BRONX, N.Y. - The proud history of Fordham Basketball will be on full display inside the Rose Hill Gym on Feb. 25, as the University will honor one of its most memorable squads and retire the number of a Fordham legend.
 
The 1970-71 Rams, who finished the season 26-3 and reached the East Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, will be recognized at halftime of Fordham's home game against the University of Rhode Island.   In addition, Charlie Yelverton's 34 will become the fourth men's basketball number raised to the Rose Hill Gym rafters.
 
"On behalf of everyone at Fordham, I'm thrilled to be welcoming the 1970-71 team back to campus in an overdue celebration of its golden anniversary," said Athletic Director Ed Kull.  "Like many celebrations, our plans were delayed due to the pandemic so we couldn't be more excited to honor these Rams, especially Charlie Yelverton, and their impact on Fordham. Spend any time at Rose Hill and you'll quickly learn how much the 1970-71 Rams mean to the spirit and history of Fordham Basketball.  We hope their story continues to inspire Rams for generations to come."
 
Postponed for two years due to Covid-19 restrictions, the celebration will begin on Friday night with a private event for the team. Following the game on Saturday, there will be a Maroon Club reception with members of the 1970-71 squad and fellow athletics supporters.
 
The 1970-71 Rams rose as high as no. 9 in the Associated Press poll and were ranked in the top 20 for more than half the season. 
 

Individually, Yelverton won the Haggerty Award as the New York Metropolitan Area's top player and earned Honorable Mention All-American accolades from the AP after averaging 23.3 points and 12.0 rebounds per game.  His 676 points in 1970-71 rank as the second-highest single-season total in program history behind teammate Ken Charles, who scored 679 two years later.
 
Yelverton, a 1979 Fordham Hall of Fame inductee, ranks 14^th on the school's all-time scoring and rebounding lists with 1,372 points and 690 boards across his three varsity seasons. After graduation, he played 69 games for the Portland Trail Blazers in 1971-72, averaging 7.9 points per outing.  He then went on to have a wildly successful 15-year professional career in Europe, highlighted by the 1975 EuroLeague title with Ignis Varese.
 
Yelverton, a New York City native, will join Charles, Ed Conlin and Bob Mullens as the only Fordham men's basketball players to have their numbers retired.  On the women's side, Anne Gregory's number 55 was retired in 2009. 
 
Led by Head Coach Richard "Digger" Phelps with the assistance of Fordham alumnus and future athletic director Frank McLaughlin, the 1970-71 Rams rattled off 12 straight wins to begin the campaign, triumphing over the likes of Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Miami, Florida and Cal.  After suffering their first loss of the season to Temple on Jan. 16, the Rams went on the road to Amherst and defeated a UMass team led by a 6-foot-6 forward named Julius Erving.
 
The Rams won their first of three games at a sold-out Madison Square Garden on Feb. 13 against St. John's before taking down No. 14 Notre Dame just five days later.  After a road win at Rutgers, the Rams suffered their only defeat of the season at "The Mecca" on Feb. 25, losing in overtime to a second-ranked Marquette squad that would finish the season 28-1. 
 
The Rams closed out the regular season with a dominant performance against Manhattan at "The World's Most Famous Arena" before taking down Furman in their NCAA Tournament opener at Alumni Hall in Queens.  Fordham's title run ended in the Sweet 16 against Villanova before closing out the campaign with a win over South Carolina in the East Regional consolation game.
 
Tickets to the Feb. 25 game are available by calling 718-817-4759 or by clicking here.