How did you become a UConn fan? | Page 4 | The Boneyard

How did you become a UConn fan?

cwh20 said:
I grew up in Bristol and my older brother brought me to some of the Connecticut Mutual Classic games. It was the first time being introduced to basketball to guys who could actually play and even just watching Tony Hanson, Joey Whelton and the team warm up was mesmerizing. They were so good. I followed the team ever since. I did attend UConn in the Perno years. Soccer was king. Basketball was fun too especially pulling off the occasional BE upset but UConn wasn’t threatening to win the conference or anything.

I noticed someone mentioned Bobby Dulin so I’ll add this story. We’re hanging out at Chippy’s, the bar across from Muzzy Field when Bruce Kazinski (the first UConn center from Bristol Central) and Dulin walk in. Not a minute later Dulin is threatening my friend for looking at his girl. WTF. He was way wrong and I never liked him after that. Ha ha.
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Oh, man, I miss Chippy's pizza. I remember being 13 years old, sneaking into the bar area to play Donkey Kong and Pengo and eat pizza. One time, this drunk guy sitting at the bar wanted me to leave, so he grabbed the joystick and killed my Mario. I was not a happy tween. Good times.
 
When I was a kid my dad informed me that Jim Abromitas grew up in our neighborhood. I thought “Abro” was the coolest thing. I didn’t start following the team until Chris Smith came along. Been a follower since.
 
I went to a game at the Fieldhouse with a friend and his dad when I was a young kid. We played Seton Hall on January 30, 1985 and won. Many archives show the game was at HCC, it was not. Seton Hall didn’t get HCC status until a few years later when they improved.

Earl Kelley was the man and Ray Broxton dunked. I had been a fan (I even watched Hartford Hawks games back then) but being there in person changed everything. Aside from my immediate family, nothing has brought me more joy in life than UConn basketball.
 
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I get asked this all of the time now that UConn has become a powerhouse nationally. Somehow I have never stepped foot in Connecticut, but my basketball fandom has just about made it my identity. It is 1 of 8 states I have left.
My dad went on only one work trip ever and it was in the mid 80s to Connecticut. He bought me a sweatshirt that I chose to wear all the time as a preschooler. The Dream Season is my first recollection of March Madness and really sports in general. I can’t remember anything about the 90 Reds World Series, but I can remember where I was during those UConn March Madness games.

I’m hitting close to my 5 year wedding anniversary this week and I was talking with my younger brother a few weeks ago about part of his best man speech where he cracked a joke about my UConn fandom and “they’ll be back again some day”. I would have never imagined it would be as soon as it has been.
 
My most vivid early memories of UConn basketball are of the women's team when I was about 8. I remember watching games with my Dad on CPTV and getting hooked following the undefeated 1995 team.

It's all coming back to me now: the trips to Bob's to get the official Final Four & championship t-shirts.

And how the CPTV halftime, pre-and-post game coverage was them begging for donations and hawking Huskies tote bags. I'd get all anxious watching the pledge drive, thinking they'd take the games off the air if they didn't raise enough money lol.
 
Have always lived in CT, born in ‘85, grew up watching some great UConn players/teams. Ended up going to UConn starting in 2003.

There was really never a question. My family is UConn through and through.
 
My dad was a career army officer. He was from Connecticut and maintained his Connecticut residency throughout his service (1945-73). I had family in Connecticut (grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) and decided to go to UConn from Virginia. I had to endure a 5-19 freshman season under Burr Carlson, but then Dee Rowe arrived and things slowly changed for the better. I've been a UConn fan (of all sports) ever since. I've never officially lived in Connecticut (other than those UConn years), but when games were carried on WTIC, I could usually pick them up at night in Virginia and later in Maine after moving here in 1985. Wish they were still on 1080, but I can get most of the men's and women's games (and football) on cable now.
 
Growing up in bucolic Killingworth I used to see UConn highlights on Channel 3(George Ehrlich) and 8(Dick Galiette). Occasionally one of the stations would televise a game. The first game I really remember watching was the 1974 NIT game vs BC. We had a 17-point lead in the second half when Dee Rowe decided to take the air out of the ball. We lost. But I was hooked. Then I attended UConn during the early days of the Big East. Life was bliss.
 
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BlueHen said:
My father used to take me to games. Some of my earliest childhood memories are eating cracker jacks at the field house even though I had no idea about the game.

Been a fan ever since. Haven't seen a game in Storrs since the 70's, but have met up with my father to see them play in MSG, the Palestra in Philly and the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Always good to see them beat Villanova.
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There’s no venue on earth better for college hoops than the Palestra.
 
Fun to see the that many familiar handles and good number of others go back to the Toby & Wes years. I've just finished my 63rd season as a fan, growing out from weeknight trips to the Field House during elementary school years, and my first clock radio.
 
Vaguely remember earl kelley in mid 80s watching them always play the 8-9 game only to be slaughtered by gtown or Cuse following round of big east tourney . But deff remember walking to middle school day after NIT championship in 88 - everyone was talking about it and then the dream season of 89-90 had me hooked. That was incredible. What a year. The entire state was into it I remember running out to my front yard screaming after the Tate George shot. Then , of course the ray years and then the 99 title game was on a whole other level of sports memories.
 
It was around 1977 and PBS showed Uconn games. Tony Hanson and the team were amazing to watch. I never dreamed Uconn would become a national power let alone 6 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS! Yes that's right I watched them on Public Television. ESPN did not exist, and they were a great team in the Yankee Conference.
 
Born in 94. Dad would watch the games on TV growing up. Took me to my first game at Gampel in 03/04. Really fell in love in high school with Jerome Dyson and then Kemba. UConn was just about the best school I could get into, so when I got in it was an easy decision to attend. Worked for the athletic department before graduation. Now About to take off on a flight leaving Phoenix. I would say it’s going well.
 
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Born and raised in CT. My dad went to UConn in the 1950's, I went to UConn in the late 1980's and again in the early 1990's, still living in Connecticut... Husky through and through. Before I started at UConn, it almost seemed surreal that UConn was playing in the same conference as John Thompson's Hoyas, Carnessecca's Johnnies and plucky Villanova the giant-killer. They were on a different level than the local program playing in the Field House. How quickly that evolved once Calhoun got going!! I was on campus for the NIT title, going to the home games and celebrating at the Jungle when UConn won the crown. Then, in March of '90, I was with friends still living in the dorm the year after I graduated when UConn lost on Laettner's buzzer-beater. I remember our dejection walking around campus after the game, wondering if we'd ever come so close to a Final Four again.

(They would.)
 
I've been a fan since I was a grad student at UConn in the early 80s, pre-Calhoun and pre-Gampel. Eventually winning the NIT was huge, then the run we made in the Dream Season. We made sure our sons became fans of both the men's and women's teams and proud to say they still are in their 30s even though neither one has lived in CT for years.
 
Born and raised in CT to a family of sports fanatics, so UConn fandom just came naturally. My first UConn memory is unfortunately Donyell missing the free throws against Florida when I was 8. When I started playing basketball, around that same time, I tried to model my game after Doron Sheffer.
 
Didn't attend UConn, but grew up in West Hartford (HS in the 70's). Played a lot of basketball growing up and in HS, and used to listen to UConn games on a transistor radio that I bought with money from a paper route :cool:. They were "pro basketball" for me in Connecticut. I remember the recruiting battles for Chuck Aleksinas, Corny Thompson, Mike McKay, Earl Kelley, Chris Smith. Been following them ever since.

High point of the climb was when they hired Jim Calhoun from Northeastern, who was exactly the guy I hoped they'd get. Kind of knew they were on their way up when I saw how the defense became a major emphasis and when the recruiting turned national.

We were off to the races. It was only a matter of time under Calhoun.
 
Born on LI in 86. First time I watched Ray Allen play on tv in 93-94, I was hooked. My dad would tape games for me so I could watch and now he bleeds blue. Escaped a miserable fate of being a sad and pathetic St John's fan. Thank you Ray and dad!
 
huskeynut said:
Born and raised in Poughkeepsie NY. We had a player who went FDR high school in Hyde Park, NY. He played four years for UConn. He was my introduction to UConn basketball.

Wes Bialosounknia - The Poughkeepsie Popper. Since I played ball, a lot of us in the area followed his career. Papers were always keeping us informed. Followed him during his yearsd with Oakland in the ABA.

Jump ahead to the early 90's with the teams of Corney Thompson. Then the move to the Big East. Been a fan since those early years. The wife and I are also avid fans of the UConn women.

Our three sons are avid UConn fans. #2 son went to UCOnn as did his wife. And the 4 grandsons are definitely UConn fans. Got to raise them right!!
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Nice post. Just one quibble:
Thompson was late 70s, early 80s.
 
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Born in 1998 and raised in Tolland my whole life (town over from Storrs, exit 68)

Before the age of 10 or so I actually watched a lot of the women's games - my grandfather got me into it

My dad was an alum, but he wasn't much into basketball. Once I started playing ball, he took me to a game in '09/10 and I was hooked. Basically became a fanatic from that point onward.

Didn't go to UConn but still couldn't shake my fandom - running joke amongst my college friends was that I wouldn't shut up about UConn basketball

My favorite thing about being a fan of this team is the community, especially given where I grew up. I went to the games this past weekend with my best friend of 20 years, caught up with other old friends, and made new ones
 
Dad took me to games before I knew who I was. Most of my family and best friends went to UConn. My first memory of really identifying with the team was in 2011 by the end of Kembas run. Changed my life forever.
 
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