'Howard Porter? He was everything'

Hank Siemiontkowski fouled out and a sullen 10-year-old boy trudged up to his room, despondent that the miracle run was ending for his Villanova basketball team.

And then his father called up.

"Get down here,'' he called, "it's not over.''

Jay Wright remembers that 1971 weekend vividly, remembers being glued to the television as the Wildcats upended Western Kentucky in the national semifinals and went on to the national championship game, putting up the best fight UCLA had seen in recent memory.

Mostly, Wright remembers Howard Porter.

"He was bigger than life back then, a legend,'' Wright said. "I liked all the Big 5 teams growing up, but that team, that team made me such a passionate Villanova fan. And Howard Porter? He was everything.''

Thirty years later, Wright got to meet his childhood hero when, as the Villanova coach, he hosted the "Legends of Villanova Basketball,'' a gala on campus to reunite former Villanova greats.

Now Wright, like everyone else in the Villanova community, is trying to come to grips with what's happened to his hero.

Porter, a probation officer in St. Paul, Minn., remains in grave condition after being abducted and severely beaten over the weekend. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that Porter was on life support.

"We're all just stunned,'' said Wright, who was in Florida for the Big East meetings when assistant coach Ed Pinckney called Saturday to say Porter was missing and later to report he had been found. "At this point there's nothing in anyone's thoughts at Villanova except a great Villanovan, a great player, wonderful man and a guy that loves his school is in a really bad situation. If there is any positive at all in this, I guess that's it. There's nothing but pure love right now for him.''

Police in Minnesota remain tight-lipped about the specifics of Porter's condition and their investigation, concerned that the assault may be related to Porter's job. The identity of the hospital to which Porter was admitted has not been disclosed. No arrests have been made.

Chris Crutchfield, the Ramsey County deputy director of community corrections, said he had received no updates from either the police or the hospital yesterday but personally was holding out hope that Porter could defy the odds.

"This is a man that is one in 10,000 as an athlete, a special, special athlete,'' Crutchfield said. "I keep hoping the longer he stays with us, the more hope there is. Anything can happen.''

Porter led the 1971 Wildcats to that national championship game and, though Villanova lost to UCLA, Porter was named most outstanding player. That award was later vacated and Villanova's record scarred with an asterisk when Porter admitted he had signed with an agent and also inked an ABA contract.

The sort of scarlet letter that attached itself to Porter sent him on a downward spiral. He spent 7 years in the NBA but never really lived up to the expectations his collegiate career created, and he later battled a cocaine addiction.

Ashamed and ostracized, Porter stayed away from Villanova for years. Finally, in 1997, the university retired his jersey and Porter slowly made his way back into the fold.

When Wright took over in 2001, he stressed the program's history to his players, once stopping a practice to introduce Porter to them, a simple gesture that held deep meaning to Porter.

"I didn't know anything about that,'' said Wright, who as a kid never paid much attention to all of the scandal later associated with Porter. "I just remember he'd come in, always dressed in a suit, wearing that derby hat he always wears. To me, it was like an icon walking into the building.'' *