No clue why Bobby Hollinger has been the impetus for me writing about my love of basketball. But here we are. Bobby is older than me, which is perfect. It means that what I remember of Bobby — and all things basketball when I was a kid — might not be wholly accurate.

But who cares? My memories are my memories … and Bobby Hollinger is on my “All-Time Influencer’s List!” By the way, Bobby ain’t dead. In fact, he’s very much alive, living in PA, and he’s probably shaking his head right now, wondering: What the fuck is Matty Steinmetz doing?”

Well, I’m not exactly sure, Bobby. I just know that I’m having a blast turning back the clock and acknowledging the players, coaches and people I’ll never forget. By the way, just because “Holls” impacted me doesn’t mean he was a perfect player. In fact, I can’t wait to eventually catch up and talk about his “shot selection.

I couldn’t stand Bobby when I was 10-12 years old because those Wyomissing teams would toy with my brother’s Muhlenberg teams. Yeah, there was this one game I remember, where the Muhls roared back from double-digits in the third quarter at that old Wyomissing gym (with the balcony!) but Crider and Wertz and Miller and Holls brought it home. Of course.

I can absolutely be fact-checked here. Whatever.

Bobby was ridiculously athletic and loved the deep, baseline corner jumper. Would have been a 3-pointer nowadays but back then, you miss that shot and it was the bane of Dick Sherry’s existence. But if you ever over-committed on Hollinger’s baseline jumper, he’d head-fake, take one dribble and dunk on your big man’s ass. You think I’m lying? Check out the all-time high jump records at Wyo!

Here’s to Bobby Hollinger!