RIP MBB Pres Judy

[awbuzz]

... a three-year starter for the Yellow Jackets (1964-67) and a member of the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. He became the first Tech player to score 40 points in a game when he scored 40 against Florida State on Feb. 25, 1967.

Georgia Tech basketball’s Pres Judy dies at age 80

Former Georgia Tech basketball player Pres Judy, who played in the 1960s, died recently, according to a statement released by the Tech athletic department.

www.ajc.com

 

[DeepSnap]

One of the best shooters & scorers in the post-Roger Kaiser----pre-Rich Yunkus period.

Good all around jock... could talk your ear off.... would come to FB practice & yak all afternoon.

One of the 1st GT MBB players to score 40 pts in a game.

RIP Pres.

 

[stinger78]

He was on the team when I first began to listen to Tech basketball. Pres Judy, Phil Wagner, Jim Caldwell, Ted, Tomasovich, Pete Thorne, et al. What a team! Most of us have never looked back through those Whack Hyder teams from the mid-50's through about 1971. Very good era of GT basketball. RIP Pres Judy.

 

[Tommy_Taylor_1972]

Press was a good friend and a great person. He had just graduated in 1967 before I arrived at Tech in 1968. A very good player, he was drafted by the NBA Cincinnati Royals and ABA Kentucky Colonels, but opted to go into coaching instead of pro basketball. He helped coach basketball for Coach Hyder in 1968.

Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball Mourns Passing of Pres Judy

Forward from the mid-1960s is a member of the Tech Sports Hall of Fame

ramblinwreck.com

My fondest memory of Press was playing together on Coach Hyder's 1974 Partners of the America's basketball team, who spent several weeks in Brazil promoting goodwill competing against their national teams and doing clinics. Press is number 22 in the team photo below, taken in the the rain forests up the Amazon from Recife, Brazil.

 

[Ramblingon]

One of my favorites in the 60s. RIP.

 

[Tommy_Taylor_1972]

One of my favorites in the 60s. RIP.

Press's celebration of life announcement and obituary:

Coleman Preston Judy Jr. Obituary (1944 - 2024) - Legacy Remembers

View Coleman Preston Judy Jr.'s obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

www.legacy.com

 

[stinger78]

Press's celebration of life announcement and obituary:

Coleman Preston Judy Jr. Obituary (1944 - 2024) - Legacy Remembers

View Coleman Preston Judy Jr.'s obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

www.legacy.com

Thank you, Tommy! That’s a fabulous obituary. He made sure his life counted. Glad to read he is a man of faith!

 

[Ramble1885]

He was on the team when I first began to listen to Tech basketball. Pres Judy, Phil Wagner, Jim Caldwell, Ted, Tomasovich, Pete Thorne, et al. What a team! Most of us have never looked back through those Whack Hyder teams from the mid-50's through about 1971. Very good era of GT basketball. RIP Pres Judy.

I wish there was more footage from that era!

Also wish they would've taken the NCAA bid instead of NIT in '71.

 

[Tommy_Taylor_1972]

I wish there was more footage from that era!

Also wish they would've taken the NCAA bid instead of NIT in '71.

Ramble, you make a good point if that decision on which post season tournament was made today. But things were different back then when the NIT competitive with the NCAA tournament relative to talent. Then there were 25 teams in the NCAA tournament and 16 in the NIT, with the top 41 teams competing in post season play. Of the 25 NCAA slots, 15 were conference winners and 10 were at-large or independent teams (like Tech was at that time). Tech was in the NCAA Mid-East region area. UGA AD Joel Eaves was the chairman of the Mid-East selection committee, and Coach Hyder was a member. The chairman publicly stated that he wanted the nations two highest ranking Independent teams to be in the Mid-East bracket. That would be #1 Marquette and #6 Jacksonville. That decision would put Tech in the Mid-West bracket in Houston TX, which included Kansas. Tech was the first team selected for the NIT. Coach Hyder told us that we would not be selected to play in our Mid-East home region if selected and NCAA informed him of being selected in the Mid-West He then put the choice of tournaments up to the team for secret ballot vote. The team unanimously voted for the NIT. Having chose the NIT in 1970 and well-liked by the New York Madison Square Garden fans, we favored spending a week in New York, and believed we could win that tournament. We did the same as Coach Al McGuire's #6 Marquette team did the year before by spurning the NCAA for the NIT, and he won the NIT in 1970 and us losing in the quarter finals to home town St. Johns by a point. After 1972, the NCAA made the McGuire rule saying that if invited to the NCAA, a team could not accept the NIT bid. The NIT sued the NCAA and won, then the NCAA bought out the NIT and made it what it is today, with the top 68 teams selected to the the NCAA and the next 32 teams invited to the NIT, no longer in Madison Square Garden. We came close to winning the NIT, but was beaten in the Finals by Coach Dean Smith's ACC regular season champion team who lost by a point tin the ACC Tournament to NC State, thus not being selected to the NCAA. Of course, UCLA won the NCAA over Vilanova, who had to vacate their season's wins and tournament games due to NCAA violations. Things were different back then when the two tournaments were similar in status.