West Virginia set to honor legend Rod Hundley with statue

With a name like Hot Rod, he had to be good.

Rod Hundley earned the nickname “Hot Rod” for his flashy skills on the basketball court during the golden age of West Virginia hoops.

He is one of three players in WVU basketball history to score 2,000 points. Now, Hundley will join one player in that milestone club with a statue outside of the WVU Coliseum.

Mar 28, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Ron Boone, former NBA player and color analyst for Utah Jazz broadcasts, speaks prior to the game between the Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder at EnergySolutions Arena during a press conference honoring Hot Rod Hundley, a former NBA player and longtime Jazz announcer who died on Friday at the age of 80. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports /

According to WVUsports.com, a life-sized statue of Hundley will be unveiled prior to the West Virginia-Oklahoma basketball game on Saturday at 2 p.m.

In 2007, a Jerry West statue was unveiled at the WVU Coliseum. So, these are the only two former players who have been honored with statues at any West Virginia athletic venue.

It is Hundley and West, along with Da’Sean Butler, who reached the 2,000-point plateau. Hundley and West are also the only two Mountaineer basketball players who have had their numbers retired.

West’s No. 44 was the first jersey to be retired. Then, Hundley’s No. 33 was retired in 2010.

Hundley was in attendance on Jan. 23, 2010 for the WVU game against Ohio State. It was a thrilling 71-65 by the Mountaineers, led by Hundley and West’s protege of Butler, who dropped 21 points against the Buckeyes.

Still, like he did in his playing days, Hundley stole the show. During a special halftime ceremony, Hundley sunk one of his patterned hook shots to the delight of the sold out crowd.

Hundley, a Charleston native, went on to make a name for himself at the professional level as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers and a broadcaster with the Utah Jazz.

But he was a Mountaineer from the beginning.

"“There was a curtain for my room and I would go underneath there and listen to West Virginia games,” Hundley recalled. “Fred Schaus, Leland Byrd and all of those guys were playing. I would take a paper, line it off, and keep score of Jack Fleming’s descriptions. If Schaus hit a shot from the corner, I would put down a 2 next to his name.”"

Hundley is No. 2 in his own right, as the second best basketball player at WVU, behind West. He was the second to have his jersey number retired and, now, the second to have a statue erected outside the arena.

But on Saturday, all eyes will fixated on Hundley once again.

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