CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Billy Packer, a charismatic curmudgeon who played in a Final Four for Wake Forest and then broadcast 34 more of them as a TV analyst, died Thursday in Charlotte. He was 82.
Packer’s son, Mark, told The Associated Press that his father had several medical issues, had been hospitalized in Charlotte for the past several weeks and ultimately died of kidney failure.
Packer’s broadcasting style wasn’t for everybody, but I was a fan. He was instantly incisive as a broadcaster and something of an anti-Dick Vitale. You would never see Packer climbing into a mosh pit with students before the game and ramping up the crowd.
