Caulton Tudor, RIP

[jimsumner]

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/legendary-nc-sports-columnist-caulton-tudor-dies/17080264/

[Clocktower]

Jim and others here knew him well I'm sure, but as a reader I always admired his conversational writing style and keen insider's view of regional sports, especially ACC hoops. He'll be missed.

[MChambers]

Jim and others here knew him well I'm sure, but as a reader I always admired his conversational writing style and keen insider's view of regional sports, especially ACC hoops. He'll be missed.

I thought he was a very strong journalist. Was sorry to see him retire and I'm sorry to hear of his death.

[tfk53]

I had enjoyed his writings since coming to the Triangle in the early 80s. Lots of respect for his perspective. Sorry to hear he has moved on, especially for his family. Our loss.
As am in Ireland currently, will lift my pint of Guinness tonight in his memory.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Sad to hear. I always reading his "grades" after the football weekend, handing out As through Fs to the local coaches and Rivera. I was wondering why I hadn't seen one yet this week.

He definitely left a legacy.

[Tripping William]

Very sad to hear this news, and especially to hear that he was only 70. His columns helped introduce me to the local college sports scene when I moved to Durham in 1993. I did not always agree with him (shocker!), but always respected his perspective.

[Native]

Man — used to read him every morning as a kid in the N&O sports section over cereal. He'll be missed.

[Faison1]

Such a bummer. So sad to hear the news.

Caulton was my landlord back in 2000-2001 when I lived in Raleigh. Totally nice guy, and loved talking basketball. If my memory serves, that was right around when Bobby Knight was getting canned at IU, and Caulton was covering it closely. I loved talking to him about it. Total class act.

[ancienteagle]

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/legendary-nc-sports-columnist-caulton-tudor-dies/17080264/

I didn't realize until today that Tudor was a member of the Angier High basketball team that played Boone Trail High in 1964's famous 13 overtime game.


As the weakest link on a talented Angier High basketball team in 1963-64, Tudor had a role in one of the most famous games ever played – Boone Trail High’s win over Angier in 13 overtimes at Buies Creek in what then was Campbell College’s Carter Gym.

The “longest game” was for the championship of the Harnett 1-A Conference and was played on Feb. 29, 1964 (Leap Day).

The same 10 players went the entire distance. Neither coach – Al Black of Boone Trail and Rudy Brown of Angier – substituted. Boone Trail played Frank Stewart, William Brown, Dennis Walls, Ralph Hester and Gene Wright. Angier played Robert Hall, Johnny Gardner, Ron Ashley, Phil Ferrell and Tudor.

http://www.ncshof.org/caultontudor

[Olympic Fan]

I didn't realize until today that Tudor was a member of the Angier High basketball team that played Boone Trail High in 1964's famous 13 overtime game.


As the weakest link on a talented Angier High basketball team in 1963-64, Tudor had a role in one of the most famous games ever played – Boone Trail High’s win over Angier in 13 overtimes at Buies Creek in what then was Campbell College’s Carter Gym.

The “longest game” was for the championship of the Harnett 1-A Conference and was played on Feb. 29, 1964 (Leap Day).

The same 10 players went the entire distance. Neither coach – Al Black of Boone Trail and Rudy Brown of Angier – substituted. Boone Trail played Frank Stewart, William Brown, Dennis Walls, Ralph Hester and Gene Wright. Angier played Robert Hall, Johnny Gardner, Ron Ashley, Phil Ferrell and Tudor.

http://www.ncshof.org/caultontudor

Tudor was always proud of playing in that game. He talked about it all the time.

Tutes was as popular as any writer covering the ACC, even though he was always pushing a crazy idea. I can member back in 1978, after the Duke-Kentucky title game that Tudor was going nuts, running around, trying to find a tape of the final seconds of that game. If you recall, Duke cut a big Kentucky lead to four points in the final seconds, forcing Joe Hall to put his starters back in. With 10 seconds or so left, Kentucky made a long inbounds to James Lee down the sideline and he took it in for the clinching basket. Tutes was convinced that Lee was out of bounds when he caught the pass and Duke should have had the ball back under its basket with 10 seconds left, down four. (I've since seen the play and Lee wasn't out of bounds).

Still, my fondest memory of the guy was the night of the 1992 Duke-Kentucky game. We were in Lexington, Kr. that night, covering UNC in the Mideast Regional. Saturday was an off day in Lexington and Tutes had the idea to rent a room in Rick Pitino's Restaurant to watch the game. We not only had two nice TVs in our private room, we had a glass wall overlooking the bar area -- so we could watch the game and watch the Kentucky fans packed in below us.

As the game went on. Tutes came up with one of his wild theories -- Could, he argued, Christian Laettner be the greatest player in ACC history? I argued with him -- Laettner was great, but Tutes knew that David Thompson was incomparable. We debated throughout the game, which ended with Laettner's game-winner ... I told Tudor that I still didn't agree with his premise, but I had to admire his timing (BTW: Unbelievable how quickly the bar area below up cleared out after Laettner hit that shot -- it was like there was a bomb scare.

PS Pardon my long absence from this forum -- I've had some health issues that have sidelined me for the last two months. Still not all the way back, but I'm home and getting better.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Oly, glad to hear that you’re feeling better! LGD GTHc!

[jv001]

Tudor was always proud of playing in that game. He talked about it all the time.

Tutes was as popular as any writer covering the ACC, even though he was always pushing a crazy idea. I can member back in 1978, after the Duke-Kentucky title game that Tudor was going nuts, running around, trying to find a tape of the final seconds of that game. If you recall, Duke cut a big Kentucky lead to four points in the final seconds, forcing Joe Hall to put his starters back in. With 10 seconds or so left, Kentucky made a long inbounds to James Lee down the sideline and he took it in for the clinching basket. Tutes was convinced that Lee was out of bounds when he caught the pass and Duke should have had the ball back under its basket with 10 seconds left, down four. (I've since seen the play and Lee wasn't out of bounds).

Still, my fondest memory of the guy was the night of the 1992 Duke-Kentucky game. We were in Lexington, Kr. that night, covering UNC in the Mideast Regional. Saturday was an off day in Lexington and Tutes had the idea to rent a room in Rick Pitino's Restaurant to watch the game. We not only had two nice TVs in our private room, we had a glass wall overlooking the bar area -- so we could watch the game and watch the Kentucky fans packed in below us.

As the game went on. Tutes came up with one of his wild theories -- Could, he argued, Christian Laettner be the greatest player in ACC history? I argued with him -- Laettner was great, but Tutes knew that David Thompson was incomparable. We debated throughout the game, which ended with Laettner's game-winner ... I told Tudor that I still didn't agree with his premise, but I had to admire his timing (BTW: Unbelievable how quickly the bar area below up cleared out after Laettner hit that shot -- it was like there was a bomb scare.

PS Pardon my long absence from this forum -- I've had some health issues that have sidelined me for the last two months. Still not all the way back, but I'm home and getting better.

Glad to have you back on here. You've been missed. Prayers. GoDuke!

[OldPhiKap]

Welcome back Oly! Hope you continue to mend, and quickly.

[ehdg]

Wow very sorry to hear about the passing of Tudor!! I loved reading his column and didn't even realize he was 70. Though in today's world 70 isn't that old anymore and kind of sad he went fairly young. He was one of the much better sport writers out there and also a good read.

OLY happy to see your back and here's hoping the recovery goes well.