donbosco
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 6,316
Originally composed on the day that his passing was announced...
Farewell Billy Packer (January 26, 2023) — He’s “‘Sailin’ With The Pilot” now I reckon. He was an ornery, biased cuss but nobody, save perhaps that other ornery, biased cuss, Bones McKinney, knew Atlantic Coast Conference basketball, and the culture of it, like Billy Packer. Certainly the heyday of ACC Basketball Broadcasting coincided with Packer’s team-up with play-by-play man, Jim Thacker. The combination of their voices - and I can hear it now ringing in my fondest memories - signaled “Throwdown” on so many evenings and weekends throughout the winter months in the 1970s.
Listen here -- and believe me, this is a real treat.
Packer and Thacker steered us through the league in those days - and throw in McKinney for good measure. For me these voices marked my own high school playing days and college fandom. Sure I listened to Woody Durham - in fact there were times when Packer so infuriated me that I turned down the sound and turned up the radio. I even listened to both at once on occasion. Today I mostly mute TV ‘announcers’ but in those days I was always drawn back to Packer because, while his sentiments regarding certain schools, players, and coaches were only thinly veiled, he did not babble but rather talked hoops and history. Neither Packer, nor Thacker, droned on about hair dye, tie dye, or past glories. In fact, if you didn’t do your homework you might even miss that Packer was a stalwart shooting guard for a Wake Forest squad that played in the Final Four in 1962.
Eventually Packer went nation-wide, as did the ACC. With that we lost a good deal of our regional rivalries and that sense that what went on in arenas named Joel, Reynolds, Cameron, and Carmichael represented the very Center of the College Basketball World. As a boy I hardly pondered national championships - first thing’s first after all - the ACC Tournament in GREENSBORO was the top of the mountain. That was why you wore your gear to school or work or yes, even to church. With the intrusion of Syracuse, Boston College, Notre Dame, and even Florida State - here in North Carolina many lost some focus. I lament that thinning of the Blood Rivalries to the point of ‘every once in a while’ even missing Sub Carolina’s role in the league.
I certainly didn’t ‘like’ Billy Packer but I damn sure respected him. Billy Packer understood The Big Four and he knew every bump, hairpin curve, and detour on Tobacco Road and he, Thacker, and Bones were our learned guides. Give that YouTube linked above a listen and take just a moment to remember. Adios Packer, you were understandably and perfectly partisan.
Farewell Billy Packer (January 26, 2023) — He’s “‘Sailin’ With The Pilot” now I reckon. He was an ornery, biased cuss but nobody, save perhaps that other ornery, biased cuss, Bones McKinney, knew Atlantic Coast Conference basketball, and the culture of it, like Billy Packer. Certainly the heyday of ACC Basketball Broadcasting coincided with Packer’s team-up with play-by-play man, Jim Thacker. The combination of their voices - and I can hear it now ringing in my fondest memories - signaled “Throwdown” on so many evenings and weekends throughout the winter months in the 1970s.
Listen here -- and believe me, this is a real treat.
Packer and Thacker steered us through the league in those days - and throw in McKinney for good measure. For me these voices marked my own high school playing days and college fandom. Sure I listened to Woody Durham - in fact there were times when Packer so infuriated me that I turned down the sound and turned up the radio. I even listened to both at once on occasion. Today I mostly mute TV ‘announcers’ but in those days I was always drawn back to Packer because, while his sentiments regarding certain schools, players, and coaches were only thinly veiled, he did not babble but rather talked hoops and history. Neither Packer, nor Thacker, droned on about hair dye, tie dye, or past glories. In fact, if you didn’t do your homework you might even miss that Packer was a stalwart shooting guard for a Wake Forest squad that played in the Final Four in 1962.
Eventually Packer went nation-wide, as did the ACC. With that we lost a good deal of our regional rivalries and that sense that what went on in arenas named Joel, Reynolds, Cameron, and Carmichael represented the very Center of the College Basketball World. As a boy I hardly pondered national championships - first thing’s first after all - the ACC Tournament in GREENSBORO was the top of the mountain. That was why you wore your gear to school or work or yes, even to church. With the intrusion of Syracuse, Boston College, Notre Dame, and even Florida State - here in North Carolina many lost some focus. I lament that thinning of the Blood Rivalries to the point of ‘every once in a while’ even missing Sub Carolina’s role in the league.
I certainly didn’t ‘like’ Billy Packer but I damn sure respected him. Billy Packer understood The Big Four and he knew every bump, hairpin curve, and detour on Tobacco Road and he, Thacker, and Bones were our learned guides. Give that YouTube linked above a listen and take just a moment to remember. Adios Packer, you were understandably and perfectly partisan.
