https://www.si.com/college/2023/01/2...ker-dies-at-82
Man, his voice was just the soundtrack of college basketball season for me.
Thoughts to his family.
RIP Mr. Cash
Didn’t he famously tell a female Duke student that she could earn as much money as she wanted in the world’s oldest profession?
I was going to find one of his Mr. Cash commercials, but if I had to post just one Billy Packer video to this thread, the choice is obvious.
(This screenshot is terrible, but the video is pretty clear.)
Packer, Thacker, Sail with the Pilot, the ACC game of the week. So many memories of the ACC becoming a huge part of the culture of our region.
Billy had his issues with Duke and vice versa, but he knew the game and loved it. RIP.
**Just an additional note to add this amazing stat -- Billy broadcast 34 consecutive Final Fours.
Last edited by roywhite; 01-27-2023 at 12:01 AM.
He always referred to us as “Duke University”, rarely just “Duke”.
Packer and Thacker back the Pack. RIP Billy.
I actually sat next to Billy on a flight from Greensboro to St. Louis for the 1978 Final Four. He didn’t think Duke had a chance against ND in the first game.
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Synonymous with the game. I am sorry he's gone.
Just to clarify, he said something sexist but not as bad as I had remembered
http://static.espn.go.com/ncb/news/2.../00406494.html
RIP to a real Duke hater. de mortuis nil nisi bonum
My favorite memory of Billy Packer is the 1991 Duke-UNLV game. For all his rep as a curmudgeon who was sour on Duke (some of which was well-earned), by the end of that game, he could barely contain his excitement and was all but openly rooting for Duke to win.
One particularly fun moment from that game was when UNLV went up by five with a couple minutes to go and Duke had the ball, Packer said, "Still plenty of time to not worry about a three..." right as Hurley was shooting and swishing The Three -- in fact, the ball went through the net just as Packer said the word "three" -- and he immediately segued into "...but Hurley hits one right there because it was available."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQdzg_dEfyY
"I swear Roy must redeem extra timeouts at McDonald's the day after the game for free hamburgers." --Posted on InsideCarolina, 2/18/2015
Packer, Dick Enberg, and Al McGuire contributed mightily to the the popularity of college basketball in the 1970s and 1980s. Billy knew his hoops, even if he could be an unpleasant and difficult person at times.
Packer was also the master of, "I think {insert coach's name} needs a time out here"...or "If i was Coach X, I'd think about bringing in some size"...which he passed off as his amazing basketball acumen/ability to predict the near future when it was really him seeing what was happening from his courtside perch and saying it right before the thing happened.
Yeah, the story was told in one of the 10-part ACC Tournament retrospective episodes that came out last year on the ACC Network (and I think on the regular ESPN channel as well).
Billy said he wanted to go to Duke since the time he was in 9th grade; his Father finally told him to commit to Duke and get it over with, so he called the Duke staff. The Duke coaches couldn't give him a firm answer, said they were down to 2 choices for a scholarship guard and wanted to evaluate for another couple of weeks or so. Billy was greatly offended and immediately got in touch with Bones McKinney at Wake to tell them he wanted to commit to Wake. Billy said he competed extra hard when playing against Duke, particularly in the ACC Tournament.
He became quite a curmudgeon in his later years, but he was a tremendous game analyst, and I always appreciated that he refused to talk about the NBA while broadcasting a college game. His love for the game was clear and he always added value to the broadcast.
Billy discussed ACC basketball with me for two hours at an outdoor concert in 1977. He and I were so happy to have found each other for that talk at a otherwise boring event. Packer had much to do with the ascension of ACC basketball. Wake’s win in the 3rd place game gave Duke a bye in 1963- our first final four. Too bad he wasn’t a Blue Devil. I know some Duke fans had issues with Billy, but he made a fan in me. ACC royalty!