"THE CREATION
In the Spring of 1978, only a few months after my arrival in Syracuse, Dave Gavitt, Jack Kaiser and Frank Rienzo, Athletics Directors at Providence, St. Johns and Georgetown respectively, gathered to discuss newly imposed NCAA men's basketball in-season scheduling requirements. These requirements forced independent institutions like the four of us to align and schedule schools with whom we had no interest or tradition. Self determination was far better than being told who your partners would be, and so the four of us met for countless hours in countless sessions to determine the make-up of our new conference to be. We considered the quality of men's basketball programs in the northeast, regional representation, significant media markets, etc. Boston College was invited over Holy Cross, UMass and Boston University. Connecticut was then added. Rutgers was extended an invitation but declined because it was aligned in the Atlantic 8 (now the Atlantic 10) along with Penn State. Rutgers didn't feel comfortable disassociating itself with Penn State. Seton Hall took Rutgers spot. Villanova was also in the Atlantic 8, but it joined up a year later over Temple and St. Josephs. Thus, in the first year of operation, 1979-80, we had seven active members which increased to eight in 1980-81."
Above from:
A BIG EAST History & Retrospective (Part 1)
Gavitt is usually regarded as having started the conversation about creating a Northeastern basketball league. The 4 schools that then started the process and created the league included 3 from the Catholic 7 that reformed as the new BE. I would question Georgetown as geographically Northeast, but the league in its first 2 years was the Northeastern league its founders envisioned. All the schools the founding four invited, as well as those considered but not invited, were all Northeastern schools. That was the idea, and that is what it was for a couple of years.
The Catholic 7 included 4 purely Northeastern schools, plus Georgetown from the original 4. It was closest to the original vision.
If the way I see this can be lawyered, that's fine. I'm not looking at the letter of the league, I'm looking for the spirit of the league.
I've always looked at the whole debate over which of the two leagues, at the time of the separation of the Catholic 7, was the "real BE", from the point of view of which was actually closer to the original conception and the very first years. The Catholic 7 were obviously closer to Gavitt's and his colleague's original vision. That's where the spirit of the league was, it seemed to me. Hence I could never really feel resentment that the name and the league bb record went with them.
