Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993 TAG: 9304160074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BLOOMINGTON, ILL. LENGTH: Medium
A 1-IN-A-MILLION LONG SHOT PAYS OFF
No NBA agents came calling for Don Calhoun on Thursday. Everyone else did.The $5-an-hour salesman was celebrating his first day as a millionaire after flinging a basketball 75 feet into a Chicago Stadium net before a standing-room-only crowd that had come to see the Bulls play the Miami Heat.
But Calhoun ended up being the star.
"I didn't get any sleep last night," he said Thursday as he joined family and friends in Bloomington. "My heart was beating too fast."
The salesman and part-time student had one try to hit the shot from the opposite free-throw line - three-quarters the length of the court.
One try was all it took.
"I thought it was going in when it left my hands," he said as he celebrated with his parents, both janitors, at Illinois State University, where his mother works.
"I just wanted to get a good shot off," he said.
"I'm still shook up and shocked and everything else," said his father, Homer Calhoun, 50, who watched his son's shot on TV. "I had a fit! I never dreamed of anything like that."
Calhoun's family reported non-stop calls from media and well-wishers. His employer ordered pastries and planned a weekend promotion to congratulate him.
"It's just fantastic," Calhoun's boss, Ron Koehler, said. "Don's an outstanding individual. He's always been involved in the boy's club, the men's club. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."
Everyone, it seemed, wanted to rub shoulders with the man who had been chosen at random from the crowd when his bright yellow athletic shoes caught the eye a promotions staffer.
Then, during a break in the third quarter, Calhoun calmly stepped forward and flung the ball, baseball-style, from his shoulder.
The result?
Nothing but net.
The fans went wild and the Bulls rushed Calhoun, who took a double high-five from John Paxson and a giant hug from Michael Jordan.
"It took me three years to make a million dollars," quipped Bulls forward Horace Grant. "It took him five seconds."
"He just better be prepared for a lot of friends," Jordan warned shortly after the shot.
The younger Calhoun says he's not ready for the NBA, but enjoys shooting hoops at the local Y.
"I'm really not what you'd call a basketball player," Calhoun said. "I played at Bloomington High School. But I was mostly a bench player there."
Calhoun said he intends to keep his job at Reliable Office Superstore and finish classes at Heartland Community College.
As for Wednesday night's game, the Bulls ran past the Heat 119-92.
Even so, Bulls coach Phil Jackson grumbled: "I don't like those kind of distractions. I'm glad it was not a close game."
The shot was part of a 20-game promotion by a local restaurant chain and a soft-drink manufacturer. Calhoun will receive $50,000 each year for the next 20 years.
"I wish they'd give me a shot at that," said Jordan, whose eight-figure annual income hasn't jaded his love of prizes. "For a million bucks, I'd love to try."