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18 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED freshman guard Ryan Cline said. Cline dreams of developing into the type of shooter Mount was, so it wasn't surprising he hung on Mount's simple message. "He told us to be ready for our moment, whether that be being ready to shoot the ball when it was passed to us or being ready for the opportunity in front of us," Cline said. "He stressed getting the ball inside if we wanted to be suc- cessful as a team, but that the whole game could change if we can make a shot. He finished by saying we needed to, as a team, figure out how to win and learn from our mistakes. That was an important and relevant message, especially on that day." Mount was surprised at how engaged the players were after the loss. But the Rocket could relate, as his 61-point effort — a Big Ten record that still stands — came during a 108-107 loss to, of all teams, Iowa, back in 1970. "I have told people through the years that that game didn't mean much to me because I may have scored all those points, but we lost," Mount said. "Still, I was sur- prised that they listened and were engaged, especially after their coach had probably ripped them a bit after los- ing." GETTING MOUNT BACK Mount's return to the house he is credited for helping build back in the 1960s was an improbable one filled with a few twists and turns. Mount had said for years he would never return to the court that he helped make famous. In Mount's mind, he just never saw the need to come back. Yes, he was estranged from the program, but it wasn't like he had lost interest in Purdue bas- ketball. "People didn't understand why he didn't want to come back," Rich Mount said in early February. "It had nothing to do with my situation, it had to with when dad was at Purdue." (Rich transferred from Purdue midway through in his sophomore season in late 1990, something he has since admitted he regrets.) The elder Mount never saw eye to eye with Coach George King, and there was something unresolved there. Both were fierce competitors, big-time col- lege scorers and had stubborn streaks. And that might be the understatement of the year. "We didn't get along well, but I wanted to win, and he wanted to win, so you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," said Rick Mount, sitting in the old gym where he played high school basketball on a cold, gray day in late January. "We had our ups and downs, but we had some great times." Great times. The light bulb had come on for Mount. His experi- ence at Purdue wasn't all bad, and that realization, more than anything, may have tipped the scales in fa- vor of Mount's triumphant return. Combine that with a competitive nature that hasn't waned in 69 years, and his desire to prove people and media who said he would never come back wrong, and there were enough key elements to changing Mount's mind. Throughout his life, Mount has always looked for ways to show people he can do something better than anyone, and this situation, at least to some extent, was no different. After all, he is considered the greatest shooter in the history of the Big Ten and maybe in all of college basketball. If there was competition in the category of "best curtain calls after a long hiatus," Mount would win, hands down. But the decision to return was deeply personal. How could it not be? For the grandchildren, for his son, for the fans, they were all in the mix in his thought pro- cess. But there was history to overcome. Mount had not made a public appearance in Mack- ey since shortly after Rich had signed to play at Pur- due in his senior year at Lebanon High School. That was Dec. 9, 1988. And that occasion happened to be the 20-year anniversary of Purdue's 1969 NCAA run- ner-up team. Through the years, Rick Mount remained in con- tact with Bob King, the long-time Purdue basketball assistant who recruited him. Mount would have lunch with King and an intimate group of basketball friends two or three times a year at Stookey's Restaurant in near-by Thorntown, about 10 miles up the road from Lebanon. In many ways, King played the role of second father to Mount over the years, especially after his real father, Pete, died in the late 1980s. Mount, a man who