Stand Up Guy Dies at 52

    Eric Montross. Probably rhymes with Ross, the popular first name. Not "trose", that would rhyme with "gross". Some may have heard it pronounced both ways.

    Eric was a seven-foot-tall athlete who could play basketball. He grew up in sports-crazy Indianapolis, and as a high schooler was coveted by us Indiana Hoosier fans, but because his parents were University of Michigan alumni there was talk that he would go to Ann Arbor. Coach Fisher up there had some of the best recruiting of all time. IU, home state, or Michigan, to follow the tradition of parents?

    Where would he play? Please, us Hoosier fans pleaded and prayed: come to Bloomington for us, and someone like him will help the Hoosiers win again!

    He decided on Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Doh! Dean Smith had a kinder hand than fiery Bobby Knight, maybe that is why. He likely made the best decision for himself and left the Mid-West altogether.

    And, as a big man anchor for the Tar Heels, helped win them another championship in 1993. Over Michigan. And IU, who was struggling to survive in the days of a pre-eminent Duke program. Another guy, named Coach K., who overcame the mentor we had in Bloomington. Duke and UNC, and then Kentucky would overwhelm our guy, our champ, a guy who would become our former hero and then eventual pariah. Robert Montgomery Knight could not land Montross, despite bringing in the sharpshooter from Lawrence North, Eric's high school, Todd Leary. Leary was about 6'1". Small, not too quick. Not a big pivot like his high school blue chip buddy.

    Todd had a good ride with some great players at IU, but Indiana ultimately foundered. Not enough big-time talent like Montross came to Bloomington to play for Knight and IU.

    We needed Montross in a big way, for basketball glory purposes. But Eric moved on. Good for him.

    Montross played many years (like 9) in the pros, then eventually became an announcer back in North Carolina. He became part of the school, institution, and winning that he chose as a teenager. Good for him, likely the best thing for him. From all I have read and heard, he was a very good person. Magnanimous and gracious. The best combination anyone could be.

    But us Hoosiers feel like we were left hanging. 

    Indiana has not won a championship since the 1980s, as he was deciding on his school choice. We sniffed one in 2002, but UNC continued to grab Indiana big men and won a couple more in the 2000s. Did Montross start this trend? Perhaps.

    Us Indiana loyalists stew and fret and bemoan these events and choices.

    It's only basketball.

    Eric recently passed away of cancer, at the normally healthy age of 52. I read a few articles and I did not see what kind of cancer killed him. The onset took 6 or 8 months. May he and all his loved ones rest in peace.

    I got my first colonoscopy last summer at age 52. The actor of Black Panther's death convinced me to do it after years of health expert recommendations. He died in his young forties. Very shocking and sobering.

    So, we all hail the great big man who helped his choice school win it all in 1993.

    For us Hoosier guys and gals, we missed you then, and we miss you now.

    We will forever miss you, and we will forever think of what could have been.

    What might have been.

    Had Bob Knight won a fourth championship with you in the early 1990s, would life as we know it been irretrievably altered? Likely. 

    But Eric did good, or great, and his life has been no small thing.

    Prayers and condolence to his family, friends, and fans.