Former WSSU stars tell team to savor championship game

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  Earl “The Pearl” Monroe has closely followed the fortunes of the Winston-Salem State University football team, and he says the one piece of advice he would give players and coaches as they pursue the Division II national championship is to savor every minute.
Monroe, one of the most famous athletes in WSSU history, speaks from experience — he was a key part of WSSU’s run to the Division II basketball championship in 1967, and he played in the NBA Finals three times.
“When I was playing in the NBA, we got to the Finals three years in a row, and I just thought it would always be like that,” Monroe said this week by telephone from New York. “We never got back to the finals again.

“Getting to the championship game like that doesn’t happen often, so I hope they enjoy the experience, and I hope they can get the job done and win another national title for the school.”

Monroe, a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame and a recent inductee into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, played for Big House Gaines at WSSU and graduated in 1967. He said he thinks often about the Rams’ championship.

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