney had played against each other in the N.B.A., Packer said, and “there was a rivalry between those two fellas.” A majority of the 18,327 fans in attendance rooted for St. John’s, and the Wake Forest captain Jerry Steele had to leave the game after an inadvertent elbow from Ellis fractured his eye socket.
As the Demon Deacons retreated to their hotel to rest before taking a train to Charlotte for the next round’s games, Packer was in his room when his friend Dick Markowitz knocked on the door. Markowitz played for George Washington, which had lost that night to Princeton, 84-67, in the first game of what was an N.C.A.A. tournament tripleheader that concluded with the Wake Forest-St. John’s matchup.
After the loss, Packer said, Markowitz had gone out for the night. But when Markowitz returned he discovered his team had traveled back to Washington, and he now needed a place to stay. Packer had a roommate but was able to put Markowitz up with a Wake Forest teammate, Jack Jensen.
Soon after the Demon Deacons were eliminated by St. Joseph’s in the 1961 East Region final, reports surfaced that Jack Molinas, a Bronx native and former player with the Fort Wayne Pistons, had been fixing college games since the late 1950s by bribing players to shave points. By May, Packer had all but forgotten his hotel encounter with Markowitz. As Packer was preparing for final exams, officials from the New York Bureau of Investigation came to his room and asked him to go to the office of the university president, Harold W. Tribble.
Packer was unaware that the police had been conducting surveillance near Wake Forest’s hotel the night after the victory over St. John’s and that officers had confused Markowitz for Molinas, who according to Packer were both about 6 feet 6 inches. What originated as a favor to a friend eventually resulted in Packer’s being questioned in the office of the Manhattan district attorney Frank S. Hogan over accusations that he had been involved in shaving points.
Packer said he pleaded his innocence to Tribble and McKinney, who supported him, but he flew to New York to clear his name.
“They took me to Mr. Hogan’s office, and I was questioned for two days there,” Packer said. “They showed me pictures, all these kind of things, and there were a lot of guys that were there being questioned likewise. I said, ‘Hey, I don’t know nothing about this,’ and held strong.”
After two days of interrogations, Packer returned to Wake Forest and talked to Tribble. There, Packer said, he finally remembered that he had sent Markowitz to Jensen’s hotel room. Markowitz was eventually questioned by the police to confirm Packer’s story. Soon after, Tribble released a statement publicly supporting Packer, and charges were never leveled against him.
In all, the scandal led to 37 arrests and the involvement of players on 22 campuses, including Jack Egan of St. Joseph’s, a close friend of Packer’s. Tony Jackson of St. John’s was also criticized for not reporting an earlier bribe offer. Court testimony against Molinas and his associates implicated players from Columbia and N.Y.U., as well as city high school players who attended college elsewhere.
Packer said the 1961 scandal was a key factor in the tournament’s absence from the Garden until this year.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “for a lot of guys, it ruined their life.”
sailordeac
Well-known member
Kind of cool of Tribble to back Packer so unequivocally.
Posey Rhodes just recently passed away
NewBernDeac
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He spoke to his graduating class reunion at wake I was there and he is definitely a wake man all the way. He foresaw the issues at UNC. We should be proud of him. But then most of you are way to young to appreciate.
He did not; no mention of it at all.
I would much rather listen to Billy Packer, even when he's wrong, than yes-men like Dan Bonner, Clark Kellogg, etc. who don't criticize anyone or anything. They are the Chamber of Commerce for NCAA basketball.
DirkTheDeac
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You really should write a compendium of some sort. It would be a shame if you don't put all this together for posterity.
shaggindeac2
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Sure would like to meet you bobknightfan. We are about the same age and I too watched the 1961 games on TV. Are you in the Winston area ? Would be great to get-together. You have much knowledge and wisdom.
BlackjackMc
Gil McGregor
IMHO, Billy Packer and Al McGuire were the best team to ever analyze a college basketball game. They seldom agreed, but between the two of them the viewer would be given an thorough understanding of basketball coaching strategy.
IIRC, Artis Gilmore was originally recruited by Wake out of high school but was denied admission due to poor grades and a SAT score below 900. His attendance at Gardner-Webb JC was in effort to improve his grades and to circumvent the SAT requirement, which was not required of a JC graduate. He improved his academics, but UNC initiated a measure to make JC transfers attain a 900 SAT just prior to Gilmores graduation in 1969. It passed by a 6-2 majority (with USC and WFU opposing). Gimore was unable to attain the 900 score and the rest is history. I believe the rule was rescinded in 1971, again at UNC request to ensure the transfer of Robert McAdoo from Vincennes JC. USC left the ACC soon thereafter, in part because of the UNC duplicity in the matter... or so I was told by someone I considered a reliable source.
IIRC, Artis Gilmore was originally recruited by Wake out of high school but was denied admission due to poor grades and a SAT score below 900. His attendance at Gardner-Webb JC was in effort to improve his grades and to circumvent the SAT requirement, which was not required of a JC graduate. He improved his academics, but UNC initiated a measure to make JC transfers attain a 900 SAT just prior to Gilmores graduation in 1969. It passed by a 6-2 majority (with USC and WFU opposing). Gimore was unable to attain the 900 score and the rest is history. I believe the rule was rescinded in 1971, again at UNC request to ensure the transfer of Robert McAdoo from Vincennes JC. USC left the ACC soon thereafter, in part because of the UNC duplicity in the matter... or so I was told by someone I considered a reliable source.
DeaconSig
Well-known member
People who dislike Billy Packer (especially Wake fans who dislike Billy Packer) are the biggest fucking pussies in the world.
TexasDeac71
Well-known member
Agreed. I had the good fortune to be at Wake when he was the assistant coach under McCloskey and even took a PE b-ball class taught by him. Can still remember him getting on me for failing to master something as simple as a back door play.....still rather funny to me now as it was then, esp to my classmates.....
A stand up guy, who never wavered when giving his opinion and I am proud to call him a fellow Deac!
A stand up guy, who never wavered when giving his opinion and I am proud to call him a fellow Deac!
WindyCityDeac
Well-known member
I worked with him on a few projects when I was working for the wake SID. He's a curmudgeon and wholly unlike able human being.
i also think he is probably bobknightfan
i also think he is probably bobknightfan
Deacfreak07
Ain't played nobody, PAWL!
I know that team would sneak over to WSSU and scrimmage them.
That's generally the way I remember the Gilmore situation.
I thought Packer coached the JV team for a while. I could be wrong. My memory isn't what it used to be.
I always felt like Packer was bitter because he didn't get the head coaching job at Wake and he let some of that bitterness show through in his announcing.
I always felt like Packer was bitter because he didn't get the head coaching job at Wake and he let some of that bitterness show through in his announcing.