NBA great 'Sweet Lou' showing that there's hope after a stroke

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jul 16, 2006 | by Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News

With goals in mind and a motto rolling off his tongue, retired NBA great Lou Hudson -- looking good, but seated in a wheelchair because of a stroke suffered following a day of skiing about 18 months ago -- visited the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league Saturday night.

Hudson, a Park City resident and six-time NBA All-Star who dropped by to watch the Atlanta Hawks play and give the team a pep talk, said he is progressing well.

"I've come a long way," said Hudson, who played two years for the St. Louis Hawks, nine for the Atlanta Hawks and two for the Los Angeles Lakers during a 13-season career that began in 1967.

"But I'm going all the way," he added. "I determined to walk again, and do all the things I used to. I understand maybe not as well, but I'm going to do them."

With an ear-to-ear grin, Hudson -- who has been doing much of his rehab work at the University of Utah's stroke center -- got rather specific.

"I going to jog by October," he said, "and ski again this winter."

As a visitor began to walk away, Hudson made sure the motto he now lives by was heard loud and clear.

"There is hope," the man known in NBA circles as "Sweet Lou," said "after a stroke."