Rudy Macklin’s jersey is hanging from the rafters at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly, and for good reason: He is the school’s all-time leading rebounder. He carried the Tigers to the 1981 Final Four in Philadelphia. Back then, the tournament included a third-place game, and that’s where the trouble started for Macklin. Just before the consolation game against Virginia, President Ronald Reagan was shot, and after the loss, Macklin was asked if the news might have affected the team. His response—”He’s no kin of mine”—was so blown out of proportion that he feared for his life. In this documentary, directed by Marc Kinderman for ESPN Films, Macklin looks back at the anxious times when he thought he might get hung for a different reason.
