Apr. 29—Inspiration can strike from anywhere, and sometimes the most innocuous of social media questions can send you down the rabbit hole.
That’s how this morning’s missive arrived. Bob Zuppke — the Twitter personality, not the former Illinois football coach — raised an interesting question Monday after the Illini signed Andrej Stojakovic. Essentially … which Illinois basketball dads would make the best starting five themselves?
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The five names initially presented were tough to top. Michael Jordan, of course, is the greatest of all time. Having Jeff Jordan in orange and blue from 2008-10 is a real coup for the Illini in this thought experiment. Peja Stojakovic (Andrej), Frank Williams (Da’Monte), Norm Cook (Brian) and Calvin Booth (Carey) were the other four dads proffered. That’s an impressive five.
But who else might have made the cut for a full-blown Illinois dad rotation? Once the thought was in my head, I dove into the Illini record book as a refresher. Some names jarred loose a notable basketball dad like Bill Altenberger (Doug), Woody Austin (Alex), Adrian Griffin (Alan), Rodney Hawkins (Coleman), Edgar Padilla (Edgar Jr.) and Roger Powell (Roger Jr.).
There were several double-digit college basketball scorers in that group. Woody Austin was the 1988 Indiana Mr. Basketball and averaged 17.4 points across his final two seasons at Purdue. Adrian Griffin did the same at Seton Hall, putting up 17.3 points per game as a junior and senior at Seton Hall before going on to a nine-year NBA career. Roger Powell hit double figures in his final three seasons at Illinois State, averaging 19.2 points as a senior, and Rodney Hawkins put up 12.1 points per game as a senior at San Diego State.
Frank Williams, 6-3, G (Illinois)
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Michael Jordan, 6-6, G (North Carolina)
Peja Stojakovic, 6-10, F (PAOK)
Norm Cook, 6-8, F (Kansas)
Calvin Booth, 6-11, C (Penn State)
Bill Altenberger, 6-1, G (Illinois)
Woody Austin, 6-2, G (Purdue)
Edgar Padilla, 6-2, G (UMass)
Adrian Griffin, 6-5, F (Seton Hall)
Rodney Hawkins, 6-8, F (San Diego State)
Roger Powell, 6-4, G (Illinois State)
