About a month ago, Joe got a random call from Oregon, which turned out to be from a guy he used to play basketball with in college. Apparently they had been searching for him for months to let him know about the Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Pacific University for his 96-97 basketball team! Since Joe isn't much into social media, they had some difficulty tracking him down. One of the guys works for the county, and he used those resources to finally find him. I was beyond excited! Since I grew up with Joe, there is very little about his life story that I don't know. So I was really looking forward to a road trip with just him, and a chance to meet all his old teammates and see all the places he spent so much time.
The party started at the football game halftime. They called out all the inductees onto the field and introduced them. (Incidentally, the football program didn't exist back in Joe's day. Some 18 year-old broke his neck and died during a game in the 90s, and the program was dropped for 18 years.) The game was a landslide in Linfield's favor, but it was a beautiful fall day, so after the half, we left and toured campus, the actual hall of fame, and picked up some Pacific souvenirs for the kids (and Joe :). Later there was a wine reception and dinner and then the actual induction ceremony. The hall was packed with student athletes, and the stories of all the inductees was pretty inspiring. I'm so proud of my young Joe!
The whole team was able to make the trip, except their star player, who was from Australia, played pro in Australia following college, and still lives there today. Some of the starters on the team still live just down from the street from each other and their kids are growing up together. They still get together every Sunday to play basketball. Which, I think, is pretty cool.
This guy still had his shirt from 1997.
I met one of Joe's assistant coaches who Joe really appreciated. You could tell he was really touched that Joe remembered him, and that he made an impression.
The trophy case.
The stats. At the beginning of the season, the team was picked to come in last, but they ended up ranking 6th in the final NAIA national poll.
Yep Joe, that's so cool! Congrats :)
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