Stu Primus, legendary Lynn Classical athlete (‘81) who won state championships in football and basketball before committing to Boston College to play hoops, can check off the final box.
This month, BC announced its new eight-member Hall-of-Fame class, which included Primus, who played basketball from 1982-85. He is joined by Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Kristin Igoe, Drew Locke, Kristen Madden, Elizabeth Walker, Rob Scuderi, and Maria Montuori.
They will be etched into BC history on November 9, ahead of a BC football game against Syracuse.
Primus said that when he found out, it brought back memories of his playing days. Although some negative moments crept back into his mind, he looked at the positives, such as having his family’s name forever on the walls of campus.
“Our family name will be on those walls forever,” he said. “That’s the accomplishment and, personally, there are two major feats that I look at regarding this accomplishment.”
The first feat Primus touched upon was his pact with teammates Michael Adams, Mark Schmidt, and the late Terrence Talley.
“We made a pact on our first day up to Classical Hall at Boston College that we are going to exit Boston College with a degree,” said Primus, who credits his mother, Idella Marie Berry-Primus, and grandmother, Velma Carter Berry, for shaping him into the man he is today. “That was one of the biggest things I accomplished because I’m the baby of six in my family. I’m the first to go to college and the first to graduate. It set a precedent in my family and, now, I have a plethora of nieces and nephews who have gone to college and graduated.”
The second was playing in the Big East Conference, which, at the time, was arguably the top basketball conference in the nation.
“We were the best conference in the country. We had the best players in the world who turned out to be NBA Hall-of-Famers,” Primus said.
Looking back on his formative years, Primus admitted to not playing basketball until he was in ninth grade. Before that, he predominantly played hockey and baseball.
“I didn’t understand basketball. People asked me to play, but I didn’t want to because I didn’t understand the game,” he said. “I didn’t get the fundamental stuff. I could shoot the ball from a distance, but when people wanted to play a game, I refused.”
When Primus began to grow out of his hockey gear, his mother told him to think about basketball since it was becoming expensive to buy new equipment.
“In ninth grade, Jeff Byrd took me over to a men’s league in Salem. Jeffrey was very close to my oldest brother, Jordan. I didn’t know that, behind the scenes, they were working to help me,” Primus said. “Jeff would come by and take me places to play.”
Little did Primus know, he was about to embark on an illustrious career.
“We were playing at this park and this guy kept elbowing me, so I went to Jeff and said, ‘This guy keeps elbowing me. I’m going to punch him in the head,’ and Jeff started to laugh and said you can’t just punch people,” Primus said. “Jeff told me that to get him back, I have to score on him. I told Jeff I’m going to dunk it on him. I never dunked before, but I remember I grabbed a rebound and I was looking at the rim. I set the defender up, went between my legs, and I went past him. I jumped so high and I dunked it. People were going crazy and then I started to put the pieces together.”
The person who was elbowing Primus: Tom Thibodeau, current head coach of the New York Knicks who played and coached at Salem State. He also won an NBA Championship as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics in 2008.
Primus went on to become one of Classical’s all-time greats, winning a state championship in the 1979-80 season – a 25-0 team that many considered the best in state history.
“What Lynn gave me was family,” Primus said. “They gave me mentors and they gave me a village, and the fundamental understanding of education and discipline.”
Primus – who was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 1985 – reflected on when he was in eighth grade and getting in trouble – and could have been kicked out of school. Joe O’Connor talked to Primus and talked to him about college and how with his athletic ability, he could go anywhere in the country on a scholarship.
It made Primus open his eyes to the possibilities he could unlock with his athletic gifts.
“He saw the potential in me and said that I have unbelievable talent,” said Primus, who recorded 568 points, 22 blocks, 87 steals, 115 assists, 120 free throws, and shot nearly 50 percent from the field at BC. “O’Connor made me sign a piece of paper, a contract, that I would never go back to the principal’s office again and that I continue to do what I do on the basketball court.”
Now, the kid from Lynn will forever be a part of BC royalty.
