McCormick had noticed announcer Billy Packer standing courtside, stuffing game notes, charts, press guides and other information into his attaché case.

I wonder if he remembers me? McCormick thought to himself.

Jim slipped past a few more fans and eventually approached Packer, pulled out his hand and introduced himself.

Before McCormick could get out another word, a smile of recognition formed on Packer’s face and the two began a 10-minute-long conversation.

After 40 years, Billy Packer still remembered.

***

Jim McCormick is perhaps the most underrated player to ever put on the Gold and Blue basketball jersey at West Virginia University. The New Martinsville native came to Morgantown in 1960 at a time when WVU basketball in the Mountain State was bigger than even John L. Lewis and FDR.

Following All-American center Mark Workman in the early 1950s, Coach Fred Schaus took over the WVU program in 1954 and turned the Mountaineers into THE topic of conversation in parlors and barber shops throughout the state.

Players like Jerry West, Hot Rod Hundley, Lloyd Sharrar, Ronnie Retton and Don Vincent in the 1950s paved the way for Rod Thorn, Lee Patrone, Tom Lowry, Bob Camp and Ron “Fritz” Williams in the 1960s.

West Virginia won a staggering 146 of 183 games during Schaus’ tenure from 1954-60, and spent an amazing 61 straight weeks in the Top 20 from 1957-61. It could be argued that West Virginia piled up its classy record against weak competition in the Southern Conference, but the Mountaineers still managed to capture the KIT in Lexington against No. 5-rated Kentucky and No. 1-rated North Carolina, and owned an 8-6 record against Top 20 teams from 1957-60.

West Virginia finished the 1958 season ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the AP and UPI polls, and came within a basket of defeating California for the 1959 national championship. From 1951-61, West Virginia was only second to Kentucky with an overall winning percentage of 78 percent.

And while flashy Hot Rod Hundley may have gotten people’s attention, it was West who legitimized the West Virginia program.

Sandwiched in between All-American guards Hundley, West, Thorn and Williams was Jim McCormick.

“I think sometimes people forget how good a player Jim was considering he played right after West, alongside Thorn, and before Williams,” said longtime MSN analyst and former WVU player Jay Jacobs. “Jim McCormick could really play.”

“Jim was smart, clever, and got more out of his God-given talents than anyone,” recalled Jay Randolph, CNBC’s golf commentator who announced West Virginia games back in 1961-62 for WHAR in Clarksburg.

Although McCormick averaged 29.5 points per game for Coach Bob Sullivan at Magnolia High School in 1958, his grades weren’t good enough to be accepted at West Virginia so he spent a year at Greenbrier Military Academy in Lewisburg, W.Va.

“Going to Greenbrier really helped me,” said McCormick. “We had a lot of guys in military school that later on became very good basketball players.”

Schaus and assistant coach George King were aware of the 6-foot-2 guard at Greenbrier and asked him to come up to Morgantown for a campus visit. McCormick, who learned to play the game by shooting baskets at a wagon wheel nailed on a post with four baskets wired to it, jumped at the chance to play for the Mountaineers.

However, there was one catch: Schaus didn’t have a full scholarship for him. McCormick only got books and tuition, which amounted to about $150 a semester back in 1960. He had to pay for room and board – which, like today, happens to be the primary expense to go to college.

If Jim could crack the West Virginia lineup then Schaus had a full scholarship for him.

“That was like asking me to climb Mount Everest with all these names up there, guys like West and Thorn,” said McCormick.

With the exception of Thorn, McCormick soon realized after a couple of practices with the freshmen that he was as good as the rest of the players on the team. Schaus, watching the freshmen team pile up an undefeated 16-0 record, also realized this and gave McCormick a full ride before leaving to coach the Los Angeles Lakers after the 1960 season.

Taking over the West Virginia program in place of Schaus was King, a Morris Harvey graduate who, like his former boss, made his mark playing in the NBA.

Three games into McCormick’s sophomore season in 1961 the guard scored 18 points against Wake Forest and became a regular in the Mountaineer lineup. Later he made 28 points against Furman and added 26 against VMI.

McCormick finished the 1961 season scoring double figures in 11 straight games, but King’s sophomore-laden team was upset by William & Mary in the Southern Conference tournament and failed to make the NCAAs for the first time since 1954.

Today, West Virginia’s 23-4 record that year would have easily been good enough for an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament. Only conference champions made the 32-team tournament back then, though.

McCormick was solid as a sophomore, averaging 12.7 points and 2.6 assists per game as Thorn’s complimentary player. It was a role McCormick played well during his career.

McCormick boosted his scoring average to 15.4 points per game as a junior in 1962, including six games with 20 points or more.

Against North Carolina State, McCormick’s two free throws lifted West Virginia to an unforgettable 82-81 overtime win in Greensboro, N.C. McCormick made a long desperation shot which would have won the game, but referee George Gasser ruled that it came after the buzzer.

Although he missed West Virginia’s final six regular season games with a painful calcium deposit on his left thigh, the Mountaineers wound up winning 24 games before losing to Villanova, 90-75 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In that game, he wore a protective pad on his thigh that was wrapped with adhesive tape.

McCormick’s fine play continued as a senior in 1963. He averaged 15.2 points and 3.1 assists per contest to help the Mountaineers to a 23-8 record.

“Those West Virginia teams back then had great chemistry,” said Randolph.

West Virginia came out of the gate losing three of its first nine games against a difficult non-conference slate that included No. 9 Kentucky, No. 4 Illinois, Ohio State and Oregon State.

But the Mountaineers rallied and won 11 of 13 Southern Conference games and swept the tournament by defeating Richmond, Furman and Davidson to return to the NCAA tournament.

WVU got past Connecticut, 77-71 before losing in the regional semifinals to St. Joseph’s, 97-88. West Virginia won the consolation game against NYU, 83-73 to end McCormick’s career.

Despite playing in the shadows of Thorn, McCormick managed to score 1,156 career points to rank 24^th on the school’s all-time list. He ranks 16^th in assists with 253 and was twice named to the all-Southern Conference second team in 1962 and 1963. In 80 career games, McCormick scored 20 points or more 14 times and 10 points or more 65 times.

All told, West Virginia won a remarkable 70 of 88 games during McCormick’s three varsity seasons from 1961-63. He was one of 11 West Virginians on the Mountaineer roster in 1963. There was Bob Camp from Charleston, Gale Catlett from Hedgesville, Gay Elmore from Charleston, Bill Maphis from Romney, Richard Ray from Huntington, David Shuck from Lookout, Don Weir from Oceana, Mike Wolfe from Belle, Rudolph Zatezalo from Moundsville, Thorn from Princeton, and McCormick from New Martinsville.

“It started out with Mark Workman ... he drew kids to West Virginia .. then Hundley, West and Thorn,” said McCormick. “From day one I wanted to go to West Virginia. I think players tended to choose teams that were winning, had great tradition, and had a great coach. West Virginia had all of those things.

“Ninety-nine percent of the crowd going to the games came from West Virginia,” he added. “At least one player on the team usually was from where they lived or close by. (Fans) could identify with the players.”

One such rabid fan was Dr. Lowell Schwab, who epitomized the love West Virginians had for their Mountaineers. In 1963 while in medical school in Richmond, Va., Schwab convinced 50,000-watt WRVA to carry West Virginia basketball games. With no financial backing, he promised the station that he would collect enough money to buy broadcasting rights, pay telephone line charges and even find a sponsor.

The 28-year-old obstetrician sought out friends and alumni in Virginia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and came up with the money to air the games that season. He even convinced a Virginia candy-making firm to sponsor the games.

Fans living in remote valleys often drove their automobiles to the nearest mountain top to get better reception on their car radios, and when the West Virginia national guard was activated during the Berlin crises in 1962, troop morale required that WVU basketball games be broadcast into an auditorium at Fort Meade, Md.

***

After his senior season, McCormick was drafted in the sixth round by the Cincinnati Royals. He went to Cincinnati training camp but his professional career ended during a preseason game when Wayne Embry fell on his leg and ruptured his Achilles tendon.

“That was it,” McCormick said.

He was married, had a couple of children and felt the responsibility of having a family. With Oscar Robertson, Kentucky standout Adrian Smith and Dayton’s Arlen Bockhorn on the Royals roster, McCormick would have had a tough time making the team.

Still, a year after his injury Schaus called up McCormick and asked if he was interested in a tryout with the St. Louis Hawks. Schaus and Hawks owner Ben Kerner were close friends and the Lakers coach recommended that St. Louis take a look at him.

McCormick balked at the offer and instead decided to take a high school coaching job in Spencer, W.Va., for $4,100.

“If I would have had it to do all over again I probably would have done it,” said McCormick. "That’s one of the things I regret. There were a couple of guys that made the NBA that I had played against in college that I thought were so-so players. Who knows?”

McCormick spent some time at the Colin Anderson Center in St. Mary’s, W.Va., and later moved to Louisville, Ky., where he worked for 28 years in a vocational rehabilitation program. He took early retirement and moved to Naples, Fla., but today is back living in Lexington, Ky., close to his oldest son Mike, who works in Georgetown, Ky., and breeds horses in his spare time.

McCormick remains interested in college basketball, traveling to Morgantown a few times a year to take in games.

“The game has changed so much,” said McCormick. “I don’t like today’s game. It’s one-on-one, dribble a while and if you can’t score you pass it to someone else. I try to visualize myself at age 19 going up there and playing now and I’m not too sure I would have had a very good career scoring-wise.”

Then he added, “When we get together at homecomings, we all still think we can beat the teams today. I’m sure the guys before us probably said the same thing.”

***

As Packer and McCormick wrapped up their impromptu meeting, the CBS analyst recalled McCormick’s performance against him in Charleston on Jan. 31, 1962.

McCormick fired in 35 points against Packer and All-American teammate Len Chappell, helping the Mountaineers to an exciting 101-99 upset victory over the Demon Deacons.

Although unranked at the time, Wake Forest advanced to the Final Four that season and finished third in the country.

It was the best scoring performance of McCormick’s career.

Yes, Billy Packer remembered.

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