Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. Today is such a day.
I grew up in Canada's Hockey Town, Peterborough, during its most glorious days. That kid, second from the right could be me.
Although I enjoyed hockey, my passion was different. I loved basketball above all.
Crossposted at: The Next Agenda
In the late 1960's and early '70's basketball was not carried on TV in my town. Occasionally I would catch a highlight of a game or two on ABC's Wide World of Sport. Sports Illustrated was available to let us know about what we had missed. I suppose that's how I first found out about Pistol Pete Maravich, the youngest man ever to be inducted in the Hall of Fame, Mr. Droopy Socks.
The Basketball Hall of Fame has all his statistics. In '67 as a freshman he averaged 43.3 points per game. I had about 43 points for the whole season that year. With 44.5 points per game he still holds the NCAA record for scoring. In '70 he won the Naismith while I lived in the same country where Naismith was born. He was eight years older than me, eight inches taller than me, hell we had almost nothing in common. I was fortunate to get some playing time in high school basketball while he was setting records where ever he played.
If ever I could have my sports dream come true it would have been to play like Pete Maravich.
This diary comes almost exactly 19 years years after Pistol Pete's death on January 5, 1988. He was 40 years old shooting a few hoops in a pick-up game when his congenital heart defect showed itself for the first and only time. (Incidentally he was playing hoops with James Dobson! He was to be interviewed on Dobson's program later that day.) Source: Wiki: Maravich
It was completely unexpected.
In my 40th year I was playing a game of pick-up basketball when I got two thumps on my sternum. It was the first and only time I've experienced that feeling. James Dobson was not there, but we were playing against the Baptist Church team. It was January 6, 1997. I subbed out and headed for the emergency ward. You don't need to know the rest, except...
Obviously I'm just pleased to be here, celebrating 10 years as a survivor. 10 years of second chance.
If ever Pistol Pete was to envy me it would probably be on that day. I scored my biggest win ever, I got to keep my life.