Gregg Popovich came close to only having one eye.  (USATSI)
Gregg Popovich came close to only having one eye. (USATSI)

Forty-five years ago, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich almost lost an eye. It happened at his Air Force Academy graduation. He told the story to the San Antonio Express-News' Buck Harvey -- you should read the whole piece, but here's an excerpt:

June 3, 1970 meant something to him. He and 744 other cadets filed into Falcon Stadium, listened to Laird, prepared to become second lieutenants and waited for their own jets. Upon hearing the word “dismissed,” Popovich was amped to join tradition and throw his cap into the air.

But before he got an inch out of his seat, the cadet sitting next to him threw his own cap — directly into Popovich’s right eye.

The caps have a metal eagle on them, and the insignia cut off a piece of Popovich’s eyelid and sliced into his eye. He fell to the ground, holding his face, as blood began to flow.

In the celebration, no one noticed. “I was getting trampled,” Popovich said.

He laughed while he told the story Saturday, but mostly because it has been 45 years since it happened. At the time, Popovich feared he might lose the eye.

His fellow cadets hugged and smiled and partied. Popovich went straight to a hospital.

So, the greatest NBA head coach of a generation almost lost an eye when he was 21 and we're hearing about it now that he's 66. What a crazy thing. This came out because of a letter written to the Oklahoman's Berry Tramel by Wayne Baughman, a wrestler who was with Popovich at the Air Force Academy. Again, you should read the whole thing, but here's the relevant bit (though Popovich told Harvey that he did not, in fact, plan to be a pilot):

"Pop intended to stay at the AFA until he retired, and he and his wife bought a condo from my wife and I. Shortly thereafter he was offered the Pomona-Pitzer job. We bought the condo back so they wouldn’t lose money. Pop was the youngest officer to get the 'stay to retirement offer' and there was a reason. He was scheduled to go to pilot training upon graduation. At the end of the graduation ceremony when the cadets throw their hats in the air, Pop was hit in the eye with the metal military insignia on the hat of the guy next to him. The injury eliminated pilot training. If you look closely, he doesn’t have any eyelashes on part of his one eyelid and he has limited vision in that eye.

I get the feeling that there are 150 more stories like this about Popovich that would make for an amazing autobiography or memoir. Unfortunately, he seems like the last man on Earth who would write one.