Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Player’s death hit home for UNLV center

UNLV forward Louis Amundson began practice this weekend with a heavy heart and a fresh tattoo, near that heart, as a tribute to his best friend, Billy Feeney, who took his own life in late August.

Feeney, who played basketball at New Mexico, was found hanging from a light pole in the early-morning hours of Aug. 28 near his apartment complex in Albuquerque.

Amundson now has a "R.I.P., 34, B.F." design etched into the left side of his chest.

"When that happened, it hit me so hard," he said. "He was so close to me that I thought I'd do something like that as a tribute to him."

Feeney's mother, Liz, confirmed that her son likely was despondent about a breakup with a girlfriend.

A toxicology test confirmed that Feeney had been drinking -- his blood-alcohol level was almost twice the legal driving limit of 0.08 -- at the time of the tragedy.

A sad photograph of a visibly shaken Amundson, standing over Feeney's casket at his funeral in Boulder, Colo., ran in the Denver Post. He left Las Vegas for a week to console Feeney's relatives and to be with his own family.

They lived near each other in Louisville, Colo., and Amundson gave Feeney a ride to Monarch High every day of their senior years. Feeney matriculated to Portland State, then transferred to New Mexico.

"It was just so heavy, everything that happened," said a glassy-eyed Amundson, 20. "It was really difficult, the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, going back there and going to the funeral. The hardest thing.

"He was just so close to me. I've never known anyone like him. We're just so similar. It hurt."

He expects this group to be much more cognizant of how to run, and master, the pick-and-roll, for example.

"Guys will have good days and bad days, and they'll be up and down. That first day, everyone was trying to doeverything at 100 miles an hour. (Sunday), we were down to 90 mph," Spoonhour said. "But I've been pleasantly happy with the way they understand some things."

A former football, basketball and track athlete at The Meadows School, Paulos injured a knee playing quarterback during his senior prep season and that injury stymied his hoops future at UNLV.

However, Spoonhour said he had hoped Paulos would stick around for a second season.

"I tried to talk him into coming out, truthfully," Spoonhour said. "I'm the worst. I tried talking him into staying and playing basketball, but I hope it works out well for him."

According to Spoonhour, Paulos is working for his father, Bill, one of the partners of The Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas.

"He wants to be a working man for his father," Spoonhour said, "and he likes it."

The "Thomas & Mack Center" logos on the sides of the court are also written in a much classier font.

"I do like our new court," Spoonhour said. "I think it looks clean. That's what I like about it. (The Thomas & Mack lettering) is so much better. The insert here is absolutely beautiful. They fixed it up for us."

In particular, he hopes protege Jerel Blassingame, the point guard from Los Angeles City College, continues to blossom. Blassingame did not play prep ball but finds himself at UNLV courtesy of McTernan's efforts, among others.

Known as "Tippy" in the boroughs, McTernan deserves plenty of credit for coordinating his not-for-profit organization.

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