A Grown Man Shot in a College Atmosphere
Jul 23, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
He made a grown man shot in a grown man game. Elderly folks jumped like children. Boys suddenly understood the stories their fathers told them about the great Jacob Pullen. Zero means none. This zero means infinity. And how many adults still hold onto their Kansas State No. 0 jersey like a favorite blanket. And how many adults went through their closets Friday to wear that jersey and instantly remembered the way it felt for the first time more than a decade ago, and how it made them feel when they wore it to games at Bramlage Coliseum, and how many times they peeled it off, their ears still ringing from the crowd, their throat aching from yelling, their mind sliding back to how the public address announcer shouted "JAAAAACOB PULLLLLLEN!" again and again and again.
It's the memory, you see. And in the end, as Pullen pulled up from the Wichita State Shockers logo at Charles Koch Arena and threw down the game-winning dagger, the memories again flooded back — "He's in shape!" Gus Johnson said so many years ago — the memory of watching him in his youth resurfacing, as the 32-year-old grown man, a professional basketball player for some time now, a man who's played hoops across the world, tried as he might to deny his youth — "This is grown-man basketball right here, it's not college, bro," he said — after one of the most entertaining games of his life.
He said it was not a game, it was work, and it was life. He explained as much, moments after Purple & Black advanced in The Basketball Tournament, in the fight for a $1 million tournament prize, and he was raw, and he was honest.
That he ran into the crowd to embrace K-State fans after hitting the game winner needed no explanation at all. Pullen broke the hearts of his opponents, and instantaneously broke that shell, hardened by life, and a switch went off — "There it goes, another engine cracks up in me," he said — and he was off like a thoroughbred, racing down the other end of the basketball court, then racing up the steps of the stands, running and running, and where was he running to?
Try as he might in this game called basketball — it's work, it's life, it's about putting dinner on the table — the 32-year-old from Maywood, Illinois, couldn't outgrow that crack in the driveway back home where he learned to shoot, and he couldn't outgrow his hometown park, and he certainly couldn't outgrow that rush, and love affair with K-State fans, which just hits differently than anything he's experienced. Yes, the shell didn't crack. The shell exploded for that moment as he turned and saw all the purple people celebrating like so many times before. And so, he ran and ran back to his youth.
"It's hard to describe," he said.
For a few fleeting moments, it was Jake versus Jake, and grown man versus the 18-year-old, and try as he might, youth still prevailed, and he was all heart as he rumbled up those arena steps, then gleefully hugged total strangers, as they embraced him like their long-lost son.
The only thing missing were the K-State cheerleaders, the pep band, and Willie Wildcat. Heck, even Sandstorm made an appearance late, and there were no chants from K-State fans, rather just energy, and clapping in unison, and massive cheers of K-Staters losing their minds — a piece of youth electrifying the former K-State greats in place of Wabash Cannonball.
"I felt that college atmosphere again, man," he said.
There's no doubting that Pullen, the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer, is one of the finest players ever to wear purple and white, and he had the swagger to match. That swagger, which has now circled the globe, returned to the Sunflower State, his home away from home, where native grass dances in the air across the Flint Hills, and were his passionate fans will reside forever, the stories still coming, the memories still thick in Aggieville taverns long into the night — "I remember when…" they'll say — yes, dripping with conquests of youth, and now conquests of a grown man caught in the maw of the life wheel.
And who knows when No. 0 might return to Manhattan again, and who knows when his world travels might end, and if he might go into coaching, and the lives that he'll touch, but there's no disputing his feat, and his triumph some two hours southwest of the Little Apple, which felt like March Madness, yet was in a different world.
A grown man world.
He made a grown man shot in a grown man game. Elderly folks jumped like children. Boys suddenly understood the stories their fathers told them about the great Jacob Pullen. Zero means none. This zero means infinity. And how many adults still hold onto their Kansas State No. 0 jersey like a favorite blanket. And how many adults went through their closets Friday to wear that jersey and instantly remembered the way it felt for the first time more than a decade ago, and how it made them feel when they wore it to games at Bramlage Coliseum, and how many times they peeled it off, their ears still ringing from the crowd, their throat aching from yelling, their mind sliding back to how the public address announcer shouted "JAAAAACOB PULLLLLLEN!" again and again and again.
It's the memory, you see. And in the end, as Pullen pulled up from the Wichita State Shockers logo at Charles Koch Arena and threw down the game-winning dagger, the memories again flooded back — "He's in shape!" Gus Johnson said so many years ago — the memory of watching him in his youth resurfacing, as the 32-year-old grown man, a professional basketball player for some time now, a man who's played hoops across the world, tried as he might to deny his youth — "This is grown-man basketball right here, it's not college, bro," he said — after one of the most entertaining games of his life.
He said it was not a game, it was work, and it was life. He explained as much, moments after Purple & Black advanced in The Basketball Tournament, in the fight for a $1 million tournament prize, and he was raw, and he was honest.
"This is a backyard dog fight here," he said. "You've got to be thirsty. Guys are playing their hearts out. Guys are playing to feed their family."BANG‼️ BANG‼️ BANG‼️
— TBT (@thetournament) July 23, 2022
JACOB PULLEN DRILLS THE 30-FOOT @SLING SHOT TO WIN THE GAME FOR @PurpleBlack2K21
SURVIVE AND ADVANCE 💰 pic.twitter.com/JcSR5O2OYF
That he ran into the crowd to embrace K-State fans after hitting the game winner needed no explanation at all. Pullen broke the hearts of his opponents, and instantaneously broke that shell, hardened by life, and a switch went off — "There it goes, another engine cracks up in me," he said — and he was off like a thoroughbred, racing down the other end of the basketball court, then racing up the steps of the stands, running and running, and where was he running to?
Try as he might in this game called basketball — it's work, it's life, it's about putting dinner on the table — the 32-year-old from Maywood, Illinois, couldn't outgrow that crack in the driveway back home where he learned to shoot, and he couldn't outgrow his hometown park, and he certainly couldn't outgrow that rush, and love affair with K-State fans, which just hits differently than anything he's experienced. Yes, the shell didn't crack. The shell exploded for that moment as he turned and saw all the purple people celebrating like so many times before. And so, he ran and ran back to his youth.
"It's hard to describe," he said.
For a few fleeting moments, it was Jake versus Jake, and grown man versus the 18-year-old, and try as he might, youth still prevailed, and he was all heart as he rumbled up those arena steps, then gleefully hugged total strangers, as they embraced him like their long-lost son.
The only thing missing were the K-State cheerleaders, the pep band, and Willie Wildcat. Heck, even Sandstorm made an appearance late, and there were no chants from K-State fans, rather just energy, and clapping in unison, and massive cheers of K-Staters losing their minds — a piece of youth electrifying the former K-State greats in place of Wabash Cannonball.
"I felt that college atmosphere again, man," he said.
There's no doubting that Pullen, the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer, is one of the finest players ever to wear purple and white, and he had the swagger to match. That swagger, which has now circled the globe, returned to the Sunflower State, his home away from home, where native grass dances in the air across the Flint Hills, and were his passionate fans will reside forever, the stories still coming, the memories still thick in Aggieville taverns long into the night — "I remember when…" they'll say — yes, dripping with conquests of youth, and now conquests of a grown man caught in the maw of the life wheel.
And who knows when No. 0 might return to Manhattan again, and who knows when his world travels might end, and if he might go into coaching, and the lives that he'll touch, but there's no disputing his feat, and his triumph some two hours southwest of the Little Apple, which felt like March Madness, yet was in a different world.
A grown man world.
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