Lance Brigham (1946-2020) Had Star-Crossed Husky Basketball Career
Lance Brigham, a former University of Washington basketball player, died this summer at 73. A part-time starter for the Huskies in 1966-68, he was an undersized 6-foot-4 forward who sometimes played guard.
Brigham was asked to go up against the legendary and much taller Elvin Hayes and Lew Alcindor, the latter, of course, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
This UW swingman wasn't a big scorer by any means, with 11 points against UCLA and Alcindor his college career high.
Yet Brigham remains noteworthy in program annals because he had one of the more star-crossed UW careers.
As a pre-med student from Spokane who became a prominent physician, he repeatedly was honored as the Huskies' top student. At a team banquet his junior year, the likable player explained how he made that happen with a ready wisecrack.
"I owe it all to the help and dedication of coach Ron Patnoe," Brigham said, referring to a UW assistant coach and drawing laughs. "On road trips, he checked my room three or four times a night."
However, it was a prophetic statement that wasn't far from the truth.
As a senior the next season, Brigham and guard Rick Slettedahl were suspended by UW coach Mac Duckworth for breaking team curfew on a late December road trip to Oklahoma State.
Yes, he got in trouble in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
After serving a three-game banishment, Brigham returned to the Huskies, only to get tossed off the team two and a half weeks later for breaking curfew in Los Angeles on a trip to play UCLA and USC.
That second outing made a lot more sense, though the timing of it didn't.
Yet seven days later, Duckworth announced he was going to let an overly contrite Brigham rejoin the basketball team.
Nearly a month later, Brigham broke his foot in practice and his final season was abruptly over, once and for all.
His college career was beset by injuries. As a UW sophomore, Brigham hit his head on the bleachers in practice and had to be hospitalized. Later that season, he missed several games because of an foot arch injury suffered against Purdue.
No wonder he went into medicine.
"Brig was brig," former UW teammate Dave West said. "College basketball was just a vehicle for him to be a doctor."
The family has planned a private funeral. Brigham's obituary can be read here.
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