Reunion Gives Ricky Peral a Chance to Celebrate with Teammates
3/20/2020 12:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Les Johns
Ricky Peral finished his Wake Forest career as one of the top 3-point shooters in the history of the program — despite being a 6-foot-10 forward. In the 1995-96 ACC Championship season, Peral shot an amazing 51 percent percent behind the arc, drilling 51-of-100 while averaging 9.4 points a game.
He was also a vital cog of the 1995 ACC Championship team that was recognized at a LJVM ceremony in mid-February.
"This was a very special couple of days here," Peral said about visiting with his teammates. "A lot of these guys I haven't seen in forever. To be able to get back together, it's really great."
Before the Wake Forest game against Georgia Tech, coach Dave Odom's banner was raised into the rafters. Odom went 240-132 over 12 seasons of coaching the Deacs from 1990-2001, leading Wake Forest to a pair of ACC titles and eight NCAA appearances.
"That is very well deserved," Peral said. "Coach Odom not only was a great coach, but he was a great person for Wake Forest. He brought the basketball team to a different level. Him being recognized has to be satisfying for him and for all of us.
"What I learned from the coaching staff was selflessness. Coach Odom coached in a way that allowed the rest of the coaches to do their job without coming directly from him. Coach Odom really gathered a great group of coaches and everybody grew together. Seeing that from the coaches, affected our behavior on the court. We did what we had to do, and didn't have people going off script."
Peral recalled the moment the Deacs secured the ACC Championship in 1995 and point guard Randolph Childress collapsed to the floor after his MVP 107 points-in-three-games performance.
"That was his last chance," Peral said of Childress. "That was his senior year. To finally be able to finish and achieve what was unthinkable just a couple months ago, especially for him, was the culmination of a career. That had to have been incredible.
"The on the court leadership of Randolph Childress and the way he directed us was an incredible lesson in leadership that I've never seen on any other team."
Sean Allen played alongside Peral at Wake Forest for two-and-a-half seasons.
"He's a super guy and super intelectual," Allen said. "He's always been like that. On team bus rides where everybody else is listening to music and bobbing their heads, he's back there reading War and Peace. He's an amazing athlete. We used to run 3.2 miles after our 7 a.m. lifts and he used to run it in 20-21 minutes. It didn't make sense for a guy 6-foot-11 to be running that fast.
"He was like P.J. Tucker. The majority of his shots made were almost all baseline. There weren't a lot of moving parts with his release. It was very succinct. He had a big, high, long release and nobody was ever going to block his shot. A guy that tall, he would still jump on his jump shot. Nobody had a chance."
Peral played professional basketball in Spain and Greece for about a decade and now writes software for medical research. He received a degree in computer science at Wake Forest.
"Wake Forest was an amazing part of my life," Peral said. "It was a lesson in teamwork and camaraderie. It was amazing."
He was also a vital cog of the 1995 ACC Championship team that was recognized at a LJVM ceremony in mid-February.
"This was a very special couple of days here," Peral said about visiting with his teammates. "A lot of these guys I haven't seen in forever. To be able to get back together, it's really great."
Before the Wake Forest game against Georgia Tech, coach Dave Odom's banner was raised into the rafters. Odom went 240-132 over 12 seasons of coaching the Deacs from 1990-2001, leading Wake Forest to a pair of ACC titles and eight NCAA appearances.
"That is very well deserved," Peral said. "Coach Odom not only was a great coach, but he was a great person for Wake Forest. He brought the basketball team to a different level. Him being recognized has to be satisfying for him and for all of us.
"What I learned from the coaching staff was selflessness. Coach Odom coached in a way that allowed the rest of the coaches to do their job without coming directly from him. Coach Odom really gathered a great group of coaches and everybody grew together. Seeing that from the coaches, affected our behavior on the court. We did what we had to do, and didn't have people going off script."
Peral recalled the moment the Deacs secured the ACC Championship in 1995 and point guard Randolph Childress collapsed to the floor after his MVP 107 points-in-three-games performance.
"That was his last chance," Peral said of Childress. "That was his senior year. To finally be able to finish and achieve what was unthinkable just a couple months ago, especially for him, was the culmination of a career. That had to have been incredible.
"The on the court leadership of Randolph Childress and the way he directed us was an incredible lesson in leadership that I've never seen on any other team."
Sean Allen played alongside Peral at Wake Forest for two-and-a-half seasons.
"He's a super guy and super intelectual," Allen said. "He's always been like that. On team bus rides where everybody else is listening to music and bobbing their heads, he's back there reading War and Peace. He's an amazing athlete. We used to run 3.2 miles after our 7 a.m. lifts and he used to run it in 20-21 minutes. It didn't make sense for a guy 6-foot-11 to be running that fast.
"He was like P.J. Tucker. The majority of his shots made were almost all baseline. There weren't a lot of moving parts with his release. It was very succinct. He had a big, high, long release and nobody was ever going to block his shot. A guy that tall, he would still jump on his jump shot. Nobody had a chance."
Peral played professional basketball in Spain and Greece for about a decade and now writes software for medical research. He received a degree in computer science at Wake Forest.
"Wake Forest was an amazing part of my life," Peral said. "It was a lesson in teamwork and camaraderie. It was amazing."
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