Eric Montross dead at 52
- Thread starter Bulk VanderHuge
- Start date
damn, it's amazing the number of guys from that era that have died. he was the missing piece to what could have been a mini dynasty.
You ain't kidding, about cancer. I hated that Montross didn't come to IU, but I never faulted him for choosing UNC, and he was adored by their fans and program. I think they are the model of what I'd like to see as far as culture and support for past players. I think he was still doing their broadcasts as recently as last year, and always enjoyed hearing him. I assume he was living in the Chapel Hill area.
What was the reaction in NC to the UK defeat? I haven’t watched the game yet but want to watch the replay.
RIP big fella. His recruitment was a huge deal and we would have had an excellent shot at hanging back to back banners in 1992 and 1993.
Also 1994. Bailey's senior season. You replace soph Todd Lindeman for senior Montross. 4 years playing with Bailey etc, 1994 Coulda been a Natty as well.
the UNC fans I know didn't seem too upset. I think most are still shell-shocked after last year's collapse so they are happy to be back as a ranked team and playing better. We had it on during poker Saturday so I watched with a couple UNC guys, but not too closely. But, it looked like a close and pretty hard fought game. Seemed UK was up at least most of the 2nd half and UNC had to keep fighting back.
Montross got his NC at UNC. He loved and was well-loved in the UNC family. Don't think he ever regretted his choice for a moment. I didn't like it, but respected his decision.
Wasnt the rumor his father and Knight had a falling out over Landon Turner and how he was representing him?
I always wondered what RMK could've done with a Graham, Bailey, Cheaney, Henderson, Montross starting 5. As good as those 75 and 76 teams?
I never heard, or don't recall, the part about Landon Turner, just that they got into a huge argument or disagreement, and that was that.
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Out of all the top tier programs, other than IU, UNC is the only one I respect. Never liked Kansas or Duke or KY or any of the others but UNC I like for the most part. A lot of local players and well coached by Dean Smith and Roy Williams and good fans.
wow this sucks. Wasn't aware that he was fighting it. RIP big guy.
I remember bits n pcs about the Turner accident/auto lawsuit and lawyer dad Montross and RMK crossing some horns. Cannot recall the details, but something happened back in the very early 80s that might have cost us 2-3 banners a decade later. We'll never know for sure.
I would argue that Montross and Sean May were our two biggest recruiting misses and they both won NCAA championships with UNC.
only negative was that the players basically didn't attend UNC, other than that a top tier program for sure.
And I believe Tyler Zeller, another big man from Indiana, went to UNC and won a championship. He wasn’t as big a miss as Montross or May, but darn good!
I think that was a pretty limited group of players and time period when that was happening, and I've been a big critic of UNC for that. But I think it centered around Rashad McCants time and not totally widespread. I remember that Luke Maye got a standing ovation when he returned to class after hitting that big shot vs UK. I doubt that during EM's time there he was awarded grades for classes he didn't attend.
PS, actually, according to Wikipedia it went on from mid-90's through 2011, so longer than I thought.
University of North Carolina academic-athletic scandal - Wikipedia
I'd put letting "The Hick from French Lick" get away as #1.
yeah, your good ole boy Roy, but I'm sure he had no idea.I think that was a pretty limited group of players and time period when that was happening, and I've been a big critic of UNC for that. But I think it centered around Rashad McCants time and not totally widespread. I remember that Luke Maye got a standing ovation when he returned to class after hitting that big shot vs UK. I doubt that during EM's time there he was awarded grades for classes he didn't attend.
PS, actually, according to Wikipedia it went on from mid-90's through 2011, so longer than I thought.
University of North Carolina academic-athletic scandal - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
slightly different category. but yeah. i block that one out of my memory.
Both Zellers could have played here ..
Tyler like Montross got a N.C.at Carolina..
That was always a copout from Roy. Only have to keep track of 13 players. I had a former co-worker who played at App State in the late 90s and he said if he missed a class during the day, he heard about it from coaches at practice that afternoon. No way Roy didn't know about this unless he didn't want to know.
I don't count Bird since we actually landed him but he didn't stay. Montrose and May would have hung around and made a huge impact. I'm not sure we were ever much in the running for Conley/Oden but that's on Davis. It is painful to think that two superstars from Indy went to OSU.
I would say Roy brought some Kansas back with him when he returned to Chapel Hill, bottom line I always considered UNC on par with IU. that they had to cheat at the level shows you how prevalent it was in college athletics. best thing about NIL everyone cheats now.
well, the article I linked said that program started in the mid-90s and Roy didn't come back to UNC until 2003, so it was well underway by then. I think most of the enrolled students were football players anyway.
It really is amazing how many guys from 1990s era IU - and college basketball in general - have passed away.
I know guys from that era aren't exactly spring chickens, but it dying in your 40s/50s seems way too young, especially for Division One college athletes.
I don't know about Montross and probably irrelevant since his issue was cancer, but a lot of those guys don't stay in shape, at all, after they are done playing. Look at Woodson, he's quite heavy.
well, that's far from exclusive to D1 athletes... look at the general population. Heck, I ran and still exercise and am in decent shape and according to my labs, I'm overweight.
I think Eric stayed in decent shape or was at least not overly obese. But, he was 7' tall. I wonder if there is any correlation between being a very large human and life expectancy?
Good question. It does seem that much taller guys probably have a shorter life expectancy. I just saw Kareem Abdul Jabbar fell and broke his hip recently; at 76, I feel like he's the outlier in terms of 7 footers living to old age.
Yep but Oden and conely never seemed iu bound but may sure did.
I saw a photo of EM dated 2019 and he looked like he could still go out there and put up a 20/10 game.
Any word as to what type of cancer? speaking from personal experience, in men, the late 40s-early 50s are when things like lymphoma start being mentioned. Some curable, some...not so easily. My high school friend lost her husband last year to glioblastoma (brain tumor). Was only 52. Healthy as can be one day....a year later, gone. None of any of this is due to diet, lifestyle.......just a bad roll of the genetic dice.
