|
Post by Tom on Apr 18, 2023 9:00:22 GMT -5
I knew Dropo was a rookie of the year. I did not know he played for UConn. RoY in one of the first years they gave out one for each league
|
|
|
Post by Crucis#1 on Apr 18, 2023 9:01:53 GMT -5
I have a memory of a HC ay UConn hoops game in the mid 70's..The game was is a field house, portable bleachers I think..Where was that? On the UConn campus, but before Gampel was built. Yes it has on campus. I went to a game there I believe in the early 80’s and remember the portable bleachers. The field house from that era, is next to Gampel, just to the north on the same road. It is now called the Greer Field House. uconnhuskies.com/facilities/hughs-greer-field-house/11
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Apr 18, 2023 9:04:19 GMT -5
Okay, a UConn history question: what UConn basketball star went on to become rookie-of-the-year for the Red Sox? Well it wasn't the guy who a few months apart in 1959 struck out Ted Williams and scored a hook shot over Wilt Chamberlain as Gene Conley went to Washington State University and I don't recall him being ROY. Walt Dropo was from the little village of Moosup, Ct. a stone's throw from UConn but don't specifically remember him being a ROY. Conley was also known as the only person to win a championship in multiple major sports I assume the Williams strike out was in Spring Training. Long before the day of inter-league games
|
|
|
Post by WorcesterGray on Apr 18, 2023 9:09:47 GMT -5
Dropo led the league in RBI (144) and total bases (326) in his rookie year. Never came close to approaching those figures again.
|
|
|
Post by WorcesterGray on Apr 18, 2023 9:47:53 GMT -5
Conley was also known as the only person to win a championship in multiple major sports Actually, not so. Hinkey Haines, a little-used OF, was a member of the 1923 champion Yankees and appeared in the World Series. He was also the QB of the 1927 New York Giants, who won their first NFL championship that year.
Otto Graham won multiple NFL titles with the Cleveland Browns, and a pro basketball championship as a member of the Rochester Royals in the old NBL.
|
|
|
Post by newfieguy74 on Apr 18, 2023 9:56:12 GMT -5
It's only a matter of time before someone starts a thread on Hinky Haines, not to mention Pretzels Pezzullo and Nap Lajoie.
|
|
|
Post by KY Crusader 75 on Apr 18, 2023 10:22:23 GMT -5
Nap Lajoie--best ever Rhode Island MLBer?
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Apr 18, 2023 10:29:23 GMT -5
It's only a matter of time before someone starts a thread on Hinky Haines, not to mention Pretzels Pezzullo and Nap Lajoie. well. . . The Cleveland baseball team was named the Naps after Nap Lajoie before reverting to a name associated with a Crusader. Not only discussed Lajoie but tied it in with Holy Cross
|
|
|
Post by timholycross on Apr 18, 2023 11:39:45 GMT -5
My memory from those days is that UConn was completely irrelevant in the NE basketball scene, let alone the national scene. Wasn't this the Toby Kimball era at UConn? Kimball was from the 60’s along with Wes Bialousoknia. Seventies were guys like Hanson and Whelton. ...and Corny Thompson, who was a fine player, NBA cup of coffee followed by a good career in Europe.
|
|
|
Post by timholycross on Apr 18, 2023 12:08:33 GMT -5
Their field house was a somewhat larger version of our late, great Quonset hut. Court barely fit from one end to the other, which allowed the stands to go pretty high (the opposite of Fairfield's old place, where the only "high" stands were in one end zone. Sat 5K or thereabouts.
We played a game there in 70-71 where the place had to be cleared midway through the second half because of a bomb scare. The game resumed with no fans.
|
|
|
Post by newfieguy74 on Apr 18, 2023 12:47:22 GMT -5
Question: did UConn achieve its level of excellence because it hired Jim Calhoun on the men's side and Gino on the women's side? Obviously, they needed to get some institutional support along the way, but it almost seems as if these two dragged their respective programs onto the national stage (and in Gino's case he has played a large part in raising the women's game nationally). That UConn has won three men's titles with three different coaches is amazing. Excellence begets excellence.
|
|
|
Paulsen!
Apr 18, 2023 13:14:41 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Xmassader on Apr 18, 2023 13:14:41 GMT -5
Question: did UConn achieve its level of excellence because it hired Jim Calhoun on the men's side and Gino on the women's side? Obviously, they needed to get some institutional support along the way, but it almost seems as if these two dragged their respective programs onto the national stage (and in Gino's case he has played a large part in raising the women's game nationally). That UConn has won three men's titles with three different coaches is amazing. Excellence begets excellence. Entry into the Big East came first. Then the hiring of the two excellent coaches…and Voila!
|
|
|
Paulsen!
Apr 18, 2023 13:43:10 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by longsuffering on Apr 18, 2023 13:43:10 GMT -5
Question: did UConn achieve its level of excellence because it hired Jim Calhoun on the men's side and Gino on the women's side? Obviously, they needed to get some institutional support along the way, but it almost seems as if these two dragged their respective programs onto the national stage (and in Gino's case he has played a large part in raising the women's game nationally). That UConn has won three men's titles with three different coaches is amazing. Excellence begets excellence. Somebody posted an article awhile ago about the beginning of the Big East. That article inferred UConn was a consolation prize after Father Brooks nixed entry for HC, mainly because UConn played in the weak Yankee Conference and was not located in a city and was a State University not a Catholic College like many of the other founding members. So Calhoun, Geno and the B.E. appear to be the catalysts that made UConn arguably the college basketball capital of the country for the last thirty years, as well as a poster child school for Title IX showing that excellence for one gender doesn't take away the opportunity of excellence for the other gender. It's also a unique basketball school with both genders capable of selling out large arenas.
|
|
|
Post by sader81 on Apr 18, 2023 17:35:43 GMT -5
Yes it has on campus. I went to a game there I believe in the early 80’s and remember the portable bleachers. The field house from that era, is next to Gampel, just to the north on the same road. It is now called the Greer Field House. uconnhuskies.com/facilities/hughs-greer-field-house/11Spent a Lot of time there at high school indoor track meets in the mid 70s. Was a decent facility at the time, and the track looks much better now in the above link. Yes, there were bleachers on both sides of the hoop court, and the track ran behind and around the bleachers.
|
|
|
Post by sader1970 on Apr 18, 2023 18:54:31 GMT -5
This thread has wandered quite a distance from Coach Paulsen.
|
|
tj
Crusader Century Club
Posts: 144
|
Paulsen!
Apr 18, 2023 19:23:23 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by tj on Apr 18, 2023 19:23:23 GMT -5
Question: did UConn achieve its level of excellence because it hired Jim Calhoun on the men's side and Gino on the women's side? Obviously, they needed to get some institutional support along the way, but it almost seems as if these two dragged their respective programs onto the national stage (and in Gino's case he has played a large part in raising the women's game nationally). That UConn has won three men's titles with three different coaches is amazing. Excellence begets excellence. Somebody posted an article awhile ago about the beginning of the Big East. That article inferred UConn was a consolation prize after Father Brooks nixed entry for HC, mainly because UConn played in the weak Yankee Conference and was not located in a city and was a State University not a Catholic College like many of the other founding members. So Calhoun, Geno and the B.E. appear to be the catalysts that made UConn arguably the college basketball capital of the country for the last thirty years, as well as a poster child school for Title IX showing that excellence for one gender doesn't take away the opportunity of excellence for the other gender. It's also a unique basketball school with both genders capable of selling out large arenas.
|
|
tj
Crusader Century Club
Posts: 144
|
Post by tj on Apr 18, 2023 19:24:25 GMT -5
Somebody posted an article awhile ago about the beginning of the Big East. That article inferred UConn was a consolation prize after Father Brooks nixed entry for HC, mainly because UConn played in the weak Yankee Conference and was not located in a city and was a State University not a Catholic College like many of the other founding members. So Calhoun, Geno and the B.E. appear to be the catalysts that made UConn arguably the college basketball capital of the country for the last thirty years, as well as a poster child school for Title IX showing that excellence for one gender doesn't take away the opportunity of excellence for the other gender. It's also a unique basketball school with both genders capable of selling out large arenas. Don’t forget contribution Blaney made when he joined Calhoun there
|
|
|
Paulsen!
Apr 18, 2023 21:35:54 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by longsuffering on Apr 18, 2023 21:35:54 GMT -5
Don’t forget contribution Blaney made when he joined Calhoun there Two great basketball minds. Blaney always appeared to be fit and trim and calm and measured which must have really helped Calhoun who appeared to struggle with various health maladies and have a mercurial personality.
|
|
|
Post by trimster on Apr 19, 2023 7:43:16 GMT -5
I don't think that BC or Providence would be interested in bringing back the Colonial Classic. Three possibilities that I would consider would be Harvard, Umass and Northeastern. New England college hoops was quite special in the 60’s and 70’s, especially in the ECAC Tourney era of ‘75 to ‘79. It’s really a shame the rivalries between PC, URI, BC, HC, UMass, UConn and Fairfield are almost all dead. The only ones still alive are PC-URI and PC-UConn. Even if some of them play each other once in a blue moon like PC and HC, the game has little feel like the days of yore. Too bad.
|
|
|
Post by timholycross on Apr 19, 2023 7:44:24 GMT -5
Don’t forget contribution Blaney made when he joined Calhoun there Two great basketball minds. Blaney always appeared to be fit and trim and calm and measured which must have really helped Calhoun who appeared to struggle with various health maladies and have a mercurial personality. His first HC team* certainly put that to the test. Probably no better indicator of what a great person he is that he didn't lose his mind coaching that group (I think SK called his teams "groups", no?). *always wanted to ask him in later years when exactly he knew what a disastah that season was going to become. Probably sooner than most of us did.
|
|
|
Post by timholycross on Apr 19, 2023 7:53:01 GMT -5
I don't think that BC or Providence would be interested in bringing back the Colonial Classic. Three possibilities that I would consider would be Harvard, Umass and Northeastern. New England college hoops was quite special in the 60’s and 70’s, especially in the ECAC Tourney era of ‘75 to ‘79. It’s really a shame the rivalries between PC, URI, BC, HC, UMass, UConn and Fairfield are almost all dead. The only ones still alive are PC-URI and PC-UConn. Even if some of them play each other once in a blue moon like PC and HC, the game has little feel like the days of yore. Too bad. It's nice that PC, perhaps due to external pressures in RI; has kept its rivalry w/URI going.
|
|
|
Post by Sons of Vaval on Apr 19, 2023 8:12:00 GMT -5
HCDP has shown more charisma and personality in his first few weeks on the job than his predecessor ever showed over four years --
|
|
|
Post by HC92 on Apr 19, 2023 8:18:15 GMT -5
You can learn a lot from actually being a head coach. One of the things Paulsen has clearly picked up along the way is the need to integrate yourself into the college community and start building connections as quickly as possible. Nelson was in a tough spot as I don’t think these things come as naturally to him and he had the whole Covid mess to deal with. If he gets another head job at some point, I suspect he will approach it differently.
|
|
|
Post by mm67 on Apr 19, 2023 8:40:45 GMT -5
IMO it is time to move on from BN. Comparisons do not truly serve as a gauge to evaluate Coach Paulsen. These comparison mainly serve to resurrect bad memories of an extremely difficult time. Time to let go of BN. Better to catch the tailwind of Paulsen's meteor. Look forward. Stay positive.
|
|
|
Paulsen!
Apr 19, 2023 9:25:53 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Apr 19, 2023 9:25:53 GMT -5
^
Best post in this forum in a long time.
|
|