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A Father’s Day thread for my Dad. It feels almost surreal to type this but we lost him Friday night after an 8-year battle with Parkinson’s.
I have loved basketball for as long as I can remember. Dad and my two older brothers Chris & Nick were my earliest influences.
I have loved basketball for as long as I can remember. Dad and my two older brothers Chris & Nick were my earliest influences.
Turn back the clock to March 17th, 1991:
I am 6 years old and headed to the Carrier Dome for the NCAA Tournament 2nd round....riding in a winnebago with Dad & friends on the way up to see a doubleheader. Penn State and Eastern Michigan are game 2 and UNC and Villanova game 1.
I am 6 years old and headed to the Carrier Dome for the NCAA Tournament 2nd round....riding in a winnebago with Dad & friends on the way up to see a doubleheader. Penn State and Eastern Michigan are game 2 and UNC and Villanova game 1.
Most of our crew cares more about game 2. Dad’s best friend Randy is a big Penn State fan. The Nittany Lions have a talented guard named Freddie Barnes & are coached by Bruce Parkhill. During game 1, almost every person in our
pie-shaped wedge section of seats roots for Nova.
pie-shaped wedge section of seats roots for Nova.
Except one. I rooted for Carolina to be contrarian and Dad came along for the ride. The Heels have a cocky but steady point guard in King Rice and four guys averaging double figures led by a senior named Rick Fox. There’s also a freshman center with the last name Montross.
Every time UNC scores I stand up and taunt some of the section. Carolina goes on to win & ends up in the Final Four eventually losing to Mark Randall and Kansas, the runner up that year to Duke in a title game that houses one of the greatest dunks in NCAA history by Grant Hill.
I watch Carolina get knocked out with Dad on a family trip to Mystic, CT. I think Dad rooted for Carolina initially because I did & it stuck. Several years later his friend Randy visits UNC and Duke with his son Jason.
On their trip to Chapel Hill, they see a brochure for a basketball camp but this one is a little different. It takes place on Father’s Day weekend & is hosted by Eric Montross in order to raise money for @uncchildrens hospital in memory of his friend Jason Clark.
Fathers & sons get a dream UNC weekend together and a chance to play hoops on the Dean Smith Center floor. That became our annual trip over Father’s Day. After I became too old for camp, we’d come back & volunteer. There were some years we’d make a whole week out of it.
We’d sneak into the Dean Dome to watch late night pickup games (sometimes even between Carolina’s 5 and Duke’s 5), hit up the movies multiple times, and go to dinner @TheTopoftheHill and Squid’s.
One night walking down the tunnel we ended up face to face with Michael Jordan and Matt Doherty. I was shook but thankfully still found the words to ask his Airness to sign a basketball card. I have hundreds of memories just like that...Dad was always just as excited if not more.
In 2016, we were able to see
Carolina-Nova in Houston and the Kris Jenkins shot in person. The next year I was fortunate enough to take he and my Mom to Phoenix for the Final Four and we watched the Heels cut down the nets.
Carolina-Nova in Houston and the Kris Jenkins shot in person. The next year I was fortunate enough to take he and my Mom to Phoenix for the Final Four and we watched the Heels cut down the nets.
Last June was the 25 year anniversary of Montross Camp. Dad hadn’t been in a few years because his parkinson’s had gotten worse and he didn’t walk as well. We were finally able to get him back there & there was a glow in him over those two days that I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Eric was in the middle of a speech at the start of the camp and we had gotten into town a little late. As we wheeled Dad down the hall of the Smith Center concourse, he stopped mid-sentence & came over to say hi. Dad was never one for attention but didn’t seem to mind this time.
A year later here we are. Like just about everything else, Montross Camp was cancelled thanks to Covid-19. Dad went into hospice on Tuesday and passed on what would’ve been the first night of camp Friday.
My wife pointed out to me that maybe it’s because that was his favorite thing.
I believe that. Today is my 3rd Father’s Day & first without Dad. Our 2-year old comes over to me & says: “Daddy.....look pictures, ‘Pa.” She has said that every day for the last two months.
I believe that. Today is my 3rd Father’s Day & first without Dad. Our 2-year old comes over to me & says: “Daddy.....look pictures, ‘Pa.” She has said that every day for the last two months.
I bought her a cow stuffed animal in the hospital gift shop the other day and told her it was from ‘Pa. She sleeps with it tucked under her arm at night. If I become half the father to our girls that my Dad was to us then I have done something right.
Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful Dads out there. Call yours today and tell him you love him. I had the best one and really wish I could. We love you Dad. It’s not goodbye.....just see you later.
I am so very proud to be your son.
I am so very proud to be your son.
