Here’s former Orlando Magic players Dennis Scott & Penny Hardaway on the passing of team co-founder Pat Williams.
(via Orlando Magic):
Scott: “Of course we all know now the passing of Pat Williams. We know what he meant to us, Nick [Anderson], yourself, Shaq. What were your first thoughts when you found out?”
Hardaway: “Man, I was hurt, just kinda shed a tear, because he’s been so impactful in so many different ways in all our lives. Not only for the city of Orlando, for the DeVos family, for us as players, but just anybody that came up in his path. He was just such a smart guy, such a touching guy, and a guy that kinda saw things before it happened. He was like revolutionary way before his time. So his passing, we know that’s gonna happen to all of us one day, but when it happens suddenly like that, man, it hurts.”
Scott: “It does. For me, talking to Nick earlier, could barely hear him over the phone. I was shedding tears all day. I remember the first book Pat gave me, and I said, ‘Wait a minute, Pat. What you doing? We’re gonna talk about basketball?’ He goes, ‘No, I want you to read as long as you’re learning the game of basketball.’ What were some of the things you can remember that Pat would do for you like that?”
Hardaway: “Well, obviously he’d always pull me to the side and just say, ‘Make sure you’re having fun with this.’ He didn’t want everything to be stressful, because he understood the blessing of it all. That’s for all of us. He adopted and was in so many kids’ lives. For me, just the nuggets he would give me if I was down. Or even if I was happy, he’d be like, ‘You still happy? You still good?’ I’m like, ‘Always, Pat, because of you.’”
Scott: “Without him, none of our careers would be the way they are.”
