Hot Rod Hundley TV Documentary Airs April 16 on WVPB

“Hot Rod” Airs Monday, April 16 at 8 pm and 10 pm on WVPB

“Hot Rod” is a documentary chronicling the flamboyance of basketball great Rod Hundley, an unforgettable player and broadcaster who used the game to achieve heights no one could have imagined.

Abandoned by his father and raised by various families in Charleston, W.Va., Hundley was living on his own by the time he became a celebrated high school phenom.

He rose to prominence at WVU, where he was nicknamed the “Clown Prince” for his freewheeling antics, and became the No. 1 pick in the 1957 NBA draft.

When Hundley’s party-till-you-drop lifestyle derailed his pro career, he realized a missed opportunity and dedicated himself to broadcasting.

The only former NBA player to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a play-by-play announcer, Hundley died in March 2015 of Alzheimers at age 80. Our story documents his rags-to-riches life, and how the darkness of his childhood never left him.

“Hod Rod” Airs Monday, April 16 at 8 pm and 10 pm on WVPB