J Whitehead has passed

[Gato78]

Steve Aschburner‏@AschNBA

R.I.P. Jerome Whitehead, 56. Al McGuire's last aircraft carrier. http://on.nba.com/W7lkhF 11-yr NBA http://bit.ly/12W35lg pic.twitter.com/Ng2Z6dWl

[MUMac]

Wow. Really sad to see. RIP and Godspeed. I will always remember the last play against UNCC in the Semifinal. He was fun to watch.

[CaribouJim]

I remember the first game back from Christmas break in the '76-'77 championship season where they introduced the new unis - I stood at court side for a few minutes watching them warm up before I went to the student seating thinking how cool the unis looked, especially Butch with the hood up, and how imposing Jerome looked. For that era before weight lifting kicked in he just looked so intimidating. That front line when Toone was in was studly in size with Bo joining Jerome and Bernard. Rare big man whose hands improved markedly over his college career.

He had a decent run with the Warriors - the NBA channel showed one of his games with them within the last few months and I remember the announcers being pretty complementary about his game.

I was living in San Antonio and a Spurs season ticket holder during his final year in the NBA with the Spurs and was meeting with my boss at the Holiday Inn and was waiting for the elevator and the doors opened and there was Jerome - was so surprised to see him that I was too slow on the draw to welcome him to San Antonio.

Don't know if many would have thought that he would have had the longest NBA tenure by far from those 3 MU powerhouse teams that he played on.

[MUMac]

Thanks for comments and bumping this CaribouJim. Sort of surprised that this thread has drawn next to no interest, response or comments. If there was a way to turn it into a debate about Dayton, it would have several pages. That is sad, really.

[TheSultan]

Thanks for comments and bumping this CaribouJim. Sort of surprised that this thread has drawn next to no interest, response or comments. If there was a way to turn it into a debate about Dayton, it would have several pages. That is sad, really.


I think a lot of posters are like myself. I'm 45 years old...I won 10 when MU won the championship. I remember it distinctly because my dad was a big MU fan. But I honestly have no memories specifically of him, either on or off the court outside of vague recollections of him in the NBA. I am sad for his family and those that knew him.

[ValiantSailor]

I think a lot of posters are like myself. I'm 45 years old...I won 10 when MU won the championship. I remember it distinctly because my dad was a big MU fan. But I honestly have no memories specifically of him, either on or off the court outside of vague recollections of him in the NBA. I am sad for his family and those that knew him.

And I'm two decades older! In '77, I was working on the left coast, where the only MU games that were broadcast were the semis and the finals. There was no internet and virtually no newspaper coverage of anything MU. By '78, I was overseas, with zero coverage.

Sometimes, it's easy to forget how little information we lived with only a few years ago.

VS

[IWB]

I was bummed when I first saw this and even more bummed when I read the cause of death.

My favorite memory of J-Whitehead was off the court. My oldest brother went to MU and was in the same class as these guys. For now, I'll just refer to my brother as Gato78 to protect his anonymity. For whatever reason, whenever my brother and his roommates had a party, my parents would stop by. Well, I was along and I will never forget the scene - sitting on the couch..... J-Whitehead, Butch Lee and Ulice Payne. They see me and immediately put me to work.....filling up their pitcher. There was always a line at the barrel, but everyone always parted the sea to let me fill it up for those guys. Must have done it 6-7 times.

So how many times do you think I told that story back at school on Monday morning? It was legendary.

[Gato78]

They were filling up pitchers to pour beer for the women. Butch didn't drink. J only a little. UP not a big drinker but not afraid. At one party, we had J Whitehead carry the half barrells up the stairs in the old Hegarty Arms. J stated, in his deep and slow voice: "This may be detrimental to my pro career". In today's world, that would be the warmup for a weight lifting workout.

[IWB]

Great story on our front page (http://www.brewcityball.com/forums/content.php?503-Over-the-Rim-to-the-Bathroom-Floor-the-sad-and-untimely-passing-of-Jerome-Whitehead) by John Basil....

[Phantom Warrior]

Nice job, John!

[CaribouJim]

The NBA Channel had a year-end recap of 2012 and the last thing they had was a memoriam (sp?) that included Rick and Jerome. Jerome's was a slashing move to the basket while playing for the GS Warriors - not the MU Warriors.

In conjunction with the moment of silence for Jerome last night it would have been cool to precede it with the UNCC video along with Curt Gowdy's call. I think Jerome would have loved that.