Hot Rod Hundley dies at 80: Legendary scorer, court jester, NBA broadcaster

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia basketball legend Hot Rod Hundley, who paired All-American skills with a freewheeling showmanship and later became one of the NBA’s most tenured broadcasters, died Friday at his home in Phoenix. He was 80.

“West Virginia lost a dear friend today as Hot Rod Hundley has passed away. He will be dearly missed,” Mountaineers basketball coach Bob Huggins tweeted. “Rod was not only a friend of WVU, but a dear friend to our basketball program. I will miss him very much. RIP Hot Rod.”

Hundley, who joined Jerry West as the only Mountaineers basketball players to have their jerseys retired, had been coping with Alzheimer’s for more than a year.

“Rod ‘Hot Rod’ Hundley, No. 33, was an innovative player, a Hall of Fame broadcaster and just a wonderful person. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time. His Mountaineer legacy will forever be embedded in our hearts.” — WVU president Gordon Gee

Hundley grew up in Charleston as an orphan and recalled being “tossed around” from family to family. But he fell in love with basketball at Reynolds Street Park, which sat adjacent to the home of an elderly couple that took him in.

At 6-foot-4 he became a three-time all-state high school star and earned dozens of scholarship offers before landing at WVU, where became an All-American and scored more than 2,000 points from 1955 to 1957.

His 26.6 points per game in 1956 rank as third-best single-season scoring average in Mountaineers history, behind Will Robinson and Jerry West. No one has topped the 54 points Hundley scored in a victory over Furman on Jan. 5, 1957.

Along with high-scoring games, Hundley delivered entertaining antics, such as rolling the ball up and down his arms or dribbling it off his knees. Late in the 1955 season, upon being advised that he was within two points of the Southern Conference tournament scoring record, Hundley attempted two free throws from behind his back—missing both.

Selected by the Cincinnati Royals as the top overall pick in the 1957 NBA draft, Hundley’s rights were dealt to the Lakers. During a six-year professional career in Minneapolis and Los Angeles, he appeared in two All-Star games but averaged only 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists. Though slowed by a knee injury, he said in a candid 2003 interview that a penchant for partying and carousing actually cut short his playing days.

“Boy, you talk about regrets. I’d have a nice pension now. If I had had Jerry (West’s) dedication. I had more natural talent than he did. I was an idiot. I was too busy Hollywooding it. I had never seen anything like it.”

He went on to a Hall-of-Fame career as a play-by-play analyst with the Lakers, Suns and Jazz, absorbing lessons from the iconic Chick Hearn.

“I could have gone to 10 schools and never learned more than I did by just sitting beside him with the headset on doing the game,” Hundley told his alma mater’s website in 2010. “He was fast with the mic and the location of the ball was very important.”

It was in New Orleans and Utah where Hundley became a fixture, broadcasting more than 3,000 Jazz games on television and radio during a 35-year stretch that culminated in 2009.

In 2010, the team dedicated its media center at Energy Solutions Arena to Hundley and hung a banner bearing his name among the franchise’s retired numbers.

Hundley’s No. 33 was retired by WVU in 2010, and he was most recently honored in his hometown last December when the YMCA basketball court was renamed after him.

What a great Mountaineer who always cared for and loved his University. I am told at his number retirement ceremony that he made one last hook shot in front of a packed house that brought a huge smile to his face. What a special way for our fans to remember one of our all-time greats. Thanks, Hot Rod, for all the memories and you will be forever remembered by your alma mater. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family and may this Hall of Fame broadcaster and first truly great showman in college basketball rest in peace.” — WVU athletics director Shane Lyons





More News

News
One injured in Wood County helicopter crash
The person was taken to the hospital by a medical helicopter.
March 18, 2024 - 8:30 pm
News
Man charged in woman's death in Pocahontas County
Police said suspect and victim were "covered in blood."
March 18, 2024 - 8:15 pm
News
WVU officials work to help students recover following The Lofts blaze
Blaze occurred Friday morning.
March 18, 2024 - 8:06 pm
News
Person found dead in car at Beckley Elementary School parking lot
Beckley police are investigating.
March 18, 2024 - 7:05 pm