January 31, 2008

Contact:   Preston Davis

On January 19, seven decades of Davidson basketball stepped onto the hardwood floor of Belk Arena. Beneath conference championship banners, Davidson basketball—beginning with Sam Hay ’45 to members of the 2006 Southern Conference championship team—stood together to be recognized by the Davidson community. It was one of many unforgettable moments in a weekend that celebrated the 100 years of Davidson men’s basketball.

On Friday night, alumni began to trickle onto a Davidson campus that was preparing for snow. With their retired jerseys hanging proudly overhead, the likes of Hobby Cobb ’56, Dick Snyder ’66, Jerry Kroll ’70, and more than 50 other alumni players watched as Bob McKillop and his team orchestrated a precision NCAA-like practice to ready themselves for the UT-Chattanooga game to be played the next afternoon. “We were playing in front of the legends of Davidson basketball,” McKillop said of the intense practice. “I wanted to show them how good we were.”

As practice neared its end, McKillop stopped play and directed his players’ attention to the on-looking alumni. “Guys, I want you to look up at these faces in the stands. These are the greats of Davidson basketball,” McKillop said, setting the tone for the weekend as past and present reconnected.

Saturday began with an 8:00 am shoot-around among alumni who ranged from Bob Turk ’52 to Chris

Lefty Driesell and the Basketball Hall of Fame Panel

Clunie ’06. The session ended appropriately when Cliff Tribus ’83 almost brought down the backboard with a thunderous two-handed dunk. While some finished scrapping on the court, members of the Davidson community gathered in the Duke Family Performance Hall for a much-anticipated panel discussion with some of the college’s Athletic Hall of Famers: Mike Williams ’49, Hobby Cobb ’56, Dick Snyder ’66, Jerry Kroll ’70, John Gerdy ’79, Kenny Wilson ’84, and of course, Davidson’s coach from 1960 to 1969, Charles “Lefty” Driesell.

Legends can take many shapes, whether they are people, stories, or standout moments. All of them took the stage on Saturday morning, representing five decades of successful Davidson basketball. The alumni players on the panel scored over 9,000 points in their collective careers, and Driesell led Davidson to back-to-back regional finals in 1968 and 1969, with a career winning record of 73 percent.

Voice of the Wildcats and panel moderator John Kilgo opened with, “We are here to tie 100 years of Davidson basketball together.”

The panel began to tie. Lefty gave a little laugh and little light to the circumstances of Davidson basketball in the early ’60s. “Davidson gave me a $500 recruiting budget when I got here. I spent that in the first week,” he confessed with a smile.

Laughter spread throughout the discussion, but the panelists also delved headlong into the scholar-athlete experience at Davidson College and the unique opportunity it was and remains to be. “I went to play in the Continental Basketball Association,” began Davidson basketball’s all-time points leader, John Gerdy. “I went from an environment here where it was expected that you graduate, it was expected that you get involved in the community, it was expected that you did things other than basketball. I went from that environment to the CBA, where I was the only guy who graduated.”

Division I athletics in a symbiotic existence with academics has been a staple at Davidson over the years, explained Gerdy, who has made a career in college sports administration, working with the NCAA and Southeastern Conference. “What’s most important about this program is that it produces good people. It’s a place where you truly are a student first. It’s much harder to do that these days.”

Kenny Wilson tied off the conversation well. “The mission of the school is about transforming people…. In basketball, you learn character, strength, all the attributes that make a good person. For me, it was an experience on equal footing with any class.”

The panel wrapped up as the pre-game clock began to tick down, and a wet Piedmont snow began to hit the campus. More than 5,300 fans turned out for the game, making seats scarce but energy palpable.

As the ’Cats took a 41–26 lead into the half, and Stephen Curry ’10 threatened records books with his

100 years of Davidson basketball recognized by the Davidson community during halftime of the men's game versus UT-Chattanooga

27 first-half points (Fred Hetzel ’65 holds the record for most points in a half with 28), 116 living examples of Davidson basketball’s history stepped onto the hardwood of Belk Arena. For some, it was a coming home, and for others, it was the first time on the floor of Belk Arena, which was completed in 1989. Very few fans made runs to the concession stand, visited the DAF Hospitality, or took part in the usual halftime camaraderie. Instead, fans stood unmoving throughout halftime, in respect for the living tradition of Davidson basketball that took center stage. As the name of each alumni player was announced, decade-by-decade, former players lined up like a string of lights along the sidelines.

The Hall of Famers lined up just under the western basket, rounding out the final halftime ceremony. At the end of that line stood arguably the brightest light of all, Lefty Driesell, the coach who took Davidson College to two quarterfinal NCAA appearances in the 1960s and placed Davidson in the top-10 rankings four times over. As Lefty stepped toward center court with a smile and a wave, applause thundered. It was a celebration of the extraordinary feats the Driesell teams achieved in the ’60s, but more than that, the community was able to recognize—literally—Davidson’s entire basketball history.

After the game, Coach McKillop claimed it was the best his team had played all season—a great game for a great day. The halftime recognition turned out to be too little court time for alumni, as they came back after the final buzzer for an autograph session. Driesell again was the centerpiece, with his nickname worn out by autograph seekers.

In his postgame remarks, John Kilgo said, “It has been an extraordinary day. It’s been like a script.” That script found its final scene for the day, when the basketball alumni gathered for dinner in the Lilly Family Gallery.

“I say it a lot, but today really is a great day to be a Wildcat!” said Tom Ross, before introducing a notably more relaxed Bob McKillop.

Looking into the faces of 70 years of Davidson basketball, McKillop began, “I was very nervous today. Very nervous, because the true legends are back.

“When you start to walk across this campus, you become a dreamer. There are two things that jump out every time when you talk about Davidson athletics, Davidson life, and Davidson people: teamwork and the fact that Davidson is a place that never surrenders.”

It’s the community’s “never-say-die” attitude and teamwork that have produced some of the greatest

Past and Present connected: Coach Bob McKillop holding  1964 and a 1968 Sports Illustrated magazines that feature Davidson basketball

moments in recent Davidson basketball, said McKillop. Like Jason Morton’s ’05 buzzer-beater over College of Charleston in 2005, or the USA Today article about Davidson College basketball, titled “Hoops, Books Coexist.”

“When Jason Morton made that jump shot, and it was showed time after time on ESPN, we all made that jump shot,” said McKillop. “When the story came out in USA Today, that was all of us!”

McKillop looped the final knot to tie together 100 years of Davidson basketball, showing the inspiring role that the history and tradition of basketball still play in the life of the college. Each year has been a building block of success that has helped make Davidson basketball more than just a team. It has been, and remains, a Davidson community love affair.

Just as the reunion began at the Friday practice, with alumni and current players intermingling and sharing in the experience of 100 years of Davidson basketball, so the weekend ended. But Athletic Director Jim Murphy ’78 is probably right when he said, “This reunion never ends.”

Posted By: Preston Davis