Rod Hundley

Rodney Clark "Hot Rod" Hundley (October 26, 1934 – March 27, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and television broadcaster. Hundley played college basketball for the West Virginia Mountaineers and was selected by the Cincinnati Royals with the first overall pick of the 1957 NBA draft. In 2003, Hundley received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Hundley's life revolved around the game of basketball. His love and talent for the game led him to achieve honors in high school and most notably during his college years. At West Virginia University, Hundley played to packed crowds at the Old Field House. His dribbling antics and daredevil maneuvers on the floor led to his popular nickname, "Hot Rod". He later was a broadcaster for the Utah Jazz.

Early life Hundley was born on October 26, 1934, in Charleston, West Virginia. His parents divorced when he was young, after his father abandoned his teenage mother shortly after Hundley was born. He was sent to live with various relatives and friends in Charleston, and was placed in foster homes where he was abused and neglected. He was finally placed with a kindly older couple, living with them until he was 16; though his bedroom was a closet under the stairs in their small home. In high school, Hundley lived alone in a cheap hotel. He spent considerable time at YMCA basketball courts (where he began playing basketball at age 10), bars, and pool halls. In 2014, the YMCA of Kanawha Valley renamed its gymnasium in Hundley's honor.

Hundley showed evident talent for the game during his youth. At Charleston High School in West Virginia he averaged 30 points per game, and was named All-State three times,

He received over 100 scholarship offers to colleges and universities. As a freshman in 1953-1954, Hundley averaged nearly 35 points per game, and set a freshman scoring record with 62 points in a game against Ohio University.

The Mountaineers made their first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament appearance in 1955, Hundley's sophomore season, where they lost in the first round to eventual national champion La Salle. WVU also played in the NCAA tournaments in 1956 (losing to Dartmouth by two points in the first round) and 1957 (losing to Canisius in the first round). The Associated Press (AP) ranked the Mountaineers No. 19 in the nation in 1954-55, No. 20 in 1955-56, and as high as No. 4 in 1956-57, with a final ranking at No. 7. Hundley's first six games of the season had scores of 34 points, 20 points, 27 points, 40 points, 20 points, and 21 points, respectively. He then had games of 23 points and 29 points against Columbia and Washington and Lee, respectively. He followed up with 17 points and 9 rebounds against Villanova, 25 points and 10 rebounds against La Salle, then a career-game of 24 points, 26 rebounds and 9 assists against VMI. He then had 28 points against Carnegie Tech and 29 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists against Penn State. He followed it up with 29 points against Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl, 35 points and 6 rebounds against Furman, 28 points against VMI, and then 25 points and 24 rebounds against Richmond. He followed up with 25 points against Penn State and 28 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists against Virginia Tech. He continued with 38 points against William & Mary, 40 points and 13 rebounds against St. John's, 31 points and 13 rebounds against William & Mary, and then 40 points and 7 rebounds against Pitt. He then had a season-high 42 points and 9 rebounds against Furman, then 26 points against Richmond.

Senior season In his final collegiate season, in 1957, Hundley averaged 23.1 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. He was a two-time, first-team All-American and currently holds eight school records. As of 2025, he holds the school record for field goal attempts in a season and over a career; has three of the top ten scoring averages per season; is second all-time in points, field goals, and free throws attempted and made (behind Jerry West); and is third all-time in points per game.

He is one of only two Mountaineers to be drafted first overall in an NBA draft, with Mark Workman going first overall to the Milwaukee Hawks five years earlier in the 1952 NBA draft. Once on a trip back to West Virginia to play in a charity game at the WVU Coliseum, constructed more than 10 years after he left WVU, Rod was said to have told Basketball Hall of Famer and fellow WVU alumnus Jerry West: "I built this building." West retorted, "Yeah but I paid it off."

Hundley was also memorable in school history for his on-court antics. His in-game repertoire included trick shots, behind-the-back passes and spinning the ball on his finger. He was famous for dribbling the ball behind his back, spinning the ball on his finger, rolling it down his arm, and even going around his back. He also often took hook shots at the free throw line and also would hang off the rim waiting for a lob pass from a teammate.

WVU honors In 1992, Hundley was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.

Hundley played for the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles from 1957 until 1963, averaging 8.4 points per game and recording over 1,400 assists. He also played in two All Star games. His best season came in the 1959–60 season, when he averaged 12.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game.

On February 28, he scored a career high 33 points in a loss against the Philadelphia Warriors. That postseason, Hundley and the Lakers nearly made it back to the NBA Finals for the second year in a row, but lost in a tough seven-game series to Bob Pettit and the St. Louis Hawks in the Western Division Finals, where Hundley averaged 10.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game. The following year, during the 1960-61 NBA season, Hundley got teamed up with fellow Mountaineer legend Jerry West, as he was drafted in that year's draft.

In 1960, he was aboard the Minneapolis Lakers flight that crashed in an Iowa cornfield during a blizzard, with everyone surviving. After crashing, Hundley broke the silence by calling out "'I live to love again!'"

Hundley finished his six-year professional career at age 28 in 1963, due to his bad knees and poor training habits and lifestyle. His career totals were 3,625 points, 1,420 rebounds and 1,455 assists in his six seasons. Hot Rod continued to provide the radio voice for the Jazz for four more seasons. As the decade wore on, nearly all NBA teams eventually moved radio broadcasters from court-side to perches high above the court, and the strain on Hundley's surgically replaced hips and knees became too much for him to bear. He announced his retirement on April 24, 2009, effective at the end of the season. In 2010, the Jazz named its media center for him.

In 2000, Hundley graduated from WVU with a bachelor's degree, 43 years after leaving his alma mater without a degree to play in the NBA. He was the master of ceremonies at three Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. In June 2004, he was voted into the Utah Broadcast Hall of Fame. He co-authored the book Hot Rod Hundley: You Gotta Love It Baby in 1998 with Tom McEachin; Bill Libby also wrote a biographical book about Hundley, Clown: No. 33 in Your Program, No. 1 in Your Heart, in 1970.

A newspaper once incorrectly reported Hundley wrote a book entitled The Man With a Lot to Smile About, and other sources have persisted in repeating the error.

Film appearances Hundley appeared in the 2006 movie Church Ball starring Fred Willard and Clint Howard. He had also been in talks for a movie that would have showcased his early childhood and basketball career.

Hundley is the subject of "Hot Rod The Documentary, the Untold Story of Hot Rod Hundley." The documentary was production of Pikewood Creative.

Personal life and death Hundley had three daughters with his wife, Flo Hundley, but he had not lived with her for over three decades at the time of her death in 2006 (though they remained married), and had not been involved with raising their children. In the documentary on Hundley's life, one of his adult daughters recognized that Hundley's own extremely difficult upbringing, and the absence of any guidance in his early life, were related to his later failings as a husband and father. One Utah columnist who wrote on Hundley over the years said Hundley had taken on his own father's bad qualities as a husband and father (though he did provide financial support to his wife and daughters that his own father never provided to him); and described Hundley's life from youth on as one filled with loneliness and sorrows, despite his flamboyant outer persona.

During the off-season, Hundley regularly conducted basketball clinics around the country and worked with charities in the Salt Lake City area until withdrawing from the public eye due to Alzheimer's disease in his final years. For a time, he also hosted the Hot Rod Hundley Celebrity Golf Tournament to benefit the Salt Lake Shriners Hospital.

Hundley died at the age of 80 in Phoenix, Arizona on March 27, 2015.

Career statistics

NBA Source

Regular season Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG Minneapolis 65 17.8 .318 .642 2.9 1.9 7.0 Minneapolis 71 23.4 .360 .752 3.5 2.9 9.6 Minneapolis 73 31.2 .358 .744 5.3 4.6 12.8 L.A. Lakers79* 27.6 .351 .753 3.7 4.4 11.0 L.A. Lakers 78 19.1 .340 .654 2.6 3.7 5.5 L.A. Lakers 65 12.1 .336 .706 1.6 2.3 4.0Career 431 22.2 .347 .721 3.3 3.4 8.4All-Star 2 18.5 .500 1.000 1.5 2.0 12.0

Playoffs Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1959 Minneapolis13* 13.5 .345 .857 1.8 1.5 4.0 1960 Minneapolis 9 37.4 .336 .649 6.8 6.1 11.8 1961 L.A. Lakers12* 23.9 .297 .690 3.4 3.8 6.7 1962 L.A. Lakers 12 15.6 .280 .750 1.5 2.7 1.9 1963 L.A. Lakers 7 4.9 .300 1.000 .9 .7 1.3Career 53 19.2 .320 .716 2.8 3.0 5.1

Honors In 1992, Hundley was inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame. In 2003, Hundley received the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2004, Hundley was inducted into the Utah Broadcast Hall of Fame. On January 23, 2010, Hundley's #33 Jersey was retired by West Virginia University. (After the halftime ceremony, Hundley took a basketball and made a hook shot to a standing ovation.) In 2016, a statue of Hundley was dedicated and placed outside the WVU Coliseum at West Virginia University.