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An hour or so before Petersen Events Center was set to play host to its 300th game last Thursday, the man who scored a team-high 17 points in the first game there 16 years ago sat in the first row of the largely empty arena, gazing out at the vast stretch of navy-blue seats.
"I might've scored the first basket here," Julius Page said with a smile.
Adorned in a gray cardigan, Page is years removed from the days when he took to the same court in a jersey and shorts, playing before a sold-out building for Pitt teams contending for conference and national championships.
Now 36 years old, his presence is a reminder of how quickly time can pass, but also of how that time can change in some of the most unexpected and fulfilling ways.
If one of the voices on some of Pitt's non-conference television broadcasts this season has sounded familiar, it's understandable.
It's the voice of Page, a mainstay of some of the most successful Panthers teams in their most successful era and one of the top 20 scorers in program history. If it's hard to listen to that same voice and not be entertained, well, that's understandable, too.
The same passion and authenticity that helped define Page as a player have made him something of a natural as a broadcaster.
"I really believe in people finding something they love to do and doing that because you only live once," Page said.
"That's why it seems like I'm having so much fun doing that because if I didn't enjoy doing it, I would turn it down, even if everybody was like 'You're on TV! That's cool!' If it didn't make me happy, I wouldn't do it."
His insights and contributions on broadcasts come from an engaging personality, but also a certain gravitas earned from a decorated playing career from 2000-04, when his tenacity and athleticism helped build Pitt into a national power under Ben Howland and kept it one...