Rockne's Roundtable

Rest in peace tall man.

The Kelly Tripucka-Tracy Jackson-Orlando Woolrdige triumvirate signed in 1977 was the most memorable and productive group signed by ND basketball, in my opinion, and Orlando was the first real "Skywalker" recruit for the Irish. They provided many a great days in Irish lore.

Rest In Peace.

I remember very well, Orlando hitting a 'last shot of the game' sideline jumper to upset #1 and 23 - 0, Virginia, and Ralph Sampson. I was watching the game on TV and still can hear Al Maguire's amazing call while the ball was just reaching the peak of what was a very high arc: "That's gonna go"!! Orlando was a great athlete but suffered through some severe personal problems. A sad ending for a guy who gave us some great moments.

Orlando was an athletic big player that was electric with the ball in his hands.
I remember one game, sitting up in the Student section on the pull-out bleachers, when Orlando dribbled the ball all the way up the court, paused as if to pass off in the half-court set, only to drive and dunk it over two players trying to stop him.
We went nuts. He was that good.
He struggled with drug addiction post (maybe even during) ND, and that seemed to take a toll.

Wish the big guy and his family peace.

I grew up on that team. Those upsets of DePaul, UVA, and Final Four run are my earliest ND basketball memories. Those, combined with Dan Devine's late 70's football teams to go along with it made it easy for me to fall in love with the University as a child of the 1970s.

First Blair, now Orlando. 2012 hasn't been kind to my childhood Irish heroes.

This^^^

God Bless Orlando and his family.