On July 22, Kentucky basketball icon Dan Issel was enjoying a quiet day at his home in Colorado when his wife Cheri’s phone rang – and the day took a macabre turn.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to experience your own “death”?
This is Dan Issel’s report of the experience.
That Monday afternoon, Judy Dampier, the wife of Dan Issel’s close friend and former Kentucky Colonels teammate Louie Dampier, was on the other end of Cheri Issel’s phone.
Judy had felt compelled to call because the disturbing news about Dan Issel was spreading across Kentucky like fire through dry brush.
“Have you seen Facebook?” asked Dampier.
“No,” Cheri Issel replied. “Why?”
“Well, there is a report that Dan died,” Judy Dampier replied.
As 75-year-old Issel listened and watched, Cheri looked in his direction and then said into the phone, “Well, he’s sitting right here next to me. He looks OK to me.”
In an experience straight out of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Dan Issel got to see how people would react to his death.
“It was a strange few hours, that’s for sure,” said Issel.
The madness seems to have started on Facebook, where a Kentucky Wildcats fan from Louisville expressed his condolences on Issel’s “death.”
Issel is, of course, the all-time leading scorer (2,138 career points) and rebounder (1,078) in the history of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team.
The Batavia, Illinois native is a former star of the Kentucky Colonels of the old American Basketball Association, including a leading role on the Louisville franchise’s 1974-75 ABA championship team, the only major league title in professional sports won by a team from that state.
In 1993, Issel was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Given Issel’s place in our state’s basketball history, news of his loss understandably hit people with the force of a passing semi-trailer.
Heartfelt condolences were received on Facebook.
“I’m so sorry to hear this,” wrote former British radio commentator Ralph Hacker. “What a great guy.”
“Very heartbreaking,” wrote longtime Kentucky sportswriter Jamie Vaught. “(Issel) was my absolute favorite Wildcat.”
Other fans in the UK lamented the loss of a “great ambassador for our University of Kentucky” and a “great basketball player and even better person.”
In Colorado, the Issels constantly received worried calls.
“Most of those calls were to Cheri,” said Dan Issel. “Most were afraid to contact me. We were getting calls from all over.”
Jimmy Dan Conner – the former UK guard who played for the Kentucky Colonels in 1975-76 – called to check on Issel.
The same goes for Jack “Goose” Givens, who, like Issel, scored over 2,000 points (2,038) for Great Britain in his career.
During his active time, the 2.06 meter tall Issel was known as “The Horse”.
“When Goose called me, he said, ‘I’m glad you answered the phone. I wanted to hear it firsthand,'” Issel said. “I thought that was pretty good.”
When a call came from Artis Gilmore, the 7-foot-10 center who was Issel’s rival in college when he played at Jacksonville University and later his professional teammate with the Colonels, Issel decided he, too, could poke fun at his supposed demise.
When Issel Gilmore’s name popped up on his phone, he answered in his ghostliest voice.
“I said, ‘Artis, this is Dan from the other side,'” Issel said. “Artis said, ‘Don’t do this to me.’ That was the funniest call.”
Before the afternoon of his presumed death, Issel reported that he had spent a quiet, family-oriented summer.
The highlight was a trip to Cooperstown, New York, where he watched his 12-year-old grandson Grayson play in a youth baseball tournament.
Although Issel is no longer involved in efforts to bring an NBA expansion franchise to Louisville, he has been closely watching as the National Basketball Association gradually moves toward potentially awarding new franchises to two cities.
“The more I hear about it, the more it sounds like Seattle and Las Vegas are a done deal,” Issel said.
But on July 22, the erroneous report that Issel himself was a hopeless case sparked shock and sadness throughout Kentucky.
Cheri Issel took a proactive approach to stopping the false news from spreading further by commenting on the erroneous Facebook post that seemed to have sparked all the fuss in the first place.
“This is Dan’s wife, Cheri Issel,” she wrote, “and I wanted to let everyone know that my husband Dan is alive, in good health, and enjoying being in Colorado with his children and grandchildren!”
Dan Issel has a sense of humor and enjoyed experiencing his own “death.”
Issel said he was pleased by how many people had said nice things about him after the news of his death.
“I’m sure there were some people out there who didn’t share those feelings,” Issel said. “But it was nice that hopefully most people did.”
NCAA probation tarnishes UK legacy of Mark Stoops and Mitch Barnhart
An NCAA rule that John Calipari detested is helping Mark Pope rebuild the British basketball squad
A big difference between Mark Pope’s coaching and that of John Calipari
Two teams ruined John Calipari’s tenure in the UK. It wasn’t Saint Peter’s and Oakland.
In the never-ending war between Calipari and Pitino, Ricky P. has won the latest battle
The bond of faith that connects Mark Pope with a Kentucky basketball legend
Jason Booher keeps the memory of the victims of the Carrollton bus crash alive by running a marathon
