Dave Boling: Phil Hopson's death overshadows celebration of 1981-82 Vandals' induction into Hooptown Hall of Fame

Jun.

28Al Williams smiled last week when he saw the caller's area code flash on his phone.Arizona ...

it had to be Phil Hopson.Williams hoped that Hopson, his old University of Idaho teammate, had decided he could come to Spokane for Wednesday's induction of the 1982 Vandals into the Hooptown USA Hall of Fame festivities after all.Hopson had told him he was going to have to pass due to a prior commitment.But the call wasn't from Hopson.

The caller was bearing news that Phil had been involved in an accident on June 22, and was hospitalized in a coma.

Updates on Hopson's death were being spread among teammates Saturday.Williams, like all his mutual friends with Hopson, was stunned.

Williams had talked to him recently and the two were planning on a Las Vegas trip together this fall to watch basketball."I've been numb since I got the news Wednesday," Williams said.The earliest news report, under the headline "Man in critical condition after being found underneath a car in central Phoenix" didn't even list Hopson as a victim.Beyond that, the only official word was that a "vehicle collision involving a pedestrian" remained under investigation.

Phoenix police failed to respond to a request for an incident report Saturday afternoon.The accident will become a dry detail of a much larger loss.

A key member of what Williams called, a "Vandal Brotherhood" from back in the day, has died.A huge part of what made Idaho's early 1980s NCAA Tournament-qualifying Vandals so successful was the togetherness of the players under coach Don Monson.They were undersized, unknown, disregarded and overlooked, and they used it all as fuel to become the first nationally ranked, Sweet 16 team in the region's history."I'm struggling," Monson said Saturday afternoon.

"He was one of the great kids on a special team in my life.

This team brought a lot of notoriety and publicity to this university and myself and others, but this is a lot more than that.

This is losing a young I kid I recruited when I first got to Idaho, who was with me the whole time."Guard Brian Kellerman recalled the 6-foot-6, quick-leaping Hopson as "smooth, athletic," and when the vintage Vandals gathered two years ago for dinner at the Kibbie Dome, in part to celebrate Monson's 90th birthday, he remembered Hopson saying that the years in Moscow "had been the happiest period of his life."Hopson was a four-year starter and two-time team captain.

In the biggest game in Vandals history, Hopson scored a team-high 21 points in an NCAA Tournament win over Iowa in March 1982.Williams was mindful on Saturday that Hopson was picked as a Helms Foundation All-American in 1981 after shooting 67% from the field as a sophomore.

It's an honor that he fears had been overlooked through the years."We talked regularly," said Williams, formerly the athletic director at North Idaho College.

"He was one of my closest friends.

He was my roommate in college and I was the godfather to his son, Mac."Williams remembered how Hopson, after five years playing abroad, came back to Idaho to get his degree so he could go to work with his older brother, Tony, in the establishment and building of Self Empowerment Incorporation.

SEI has become a powerful part of aiding Portland's lesser-served communities.Hopson was working in the same manner in Phoenix.

"I moved to Arizona and have been working at a juvenile facility, on a program for boys 13-17," Hopson said less than two weeks ago.

"I'm still affiliated with our program back in Portland.

We service probably 300,000 kids from second grade through high school."In a sad quirk of timing, Hopson was interviewed recently for a story on the team's Hooptown USA Hall of Fame ceremony.

The story ran in the newspaper the morning of his accident.He was delighted that the old Vandals were still remembered.

He was still impressed how Monson had taken a group of Pacific Northwest kids and taught them to play smart and hard and to have confidence in themselves and each other.And in the quote that became the headline to that story, remembering the overwhelming response of the fans, he said that the Vandals at that time felt like they were the "Kings of the Palouse.""He was always proud to be a Vandal," Williams said.

"At the reunion a couple summers ago, we all talked about what this team meant to everybody, and how we stayed in contact."Like his teammates, Williams was eager for answers to what happened on that intersection last Sunday night in Phoenix.

But no amount of explanation would diminish the sense of loss."Phil was the most loyal friend you could have," Williams said.

"He was the most caring guy.

He believed in people and you knew you could trust him.

He was like a younger brother to me.

And when you were a friend of Hopson's, you were a friend for life."Looking back over the notes from Hopson's recent interview made it clear how much he wanted to talk about that old team, and what made the group so special.

He said he was sorry had had other plans, and it would have been fun to get together again.He said he thinks of those years often.

And Monson and the Vandals teammates and their unrivaled success all had to be on his mind until near the very end..

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