Nov. 9, 2010
Sean Brennan's New York Daily News Fordham Season Preview
Jim O'Connell's Associated Press Story
Photo Gallery
New York, N.Y. - There are many different types of classrooms. Last night, Fordham University turned a hotel ballroom into a classroom as the 2010-11 men's basketball team received words of wisdom from the most successful men's basketball teams in school history, the 1970-71 squad, as Fordham celebrated the 40th anniversary of their dream season at the Roosevelt Hotel as part of the 2010 Tip-Off Dinner.
The similarities between the two teams are striking. The 1970-71 team was coming off a losing season and had a new head coach, same as this year's squad. No one knew what to expect from the 1970-71 team but they came out of nowhere to take New York City, and the nation, by storm, finishing the year 26-3 and ranked among the top ten teams in the country. That was the lesson imparted on the 2010-11 team by their contemporaries.
The 1970-71 team entered the season led by first-year head coach Richard "Digger" Phelps, who had just completed four years as an assistant coach at Penn but was ready for a head coaching job.
"I interviewed for the Seton Hall job and didn't get it," said Phelps. "So I was at the Final Four and started hearing rumors that Holy Cross coach Jack Donahue, who coached Lew Alcindor at Power Memorial and was a Fordham graduate, would take the Fordham job, Georgetown coach Jack Magee would move up to Holy Cross and I would get the Georgetown job."
But when he returned from the Final Four his wife gave him a message. John Druze, a member of Fordham's famed Seven Blocks of Granite, had called and wanted to speak with Phelps about the Fordham position.
Next thing Phelps knew he was offered the job and was told that there was this assistant coach at Holy Cross, Frank McLaughlin, who wanted to come back to his alma mater to serve as his assistant.
Checking over his roster, the first thing Phelps did was name his three seniors, Jack Burik, Bill Mainor and Charlie Yelverton as captains. He noticed that he inherited a 6'8" sophomore who could play center.
"I was hoping that with our big guy, Paul Griswold, at center, we could turn it around and maybe go 15-10 and make the NIT," said Phelps. "We thought that would be a good starting point to move forward. But things happen for a reason as we soon found out."
What Phelps was alluding to was the loss of Griswald to a season-ending injury in the first week of practice, leaving the Rams without a big man at center. So Phelps adjusted, using three players who were about 6'5" at center: Tom Sullivan, Bart Woytowicz and George Zambetti. He also decided to play a lineup of three guards, a unique concept at the time.
The Rams used the smaller lineup to press early and often, a trademark of the 1970-71 squad.
"We had a pep rally the night before our opening game and John Burik got up and told the students how we had this great press," said Phelps. "I turned to my assistant Frank McLaughlin, and said `I think we've got them'."
A few games in to the season the Rams were playing Holy Cross and McLaughlin proposed an idea to Phelps, start four guards. So that night the Rams ran four guards and Yelverton out on the court and ran over the Crusaders, 102-78, Fordham's third 100-point game of the year.
The Rams were now firing on all cylinders as Phelps recounted some of the tougher games of the season, wins over Pittsburgh and Syracuse and a trip to Gainesville, Florida, where the Rams defeated Miami and Florida. The Rams won the first 12 games of the year before falling to Temple by a point, 67-66.
The next game saw the Rams travel up to Amherst, Massachusetts, to face the University of Massachusetts, led by a guard by the name of Julius Erving, who would go on to be better known as Dr. J.
"We had everyone take turns guarding Julius Erving," said Phelps. "But Sullivan Zambetti and Woytowicz all fouled out so I put Yelverton on him and he shut Erving down for the last three minutes as we pulled out a big win at The Cage. But that's the kind of team we had. They believed in each other and were unselfish and focused."
Five games later, Fordham took care of St. John's at Madison Square Garden, the first of four games the 1970-71 team would play at the World's Most Famous Arena, with 14th-ranked Notre Dame coming up next on the schedule, a game also slated for the Garden.
New York City was abuzz about Fordham basketball and the Garden was full when the Rams tipped off with the Irish. Things looked bleak for the Rams when Yelverton fouled out of the game with seven minutes left but the rest of the team rallied as Mainor took over guarding Notre Dame's Austin Carr and didn't allow the point guard to score over the last seven minutes as the Rams upset Notre Dame, 94-88.
Two games later it was Marquette who brought a national ranking to the Garden with the second-ranked Warriors riding a 33-game winning streak. The Rams gave Marquette a fight, before falling 75-70, in overtime in front of another sold out Garden crowd of 19,500.
That would be the last loss of the regular season for the Rams, who closed out the regular season with a an 84-68 win over Manhattan at the Garden.
Next up was the NCAA Championships and the Rams got off on the right foot, easily defeating Furman, 105-74, in the first round before being paired up with Villanova in the regional semifinals for the right to advance to the national finals in Houston. Yelverton had another outstanding game for the Rams, scoring 32 points, but the Wildcats were able to get Fordham in foul trouble and pulled out an 85-75 win. Villanova would go on to lose in the 1971 championship game to UCLA.
The Rams had one final game to play, a consolation matchup with South Carolina and the Rams finished the season the way they started it, with full court pressure and scoring in bunches, defeating the Gamecocks, 100-90, for their school record 26th win of the year.
"We became a hard hat team with four guards and a six-foot five center," said Phelps. "It was great to play at Madison Square Garden and see all the hard hats in the stands. We were blue collar and it was a total team effort that electrified the city."
All those great memories came flooding back last night for the 1970-71 team as they each received a memento of the night, a framed team photo with the game-by-game results under the photo.
"This is a very special evening because we get to reconnect with old friends and do something that has been undone for too long," said Mainor, speaking on behalf of the players. "We never got the opportunity to thank the fans that year. They were great to us, offering a friendly face that filled the stands even in Gainesville, Florida. Their unwavering support meant so much to us. Now we prepare to send a new group of young athletes to a challenging season and I hope that every one of us supports them as we were supported in our wonderful season. And to this year's team I say one thing `wear the maroon proudly'."
Current head coach Tom Pecora also addressed the crowd, along with his players. "I tell my players that tradition never graduates. The 1970-71 team has a special place in the history of our university, not just for what they did on the court, but for how successful they were after they graduated. It's what Fordham is all about: moving on with success."
Pecora also spoke of the time he spent with the 1970-71 team the night before the ceremony at dinner on Arthur Avenue. "I always say that a great team beats with one heart and I don't know if I've ever seen a better example of that than I did with the 1970-71 team last night."
The Rams will open the 2010-11 season on Friday night, November 12th, as they host the Brown University Bears in the Rose Hill Gym at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are available through the Fordham web site by clicking here.
