My brother, Tom, and I thoroughly enjoyed a three-hour symposium staged by St. John's University to celebrate the school's 100-year anniversary of basketball.
Esteemed colleague and my favorite Hall of Fame college basketball reporter, Jim O'Connell, a St. John's grad himself, opened up the seminar with remarks and anecdotes, many learned from his research on a coffee table style book commissioned by the university to mark the anniversary.
O'Connell pointed out that St. John's has run a "top" college basketball program in a "pro" sports town. He made note of the Johnnies' first win, an 18-17 verdict over Adelphi in 1908. Jim or "Ock" as he is known to most of us, painted great pictures in our minds of James Buck Freeman, stating a quote from Lou Carnesecca; "Freeman was 30 or 40 years ahead of his time."
The St. John's media guide says:
James "Buck" Freeman graduated from St. John's in 1927, and was named men's basketball coach, guiding that team for nine years and compiling a 177-31 record. During his time, he guided the famed St. John's "Wonder Five" to an 88-8 record in his first four seasons and brought the University to national prominence.
Ock pointed out that Freeman graduated in the spring and was coaching his teammates later that fall. (1927). (St. John's classmate Paul Montella has been assisting Ock in his research, photo research and fact checking).
I make note that Freeman went on to the University of Scranton to coach basketball in 1937.
Ock made a few other key comments, noting that many collegiate basketball experts, Carnesecca included, realized that St. John's would've won a few more (2 or 3) NCAA titles if it had not prioritized the NIT ahead of the NCAA's in the early years. The NIT was 'bigger' to a NYC school. And, in NYC, the college basketball scene - at that time - was far ahead of the pro basketball stage.
Ock's most poignant remark was "as much as I thought I knew about St. John's basketball, the more research we did, I realized there was much, much more that I did not know." He also said that often he is asked about his favorite moment or favorite player. His answer: "You will get a different answer depending on which day you ask."
I felt the same way.
I am rock solid on St. John's basketball history, especially everything I witnessed in person. That memory bank spans from 1969 to the present day. It was probably 1-2 games those first two years (Niagara with Calvin Murphy and the great Notre Dame team (Austin Carr, Sid Catlett and Collis Jones). Then, no fewer than 6-12 games each year until 1978 when I became a season ticket holder as a sophomore at the school.
I remember walking over to the St. John's ticket office, as my older brother, Tim, did in the late 60's and early 70s', plunking down about $33 bucks a season-strip and picking out my seats. Center court, Section 3, Row HH, Seats 12-13-14-15. I sat in those same seats until some two years ago when the dim-bulbs in the athletic department moved all the loyal ticket holders to replace them with a student section. Trying to copy the Duke situation at Cameron, St. John's made the move, except of course, they chose the wrong side of the court - as our side is not on TV. Add to the fact that the kids get the tickets, then blow-off the games, and the student section is a wall of empty seats.
From the 1978-point on, I have witnessed nearly every St. John's game of the year - either on TV or at home (Alumni Hall, Madison Square Garden - and now, the Carnesecca Arena). It will take a while, but I will try to calculate the exact number of games I have seen in person and on TV - add up the hours and spring it on you 'all in this blog). - Give me a bit of time to come up with that number.
So, back to the symposium.
New York Daily News writer, Phil Pepe, took the mic from Ock and moderated three panel discussions - 'the Early Years,' the 'Classic Era,' and 'Modern Times.' It was fascinating, as I learned about the foundation of the program, the Wonder 5 who went 88-8, the great teams from the 1930's, 40s, 50's and 60's and I learned more about the great Joe Lapchick.
Dick McGuire was a great panelist and spoke of his days growing up in the Rockaways where his folks owned a bar and restaurant. McGuire remembers when they built a basketball court in his junior year at 108th and Rockaway Beach. McGuire was asked the usual question about a fan who was obviously thinking 'it was better back then and the players were more fundamentally sound.' I loved Dick McGuire's answer and it is exactly what I truly believe:
"The kids today are so much better than we were. Thank God I played back then."
He went on to say that the coaching and the style of play has changed, and that coaches often will try to isolate two players against two defenders and that he only wishes that the game - as a whole - would change back to a more fluid, five-on-five, handle the ball, share the ball, cut and move-type offensive scheme.
A number of times, the Phoenix Suns' style of play was cited as the new model, and a new hope for basketball. "The teams that win in the NBA play that style," said McGuire - noting that the San Antonio Spurs combine an unselfish offensive style with rock solid defense.
I have another 5-10 great McGuire notes, but in interest of time and space, I will move along.
Gerry Lawrence (1953-1956) and Gerry Houston (1962-1965) were the gems of the symposium. Houston was nothing short of TREMENDOUS. His stories were great and his delivery heart-felt. He knew more about the game of basketball and Coach Lapchick than everybody else in the room, sans Carnesecca and Coach Jack Kaiser. Houston was the captain of the 1964-65 team and told a great story about his last game at The "old" Garden.
Coach Lapchick singled him out as the team walked into the building and down a narrow corridor that conjured vivid memories for those who had walked it. Lapchick - the ultimate motivator and mentor - said something along these lines, recalled Houston, "You are a great college player, but facing facts, you will never be an NBA player and this might be your last game. Coach Lapchick reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, gift wrapped. It contained a pair of gold cuff-links with the NBA letters or logo on them, an apparent gift from the league to Lapchick at an earlier time. Lapchick passed them along to Houston to say - you are NBA level to me, now go out and prove it."
Houston told the story to a silent room. Everyone related to the story and felt his words as though they were standing in the Garden alongside him that very day. It was the best story and the best part of the day.
Lawrence - not a top-level player like many of the others on the panel, but a tremendous speaker and a better historian, spoke eloquently on Lapchick and some of the memories of teams and players, especially of some of the racial bias against Solly Walker. They noted days in Kentucky and Carolina where Coach Lapchick ate in the kitchen area with Walker because the authorities of the restaurant would not allow Walker in the dining area and of a team decision to stay in dorms in Raleigh so they could all be together without incident.
The panelists also spoke of Frank McGuire who taught "whatever happens, you have to learn from it."
Of course, the day was filled with great memories about some of the big games St. John's "used to play" when the team was competitive (i.e. Top 10 or Top 20). St. John's against Michigan and Cazzie Russell at the Holiday Festival, St. John's against a great UCLA team, St. John's against Indiana (Scott May, Quinn Buckner and Kent Benson era), St. John's against Georgetown at the Garden in the Mullin era.
"You guys are a little boat in the water going up against a battleship," said Carnesecca to his team all week long in practice before the big Indiana game, according to Frank Alagia and George Johnson - as Johnson noted that "New York took on an entire 'aura' during the lead-up to that game and that it was the 'reason I fell in love with the game of basketball."
Memories of the days when CCNY, NYU, Fordham and Manhattan - along with St. John's could have formed a conference on their own of a "Big 5" better than Philly's. You couldn't help but wonder if the current St. John's program might slip into oblivion alongside NYU and City College.
George Johnson, Mel Davis and some of the others told some great stories and the youngest member on the panel, Tarik Turner, held his own with some memories and an impressive delivery. Humble and happy to be included, Turner wowed the crowd with a good story about a day when Allen Iverson put up 40 on the Redmen, but St. John's still managed a "w."
Carmine Calzonetti, a guard on the court the first time I ever set foot in Alumni Hall, guided a great St. John's team that included NYK first-round choice, John Warren and NY Nets stand-out Joe DuPre, told of how he was recruited from the Camden, NJ-South Jersey-Philly area. Calzonetti was recommended to Carnesecca as a guy who could play at the St. John's level.
"Well, give him a baseball scholarship," proclaimed Carnesecca, according to Carmine.
Priceless.
A story from the seminar included a memory that a Carnesecca pregame speech before a game against Princeton which went something like this; "You better kick their asses now because they'll be your bosses later."
I could go on and on with other anecdotes and quips. The vast amount of New York basketball history was impressive and very evident. I left wanting more which is always a nice feeling to have when you've been schooled for nearly three hours.
I hope the authorities at St. John's recognize the huge void they have created or allowed to be created and that they dig down deep and build a better bridge between the past and the future at St. John's. The seminar is a nice first step taken.
My next post on the topic - to come in the next week or two - will be 5-cents worth of 'free' advice. Either that, or the Terry Lyons Sports Marketing LLC machine will hang its shingle on the state of affairs in Jamaica Estates.
Here's just a tip of the iceberg for the proverbial suggestion box:
1. St. John's could have had the current players and staff listen in and take part in the first hour of the seminar. Noon to 1pm, a short bite of a meal or snack for energy and team meeting at 2pm, then to the court for the 4pm tip-off. The players would have had the pre-game speech of their lives and might have had a "W" instead of the terrible loss.
2. Jim O'Connell would have been better at moderator and Phil Pepe could have been a great panelist. Ock had a vast pool of stories and insight, while Pepe relied on notes prepared by the St. John's SID, Mark Fratto.
3. The symposium should be a series of half-hour shows that MSG Network could package and sell, along the lines of "Center Stage" on the YES Network, hosted by Michael Kay. Far better than the lone video camera that was on the side.
4. John Kresse, Brian Mahoney, and many of the other coaching greats - alongside Louie - would be a panel by themselves. (Mike Jarvis would not get an invite, that is for sure).
5. Former AD, baseball coach and basketball asst. coach Jack Kaiser has a wealth of knowledge and could have been more of a contributor to the panels. Kaiser is a very bright man.
6. There should have been a 'call to action' for everyone in the room to contribute to the "100 Years Anniversary" in some shape or form. Ask us to sit down and tell stories on tape, ask us to bring in our memorabilia so it can be duplicated and scanned, ask us to meet as a group once a month on campus or gather at Dante's once or twice a year to be sure that the history is captured. We can all spread the word and help the story - word of mouth or other.
We were only asked to sign up to buy a book.
So often - at the St. John's basketball office and elsewhere on the campus - there's just nobody 'minding the store.' It's a shame. Ask the basketball people at NYU or CCNY. They'll tell you what happens.
(As an fyi - the picture above features - left to right - Frank Alagia, Phil Pepe, Lou, George Johnson and Tarik Turner).
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