donbosco
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Sweet D Left This Mortal Coil
Here’s remembering..,
The 1976-77 Carolina Men’s Tar Heel Basketball Team carried us along in their wake through a March Mad with Miracles. As a freshman in Chapel Hill I - gloriously - have never recovered. In those days the Atlantic Coast Conference was a compact league of 7 bitter rivals — UNC, Wake, State, dook, Clemson, Virginia, and Maryland. We played one another twice - home and away - and rival arenas were pits packed with palpably intense loathing and deafening vitriol.
An interesting footnote to the texture of seasons in those times were the schedules interspersed with non-conference matches not just early but throughout. Small leagues made that sort of play possible. In ‘76-77 after the ACC season started Carolina had games with Georgia Tech, Furman, Tulane, South Florida, and Louisville. Oh, and in North Carolina we STARTED off with The Big Four Tournament - the very first games of the season - in Greensboro - a blood and guts kickoff between Carolina, wake, state, and dook. This meant 3 guaranteed games between the four in-state powers every year (a fourth might come in the ACC Tournament). Those were some heavenly days. In ‘76-77 after a solid thumping of the wolpfack in the opener, UNC lost the Big Four Championship in overtime to Wake Forest (96-97). Grudges were renewed all around.
Carolina won 11 straight after that loss until being tripped up in a revenge game to State in mid-January at mean, nasty, barnlike Reynolds Coliseum, 73-75. That one hurt but payback would come - in that very spot for Clyde Austin and state college in 1979 by the quick hands of then bench bound freshman Dudley Bradley - but that half court pickpocket was still in the future in 1977. That State game led to The Tar Heels dropping another tilt to Wake and an embarrassing loss to Clemson in Littlejohn (talk about a PIT) before Coach Smith righted the ship and led his charges to 15 wins in a row and a Final Four Championship game versus Marquette in Atlanta.
The final 6 wins, all in March, of that 15 victory streak were particularly remarkable and for a freshman from #DeepChatham made memories still bold over 45 years later. The ACC Tournament saw UNC with a bye by virtue of a 9-3 first place finish and a second round meeting with State - the fourth of the season. Carolina actually dispatched the Wolfpack easily and followed that up with a championship win over a Marc Ivaroni-led Virginia. It was March 5.
The NCAA opened with a Carolina/Purdue match-up in Raleighwood in the previously mentioned old barn - and it was a burner. Playing without injured star Walter Davis UNC prevailed 69-66. Center Tommy LaGarde was also out - and would not return that season. At the buzzer we went pretty wild back in Chapel Hill. It had been close.
Next game up was in College Park - another crackerbox and home to the Maryland Terrapins - yet another hated conference rival. The foes were the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame led by mouthy Coach Digger Phelps. The Irish were a muscle team but with Walter Davis playing hurt Carolina rallied from behind and won 79-77. This was my first ‘taking over Franklin Street’ night. A little place called Kirkpatrick’s was my evening venue in those days and we were there until far past Last Call that night.
There was no time to rest though because March 19 meant a Blue Blood struggle against Kentucky - since Coach Smith’s upset victory over racist Rupp in 1962 the waters had been roiled - as they remain - between the Tar Heels and the Wildcats. UK had an early version of the Twin Towers in Robey and Phillips and Givens was a star. There was controversy and rough play - Davis led the scoring with 21 and Carolina’s freshmen tandem, O’Koren and Yonakor (Class of 1980 like me) came through. Zaliagaris was a particularly stalwart soul and with Phil Ford limited to 15 minutes of court time due to a hyper-extended elbow, #15, John Kuester stepped in and ran the Four Corners Offense to perfection. Kentucky fell 79-72. In Chapel Hill we once again hit the streets.
For the next two weeks the student body took to taping together their middle and index fingers on their right hand in solidarity with their injured hero Sweet D. (H/T Arnold Watkins for the recollection)
This ship was beginning to look unsinkable. Charmed perhaps. And now - with stars Ford and Davis at three-quarter speed and center Tommy LaGarde’s last court time far in the past Coach Smith was proving wiley beyond our wildest dreams at the helm. So this improbable squad was on to the Final Four which featured Nevada-Las Vegas, shirt-tailed Marquette, and from down highway 49, Cornbread’s UNC Charlotte.
Back in Chapel Hill Yonakor and O’Koren had earned a lot of campus cred with both their hustle and around town antics. The team had captured all our hearts and minds in The Southern Part of Heaven heading into the Saturday night game against UNLV. Of course Ford was our captain and Walter Davis an equally beloved hero - both were injured but soldiering on. And Kuester - in the Semis and versus UNLV he proved the glue that held it all together.
Heading into the Monday night final against Marquette it was the walking wounded (Carolina) meeting the Cinderella (Marquette) - the calm calculator (Smith) versus the wild man of Milwaukee (Al McGuire). My Psychology 10 professor had the cluelessness to schedule a test for Tuesday morning (I have no idea how many showed - I know that I did not). We lost and all was sadness in town and on campus. McGuire’s announcement to retire after the game was too much ‘win it for the gipper’ for Carolina. That and Ford’s elbow and Sweet D’s broken finger. It hurt a lot.
Davis, Kuester, and LaGarde graduated and played pro (even Kuester). Walter Davis, of the tying 35-footer his freshman year in the legendary 8 points in 17 seconds game, went on to be a 6-time NBA All Star with his jersey retired in Phoenix. He won a Gold Medal in the 1976 Olympics where his coach was Dean Smith. He was a huge part of the team that made my freshman year at Carolina so incredible. As the springtime slowly sprung that year in Chapel Hill Sweet D and Company took us on a ride that set the tone. Many others would do likewise - still do - most recently the 2021-22 squad whose essence was reminiscent in its miraculousness.
If you know me then you know that I put great stock in how one ‘plays the game.’ One’s sense of fairness and values shine through in competition and teamwork. Now Walter Davis is gone - Tom Zaliagaris and Rich Yonakor from that team preceded him and of course Coach Smith left us in 2015. Of course we’re also reminded by such titans of mortal flaws and the impermanence of it all. It’s a wake up call when folks - your contemporaries - pass on - even more so when once upon a time they lifted your spirit with heroic deeds and gave you moments, now memories, that altered the path of your life.
Here’s remembering..,
The 1976-77 Carolina Men’s Tar Heel Basketball Team carried us along in their wake through a March Mad with Miracles. As a freshman in Chapel Hill I - gloriously - have never recovered. In those days the Atlantic Coast Conference was a compact league of 7 bitter rivals — UNC, Wake, State, dook, Clemson, Virginia, and Maryland. We played one another twice - home and away - and rival arenas were pits packed with palpably intense loathing and deafening vitriol.
An interesting footnote to the texture of seasons in those times were the schedules interspersed with non-conference matches not just early but throughout. Small leagues made that sort of play possible. In ‘76-77 after the ACC season started Carolina had games with Georgia Tech, Furman, Tulane, South Florida, and Louisville. Oh, and in North Carolina we STARTED off with The Big Four Tournament - the very first games of the season - in Greensboro - a blood and guts kickoff between Carolina, wake, state, and dook. This meant 3 guaranteed games between the four in-state powers every year (a fourth might come in the ACC Tournament). Those were some heavenly days. In ‘76-77 after a solid thumping of the wolpfack in the opener, UNC lost the Big Four Championship in overtime to Wake Forest (96-97). Grudges were renewed all around.
Carolina won 11 straight after that loss until being tripped up in a revenge game to State in mid-January at mean, nasty, barnlike Reynolds Coliseum, 73-75. That one hurt but payback would come - in that very spot for Clyde Austin and state college in 1979 by the quick hands of then bench bound freshman Dudley Bradley - but that half court pickpocket was still in the future in 1977. That State game led to The Tar Heels dropping another tilt to Wake and an embarrassing loss to Clemson in Littlejohn (talk about a PIT) before Coach Smith righted the ship and led his charges to 15 wins in a row and a Final Four Championship game versus Marquette in Atlanta.
The final 6 wins, all in March, of that 15 victory streak were particularly remarkable and for a freshman from #DeepChatham made memories still bold over 45 years later. The ACC Tournament saw UNC with a bye by virtue of a 9-3 first place finish and a second round meeting with State - the fourth of the season. Carolina actually dispatched the Wolfpack easily and followed that up with a championship win over a Marc Ivaroni-led Virginia. It was March 5.
The NCAA opened with a Carolina/Purdue match-up in Raleighwood in the previously mentioned old barn - and it was a burner. Playing without injured star Walter Davis UNC prevailed 69-66. Center Tommy LaGarde was also out - and would not return that season. At the buzzer we went pretty wild back in Chapel Hill. It had been close.
Next game up was in College Park - another crackerbox and home to the Maryland Terrapins - yet another hated conference rival. The foes were the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame led by mouthy Coach Digger Phelps. The Irish were a muscle team but with Walter Davis playing hurt Carolina rallied from behind and won 79-77. This was my first ‘taking over Franklin Street’ night. A little place called Kirkpatrick’s was my evening venue in those days and we were there until far past Last Call that night.
There was no time to rest though because March 19 meant a Blue Blood struggle against Kentucky - since Coach Smith’s upset victory over racist Rupp in 1962 the waters had been roiled - as they remain - between the Tar Heels and the Wildcats. UK had an early version of the Twin Towers in Robey and Phillips and Givens was a star. There was controversy and rough play - Davis led the scoring with 21 and Carolina’s freshmen tandem, O’Koren and Yonakor (Class of 1980 like me) came through. Zaliagaris was a particularly stalwart soul and with Phil Ford limited to 15 minutes of court time due to a hyper-extended elbow, #15, John Kuester stepped in and ran the Four Corners Offense to perfection. Kentucky fell 79-72. In Chapel Hill we once again hit the streets.
For the next two weeks the student body took to taping together their middle and index fingers on their right hand in solidarity with their injured hero Sweet D. (H/T Arnold Watkins for the recollection)
This ship was beginning to look unsinkable. Charmed perhaps. And now - with stars Ford and Davis at three-quarter speed and center Tommy LaGarde’s last court time far in the past Coach Smith was proving wiley beyond our wildest dreams at the helm. So this improbable squad was on to the Final Four which featured Nevada-Las Vegas, shirt-tailed Marquette, and from down highway 49, Cornbread’s UNC Charlotte.
Back in Chapel Hill Yonakor and O’Koren had earned a lot of campus cred with both their hustle and around town antics. The team had captured all our hearts and minds in The Southern Part of Heaven heading into the Saturday night game against UNLV. Of course Ford was our captain and Walter Davis an equally beloved hero - both were injured but soldiering on. And Kuester - in the Semis and versus UNLV he proved the glue that held it all together.
Heading into the Monday night final against Marquette it was the walking wounded (Carolina) meeting the Cinderella (Marquette) - the calm calculator (Smith) versus the wild man of Milwaukee (Al McGuire). My Psychology 10 professor had the cluelessness to schedule a test for Tuesday morning (I have no idea how many showed - I know that I did not). We lost and all was sadness in town and on campus. McGuire’s announcement to retire after the game was too much ‘win it for the gipper’ for Carolina. That and Ford’s elbow and Sweet D’s broken finger. It hurt a lot.
Davis, Kuester, and LaGarde graduated and played pro (even Kuester). Walter Davis, of the tying 35-footer his freshman year in the legendary 8 points in 17 seconds game, went on to be a 6-time NBA All Star with his jersey retired in Phoenix. He won a Gold Medal in the 1976 Olympics where his coach was Dean Smith. He was a huge part of the team that made my freshman year at Carolina so incredible. As the springtime slowly sprung that year in Chapel Hill Sweet D and Company took us on a ride that set the tone. Many others would do likewise - still do - most recently the 2021-22 squad whose essence was reminiscent in its miraculousness.
If you know me then you know that I put great stock in how one ‘plays the game.’ One’s sense of fairness and values shine through in competition and teamwork. Now Walter Davis is gone - Tom Zaliagaris and Rich Yonakor from that team preceded him and of course Coach Smith left us in 2015. Of course we’re also reminded by such titans of mortal flaws and the impermanence of it all. It’s a wake up call when folks - your contemporaries - pass on - even more so when once upon a time they lifted your spirit with heroic deeds and gave you moments, now memories, that altered the path of your life.
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