Courting a Comeback : Some Said Knee Injury Would Keep Ex-Carson, UNLV Star Out of Basketball--but You Should See Him Now

Eldridge Hudson remembers all the details of New Year’s Day, 1983. It started gloriously. He was set to start another game at forward for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where he was rapidly gaining notoriety as one of the nation’s top freshman basketball players.

“Eldridge was just sensational,” recalled UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Then misfortune struck. Hudson, chasing a loose ball against Utah, slipped and fell to the court in pain.

“I hit some sweat or something on the floor,” he said. “I slipped back and my leg popped.”

Hudson’s left knee suffered extensive damage. He underwent reconstructive surgery after the season, forcing him to sit out his sophomore year. Doctors said he might never play again.

If only they could see him now.

More than five years after the injury, Hudson is playing in the Summer Pro League at Loyola Marymount University and enjoying every minute. Although he seems to realize it’s a long shot, he has not given up hope of making an NBA team. This, he says, is his second chance.

“I can put it this way,” he said. “To all those people who say my knee is a problem, I would suggest they come out to Loyola and see for themselves. I think I could help just about any team in the league, except maybe the Lakers. But I think I could even help them.

“It’s a matter of getting the right break and making the right team. The sky’s the limit.”

Hudson has never lacked confidence. At Carson High, where he earned the nickname “El Hud” and led the Colts to the Division I state championship as a senior in 1982, he played with flamboyance and intensity rarely seen on the prep level.

And he hated to lose. Once, after fouling out late in a game that Carson lost to Banning, Hudson dropped to the floor in anguish and crawled to the bench. It was one of the few times he was at a loss for words.

Asked about coaching Hudson in high school, Dick Acres replied: “I’m not so sure he didn’t coach me.”

Marc Paez coaches Hudson on the NBA Pros in the summer league. The team features several free agents who are hoping to hook on with a pro team, either in the United States or overseas. One is Lloyd Daniels, the former New York City high school star who was kicked out of UNLV for alleged drug use.

Although the Pros fell to 0-6 after Monday’s 104-102 loss to the New Jersey Nets, Paez says Hudson has played well in every game. He displayed some of his old magic Monday, hitting a half-court shot at the end of the first half.

“He’s probably been the most consistent player on the team offensively,” said Paez, general manager of the Summer Pro League and an assistant coach at St. Bernard High.

For a player 6-8 and 220 pounds, Hudson surprisingly possesses more than a strong inside game. He can post up, all right, but he can also perform skills that conjure up images of Magic Johnson.

“He’s surprised me with his range and jump shot,” Paez said. “And for a guy as big as he is, he handles the ball well on the break. That’s rare for a guy his size.

“My guess is that his chances of being in the NBA would be considerably greater if he had not suffered that injury.”

While Hudson says his left knee is no longer a problem, others contend that his lack of lateral mobility makes him a liability, especially on defense. One NBA scout said Hudson would be more realistic to think about playing abroad or in the Continental Basketball Assn.

He tried out for two NBA teams last year. He was cut by the Indiana Pacers and the Houston Rockets before returning to UNLV to get his degree.

“For a free agent to make an NBA roster is an extreme long shot,” Paez said. “It’s more likely that they’re going to get something overseas.”

Paez said scouts from Israel have expressed interest in Hudson, who seems open to the idea of playing abroad. Last summer, he played in Mexico for two months with friend Gilbert Wilburn, a former Banning High standout.

“A lot of people have approached me with offers, but I’m not thinking about that,” he said. “I just want everyone to see me play. One thing I learned while I was hurt was patience.

“Whatever happens happens. I’m looking for a job, period. I’m open to anything.”

Acres believes that Hudson, 24, should keep his options open. He says playing abroad can be a great experience for young Americans. Acres’ eldest son, Mark, the 1981 Southern Section 4-A Player of the Year at Palos Verdes High, played in Europe for two years before earning a spot as a reserve forward-center on the Boston Celtics last season.

“Sometimes you can make more money in Europe than in the NBA,” Acres said. “Expenses aren’t much over there; they give you everything. Mark was able to send most of his money home. He bought a house in Palos Verdes and a condo in Palm Springs basically from the money he saved.

“But, just about everybody’s dream is to play in the NBA.”

At Carson, Acres said Hudson showed the potential to become an NBA star.

“He was the best player I ever coached,” Acres said. “He could get up three or four times (on a rebound) on either side of the basket. He could tip it on one side and go to the other side and tip it in.

“If he had stayed healthy, there’s no question that he could have played in the NBA. But there are many great players who don’t make the NBA. When you get hurt, it makes it tough.”

Hudson said he never considered attending another college once UNLV began recruiting him. He loved the running game, so what better place for him than with the Runnin’ Rebels?

“I used to get a lot of mail,” he said, “but I never read it. I never even opened it. I already knew where I wanted to go.”

Hudson, named the L.A. City 4-A Player of the Year as a senior at Carson, opened his freshman season at UNLV as the starting power forward. His natural position is small forward, but the Rebels already had a proven player there in Larry Anderson.

Tarkanian had high expectations for the 1982-83 team, which finished 28-3 but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Although the Rebels had talented seniors in center Sidney Green, Anderson and point guard Danny Tarkanian, they were never the same after Hudson’s injury.

“I think that might have been my best team until (Hudson) got hurt,” Coach Tarkanian said. “There’s no telling how good we could have been had he stayed healthy. It knocked our team down a notch.”

After his injury in the 10th game of the season, Hudson sat out two weeks before making an ill-advised return. With his leg taped, Hudson played in UNLV’s Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. opener against Utah State and twisted his injured knee when he landed on another player’s foot.

He continued to play part time the rest of the season, postponing surgery until the summer. Looking back, Hudson says playing on his injured knee might have been the biggest mistake of his career.

“I know I hurt it more,” he said. “Maybe if someone would have said, ‘Don’t play no more,’ it would have helped me.”

With the help of UNLV Assistant Coaches Tim Grgurich and Melvin Bennett, Hudson worked hard to rehabilitate his knee and prove wrong the doctors who had said he should hang up his basketball shoes. He got up at 6 every morning to perform therapies advised by the trainers.

More painful than the injury was sitting out his sophomore year.

“That was the toughest year of my life,” he said. “It was tough sitting there on the bench, not in uniform. I learned that I had to have patience. And I learned a lot of other things.”

Hudson returned to the team for the 1984-85 season, but he never regained his place as a regular. He played a limited reserve role for two years and became the sixth man in his last season, in 1986-87, when the Rebels lost in the NCAA semifinals to eventual champion Indiana.

“When he came back, he had lost a little bit, but he still did a great job,” Tarkanian said. “Eldridge had a great career here. He won a lot of big games for us.

“He showed unbelieveable courage in coming back. A lot of people didn’t think he’d play anymore, but he was determined to come back.”

These days, Hudson is determined to make a living in basketball, something that seemed inconceivable a few years ago. If it doesn’t work out, he has an education to fall back on. He completed his degree in sociology this spring.

The one thing Hudson refuses to do is look back. There are no outward signs of remorse concerning his injury. He chooses to focus on the future.

“I’m having a lot of fun playing, and that’s it,” he said. “I’ve never been the type to dwell about things. I take it as it comes. I only look in the past to make my future better.

“I’m just a young man looking for a job in the sport he loves.”