A HOYA THANKSGIVING FROM ANOTHER ERA…

Some reading for the long weekend on a Thanksgiving spent watching Patrick’s first GU games; written with tons of time to kill on a road trip.

I. SETTING THE SCENE

1981:

 John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate President Reagan

 Pope John Paul II was wounded by a Turkish terrorist gunman.

 President Anwar Sadat was assassinated.

 IRA Member of Parliament Bobby Sands died after sixty-six days on a hunger strike in a British detention center in Northern Ireland.

 The IBM PC was introduced to the world.

 Judge Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated as the first woman on the Supreme Court.

 CDC Scientists identified the AIDS virus.

 The space shuttle Columbia flew for the first time.

 Patrick Ewing enrolled at Georgetown University.

The 1980-81 Hoyas were a disappointment; 20-11, they had lost to James Madison (believe it or not) in the first round of the NCAA. And, two years earlier, the 1979-80 Hoyas had ripped out our hearts. Riding a 15 game winning streak, the leadership and talent of two Honorable Mention All-Americans, John Duren and Craig Shelton, and the shooting of a future All-American, Sleepy Floyd, the 26-5 Hoyas stormed to the NCAA Eastern Regional Final against Iowa only to lose by a point. Many sportswriters and fans believe the game turned on Coach Thompson’s decision - with a 14 point lead, momentum, and the ball - to slow things down in the second half - his version of the "four corners." The result kept the Hoyas from their first Final Four appearance since the 1940’s. But in the Fall of 1981, things were looking up with a rooster deep with accomplished returning lettermen and a brilliant incoming freshman class (Martin and Jones were also top 50 recruits) of: #10 Kurt Kaull '83; #11 Anthony Jones '85; #12 Elvado Smith '85; #20 Fred Brown '84;#21 Eric Floyd '82; #22 Gene Smith '84; #24 Bill Martin '85; #30 Ron Blaylock '82; #32 Eric Smith '82; #33 Patrick Ewing '85; #34 Jim Corcoran '82; #40 Mike Hancock '82; #42 David Blue ’83; and #50 Ed Spriggs '82.

II. ON THE ROAD

I was in California in the fall of 1981, shuttling between Los Angles and San Francisco for a client, and getting East every three weeks. Back in DC, the buzz around Patrick’s announcement that he would attend Georgetown had since been matched by a fever-like rise in expectations about the team during the spring, summer, and early fall. However, there was no Kenner League then, no chance to see Patrick play against Division 1 caliber opponents before the season began, so we are all anxiously sat, waited, and speculated. For the John Feinstein byline article for The Washington Post covering Patrick’s first exhibition game in McDonough, see the end of this piece.

With Thanksgiving a short few weeks away, I realized my work schedule had me flying roundtrip from San Francisco back East the day before Thanksgiving and returning that Sunday - arguably the two worst travel days of the year. Then, it hit me like Paul on the road to Damascus. The Hoyas were scheduled – for the second year in a row – to play in the Great Alaska Shootout (we had beat Nicholls State and had lost to UNC and LSU the year before). Hell, I had never been to Alaska, I knew I could convince some of the crew to go, I greatly wanted to be there when Patrick played his first real game for GU, and it beat the blazes out of flying 5000 miles roundtrip for three days and turkey leftovers: no contest – I had my GU gear FedExed to me and I called Alaska Airlines and Hilton Hotels.

The next two weeks were a blur, and, before I knew it, I was on an Alaska Airlines flight on Thanksgiving eve morning from SF to Seattle and connecting to Anchorage. My first flight ever into the Pacific Northwest came on a crisp, perfect, not-a-cloud-in-the sky-blue day. The scenery was awesome, and the pilot got permission to fly low and slow directly over the scene of the eruption of the Mt. St. Helen’s volcano on the approach into Seattle. Almost 18 months after the eruption and the devastation was unbelievable; nothing stood, not a tree, not a building, not a lamppost for miles as far as the eye could see. After a quick connection and another 3.5 hours in the air, I was soon in cold, dark, and unappealing Anchorage, Alaska. (Totally useless fact #1: two years later, six months before we won our NCAA championship in Seattle, I got the first in a ten year run of great clients in Washington state and Alaska. Some years, I spent as much as 60-90 days there. It was, and is, wonderful there.)

III. AT CENTER FOR GEORGETOWN (NOT)

After a quick dash to meet the guys, get the rent-a-car, and check into the Hilton, it was time to head to the game. Surprise #1: the site for the games was the 4,000-seat Buckner Field House at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. As we approached the front gate around 4:00PM, it was pitch black and sub-freezing cold. An Army sentry peered in at our licenses and waved us onto the base. (Totally useless fact #2: Anchorage has two major military bases: Ft. Richardson, home of the "Artic Airborne," (http://www.usarak.army.mil/richardson) and Elmendorf Air Force Base (http://www.elmendorf.af.mil) and it took some getting use to it. In 1981, Alaska was still the first line of defense (remember this?) against the Evil Empire and you saw F-4s & F-15s scrambling from Elmendorf day and night. It was astounding to see them shoot by your hotel window on the 20th floor (imagine seeing F-4s & F-15s on full burner blazing up the Potomac 200 feet over Key Bridge from the Key Bridge Marriott). It also took some getting use to seeing paratroopers landing a couple miles up the road, where we spent some time one afternoon).

We walked into Buckner (and should have asked for Quinn, rim shot, sorry, could not resist) turned to each other, and said: it’s McDonough! A little bigger, a little brighter, a hell of a lot more crowded, but your basic 1950s gym. The Marquette – McNeese game was just about over as we settled in and tried to find other Hoya fans. During a very good Iona – Ohio State game, we came to the realization that there were six known (to us) Hoya fans in the building, but the local folks and the Marquette fans were friendly and everyone was talking about Patrick Ewing and JT.

I can’t find a box score for this or the other Shootout games, but this is our best recollection. When the Hoyas took the floor for pre-game, two things were immediately apparent. One, we were a physically mature, big team. Two, Patrick looked like he weighed about 215 pounds and he had pipe cleaners for arms and legs, but his athleticism was striking the little things he did: dribbling a ball, taking a lay-up, practicing a baseline turnaround - he bent slightly at the knees, then he exploded up like an express elevator. As the teams walked out for the opening jump ball, Patrick was on the bench. JT started (to the best of our recollections) Ed Spriggs, Mike Hancock, Eric Smith, Sleepy Floyd, and Fred Brown. The game started slowly; we looked awkward and slow, Southwestern Louisiana was quicker than we were and confident. USL (now ULL) played a tight zone and rebounded well; we shot poorly, even Sleepy and Eric looked like they were forcing shots, we turned the ball over, and we looked out of sync (sound familiar?).

About eight to nine minutes into the first half, JT sent Patrick to the scorer’s table. At this defining moment in GU basketball history, there was not a roar from the crowd (except the six of us), no spotlight from the television crew (there was none), and no booing from the opponents. Rather, a stony silence of disinterest lay across the arena during the dead ball while the substitutions were made. Patrick’s first half appearance was not memorable: a walking violation; an over the back rebounding foul; a pass out of bounds; and two forced turn around shots. He came out of the game with about four minutes left. At the half, we were still in the game, down by about nine.

The second half was, according to Yogi Berra, "déjà vu all over again" for any Hoya fan they had seen this sequence before and would for another twenty years. We forced shots, turned the ball over, gave up bad offensive rebounds, and we were still in the game with one of our patented runs. Meanwhile, after Ed Spriggs had started the second half, Patrick entered the game earlier and made a real mark with his rebounding and one significant block that looked liked a volleyball set. His first basket was six to eight footer from the lane facing the basket, no glass. His second basket was off an offensive rebound put back from the right side; there were no dunks.

We made two second half runs, cutting it once to two and another time to three points with about seven minutes to go, but USL was quicker, made their free throws, and rebounded well. In the game’s waning moments, with Patrick on the bench, we all looked at one another. While we knew these games meant little, we were disappointed. We had not played well. The veterans had looked like they were sleep-walking and Patrick looked like he was lost. It wasn’t what we had expected.

First Day’s Action:

Marquette 88, McNeese State 57

Iona 58, Ohio State 57

Southwestern Louisiana 70, Georgetown 61

Washington State 83, UAA 66

II. ANOTHER DAY

Day breaks across the Chugiak Mountains east of Anchorage about 9:30AM in late November. After breakfast and a walk around the downtown area, then about six blocks wide by twenty blocks long, we called friends and family; it was Thanksgiving Day. Given the time of the games, we decided to grab a very late Thanksgiving lunch instead of dinner. (Totally useless fact #3: In the lobby of the Captain Cook Hotel is a ferocious-looking, stuffed, twelve foot tall Kodiak polar bear, brilliant white, on display. We stood and watched a busload of Japanese tourists pose with the bear, individually and in groups, and finally got our photo taken with a crew of JAL flight attendants.)

As hyped as we were for last night’s game, this one promised to be a complete letdown, and the game lived down to its expectations. We were playing University of Alaska, Anchorage, the host team for the tournament; UAA was a bad Division II team, as opposed to UAA’s Division I hockey team, a national power. While we never trailed in the game, it was terrible. If we had slept walked the night before, we were in a coma against UAA. No amount of fussing, fuming, and cursing by JT could seem to bring us around, but Patrick showed flashes of athletic brilliance, and, finally, live, in person, two massive dunks, his soon to be patented tomahawk on a quasi-fast break and a two hand jam off a lob from Fred Brown. In addition, several UAA shots ended up somewhere in the third to fifth rows, as he swatted them with a vengeance. No Bill Russell deflect and tap to a team mate; these were beach volleyball overhead smashes. While not great basketball tactics, those moments alone made the trip worthwhile. In the end, we were too big, talented, and rough – the game did get physical at times.

Also, there was no denying Bill Martin and Anthony Jones’s abilities. While Martin, a HS All-American, was a prototype Washington, DC power forward, albeit one with a remarkable fifteen foot baseline jumper for a freshman – remember this was 1981, Anthony Jones looked and held the promise of being a very special player. AJ, a HS All-American and top 25-50 player, was years ahead of his time (as was Artie White in 1969-71, but that’s another story for another day): a 6’6" SF/SG with great shooting range, hands, and leaping ability. The fact that his career cratered so badly within two years later, and he transferred to UNLV, was a crime. It also gives us all some benchmarks as to the comings and goings of players. I had to laugh at the histrionics surrounding the transfer of Bethel and Hall this summer; or the departures of guys like Brunner and Thomas. It’s all happened before; nothing in this game is new or at Georgetown.

By this second day of the tournament, a lot of fans whose teams had already played stayed to see Patrick play. A bunch of the guys from Marquette told us to catch up with them for beers after the game, and we headed out into the cold Thanksgiving night. Hours later, around 3:00AM, and way too many rounds consumed to count, we watched the Marquette basketball radio crew set up shop in a "gentlemen’s club" called (I am not making this up) "The Great Alaska Bush Company." Our intrepid and inebriated Milwaukee announcers commandeered a phone line patch to their station in Milwaukee from the bar’s office, ran cable, set up a microphone at the rail to the stage, and began to broadcast to a Milwaukee drive time audience. They said there were at a "popular downtown Anchorage restaurant" with the best-looking and most-friendly waitresses they had ever seen. I have no idea whatever happened because of this episode and barely remember getting back to the hotel.

Second Day’s Action:

Ohio State 63, McNeese State 60

Marquette 67, Iona 54

Southwestern Louisiana 72, Washington State 59

Georgetown 77, UAA 67

III. LAST DAY

Dawn broke around 9:45AM; finally a sunny day. With time to kill, we went to Elmendorf AFB (where we saw the "Ready 5" NORAD interceptors sitting on the runway with engines turning and pilots in the cockpits) and the Ft. Richardson parachute training grounds (see photo above). (Totally useless fact #4: a single candle produces enough heat in a properly constructed igloo, as is taught in artic survival school, to warm four men to 60 degrees regardless of the outside temperature. I have not tried this, but a Command Master Sergeant just stared at me when I laughed at this fact.)

GU was playing Ohio State for fourth place this last day of the tournament. Talk about your ugly games; this one ranks up there. We were a better team than Ohio State, they had only beat McNeese the day before b three points (although they rallied to a season record of 21-10 and tied for second in the Big Ten), and ESPN’s own Clark Kellogg, and once again, we ran our offense as if we were wearing construction boots and running in quicksand. People stood around, no cutting, no screens, no picks…we got probably 25% of our non-free throw points on lay-ups, 25% on jump shots, and 50% on put-backs. The free throw shooting was maybe 60%. Patrick dominated the middle, but he tried to block everything in sight. JT did, for the first time try to play him with Ed Spriggs at the same time – a lineup that vanished during the season, but reappeared during the Big East tournament in Hartford and during the NCAA run. Sleepy played well, but the rest of the vets were lackadaisical.

Late in the game, with Ohio State up by one and letting the air out of the ball (no shot clock), we had three attempts in a row to take the lead. Clang; clang; and clang - and two fouls for over the back attempts at offensive rebounds. If Ohio State had been any better at the line, they would have put this far away. JT will strangely impassive; I guess the prospect of fourth or sixth place 300 miles away from home will make you that way. As a final GU shot bounced off the backboard, we packed up and headed for the airport and our red-eye flights out of Anchorage. None of us can remember the stats of that game. More impoprtantly, however, if you had asked any one in the arena that night, GU fan or not, if this team would storm through the end of its schedule 16-1 and make it to the NCAA final, they would have handed you a beer and a Prozac. But that is the beauty of college basketball; it is an ever evolving, always fluid, now you see, now you don’t apparition.

GU has never been a Princeton smooth offensive machine, or a UCLA dynasty, as much as we may think and wish. However, the Great Alaska Shootout in 1981 was the first sighting of college basketball’s "Perfect Storm," although it took half a season to build to epic proportions. Three first ever factors, an African-American Coach with a striking personality at a Division I program, a strategic approach to basketball based on pressure defense, shot blocking, and rebounding, and, arguably, the player who forever changed the look of Eastern basketball, Patrick, came together to start a decade long run of Hoya Paranoia. It was well worth the trip.

Third Day’s Action:

McNeese State 92, UAA 85 (7th/8th)

Ohio State 47, Georgetown 46 (4th/6th)

Iona 71, Washington State 58 (3rd/5th)

Southwestern Louisiana 81, Marquette 64 (Championship)

Most Outstanding Player: Steve Burtt, Iona

All-Tournament Team: Dion Brown, Southwestern Louisiana; Johnny Collins, Southwestern Louisiana; Joe Dumars, McNeese State; Johnny Gilbert, UAA; Clark Kellogg, Ohio State; Glenn Rivers, Marquette; Gary Springer, Iona; Alford Turner, Southwestern Louisiana; Graylin Warner, Southwestern Louisiana; Michael Wilson, Marquette

THAT NEAR CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON

1981-1982 (30-7, 10-4 Big East)

Final National Poll Ranking: #6

Big East Tournament Champions

NCAA Western Regional Champions

NCAA National Finalists

Coach: John Thompson

Captains: Eric Floyd, Eric Smith, Ed Spriggs

Leading Scorer: Eric Floyd (16.7 ppg)

Home Court: Capital Centre

L 61-70 vs SW Louisiana (Great Alaska Shootout)

W 77-67 at Alaska-Anchorage (Great Alaska Shootout)

L 46-47 vs Ohio State (Great Alaska Shootout)

W 81-53 Morgan State (McDonough Gym)

W 71-53 San Diego State

W 83-37 St. Leo (McDonough Gym)

W 75-63 American

W 61-48 George Washington

W 76-52 Nevada-Las Vegas

W 64-45 Western Kentucky

W 38-26 vs Columbia (Rochester Classic)

W 77-49 vs Niagara (Rochester Classic)

W 75-58 Robert Morris

W 72-42 at St. John's (Madison Square Garden)

W 67-51 Boston College

W 62-60 at Seton Hall

L 70-75 at Syracuse

L 52-63 Connecticut (McDonough Gym)

L 49-50 at Providence (Civic Center)

W 72-56 Villanova

W 63-46 St. John's

W 83-72 at Villanova (Palestra)

W 113-73 Seton Hall

W 96-79 Syracuse

W 84-48 Southern-Baton Rouge (McDonough Gym)

L 71-80 at Boston College

W 63-51 Missouri (McDonough Gym)

W 60-42 Providence

W 60-42 at Connecticut (at Hartford, CT)

W 62-48 vs Providence (Big East, Hartford, CT)

W 57-42 vs St. John's (Big East, Hartford, CT)

W 72-54 vs Villanova (Big East, Hartford, CT)

W 51-43 vs Wyoming (NCAA, Logan, UT)

W 58-40 vs Fresno State (NCAA, Provo, UT)

W 69-45 vs Oregon State (NCAA, Provo, UT)

W 50-46 vs Louisville (NCAA, New Orleans, LA)

L 62-63 vs North Carolina (NCAA, New Orleans, LA)

(Credit DFW for this page)

Ewing's Start Is Something Big

John Feinstein, Washington Post Staff Writer

November 19, 1981; Page D1

It began the way everyone at Georgetown had imagined. Before he had been on the court for one minute in his unofficial debut as a Hoya, Patrick Ewing sent a calling card to the college basketball world. The message on the card was clear: "I have arrived."

It came with 15:50 left in the first half of the Hoyas' 78-64 exhibition victory over Cibona of Yugoslavia last night before 2,718 in McDonough Gym. Ewing had not started because Coach John Thompson decided he wanted the 7-foot freshman to do as much blending in as the most highly publicized freshman in the country can do. But with 16:23 left in the first half, Thompson sent Ewing and fellow freshmen William Martin and Anthony Jones into the game to a great roar from the crowd, which had come to see the player it had heard so much about for nine months.

Within a minute, point guard Fred Brown found himself sliding down court with the dribble. He saw Ewing with a small opponent trying to drape himself on him.

"We'd worked on it in practice a lot," Brown said, "so I went for it." Without looking at the basket or Ewing, Brown flipped a lob pass toward Ewing. It looked as if the pass were too high and would hit high on the backboard. But before it got there, Ewing reached up with his right arm, almost caught the ball, but instead tapped it off the backboard and through the hoop. For a brief second there was silence because the shot was so stunning. Then, the place went crazy.

"No, it didn't surprise me," said Eric (Sleepy) Floyd, whose 21 points led the Hoyas. "I've seen it every day in practice for a month. It wasn't that big a deal."

In all, the entire evening wasn't that big a deal. Floyd was brilliant, keying the second-half spurt that turned a brief 35-33 Cibona lead into a 51-37 Georgetown lead in a four-minute span. Brown was solid, running the offense and looking more confident than a year ago. Jones and Martin had their moments, particularly Martin, who looks as if he will be a great rebounder.

But it was Ewing who drew the attention. Although his first moment was brilliant, Ewing showed he is just a freshman before the night was over. Once, he tried to put the ball on the floor in traffic and fumbled it out of bounds. And, perhaps ominously, there was the same flash of temper he had displayed in the Capital Classic all-star game in March. Then, he almost fought with 7-foot Greg Dreiling after an exchange of elbows.

Last night, he showed his temper twice. First, with 4:26 left and the game in hand, he became frustrated by the pushing and shoving of Rajko Gaspodnetic and responded with a shove of his own. Brown jumped in to play peacemaker, pushing his teammate away from the Yugoslav player. Thompson came on court and spoke briefly to Ewing. "I just told him it's going to happen and he should stay calm." Ewing tried. But a minute later -- when 6-4 Aleksandr Petrovic, his team's leading scorer with 17 points, bear-hugged Ewing -- the trouble started again. Ewing tried to get the officials' attention. It didn't work, so he tried a different tactic: an elbow that landed on Petrovic's head. "You never want that to happen, but the kid was pushing and holding him and the referee wouldn't call the intentional foul," Thompson said. "At some point when you're held that long you start to think maybe the guy wants to fight you."

What Ewing thought about the whole thing only he knows for sure, because Thompson does not allow anyone to question his freshmen before Jan. 1. But Thompson did reveal that Ewing told him before the game, "I'm nervous." "I told him, 'How do you think I feel?' " Thompson said. Thompson felt pretty good when the evening was over.

The Hoyas were not bothered by playing against a team that had the words "Bonita Banana" across the front of their uniforms (Cibona is a food processing company), and the team played aggressively, although sloppily, most of the night.

Ewing, with four impressive dunks, including cappers at the end of each half, showed his ability without tipping his hand in too many ways. Thompson played everyone, shuffling his lineup constantly and playing minimal pressure defense to keep the game close. He looked impeccable in his light brown suit. "Had it since high school," he said. Like the old suit, Thompson's veteran players looked good last night. Mike Hancock had 14 points, Eric Smith had some fine moments defensively and Floyd, playing both ways, lived up to his all-America billing.

But it was the new player that everyone wanted to see. Ewing's statistics -- nine points, three rebounds and five blocked shots (Thompson particularly liked the blocked shots) in 22 minutes -- may not have been overwhelming, but they weren't supposed to be. This was supposed to be a beginning. It was -- an impressive one

Facts About 1981.

1. Bill Gates and Microsoft were still in Albuquerque, NM; they had not yet returned to Seattle.

2. There were no cell phones.

3. There was no ESPN or DirecTV

4. The video game Pac-man was just introduced.

Prince Charles and Diana Spencer were married on July 29.

The Supreme Court ruled to allow television cameras in the courtroom.

5. MTV goes on the air running around the clock music videos, debuting with "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

"Physical" by Olivia Newton-John dominates the last five weeks of 1981 in the #1 Billboard charts.

6. Some great films were released in 1980 including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Arthur, Escape from New York, and more. Tom Cruise made his feature film debut in Blue Lagoon.

7. Dallas was the #1 television show; 60 Minutes was #2.