Coach Gaines died in April 2005. I was a freshman at the time, shadowing WSSU’s Director of Media Relations, Aaron Singleton. He introduced me to Mr. Blunt, and we chatted for a while as I did one of my first media interviews.
I met quite a few basketball legends that day– John Thompson, Pee Wee Kirkland, Stephen A. Smith and the one and only “Earl The Pearl.” Still there was something about Mr. Blunt that stood out to me.
He wasn’t overly intimidating at right around six-feet. He didn’t speak loudly and he wasn’t the main attraction in a Coliseum Annex full of basketball dignitaries, but he had an air of quiet confidence along with charisma that made it understandable as to why, when he led, people followed.
From that point on, whenever I crossed his path – usually brief moments around homecoming – I spoke with him and marveled at how he hadn’t aged from that day I met him in 2005.
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