RIP Pearl Washington

Pearl was one of the key players along with Mullin and Ewing that allowed the Big East to turn into the best basketball conference in the country in such a short time, I wish he could have made a Final Four. He is Brooklyn through and through just as Coach Mullin is. This is incredibly sad and as a fan who came of age with the Pearl, this hurts as much as the untimely passing of Malik.
 
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The great Pearl Washington has passed away. The entire Orange Nation mourns. http://cuse.com/news/2016/4/20/Pearl42016.aspx …
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Sad, sad news - very nice man.
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Yes, a very nice man ... and one helluva player, one the best I've seen at the collegiate level. A great talent, a great competitor, a great example of NYC basketball, and one of the game's elites. And as much as I've always hate Syracuse, I could never help but love Pearl's game and wish that he were wearing red instead of orange; he was that special. Sad, sad news, indeed.
 
In spite of the fact that he played for the hated Orange, I loved watching the Pearl play and was a big fan. Some of my most memorable games at MSG were when we played against the Pearl lead teams. Once particular game during the 84-85 year was a back and forth match. Walter hit a jumper from the top of the key(yes, a rarity) at the regulation buzzer to send the game to OT. Every time we seemed to be pulling away in OT, Pearl worked his magic and kept Cuse in the game. His pull up jumper at the buzzer in OT, which would have won the game, rimmed in and out. Think he wound up with 25 that night. Nice to hear such wonderful things about him from posters on here who have met him. He had a rough go of it after his basketball days were over, especially medically. RIP Pearl, and thanks for all the wonderful memories.
 
So sorry to hear this. RIP. I met him once or twice and he appeared to be a nice guy. I loved to watch him play (except against us). He was a marvel and always looked like he was having fun. The respect opponents had from him, both as a player and a person was tremendous. All you have to do is listen to guys he played with and against when they talk about him.

A true NYC basketball legend who did good. RIP basketball warrior. My prayers are with your family and Cuse fans everywhere.
 
RIP to a BE legend.

For us young guys...were we ever involved in his recruitment?
 
Very sad news. Whenever Syracuse, St. John's or Georgetown played one another, you had an incredible game to view. 3 totally different styles of ball, each successful. The Pearl was magical with the ball in his hands. Everyone knew what was coming and he still could not (usually) be stopped.
Rest in peace.
 
Mullin on Pearl - from Ian Begley twitter from ESPN :

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One more observation about the Pearl: One of the things I enjoyed most about watching him play was that when he made a spectacular play-and he made many-I don't ever recall seeing him showboat or rub it in his opponents' face. Maybe an occasional fist pump, but nothing over the top. The old cliché "act as if you've been there before" comes to mind. Maybe because he had been doing the spectacular with a ball from the time he was very little, but more likely because he was a gentlemen. I did not know him off the court, but always thought of him as a class act when watching him on the court. Which is one of the reasons he was so easy for me to root for (that, and because he was from Brooklyn) in spite of the fact that I hated the orange.
 
RIP to a BE legend.

For us young guys...were we ever involved in his recruitment?
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We were certainly in the mix, but once he went up and visited the carrier dome and heard the packed crowd chanting his name, it was a done deal. We just couldn't compete with Cuse after that.
 
RIP to a BE legend.

For us young guys...were we ever involved in his recruitment?
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We were certainly in the mix, but once he went up and visited the carrier dome and heard the packed crowd chanting his name, it was a done deal. We just couldn't compete with Cuse after that.
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Lou C always said that he offered Pearl, M Jackson and K Smith and told them the first to commit gets the schollie.
 
Remember him announcing for Syracuse to Al McGuire during halftime of a nationally televised game (may have been the McDonald's AA game). Pretty big stuff for a HS player, especially back then, but that's how big a star he was. Word was out that he was a Orange lean (loved the Dome), so it didn't come as a big surprise when he announced for them, but it was damn upsetting nevertheless. No knock on Mark Jackson (an all-time fave), but I've always felt we would've won it all in '85 with a core of Mullin, Berry, and Pearl.
 
Remember him announcing for Syracuse to Al McGuire during halftime of a nationally televised game (may have been the McDonald's AA game). Pretty big stuff for a HS player, especially back then, but that's how big a star he was. Word was out that he was a Orange lean (loved the Dome), so it didn't come as a big surprise when he announced for them, but it was damn upsetting nevertheless. No knock on Mark Jackson (an all-time fave), but I've always felt we would've won it all in '85 with a core of Mullin, Berry, and Pearl.
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Agree Ken, unless of course our beloved "Looie" chose to still start Mike Moses. :)

Btw, friend once told me Jackson would be a better pro than Pearl. Of course I laughed, but ironically in my opinion he was right.
 
RIP to a BE legend.

For us young guys...were we ever involved in his recruitment?
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Yes we were in on him hot and heavy. as we were with Kenny Smith and Mark Jackson. Just think, those three guards all from NYC and in the same class. Mark and Pearl both had us and Cuse on their list (their were multiple other schools invovled just remember they had those two schools in common while Smith had us Uva. and Carolina (and others). At one game at the then named Alumni Hall that he attended, while walking to his seat, fans stood up and started chanting "Pearl".

All in all, I don't think its a stretch to say that the programs those three wound up at (Mark here, Smith at Carolina and Pearl at the Cuse) were downright thrilled.

Pearl came in and started from day one, forcing another former highly rated and recruited NYC PG Eugene Waldron to move to the SG positions after pretty much being the starting PG for his first three seasons at Cuse.

Kenny Hutchinson who went to Arkansas was also a highly recruited PG out of the class but substance abuse ruined his carreer.

In the following class from NYC you had Rod Strickland.
 
RIP to a BE legend.

For us young guys...were we ever involved in his recruitment?
Click to expand...

We were certainly in the mix, but once he went up and visited the carrier dome and heard the packed crowd chanting his name, it was a done deal. We just couldn't compete with Cuse after that.
Click to expand...

In the 82/83 season, when we played Syracuse in the Dome, Mark Jackson was on a visit there and was seating behind the Cuse bench.
 
RIP to a BE legend.

For us young guys...were we ever involved in his recruitment?
Click to expand...

We were certainly in the mix, but once he went up and visited the carrier dome and heard the packed crowd chanting his name, it was a done deal. We just couldn't compete with Cuse after that.
Click to expand...
Lou C always said that he offered Pearl, M Jackson and K Smith and told them the first to commit gets the schollie.
Click to expand...

We were really never in the running for the other 2. Mark Jackson was considered the third best point guard in the city that year. I worked uptown, and the neighborhood guys who knew him from around the schoolyards called him Pac-Man, never Pearl, because he could zip around in any direction on a dime and was impossible to guard. Teammates called him Olivehead - derogatory but with affection because his shaved head looked smallish on his pro sized 6'2" frame.

He was the only college player I saw who could take the ball to the hoop against Ewing, freeze Ewing with an awesome move, and score off of him. I always said he had too much natural ability to have to learn a jump shot. He didn't need one until he got to the pros, and by then it was way too late for a guy his size to develop one.

Al McGuire would swoon over Pearl calling his college games. A true NYC legend, and gone way too soon. RIP. Perhaps the only guy after Monroe who could even attempt to wear the nickname Pearl, which was reserved for the one and only.

I've lost 2 friends to brain cancer over the past 2 years, and know another person just diagnosed. Something in our water or environment is messed up.
 
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