How long have you been attending UConn games?
- Thread starter HuskyNan
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Guess I should have looked harder. Maybe resale tickets would have come available.
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1992
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My first game was in 1994, the year before the first championship. My all-time favorite in-person game was against Tennessee in a packed Hartford Civic Center during a raging blizzard. I believe it was in 2000. The crowd was electric.
ctfjr
Justice for Alex Pretti
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I used to come down from Northeastern to visit friends at UConn in the mid 60's. We would go to either football or basketball games depending on the season. One time in January we 'lost' one of my friends from Boston after the game. Found him the next morning sleeping in an unlocked car in the freezing parking lot.
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MilfordHusky
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My first game on TV was the disappointing loss to NC State in the late 1990s. My first in-person game was the 2000 Final Four in Philly. I’ve seen them at Gampel, XL, Mohegan Sun, Villanova, Temple, Georgetown (2 arenas), MSG, Newark, UCLA, Bahamas, Albany, and Bridgeport, plus Final Fours in Philly, St. Louis, Tampa, New Orleans (2x), San Antonio (2x), Nashville, and Columbus. Go Huskies!
A longwinded answer to the question. From the summer of 1994 until early 1997, I worked at UConn and employed a several graduate students workers in the fall of 1994. We were all basketball fans and one of them who had been part of the UConn pep band told us that the women’s team was going to be real good the upcoming season and that it was real easy to get tickets. I attended about a dozen games during that season, including the justly famous game against the #1 Tennessee on Martin Luther Day on January 16, 1995. At that time before women’s basketball became big business, it was easy to get general admission tickets in the student section behind the home basket. After the students who generally filled up about three rows had acquired their tickets (probably without cost), the section was opened up to the public. One could walk over to the ticket office a few days before the game and purchase a ticket for a nominal price. It may have been as low at 50 cents, but I don’t remember. We waited outside the entrance until the doors opened and we could rush to the seats behind those purchased by students. I probably attended the first home game of the season on November 26 against Morgan State, a 107-27 victory. I had a t-shirt from the 1994 Super Show that occurred about two weeks before the first game. What a terrific team! Also attended the Eastern Regional games against Alabama and Virginia, the latter game being the first of the season in which the Huskies were behind a halftime. My wife and I also attended the celebration at Gamble after the team returned home from Minneapolis. What a ride!
That made me laugh. You can just barely get to Storrs by car.
Having said that, I think there used to be a train station or a trolly stop on Rt. 44 in Bolton (I think). Was turned into a restaurant which is now gone. This might have been the restaurant where Geno had the famous altercation with Brittany Hunters parents over the quality of UConn as an academic institution (but I could be wrong again).
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That would've been a lot of fun.
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My first Women’s game on campus was the 90/91 season after Gampel opened. I think I also saw them play at St. John’s in 89/90. I think the tickets in 90/91 were $5, kids free, lol. Rizzoti was from the town we lived in at the time and as a family, we were hooked. Her dad worked at IBM in Japan and they moved back. I had heard that the High School coach could not go to sleep after the first tryout, he was too excited.
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Generally just enjoy reading comments but had to jump in here. Being a Vernon/Rockville native my first game was 1960. Have memories of Jack Rose, Johnnie P. , Dale Comey. As. Billie Greer at my middle and was a thrill whenever she would have her husband Hugh Greer come coach one of our games. So sad that we lost him so young. Went on to attend UConn, class of 69. In those days had three teams, freshmen,JV, and varsity. In those days had a guy named Wes Balusuknia (sp) playing in the old field house. I imagine you ballers remember him. He could shoot. Can’t remember if he overlapped with Toby Kimball, probably one of the fiercest rebounders I’ve ever seen. Remained a season ticket holder for the men until I retired in 2004. With the opening of Gampel in 1990 ( still have the program from that night) became a women’s fan also. Loved it when the women’s big east tournament was held at gampel. Bball morning to night. Even waited for the leaking roof to be fixed one night, stopped the tournament mid game. May be in South Carolina but we still never miss a game on TV. What memories, what a ride, at it still continues. Life is good being a Husky.
I went to my first UConn women's basketball game while I was a grad student at UConn during the 1982-83 season. I was looking for cheap entertainment, and at that time the women's basketball home games at UConn were free. Nothing cheaper than free, that's for sure. I quickly became a fan of the team, even if they were not all that good in those days. I continued going to UConn home games until I graduated from UConn in 1985 and moved away from campus.
I continued to follow news about the team (I remember talking to a guy at work about the team during that time), but did not resume going to games until the 1991-92 season, the season after they were in their first NCAA final four. I recall watching UConn's regional games in Philadelphia on television, as well as their game in the final four.
My wife and I went to almost every home game during the next few years. The season after UConn won its first national championship, we became season ticket holders for the 1995-96 season. We have been season ticket holders for games at Gampel ever since that time.
I continued to follow news about the team (I remember talking to a guy at work about the team during that time), but did not resume going to games until the 1991-92 season, the season after they were in their first NCAA final four. I recall watching UConn's regional games in Philadelphia on television, as well as their game in the final four.
My wife and I went to almost every home game during the next few years. The season after UConn won its first national championship, we became season ticket holders for the 1995-96 season. We have been season ticket holders for games at Gampel ever since that time.
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Yes you can get trains from Penn Station (NYC) to Hartford and the XL center is about two blocks from the train station. As others have said no train service to Storrs.
Was that the game DT hit the 70 foot shot at the buzzer? I was there, but the memory is a victim of too many dead brain cells...
JRRRJ
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The Depot restaurant was in Mansfield. Except for the caboose attached to one side, it burned down July 2, 2003. I lived on route 32 (Stafford Rd) in Eagleville and ate at the Depot a number of times. It was interesting when a freight train rumbled by, and the food was pretty decent when I was there.
HuskyNan
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yes, the Hartford train station is an easy (and safe) walk to the XL Center. Is Coach’s still in that area?
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I remember the Depot restaurant in Mansfield, my wife and I went to it a number of times before it burned down.
I’ve been a HUGE UCONN fan since ‘95 and saw my 1st game IN PERSON 2 nights ago when the Huskies came to play Marquette. I live in Green Bay which is about an hour & 45 minutes north of Milwaukee. Definitely the most fun I’ve ever had at a college game (with the exception of the scary 3-4 minutes when Paige was on the court in pain). Sending the best to every UCONN in Husky Nation from Green Bay!
Sakibomb25
Yamasaki Let the Good Times Roll
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Never attended a UConn game, but have been aware of the program since 1995. Stanford and UConn really weren’t on the best of terms back then but I started to become a fan starting with the Shea Ralph years. I’ve also become a fan of Auriemma because I see past his antics and what he says.
CL82
NCAA Woman's Basketball National Champions
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Wow some of those guys don't look old enough to have had season tickets at the Fieldhouse! (Others of them do, but that's to be expected
)Just wanted to add this. After UConn women's basketball reached its first final four in 1991, I started getting more obsessed with the team. I remember during the fall of 1991, I was listening to the Arnold Dean sports talk show on WTIC-AM, and during one show that fall Arnold Dean interviewed Geno. During the interview, Geno mentioned that the UConn women's basketball Yearbook had been printed, and was available for sale. I decided right away that I wanted to get this Yearbook. I mentioned to my wife that I was going to go up to UConn and pick up the Yearbook. My wife told me not to bother getting it, as she had already got me a copy of the Yearbook as a Christmas present. In addition to the Yearbook, as an additional present she got us tickets to a UConn women's basketball tournament that was being held at UConn several days after Christmas. That got us in the habit of going regularly to UConn games. My wife has long been a huge fan of UConn women's basketball.
Thanks. I wasn't sure of the town. I did get the Rt. 44 part correct. I know if you go a little farther on Rt. 44 you are in Coventry, then Bolton (or maybe the other way around). Do you, or anyone else, know if this was the restaurant where Geno had the altercation with Brittany Hunters parents? I read somewhere that it was heated enough that Geno paid for the dinners of the other dinners within earshot. Heck, I would have paid to be within earshot.
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