RIP Billy Packer

[OldPhiKap]

That's funny. I had a classmate in high school who basically had the same experience with Duke when they were waiting to get a commitment from some guy named "Jason Williams."

Some dynamics don't change.

Bobby Hurley committed to Duke because K said he would not recruit another pg that class if Bobby committed, while Dean would not make the same promise.

[TKG]

Bobby Hurley committed to Duke because K said he would not recruit another pg that class if Bobby committed, while Dean would not make the same promise.

Was that Kenny Anderson , who ended up at GT? So Dean lost on both.

[TywinBlue]

Rest In Peace Billy Packer.

Younger fans may not remember, but during the mid to late 1970s( pre ESPN) there was only ONE national college basketball game televised, on a Saturday afternoon, NBC with Enberg, Packer and Al Maguire- it was like Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell & Don Meredith coming to town-it said that you were worth seeing and BELONGED in the national conversation.

January 28, 1979 the Enberg, Packer, McGuire circus came to Cameron; Al McGuire in pit helmet, whip & chair as lion tamer to our raucous crowd; Billy Packer getting loudly booed (as usual); unforgettable.

Duke beat Marquette 69-64.

Billy Packer once said " I'm often wrong, but never in doubt."
No truer words were ever spoken.

Thacker-Packer now sails again with The Pilot and calls games on THE BIG COURT in heaven.

Rest In Peace.

[miramar]

Rest In Peace Billy Packer.

Younger fans may not remember, but during the mid to late 1970s( pre ESPN) there was only ONE national college basketball game televised, on a Saturday afternoon, NBC with Enberg, Packer and Al Maguire- it was like Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell & Don Meredith coming to town-it said that you were worth seeing and BELONGED in the national conversation.

January 28, 1979 the Enberg, Packer, McGuire circus came to Cameron; Al McGuire in pit helmet, whip & chair as lion tamer to our raucous crowd; Billy Packer getting loudly booed (as usual); unforgettable.

Duke beat Marquette 69-64.

Billy Packer once said " I'm often wrong, but never in doubt."
No truer words were ever spoken.

Thacker-Packer now sails again with The Pilot and calls games on THE BIG COURT in heaven.

Rest In Peace.

Packer’s best moments were when McGuire used him as his foil in those early national broadcasts. They were a great tag team, but when McGuire retired, then Packer became a knowledgeable curmudgeon.

I always thought that when Duke lost in the Final Four, Packer truly enjoyed reminding the audience that Duke held the record for most FF appearances without a championship. IIRC, we got up to nine appearances, but I can’t be sure.

[Section 15]

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.

I saw Packer play Duke at least twice (maybe three times - memory is like that) and he always looked angry on the court, especially as he launched one of his long range set shots. Anyone else remember how popular the two handed set shot was?

He was a real competitor. I believe that he made a few All American teams his senior year - not first team AA, but still recognized as one of the best.

I was surprised to read that he didn't start broadcasting ACC games until 1972. I seem to remember him doing games with Bones McKinney in the 60s. He would always refer to McKinney as "coach" on air.

RIP - He was one of those people who made the ACC the interesting league that it was and I believe still is today.

[Section 15]

Wake.jpg

Pretty sure that this was the year after Packer graduated, but Duke and Wake used to play at least one of their games each year in Greensboro. Just happened to dig it up after my last post.

oops... 1965 was more than a year after Packer graduated. Should wear my glasses more often.

[Rich]

Rest In Peace Billy Packer.

Younger fans may not remember, but during the mid to late 1970s( pre ESPN) there was only ONE national college basketball game televised, on a Saturday afternoon, NBC with Enberg, Packer and Al Maguire- it was like Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell & Don Meredith coming to town-it said that you were worth seeing and BELONGED in the national conversation.

January 28, 1979 the Enberg, Packer, McGuire circus came to Cameron; Al McGuire in pit helmet, whip & chair as lion tamer to our raucous crowd; Billy Packer getting loudly booed (as usual); unforgettable.

Duke beat Marquette 69-64.

Billy Packer once said " I'm often wrong, but never in doubt."
No truer words were ever spoken.

Thacker-Packer now sails again with The Pilot and calls games on THE BIG COURT in heaven.

Rest In Peace.

Your timelines are off unless they did it more than once. The pith helmet game was in the '80's when I was a student. I think it was the Carolina game in 1986. I know, because McGuire threw the helmet into the crowd after their halftime act and I still have it. Also, by then CBS (Packer) had its own coverage apart from NBC (McGuire, Enberg). Packer was not at the pith helmet game.

[Bob Green]

RIP, Mr. Packer.

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.

I have so many wonderful memories of Packer, Thacker and that wonderful Sail with the Pilot ditty.

[Nepos]

Luke Decock of the N&O (by far the best sportswriter there, in my opinion) on BP: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article271728572.html

[MChambers]

Your timelines are off unless they did it more than once. The pith helmet game was in the '80's when I was a student. I think it was the Carolina game in 1986. I know, because McGuire threw the helmet into the crowd after their halftime act and I still have it. Also, by then CBS (Packer) had its own coverage apart from NBC (McGuire, Enberg). Packer was not at the pith helmet game.

I don't remember the pith helmet at the 1979 game. But it was the first nationally game from Cameron in many years. Billy walked out to a microphone set up at center court before the game and told us all not to do anything that would embarrass our families, our university, or ourselves. Everybody started chanting "Billy s****". I'm told that the national telecast started with "live from Cameron Indoor Stadium" with the chant still going in the background.

[OldPhiKap]

Your timelines are off unless they did it more than once. The pith helmet game was in the '80's when I was a student. I think it was the Carolina game in 1986. I know, because McGuire threw the helmet into the crowd after their halftime act and I still have it. Also, by then CBS (Packer) had its own coverage apart from NBC (McGuire, Enberg). Packer was not at the pith helmet game.

Yes, this happened when we were there in the mid-80’s.

[VA_BDevil]

RIP, Mr. Packer.



I have so many wonderful memories of Packer, Thacker and that wonderful Sail with the Pilot ditty.

Yep, same here. Definitely good (but fading!) memories for me.

[CameronDuke]

I did not realize Billy’s Dad, Tony, had 35 years of service at Lehigh University, including being the head coach of the men’s basketball team from 1950-1966. It would make sense that Billy likely thoroughly enjoyed the beat down Lehigh handed Duke in the 2012 NCAAT first round at the Greensboro Coliseum at the hands of CJ McCollum. I bet he got a real kick out of that.

RIP.

[sagegrouse]

Packer’s best moments were when McGuire used him as his foil in those early national broadcasts. They were a great tag team, but when McGuire retired, then Packer became a knowledgeable curmudgeon.

I always thought that when Duke lost in the Final Four, Packer truly enjoyed reminding the audience that Duke held the record for most FF appearances without a championship. IIRC, we got up to nine appearances, but I can’t be sure.

1963
1964
1966
1978
1986
1988
1989
1990

1991 - won
1992 - won
1994
1999
2001 - won
2004
2010 - won
2015 - won
2022

We won #9.

[roywhite]

Something Billy Packer and our Coach K had in common -- each was elected to the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame

From Wiki:
Packer was born Anthony William Paczkowski in Wellsville, New York.[1] His parents subsequently changed their Polish surname from Paczkowski to Packer. His father Tony was an outstanding athlete in football, basketball, and baseball at St. Lawrence University and was inducted into the University's Hall of Fame in 1982.

and this also from Wiki with a list of inductees which contains a bit of surprise, at least it did to me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...s_Hall_of_Fame

The surprise -- Coach K is not the only Duke Basketball connection --- Mike Gminski, Bobby Hurley, and Christian Laettner were also elected to the Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame

[jv001]

Wake.jpg

Pretty sure that this was the year after Packer graduated, but Duke and Wake used to play at least one of their games each year in Greensboro. Just happened to dig it up after my last post.

oops... 1965 was more than a year after Packer graduated. Should wear my glasses more often.

Thirteen days after that game, I was inducted into the US Army and on my way to FT. Jackson for boot camp. I went to many Duke games in Greensboro and might have been at that one, but I didn't keep my ticket stub. Wish I had though.

GoDuke!

[Dopeshop]

I always enjoyed Billy
Watching Packer and Chappell was an absolute clinic ( he really did enjoy beating the Devils )
The early CD Chesley/ Pilot Life weekly broadcasts were mandatory
Viewing.
Here’s a neat Duke Indoor Stadium memory.
In the early days,there were no shoulder mounted cameras.
There were a couple of huge ones mounted on a circular roller . They would slowly creep around during timeouts but it was a SLOW process.
One enterprising Dukie created a neat 2x2 poster with the logo and block letters :” Pilot Life “
He stood with it against his chest for most of the first half.
During a timeout one of the cameras wheeled over and got a close up of the smiling student and his sign … at which time he slowly flipped it over ..
On the other side ? SUCKS !”

What fun memories

[Dukerulz]

I’m sorry to hear that Billy passed but I never cared for his broadcasts. I felt it pained him to say anything positive about Duke. I can’t recall the exact details but I read where he came to Duke for a game and forgot his credentials. He initially couldn’t get in and after a lengthy delay he finally gained entry. None of the staffing recognized him which infuriated him and gave me a laugh.

[Section 15]

I always enjoyed Billy
Watching Packer and Chappell was an absolute clinic ( he really did enjoy beating the Devils )
The early CD Chesley/ Pilot Life weekly broadcasts were mandatory
Viewing.

There was another guard at Wake Packer's senior year named Dave Wiedeman. He was a much smoother ball handler than Packer. They were good complements for each other and part of the reason they went to the FF that year.

BTW: We should all thank that team for what they did for Duke and the ACC. Because of the smaller size of the tournament back then, each region had a bye to the regionals. The conference with the highest winning % got the bye, which meant that team started in the sweet 16. Until 1962 the Atlantic 10 (I think) had the bye. By getting to the FF Wake tipped the winning % to the ACC. The next year, 1963, Duke went directly to the regionals after winning the ACC tournament. The ACC held the bye for years after that until the "big" tournament expanded and the byes were eliminated.

1963.jpg

(12 bucks for the whole tournament and no Iron Dukes fee )

[Tom B.]

I know his rep about disliking Duke - and I generally agree with it. But I've watch the tape of the 1991 Final Four. SO. MANY. TIMES. that it's the first thing I think about when I think about Packer.

Another fun moment in that game when Packer was openly siding with Duke occurred in the second half when Bobby Hurley fouled Anderson Hunt hard on a fast break. Probably would've been called a Flagrant 1 nowadays, and the UNLV guys were screaming for it to be called an intentional foul, but the officials called it a common foul and Packer was adamant that the refs were correct, which led to this funny exchange with Jim Nantz as they were showing the replay.

Packer: Now watch Hurley. He's going up to make the block. He went after the ball.

[Replay shows Hurley trying to remove Hunt's head and arms as he goes up for the shot.]

Packer: Aggressive, but he went after the ball.

Nantz: He just happened to take Anderson's Hunt's arms off, but...

[Another replay]

Packer: See the play, Bobby Hurley goes up, going for the block, stays with it all the way.

UNLV was so apoplectic at the call that Larry Johnson picked up a technical foul during all the jawing that ensued after Hurley's foul on Hunt, giving Duke two free throws and the ball. Laettner hit one of the two FTs and Greg Koubek hit a jumper for Duke on the ensuing possession, and those points turned out to be kind of important.

Here's a link with the video cued to the relevant part of the game: https://youtu.be/-28aGo4xNj8?t=3145