BYU hoops: Where backwards is OK

The story a couple of weeks ago about Charles Abouo wearing his shorts backward in BYU’s game against Longwood was an entertaining anecdote.

But it wasn’t a first.

In December 1985, BYU was playing in the Cactus Classic at Arizona State. On that Cougar team was Bryan Fink, a 6-foot-8 power forward who had transferred from Ricks College. Fink didn’t play much. He seemed to epitomize coach Ladell Andersen’s dry observation on the Cougars: “We’re big but we’re slow.”

But by the mid-first half, a couple of BYU’s top inside players were in foul trouble and Andersen called Fink from the end of the bench. The seldom-used player bolted to the scorer’s table.

As I watched him play, it occurred to me that something looked odd, though it didn’t immediately hit me. That’s when the fans started ridiculing him because his uniform trunks were on backward.

Still, Fink went on to have what I recall as the best game of his Division I career, eight or 10 points, five or six rebounds.

After the game, I asked if he knew his pants were on wrong. He said yes (he switched at halftime), so I asked when he realized it; he said during pre-game warmups. Why didn’t he just go in the locker room and change?

“I wanted to be ready if they needed me,” he said.

He said he didn’t care about the catcalls from fans at the game. He wanted to play.

When I told him I planned to write about him playing with his northbound pants facing south, he smiled and said, “Just spell my name right.”

Which still makes him one of my favorite college players of all time.

That’s Bryan with a “y.”