If you ever meet Billy Packer and want to get him talking for awhile, try asking him about Earl Monroe.
They both played in Winston-Salem in the early ‘60s. Packer graduated Wake Forest in 1962 and Monroe started at Winston-Salem State in 1963. Both grew up in Pennsylvania - Packer grew up in Bethlehem while Monroe grew up in Philadelphia where his high school coach, who had played at WSSU himself, encouraged Monroe to choose it for his own school.
He certainly couldn’t have chosen Wake Forest or any other ACC school as the ACC was a few years from integrating.