Hot Rod Hundley, 80, who went from prowling the streets of his native Charleston to clown prince of WVU basketball, passed away Friday, March 27 in Phoenix, where he lived.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago.

Rodney Clark Hundley was the NBA’s Utah Jazz radio announcer for 31 years.

Hot Rod played for WVU in 1955-1957. The Mountaineers were ranked No. 4 in 1956.

He was the fourth player in NCAA history to score more than 2,000 points during his career—and he did it in three years, because freshmen could not play varsity basketball.

Hot Rod’s 33 and Jerry West’s 44 are the only numbers retired by WVU.

He was the only WVU player chosen first overall in an NBA draft, and played for the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles (1957-63).

He called games for the Phoenix Suns, then Lakers and finally the Jazz, who moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City, which are about different from each other as cities can get.

Just like Hot Rod and West were different, but WVU’s two best basketball players ever.