Ex-Bull Craig Hodges conducted a kids clinic Sunday at the Shoot the Bull 3 On 3 Classic in Grant Park and talked about life after the Bulls.
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”I`m really thinking about playing in Europe this season,” Hodges said. ”I`m looking for a contract, and I`d love to play in Italy.
”San Antonio contacted me and wanted me to play point guard for them. They were only going to pay me the NBA minimum. I told them I thought I deserved more. They said that was the deal they gave Vinnie Johnson when he was a free agent. But don`t forget, Vinnie still had a million coming to him from the Pistons. My contract is only guaranteed for $400,000.”
It would be ironic if Hodges wound up playing for the same Benetton team that currently features future Bull Toni Kukoc.
– The Larry Williams story goes national Monday when the blind basketball player appears on NBC News with Tom Brokaw at 5:30 p.m. After reading about Williams and his special equipment that enables the blind to play basketball, the network dispatched a crew to film the 32-year-old North Side financial consultant at his home shooting around.
Williams hit 8 of 15 free throws Saturday in a demonstration of his bell basketball and the buzzing device attached to the back of the rim that enables him to hone in on the net. Erin Elliott, a blind 12-year-old athlete, fired in 10 of 20 free throws. Two sighted players attempted to shoot blindfolded and hit one of 12 between them. Williams then played one-on-one for several minutes with a sighted player who was blindfolded.
”A lot of people said it was amazing we could do all that,” Williams said. ”I was surprised how well I could hear the buzzer, being outside. Everyone in the crowd was very quiet. They were so considerate as they realized what I was trying to do.
”I talked to Norm Van Lier and Emery Moorehead about coming out sometime and playing H-O-R-S-E blindfolded, and they said they`d love to participate. All this helps in trying to get exposure and show people that the visually impaired can still be athletes.”
– Who said white men can`t jump? West Chicago`s Eric Heinz defied gravity like no one else in winning the slam-dunk contest. Heinz, 19, starred on West Chicago`s basketball team last winter and will play for Mid-State Junior College in Wisconsin in the fall.
”I guess I was just blessed,” said the 6-foot-3-inch Heinz. ”My vertical leap has been measured at 42 inches.”
This is the second dunk contest Heinz has entered. He competed in the high school contest in Champaign last March but was eliminated when he missed on a couple of difficult dunks. Throughout the weekend, his creative slams regularly registered 10s with the judges.
– Bulls team physician John Hefferon and his volunteer medical staff were busy both days attending to a wide variety of injuries.
– The two-day Shoot the Bull Classic raised more than $150,000 for the Bulls` charity, Charitabulls and the Illinois Special Olympics. Will Perdue, John Paxson and Hodges made appearances.