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Thursday, June 7, 2007
Ex-Hawk Hudson still unstoppable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
In 1970, he was Sweet Lou, sleek and strong, a professional athlete pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated guarding another legend, Oscar Robertson.
In 2006, Lou Hudson was something else: the cover subject for StrokeSmart magazine, his right hand resting on a basketball, his left hidden from view, his mind and spirit now far more willing than his limbs.
“I’m going to walk up to that stage,” Hudson said Wednesday night. “I told them, ‘I’m not going to take the wheelchair. I’m going to walk.’ “
There will be no sweet jump shot tonight, just a man nearing his 63rd birthday, exhibiting the same will and desire that enabled him to score 30 points with a broken hand as a college senior and carried him through a 13-year NBA career.
Two and a half years after suffering a stroke, which has robbed him full use of the left side of his body, Hudson will be honored in a reception tonight as part of the third class of the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame.
The great ones are defined by how well they overcome obstacles. Hudson is still proving it, with every hour on the elliptical machine, every therapy session, every stated goal, all wrapped in self-effacing humor.
“I can barely walk now,” Hudson said. “I can’t shoot a jump shot yet. I can’t use my left hand, but I never really was that good with it, anyway.”
He wants to play hoops. He wants to golf. He wants to jog and lift weights and ski, which is outside his front door in Park City, Utah. Patience has been a difficult lesson.
Hudson was a six-time All-Star with the Hawks. He moved here with the franchise from St. Louis in 1968. He sank the first basketball in Atlanta history. He led the team in scoring (21.9 points per game), guiding the Hawks into the conference finals — the first of five straight playoff seasons in Atlanta. (Yes, it was a long time ago.) His impact on the franchise was great enough that his No. 23 jersey was retired.
Hudson remained an athlete in retirement. On the day of his stroke, Feb. 12, 2005, he had just finished skiing when he began feeling light-headed. Still, he planned to keep to his routine and stop by the gym for a swim before going home.
“When I walked into the gym, I knew something was wrong,” he said. “I’m actually lucky it happened when it did because 10 minutes later I would’ve been in the pool and I probably would’ve drowned.”
Hudson was walking through a therapy room when he became disoriented, then collapsed. Therapists in the room immediately recognized the problem. Several members of the local fire department happened to be working out in the gym, and they quickly arranged to have Hudson taken via helicopter to the hospital.
The stroke attacked Hudson’s speech and the left side of his body. He was confined to a wheelchair formonths. But he is now going to rehabilitation six days a week, and progress has been significant. After a two-year absence, he will be back running his basketball camp this summer.
“I told the guys I’m going to be back in the gym next year, and then the fun will be over,” he said, laughing.
“This is the toughest thing I’ve ever done, a lot tougher than playing basketball. I’m not there yet, but I’m making it, slow but steady.”
Hudson keeps up with the NBA. Last year, Hawks coach Mike Woodson arranged for Hudson to address his players at the Utah summer league. Hudson spoke about what it takes to be successful, and of his own goals to park his wheelchair.
“Those players probably saw my picture on the wall in the locker room and figured, ‘He’s not around anymore,’” Hudson said. “Most guys with their picture on the wall are long gone.”
Asked if he had any exchanges with Hawks players last summer, Hudson laughed and said: “One said, ‘I thought you were bigger.’ I’m about 6-4 — that used to be tall. I got an award for being the best guard played by a small forward.”
In some ways, standards haven’t changed. Hudson is as big as ever.
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