CENTAUR SEASONS: "One Disaster After Another"

.. AS CHRONICLED BY, AND WITH THE PERSONAL MEMOIRS + OCCASSIONAL PHILOSOPHIZING OF THE AUTHOR, ONE STEPHEN J. McKEE”

This CENTAUR SEASONS post was written on February 4, 1973.

PREVIOUS GAME: Centaurs 47, Messiah College 76, yesterday

NEXT GAME: at Wilmington College, in two days

CENTAUR SEASON: 2-8

The results of our team meeting late last week were immediately evident in the locker room that same night. We all felt as though we could’ve taken on the world after that meeting. We were high. We were no longer down after our seven losses in a row.

Results of our team meeting were immediately evident at practice the next day. too. Gary Cacciatore was now pushing Joey Thompson, and Dennis Ramella and Jerry Fleming were going at it, and Dave Gliemi was playing Bobby Stormes, not Bob Hoeffner, who played Chris Cashman. And so on. The scrimmages were much better. We were constantly being forced by new and different situations and faces.

But not enough was new. Last night we lost to Messiah College, 74-47.

(“One Disaster After Another” continues below)

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WELCOME TO CENTAUR SEASONS. “One Disaster After Another” here on HoopsU.Com appears also on CENTAUR SEASONS, a “memory blog” of the half-good, half-bad, all-new Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales Centaurs in Center Valley, Pennsylvana. Forty years ago Steve kept a diary of his junior-year season. A blog before its time then, “A History of the Events …” is now an e-diary at CENTAUR SEASONS and here on HoopsU.com.

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We were, understandably, all ready to go against Messiah, one of the best teams we face. We stayed with them for most of the first half. We were only down 2 with three minutes to play. At the half we were down 11.

The second half was one disaster after another.

I didn’t start, and I played only 18 minutes all told. But I had 10 points and 11 rebounds. And as P.J. Brennan said, it was evident that when I was in there I was dominating the game.

Nonetheless, I don’t think I played a good game. When it was out of reach I hit three quick ones from distance, which made me look really super. But what sticks in my mind are the two shots that hit the top of the backboard, my four turnovers and terrific dribbling exhibitions which ended up in two points for them – they have stolen the ball.

My mother brought a bus load of her friends (mine as well) to the game. My home town of York, Pennsylvania, is maybe 30 miles away. They all thought I played fantastic. Especially the four crazy kids sitting courtside right behind me when I hit those three rainbow jumpers. Their names will go unmentioned, my own private cheering section.

Actually, I was rather relieved after the game. Ten points and 11 ‘bounds is a pretty good night’s work. As I said to my mother, these people see Greg Flick (a good friend of mine who plays for my alma mater, York Catholic High School – where I never played) twice a week for 11 weeks. They are able to make a fairly good judgment on how good he is. I get one chance a year. Last year it was the York College game at their place. This year, Messiah.

It was rather a relief that although we got drubbed I was a success in their eyes. But I must admit that losing by so much really made me feel embarrassed and humiliated. Even though as my mother said, these people weren’t here to pass judgment, they were here merely to see me because they like both my mom + me.

But there was one man there. I’ll call him Mr. Brown. This Mr. John Brown is a very knowledgeable man when it comes to basketball. He played as big-time as there was, back in the early, right-before-the-NBA days. And as I said to my mother, last year against York College, the only person I wanted to impress was Greg Flick. This year I knew the only man who would make me nervous and make me want to play well was John Brown. I would place money that he wasn’t impressed with me, or the team.

After the game I accompanied my mother to the bus. I didn’t want to get on, but my mom asked me to. I did, and of course everybody cheered and clapped. But there was one face I looked for, and when it I saw him I could see that he was NOT impressed. The memory of that face will haunt me all summer long….

PREVIOUS GAME: Centaurs 47, Messiah College 76, yesterday

NEXT GAME: Wilmington College, in two days

1972-73 CENTAUR SEASON Schedule and Results:

12/1 — at Lehigh CCC — W/81-71 — 1-0

12-4 — at Northampton CCC — W/87-50 — 2-0

12-6 — EASTERN BAPTIST — L/73-75 — 2-1

12-12 — SPRING GARDEN — L/54-66 — 2-2

12-16 — PHILLY BIBLE — L/72-79 — 2-3

1-18 — at Baptist Bible — L/82-84 — 2-4

1-19 — WILMINGTON — L/56-71 — 2-5

1-25 — at Philly Pharmacy — L/56-71 — 2-6

1-30 — at Spring Garden — L/64-69 — 2-7

2-3 — at Messiah College — L/47-76 — 2-8

2-6 — at Wilmington

2-13 — RUTGERS, S. JERSEY

2-16 — LEHIGH CCC

2-20 — MESSIAH

2-22 — NORTHAMPTON CCC

2-24 — PHILLY PHARMACY

2-27 — BAPTIST BIBLE

About
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Steve McKee

Steve McKee is the author of CENTAUR SEASONS, a memory blog about his basketball-playing days at Allentown (Pa.) College of St. Francis de Sales in the early 1970s (a good excuse for using his college yearbook picture -- though there's NO excuse for that mustache and hair!).

CENTAUR SEASONS can also be found at www.centaurseasons.com. The centerpiece will be the posting in "real time" of the diary that Steve kept of his 1972-1973 junior-year season, beginning on November 30. Prior to that (and after), Steve will be posting regularly about his freshman, sophomore and senior seasons, as well as about what it was like to be there at the beginning to help get a struggling college basketball program off the ground.

Steve was the original writer of The Wall Street Journal's popular sports blog, "The Daily Fix" in 2001-2002, and was even dubbed "The Unwitting Father of the Sports Blog" by Gelf Magazine, the online publication of the "Varsity Letters Reading Series. Steve was the Journal's sports editor for its original Weekend sport section and was involved in all of the Journal's Olympics coverage, Winter and Summer, from 1996 through 2008.

He is the author of three books, most recently "My Father's Heart: A Son's Reckoning With the Legacy of Heart Disease," which he is adapting as a one-man show. For his first book, "The Call of the Game," Steve traveled the country in search of sports events -- including the famous N.C. State Wolfpack victory over "Phi Slamma Jamma" of the University of Houston. For his second book, COACH, among the 150+ coaches Steve interviewed are/were college basketball coaches John Wooden (UCLA), Pat Summitt (Tennessee), Frank Layden (Niagara), Bobby Cremins (Georgia Tech), P.J. Carlesimo (Seton Hall), Bill Guthridge (North Carolina), Abe Lemons (Texas), Stan Morrison (USC), Kathy Rush (Immaculata), Jim Satalin (Duquesne), Charlie Thomas (San Francisco State), Butch Van Bredda Koff (Princeton), Bill Whitmore (Vermont) and LaDonna Wilson (Austin Peay).

For more, you can click on www.steve-mckee.com, where you can find a TODAY show appearance and an NPR interview.