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poor guy that sucks!! RIP
NBA ROUNDUP
Ex-Piston Porter dies week after beating
May 28, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS -- Howard Porter had recovered from drug addiction and failed NBA dreams to become a mentor to young players and source of hope for troubled adults in the Twin Cities.
His inspirational life ended with a mysterious death.
A week after he was found severely beaten in an alley, Porter, a former Piston and one of the best basketball players in Villanova history, died Saturday night. He was 58.
Minneapolis Police Lt. Kim Lund said Sunday that police were awaiting a report from the medical examiner to determine the cause of death.
Porter, who worked as a probation officer for Ramsey County, Minn., had been hospitalized since he was found in the alley without identification May 19. Police said it was unclear whether the beating was connected to his job. Lund said there have been no arrests and the investigation is continuing.
Porter was a three-time All-America at Villanova. He led the Wildcats to the 1971 NCAA championship game, which they lost to UCLA, 68-62. He was voted the tournament's outstanding player, an honor later vacated because he had been dealing with an agent before the season ended. Villanova's 1971 runner-up finish also was vacated.
For his college career, 1968-71, he averaged 22.8 points and 14.8 rebounds.
Porter was drafted by Chicago in 1971 and spent three seasons with the Bulls before playing briefly for New York. The Pistons acquired him from the Knicks on Dec. 26, 1974, and he played 202 games for Detroit over four seasons. The Pistons traded him to New Jersey, where his NBA career ended in 1978. The career that showed so much promise in college never blossomed in the NBA, and Porter began using drugs.
"I took a ride with the devil," Porter told the Star Tribune in a 2001 interview. "And the devil picked me up and rolled me for a while. But I always knew, deep down inside, I felt God wasn't through with me yet."
He went to rehab at Hazelden in Center City, Minn., in 1989, then moved to a halfway house in St. Paul and began turning his life around. Porter became a probation officer in 1995.
Utah: Point guard Deron Williams sat out practice because of a stomach illness and is considered probable to play Game 4 of the Western Conference finals tonight against San Antonio. Williams had 31 points, eight assists and five steals in Utah's 109-83 victory Saturday night.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...705280348/1051
...condolences to his family.
poor guy that sucks!! RIP
R.I.P.
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