Education
Dwight Morrow High School.
Dwight Morrow High School.
After graduating from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, he was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1975 National Basketball Association Draft as the first pick in the second round (19th overall), bypassing college for a chance to play professionally. In the 1975-1976 National Basketball Association season, he became the second youngest player ever to play an National Basketball Association game. While Moses Malone (drafted into the American Basketball Association out of high school in 1974, prior to the 1976 American Bar Association-National Basketball Association merger) and Darryl Dawkins enjoyed more successful professional careers, Willoughby had a career that was undistinguished.
Nicknamed "Poodle," he was a journeyman who played for six different National Basketball Association teams in eight years, before his career ended with the New Jersey Nets in 1984, at the age of 26.
Willoughby was tremendously athletic, having a 47 inch vertical leap. He had played center throughout his high school career, and was forced to play forward in the prosecuting
Willoughby gained some brief fame in the 1981 National Basketball Association postseason while with the Houston Rockets by becoming one of the few players ever to block Kareem Abdul-Jabbar"s "skyhook" at its apex. Though he later regretted skipping college, Willoughby eventually received his degree in communications from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2001, at the age of 44.
The National Basketball Association fully paid all of his college expenses, and, in return, Willoughby is a special advisor to the National Basketball Association who counsels high school players considering forsaking college basketball for the National Basketball Association. Willoughby currently resides in Hackensack, New Jersey.