When I Met the Best Basketball Player...Ever!

The date was January 17, 1998. The place was Allen Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Kansas. A sellout crowd of  more than 16,000 rabid Jayhawk fans were on hand for two occasions. First, was the annual Sunflower Showdown between Kansas and K-State. The second came at halftime when KU held a special ceremony to welcome Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain back to his alma mater to retire his jersey and hang it in the rafters.

It was an emotional and wonderful homecoming for Chamberlain, who grew up in Philadelphia but wanted to leave the East Coast to avoid his racially-charged surroundings. He didn't think basketball out West was very strong and wanted nothing to do with the segregation in the South, so he chose Kansas. Though there were racial tensions there as well, he helped changed thinking and was known to attend establishments that would not serve black people. Wilt simply sat there until he was served. 

Still, he didn't exactly know how his return to Lawrence would go in 1998. Wearing his KU letter jacket, the atmosphere was electric. At halftime, the crowd gave him a thunderously loud, appreciative and lengthy ovation. As I sat on press row as sports director for ABC affiliate KTKA-TV (Topeka, Kansas), you could feel the emotion and electricity surge through everyone who witnessed it. School officials presented him with a piece of the original Allen Fieldhouse floor and stood with him as his #13 was unveiled high above the playing surface.

"I'm humbled and deeply honored," Wilt told the roaring crowd. "I'm a Jayhawk and I know now why there is so much tradition here and why so many wonderful things have come from here. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Today, the argument about who is the greatest basketball player ever is often centered on Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Personally, I think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Larry Bird deserve consideration. However, in my mind there has never been a player as great as Chamberlain. Yes, greater than Jordan, James and all others. The fact is nobody dominated the game like Wilt did - nobody!

His statistics speak for themselves. In 1955, Wilt suited up for the Jayhawk freshman team in the annual freshman versus varsity game. Back then, freshmen couldn't play until their sophomore seasons. Anyway, Chamberlain lit up the varsity by scoring 42 points and pulling down 29 rebounds in a victory. He was also a standout on the KU track team. He set the Big Seven Conference freshman indoor record in high jump, placed fourth at the Kansas Relays in the triple jump and placed third in the shot put. Oh wait, we were talking basketball, weren't we?

In his Jayhawk debut the first game of his sophomore season, Wilt scored 52 points - still a single-game KU record to this day - and had 31 rebounds. Over his two-year career in Lawrence, Chamberlain scored 1,433 points (29.9 per game) and had 877 rebounds (18.3 per game.). He was named a two-time all-American and led his team to the 1957 national championship game, which KU lost in heart-breaking fashion in triple overtime.

Wilt left college after his junior season to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. Then, he played 14 years in the National Basketball Association where he was a 13-time all-star, 11-time rebounding leader, nine-time field goal percentage leader, seven-time scoring champion, four-time most valuable player and two-time champion. Chamberlain's career featured 31,419 points (30.1 per game), 23,924 rebounds (22.9 per game) and 4,643 assists (4.4 per game). At one time, he held at least 72 NBA records including the highest single-season scoring average at 50.4 points per game. Toward the end of his career, Wilt blocked what many called the unblockable shot - and he did it twice in a matter of seconds. A young Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) launched an right-handed sky hook and Chamberlain blocked it. He got the ball back, went to the left hand for another sky hook and again had it rejected. Wilt is also the only player to score 100 points per game and his single-game best for rebounding was 55. And through it all, he NEVER FOULED OUT FROM ANY GAME. Not once!

Wilt's athletic agility and abilities changed the rules. While playing against Kansas State, he was awarded a free throw so he started beyond the top of the circle, ran toward the free throw line, leaped without crossing it and dunked the basketball. After the season, K-State Coach Tex Winter attended the NCAA Convention calling for a rule change. The NCAA, and later the NBA, agreed, ruling players had to keep both feet on the ground while taking a foul shot. It doesn't stop there. Teammates under the KU basket used to lob the inbounds pass over the top of the backboard. Chamberland would leap, catch it and slam it home. That too was outlawed. The NCAA also widened the free throw lane from 12 to 16 feet to make it more fair for opponents and outlawed offensive goaltending, all because of him.

Wilt retired from the NBA at the early age of 36. In that final season, he still led the league with more than 18 rebounds a game. He then transitioned into a brief professional volleyball career. Imagine being on the front line and looking across the net to see that!

Returning to the retirement ceremony in Lawrence, it was late in the game when an announcement came over the public address system that Wilt would stay after the game as long as it took to sign autographs for everyone who wanted one. The crowd roared and thousands took him up on it. Once the game ended, Chamberlain sat behind a table courtside to greet the public. Among the masses, I had my chance to talk with him along with my cameraman. As the autographs continued, I asked if we could chat as he signed. He gladly obliged and said he had been away from KU for too long. He expressed how he was deeply moved and later told a former teammate and friend that it was "greatest single day of my life."

Wilt talked to locals and signed autographs into the early evening at Allen Fieldhouse for three hours and 18 minutes.

When I met Wilt that afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse, he was 62 years of age. But standing 7-feet-one-inch and weighing 275 pounds, he still looked fit and trim. Shoot, he looked like he could still go out on the court and dominate. Amazingly, less than two years later, he passed away from heart failure. 

Wilt Chamberlain, the greatest basketball player of all-time!

'Foggy' Memories of My Birthplace

"Randy and I are down Louisiana way."

That text popped in a family thread in January. My sister and her husband were on their way to New Orleans to set up their family business at an expo for the weekend. 

"New Orleans?" was my response.

Then my brother, Alan, asked if they were going to stop my our old house. The response was "no." That was until Alan chimed in that the house was just off of I-10 and they would be driving right by it. So, Amy stopped by and then came the posting of photo after photo. First was the home where Amy and I were born.

Then we started swapping memories including playing in the streets that used to flood every time it rained. You see, New Orleans is actually below sea level so it took a while for the water to drain after a storm. While I don't remember a ton about my birth city because we moved away when I was six years old or so, I do remember "swimming" in the street. Mom was not a fan of that. And she definitely did not like it when when the "fog man" came down the street. 

New Orleans is a mosquito infested kind of place. I don't remember how often the fog man and his truck that sprayed mosquito-killing insecticides rolled through the neighborhood, but it was pretty often. And we were dumb kids. We would run behind it, play in it and ride out bikes through it. Alan texted that it was most certainly some kind of DDT-laced stuff and sent this link, which looks pretty darn and dangerously accurate. 

Then Alan forwarded "a few blasts from the past," a series of throwback photos from the early to mid-1960s. The memories are a bit "foggy," but they still exist. And that's a great thing.

Our clubhouse, which Dad built for us boys. Funny thing is I remember it being so sleek, a great place to play and home to our guinea pig, Tiger (see photo below), who lived beneath it.

It never snowed in Louisiana but the one time it did, we needed about every bit of it in our yard to make this snowman.

A Mark Holyoak classic family photo of me cracking Alan in the head with the handle of a toy gun.

Kerry helping hold me upright. I wasn't even two years old when we were outside of church and a couple of teenage boys chasing each other plowed right over the top of me, breaking my left leg.

Lexi: Larger Than Life

Wait, was that Lexi?

I drive to work the same way and about the same speed everyday - 75 miles an hour on the interstate the entire way. And in the winter months, it's entirely in the dark. That's why this particular dark morning was a little surprising. 

As I blew by a series of billboards, the flicker of one of the newer ones caught my eye. I thought, "Wait, was that Lexi?" The more I thought about it, and then as I pulled into my work parking lot, the more I thought that it just might be my youngest granddaughter. The previous fall, some of us select Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation staffers were asked to bring family members to walk through the new interactive visitor center display. A photographer wandered around in the background to take photos and video. 

With that in mind, I talked with our design team to see who headed up work on the billboard so I could take a look at it, in the light. It turns out that, sure enough, it was Lexi on the billboard. And she looks great!

The Lucky Charm

It's a matter of perspective. Our 2025 deer hunting season was one to remember. My grandson, Kyler, and I went out together on a couple of occasions. He ended up punching his tag and then I did mine. I called Kyler my "lucky charm." And he said the exact same thing about me.

Kyler turned 12 eight months earlier so 2025 would be the first season he carried a gun on his shoulder and a license in his pocket. The weekend before the two-day Montana youth hunt, Kyler, his dad and I went up in the mountains to shoot our guns. The goal was to get Kyler more comfortable with firing a rifle, even though he had before. We took turns and began with my .22. Then we fired Kenny's AR-15. When he watched us shoot our .30-06 rifles and the kicks they delivered, Kyler was like, "Uh, no thanks." Not very large in stature, he went with the AR. That was fine with Kenny and me because, first and foremost, we wanted him to be comfortable and confident. 

Montana has a two-day youth-only deer hunt, so I took both days off. Our goal was to hit some national forest land just above our house. Regulations allowed Kyler to shoot either a doe or a buck so I liked our chances. We parked the truck at a neighbor's house whose land borders the public land and slowly walked in. 

"Hey Papa, there's a doe." It happened so fast that it caught me off guard. We were literally about 50 yards behind a neighboring yard and sure enough, a doe and a yearling were only 35 yards or so away and standing broadside. Though facing away from the house, we agreed we were just too close and didn't want to freak out the people who lived there. So instead, we just stood and didn't move so as not to spook the animals as they headed into the forest. Several minutes later, with them out of sight, we slowly walked into the forest.

We didn't go far at all and there they were, silently feeding above us about 80 yards away. Kyler put the AR on the shooting sticks, slowly and patiently took his time, set the sights on the deer's vitals and pulled the trigger. The doe jumped but did not run away. He obviously hit it so I urged him to take another shot. He fired and missed. The deer walked in front of a small grove of trees and stood broadside, offering a perfect opportunity. Kyler took advantage. His third shot was right on target.

"And that's how it's done," I told him. "I got it?" "Yes, you dropped it on the spot." We walked up closer and waited several minutes for the deer to pass. Kyler ended up needed to take one more shot and that was that. The deer was a nice sized doe and would supply his family with 40-50 pounds of meat. 

We knelt by the deer and said a quick prayer of gratitude, Kyler placed his tag on it and then we took a few pictures which we texted to the family. It was so fun watching all the replies roll in. 

Aubrey: "AHHHHHHHHHH. I'm crying."

Kenny: "Yes!!!!"

Lori: "So cool!!"

Jace: "AWESOME!!!!"

Lacey: "Congrats Kyler!"

Then I got out my knife and walked Kyler through the butchering process. With the organs removed, Kyler loaded up my rifle and backpack while I put on a harness to drag the carcass off the mountain. After going about 60 yards or so, Kyler asked, "Can I drag it?" "Absolutely, it's your deer!" Though bigger than he was, Kyler answered the challenge and walked it off the mountain all the way to the truck. 

I told him you just don't have successful hunts where you only hike in 500 yards, but hey, if you don't go out, you don't give yourself a chance to make it happen. With the deer in the bed, we drove home for the real fun - showing it off. Lori, Aubrey and the girls met us in the driveway and they crowded around the back of the truck to take photos and soak in Kyler's success. 

After telling the tale of his success, we drove next door to my house to hang the deer in the garage. After skinning it so the meat could begin to cool and grabbing some lunch, Kyler and I got to work. I got out my knives and cut it up into steaks, roasts and stew meat. I showed Kyler how to vacuum seal each cut and he gladly did so. In the end, he ended up with four or five bags of meat. 

What fun! What a great day! And what a memory!

Fast forward to about a week later when Kyler and Aubrey and I returned to the same place for opening day of the general rifle hunt. I was hoping to be like Kyler and fill my tag. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow suit. We saw a few but there was not a good, ethical shot to take.

Another week later, Kyler joined me in search of a buck. We decided to take the same route that we took on his successful hunt. We would slowly make our way up a ravine and hope for good luck while looking up the mountain into the forest. As we usually do, we would hike a bit, stop and look through the binoculars for any kind of movement. The goal was to see any deer before they see us, and do so without spooking them. After repeating the process, I saw a deer about 100 yards up the mountain slowly feeding. Then I saw another. But both where does and I didn't have a tag for a doe. Not wanting to spook them, we just stood and watched without moving. After five minutes or so, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A young two-by-two buck was off to our right on a sidehill only about 50 yards away, making its way toward the two does. I put my rifle on the shooting sticks, placed the grunt call in my mouth and put the crosshairs on it. It took a bit of a right turn so it was walking away from us. I let out a grunt and nothing. A second grunt call caused the buck to spin around, offering a broadside shot. I squeezed the trigger and it jumped and ran away from us, darting behind a slash pile. We saw movement and then no more so it either ran off behind the slash or it piled up. We slowly made out way to the slash pile, looked left and right and with our binoculars. After hiking another 20-30 yards, there it was, dead.

Again, we knelt by the deer to say a prayer of gratitude. Now, it was my turn. I texted out a couple of photos with #belikeKyler. 

Hallie: "I can't wait to hear all about it."

Jace: "Nice shooting Dad!"

Lacey: "Congrats."

Kenny: "Sweet! More venison teppanyaki."

Aubrey: "Kyler is your lucky charm!"

I field dressed the buck, put on the harness and dragged it a mere 800 yards back to the truck. Not only did we have one relatively quick and easy hunt for Kyler's first-ever deer, but we ended up having a second one for me. Though this didn't make up for days of hard hiking and unsuccessful hunting of elk later in the season, it was sure nice to get some fresh meat for the freezer for the first time in a couple of years. 

We had the routine down so Kyler and I got to work once back home. We hung, skinned and cut up the deer. The only difference is I got out my grinder so we could make some venison burger to go with the steaks and roasts. 

In the end, I agree with Aubrey. Kyler is indeed my lucky charm. But you know what? I'm his, too.

Got venison?

What's Up with What's Up?

So many of us look to the sky in awe. And at no time is that more true than when the heavens put on a light show when it's supposed to be dark.

Living in the northern part of the United States offers some unique and enlightening late night experiences. We have had several vibrant appearances in Montana's Big Sky country this summer and fall by the Northern Lights. Also called aurora borealis, NASA describes it as "colorful, dynamic and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras."

"Science!" as Thomas Dolby belted out in the 1982 pop hit, "She Blinded Me with Science." 

To me, there are two kinds of scientific Northern Lights displays. One of them is barely visible to the naked eye when it looks like there's kind of haze among the stars. On such occasions, a camera captures the color we cannot see. The other is when the northern lights are visible to the naked eye. In that case, a photo captures even more vibrant hues of red, pink, purple, green and/or blue. 

Both of those instances happened several times on our property this year. And a reminder that it was practically pitch black outside when I took the photos below.

Can you say "bacon?"

My house

A Dustup in Big Sky Country

One second I'm painting and the next, I'm flying through the air not exactly sure where I would fall. And the thing is, it wasn't the first time either.

Not the dust devil I experienced
(Photo credit: NASA)

Maybe it's because I grew up in the heart of tornado alley in Kansas. I've always had this thing for dust devils. You now, those miniature cyclone-like windstorms that dance their way across open fields with a funnel of dirt and debris shooting up high into the sky? I've seen them off and on over the years including near my Grandpa Vern's place in southern Utah, but I have never been that close and always wondered what it would be like to be in the middle of one. Little did I know that it would happen - TWICE - in the same spot over a one-week period. And that it would be in the Northern Rockies.

It was the summer of 2025 and I was caulking and painting a house for a friend of mine in the Mission Valley of western Montana. I was at the front of the dwelling under a covered, wrap-around porch doing some intricate trim work around a door. I actually had my back to the action when I felt the wind kick up a little. It got stronger and stronger until it blew over some patio furniture we had to move from where I was painting. I turned around and the wind was whipping up dust and much more. A friend of mine was standing by his car just out front of the house but his head was inside like he was looking for something. I walked over and pointed to the left. He popped his head and we saw it. "Wow," he said. A dandy of a dust devil was full of swirling tumbleweeds that had to stretch 60 to 80 feet up into the sky. At its base were dozens of more tumbleweeds, cardboard boxes and other debris from the construction site where I was painting. We both watched as it passed behind the home being built right next to us, across a large field, jumped a dirt road and kept on going and going. 

Fast forward to one week later. There I was again with a paint brush in my right hand and a small container of paint in the other. This time I was 12 to 14 feet off the ground on an extension ladder. Unlike a week earlier, it was already a little breezy. And thank goodness for that. Otherwise, it would have been pretty toasty. So, one second I'm painting trim on the side of a sloped patio roof and the next, I'm flying through the air not exactly sure where I would fall. What I thought was a huge, out-of-nowhere wind gust came right in my face. In a split second, I raised my eyes from the trim work to look to the house being built next door. I thought my friend, Doug, was atop a raised platform working on his roof but luckily he was not. At that moment, the wind captured a three-person, covered patio swing that was immediately below me, tossed it into the ladder which stood it upright and then I started to go over backwards. 

Luckily, I've been known to have some kind of cat-like reflexes. As the ladder started to fall, I leaped off it backwards and landed on my feet in the tall grass and weeds beyond the sodded yard. And I did so with my paint brush still in my right hand and the paint still in my left. Turns out it was yet another dust devil! This time, I was right in the heart of it. Dirt, construction site debris and tumbleweeds were swirling. It was hard to see anything. I ran up behind the house and put my hands on each side of my face to protect it. I snuck a peek here and there but really wanted to protect my eyes and face. The winds were surprisingly forceful and strong. Some 15 to 20 seconds later, the brunt of it passed. I turned and watch it cross the backyard, jump over a berm and continue off to the east. 

I walked back to the edge of the porch and it was a mess. The top of the ladder was about 20 feet from where I had been painting. The covered swing was upside down right next to it. A large potted plant was on its side. I took a quick photo. 

The incident was eerily similar to something that happened more than a decade earlier. I was in Lolo helping decorate for a New Year's Eve dance for the youth from our church in the Bitterroot Valley. My friend Kevin and I were high atop a ladder where we had attached a tarp to the top of the gym ceiling. We had a string hooked to it that we would pull at midnight for a balloon drop. All we needed to do was to fill it with balloons. Kevin was at the top. He had to be about 16 to 18 feet above the wooden floor below and I was immediately below him. We had an assembly line of teens handing us balloons which Kevin ultimately placed in the tarp. We nearly had it full when something was a little off. I could feel the ladder slowly starting to lean and fall to the right. I didn't wait to take action. Instinctively (I guess that's what it was), I leaped toward the stage over the two teenagers that were below me. One of them later said it looked like a ninja. I landed on my feet but the momentum of the long jump continued onto my right knee and then I did a somersault and popped back up on my feet. Unfortunately for Kevin, it was much, much worse. He fell with the ladder and slammed onto the floor on his right shoulder. Almost immediately, he turned white and was in shock. His wife was there and we got him into the car and off to the ER they went. 

The dance went on. Amazingly, Kevin walked back into the gym some three hours later, a sling holding his right arm, at about 11:30 p.m. He separated his right shoulder but was in really good spirits. With a wry smile on his face, he said he wanted to join the celebration. Though there was no balloon drop at midnight, the kids had a great time. I'm just glad Kevin (and I) lived to tell about it.

'Talking about Caulking'

In the August of 2025, the five members of the Ronan Montana Stake Presidency were each asked to give a six to seven-minute talk in the Mission Valley Young Single Adult Branch. I used bullet points for my address so I wrote out below basically what I said that day.

I would like to do some talking about caulking. 

Earlier this year after a stake presidency meeting, I asked President Doug Lundell if he could stay after for a few minutes. Once we sat down I said, "I've got a proposal for you. We are flipping our shop into a living space. And you are living in your shop while you build a new house. I need someone to do the tile work for our shower and bathtub. You need someone to paint your shop. And I know you do not like painting. What if you come to my place to do the tile work and I go to your place to paint? That way, each of us get something done that needs to get done, plus we'll each save several thousand dollars in labor?"

Doug's response was "Where do I sign the contract? You've got a deal." And we shook on it.

So, what is caulking? It's a waterproof filler and sealant that’s a flexible polymer, most commonly acrylic, latex or silicone. 

Why is caulking even needed? The main purpose of caulking is to seal gaps, cracks and joints between building materials like siding and window and door frames. It prevents the penetration of air, water and other elements to improve energy efficiency, prevent water damage and keeps pests from entering a home. (Although you can ask President Lundell about his woodpecker problem.)

How do you caulk? It comes in tubes so you use a caulking gun, leave a long bead where needed, and then use your finger to help press it into the gap and any corners. 

Fast forward to a week ago yesterday, I headed to his place to do some caulking.. The building is two stories in the front but one in the back so it's a sloped roof. I went up on the roof on the side of the house which is tiered and hangs over a patio.

For me, the best way to caulk is to leave a long bead of caulk while slowly walking backwards. Then I return to where I stared laying that bead and use a finger to gently press the calking into the gap, again while walking backwards. As I did so, I stepped off the tiered roof onto nothing for a half-second until my foot landed on the lower roof. I felt my heart skip a beat as that happened for fear I had stepped off the roof, so I stopped for a second and said, “Okay Mark, be more aware of your surroundings.”

After getting back down on the ground, I put up the extension ladder to caulk near the top of the building. I couldn't comfortably reach the very top so I went to the side of the structure where I climbed onto the main roof, which is also tiered. So I hung over edge to do what I couldn’t reach while on the ladder and then noticed some weathered joints that ran the width of the structure that needed caulking.

Again, I slowly talked backwards and left a long bead of caulk. But again, I focused too much on caulking and not enough on my surroundings. I stepped off the main roof. This time, I rolled over backwards, scraped up my left arm and elbow on the metal roofing but popped right back up. I checked my arm and went right back to work. Five minutes and another tube of caulking later, I was done up top, finished some caulking at ground level, got the garden hose, rinsed off my arm and headed for home.

As I pondered about my caulking adventure, here’s what I learned: caulking a building can be and is a lot like my and your individual gospel journey. Here are some keys to consider:

1.      Know what’s required and do what needs to be done to accomplish it

2.      Be acutely aware of your surroundings

3.      Stuff will happen so face it, overcome it and finish the job

As per our gospel journey…

1. Know what’s required and do what needs to be done to accomplish it

What is our goal? Return to Heavenly Father. How do we do that?

There are the everyday Sunday school answers of pray, read your scriptures and go to church but perhaps that may also mean serving a full-time mission, getting married in the temple, going to college and getting a job, raising children and helping others.

2. Be acutely aware of your surroundings

You can’t always control your surroundings or things that happen but don’t put yourself where you don’t need to be. Years ago in a previous career I was a television sportscaster in Topeka, Kansas, where we put together the Fighting 49ers, a basketball team of on-air personalities and behind-the-scenes TV station folks. Schools and other organizations would invite us to their communities to help them raise funds for their causes. One evening after a game, we stopped at a bar/eatery on the way home. Everyone, except me, got some post-game alcohol. Nobody was drunk or anything like that but they had been drinking, including the driver. When the time came to leave, I asked if I could drive and was told "no," so seven of us piled into an RX-7, a small sportscar that holds four people at the most. 

As we drove home I was thinking, "Just make it home. Just make it home." I had a wife and two young children at home. I just wanted to make it there. I also promised myself during that drive back to Topeka, to the best of my ability anyway, that I would never put myself in a situation where I am not in better control of my surroundings. 

3. Stuff will happen so face it, overcome it and finish the job

In 2 Nephi 2:11 of the Book of Mormon, Lehi addresses his young son Jacob: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so…righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.”

Translation: temptations and obstacles will happen. You can bank on it. And as you face and overcome them, you’ll become stronger. But what if you don’t feel strong or strong enough? What if you feel weak?

In Either 12:27, also in the Boof of Mormon says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

So, pray to Heavenly Father, ask for help, be grateful, learn, grow and when you stub your tow (or when you fall off that tiered roof), get right back up and keep going. You’ll be blessed for it.

Doug working in the tub

Doug's finished tile work in our shower

Doug's finished tile work in our bathtub

Doug's place before being painted

My finished paint job at Doug's place