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Porter was bigger than life

Dick "Hoops" Weiss FOXSports.com, Updated 14 days ago  STORY TOOLS:                         print send blog LIKE THIS STORY?

He was just 58 years when he was brutally beaten May 24 and left in an alley in St. Paul, Minn. Porter, a long time parole officer with a reputation for helping troubled youth, was admitted to a local hospital as a John Doe and died a week later.

Porter was an icon in Philadelphia college basketball, a 6-8 force of nature from Villanova, who, along with Kenny Durrett of La Salle, was the face of the Big Five during its golden era from 1969-1971, when three local schools — Villanova, La Salle and Penn — had a legitimate chance to win the national championship.

Porter, who averaged 22.8 points and 14.8 rebounds in a brilliant, three-year All-American career, was the only bigger-than-life college player I ever covered when I was in Philadelphia before going to work in New York. He was the best shot blocker-rebounder in the history of the Big 5 and the local Comcast affiliate honored him Monday night by re-broadcasting the grainy black and white telecast of the 1969 La Salle-Villanova showdown during Porter and Durrett's sophomore year.

Also... Porter remembered as 'humble' No charges filed yet Woman arrested in Porter case

La Salle-Villanova was the most highly anticipated city series game in the history of the storied Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

La Salle — arguably the best team in Big Five history — was 17-1 and ranked seventh in the country, but ineligible to play in postseason.

Villanova was 16-2 and ranked eighth.

La Salle won the game 74-67 before a standing-room-only crowd announced as 9,127, but much closer to 10,000. Porter had 21 points and 21 rebounds and at least 12 blocks, unofficially. Durrett, a more fluid, face-the-basket player, had 20 and 15. There were five other pros — Bernie Williams, Larry Cannon and Fatty Taylor of La Salle and Fran O'Hanlon and Johnny Jones of Villanova — on the floor, but Porter's game transcended time.

"He had a game that would have made him a star today,'' said Villanova assistant coach Ed Pinckney, the 6-10 MOP of 'Nova's 1985 national championship team. "We certainly could have used him last year.''

Howard Porter, found severely beaten days after he mysteriously disappeared, died of multiple blunt-force injuries sustained during the attack. (Star Tribune / Associated Press)

I can still remember where I sat during that historic game: second row press, right behind the La Salle bench. I was the sports editor of the Temple University News. That was 38 years ago. I grew up taking the subway into West Philly to watch Palestra doubleheaders featuring Penn, Temple, St. Joseph's, Villanova and La Salle every Wednesday and Saturday and never missed a game from 1965-75. The coaching was superb. Most of the stars on the local teams were guards from the Public and Catholic League. The most spectacular front court players before Porter and Durrett were undersized leapers like 6-3 Hubie White of Villanova and 6-5 Clifford Anderson of St. Joseph's.

But Porter changed those dynamics when he arrived on the Main Line from Sarasota, Fla. He saved his best for last — shooting 16-for-24 and torching third ranked, 28-0 Penn for 35 points during a 90-47 victory in the 1971 NCAA East Regional finals to catapult the Cats to the Final Four; then outplaying both Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe of UCLA in the championship game, scoring 25 points to win the Most Outstanding Player award even though his team lost, 68-62, to the Bruins.

"I became a Villanova fan when I was 10 years old," current Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "My favorite players on that '71 team were always the two guards, Tommy Ingelsby and Chris Ford. As a kid I thought I had a chance to be the next Ingelsby or Ford. I knew I never had a chance to be the next Howard Porter. I always thought we had a chance to win because we had the best player on the floor."

The Villanova and Philadelphia basketball communities came together last night to celebrate Porter's life and college career during a service at St. Thomas Chapel at Villanova. Porter's widow Theresa and son Howard Jr. were both there, accompanying the casket, which will next make its way to Sarasota for burial.

Former Villanova coach Jack Kraft drove up from Stone Harbor, N.J. George Raveling, who recruited Porter, flew in on a red eye from Nike's corporate headquarters in Portland, Ore., where he is a high-ranking executive. Former teammates Clarence Smith, O'Hanlon, Ford, Ingelsby, Eddie Hastings, Mike Daly and freshman coach Dan Dougherty were also in the small gothic church to say goodbye.

"Superman's not supposed to die,'' Ingelsby said.

Porter, whose nickname was "The Geezer," arrived on the Mainline as a passenger on an underground railway set up by Raveling — the smartest, most innovative recruiter of college basketball's modern era — to transport premier black prospects out of the deep south to Villanova.

Raveling, who had a good full-time job working at Sun Oil at the time, offered to help Kraft recruit as an unpaid assistant in 1966. Raveling was a voracious reader who devoured every sports page he could get his hands on in a constant quest to identify the best young talent in the country. He had already successfully recruited Johnny Jones of Pompano Beach, Fla. and Sammy Sims of Phenix City, Ala. to Villanova.

But Porter was his Hope diamond.

Raveling first heard about Porter from a former sports editor from nearby Norristown who had moved to St. Petersburg, Fla. Raveling flew to Florida to see Porter play and left excited. "You could be Stevie Wonder and still see this kid was special,'' Raveling said.

Porter led Booker High to a 32-0 record and the state Class A championship his senior year. He was considered one of the top five prospects in the country. Raveling convinced Kraft to come with him to watch Porter in person (on a rare Saturday night in February when Villanova had off) and then meet the family. Porter chose the 'Cats over Kansas and Purdue and enrolled in summer school in 1967.

He played in the Narbeth Summer League on the same team as another prospect Raveling brought north — 7-3 Artis Gilmore. Gilmore went home to Dothan, Ala. at the end of the summer and eventually enrolled at Gardner-Webb, N.C. Junior College before transferring to Jacksonville. "At one point, I thought we were going to get Howard, Artis and Hal Booker, a 6-9 center from Darby, Pa. who went on to become the Division II Player of the Year at Cheyney State,'' Raveling said. "Can you imagine what a front court that would have been?''

Porter created an instant sensation, averaging 30 points and 20 rebounds and going off for 50 points twice on the freshman team. "He used to humble me every day in practice for four straight years,'' Clarence Smith said.

It wasn't all roses. A week after Porter's last college game, the news broke that he had signed a contract with the old ABA midway through the season, and Villanova had to vacate its second-place finish and return $72,000 to the NCAA. Porter played in the NBA for seven years, but later suffered from drug addiction that plagued him in the '80s before seemingly turning his life around.

Porter came back to Villanova for the first time in 1997 to have his No. 54 retired. He returned several times afterwards and was always embraced by the fans, who had witnessed him in person or heard about the myth. "We'd be walking through the airport and people would stop him and ask for his autograph,'' Theresa said. "Howard would always stick his chest out a little when he got to Philly because of what it meant to him. Today, I walked through the airport alone. But I'll always have those memories.''

Veteran college basketball writer Dick "Hoops" Weiss is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com.