OT: Soup Campbell

[Jimdish255]

Too old for even me but many people say that Johnny Eagan was the best player from Connecticut.

Soup was a wonderful gentleman, my he RIP

I saw Soup play once in States against Norwalk. He was nasty and a solid Bear team couldn't overcome his talent. On the other hand no one from Norwalk would entertain the possibility that Murphy wasn't the best they'd ever seen. Biased but they'd seen Soup as well. I just missed Murphy's HS days.

Who is this Johnny Eagan? When did he play?

 

[G0UCONN]

I remember seeing Rod Foster highlights on Channel 3 sports. He had a pretty good backcourt partner in Ulysses Garcia. I never knew where he ended up.

Ulysses played at NW Catholic

 

[swami7774]

Ulysses played at NW Catholic

Whatever. He was good.

 

[TRest]

My uncle was his coach. They were fun to watch. I recall going to game where played Middletown and Corny and gym was fully sold out for freshman game.

Was it Josh Farrell that played at Colgate?

 

[Danzz]

I saw Soup play once in States against Norwalk. He was nasty and a solid Bear team couldn't overcome his talent. On the other hand no one from Norwalk would entertain the possibility that Murphy wasn't the best they'd ever seen. Biased but they'd seen Soup as well. I just missed Murphy's HS days.

Who is this Johnny Eagan? When did he play?

Johnny Egan played for the 1959 or 1960 Weaver New England championship team and Providence and then 11 years in the NBA. He was the head coach of the Houston Rockets for a few years. With the exception of Super John, Egan had a much better career than all those New Haven guys.

 

[uconnfan68]

Too old for even me but many people say that Johnny Eagan was the best player from Connecticut.

Soup was a wonderful gentleman, my he RIP

Egan was huge talent. Weaver was New England champs. Wish they still had that...

 

[G0UCONN]

Was it Josh Farrell that played at Colgate?

Yes.

 

[swami7774]

Soup played for the New Haven USBL team in ‘85. His family would wave a giant Campbell’s Soup blanket in the stands
Butch Graves (from Yale) played on that team. Always liked his game. I think he’s a big time publisher now.

 

[mauconnfan]

We beat Hofstra with an epic comeback in Round 1, then got run out of the gym by the then-undefeated Rutgers Scarlet Knights(who went on to the Final 4 that season).

The Flying Dutchmen at the time. I remember that game well, thought our guys would have a chance vs Rutgers but they were just too strong and still unbeaten.

I believe we won the ECAC's at PCC vs URI in the finals that year with Sly and the kid Nelson from Hall High? Jeff Carr had a great game if I do recall correctly and Abro, Lavigne and Whelton also were good. Remember celebrating in the streets with some champagne and handing it to Toner who took a sip!

 

[swami7774]

The Flying Dutchmen at the time. I remember that game well, thought our guys would have a chance vs Rutgers but they were just too strong and still unbeaten.

I believe we won the ECAC's at PCC vs URI in the finals that year with Sly and the kid Nelson from Hall High? Jeff Carr had a great game if I do recall correctly and Abro, Lavigne and Whelton also were good. Remember celebrating in the streets with some champagne and handing it to Toner who took a sip!

Right on all counts, Brother Mau. John Nelson would go on to miss an open 15-footer that would have beaten Dook in the first round 2 years later. Dook went to the final round and lost to Kentucky.
The Flying Dutchmen had a guy named Rich Laurel who was pretty good.

 

[alphasigko]

How on earth could us old timers forget Calvin Murphy. OMG!!!!!!! Now I am going to say, not even close.

I saw Calvin play in Danbury. He was totally amazing. The Hatters were thrilled to hold him under 40 that evening! I also saw Dean Memminger play in a HS tourney at the Danbury War Memorial gym. Another stellar HS player in those days.

 

[UConn 77]

Great player. 6-9 and could really move. Dissed UConn to play at Providence. Then we bounced his 1976 Friar team out of the NCAA (by beating them in the ECAC final) and we went to the Sweet Sixteen behind Joey Welton, Al Weston and Tony Hanson. We recruited Soup hard. We would have ben really good if he came. RIP.

I was a senior at Hamden High in 1972 and our team started that season 5-0. Cross came in and Soup and Jiggy laid a memorable beat down on us. I was at the ECAC game In Providence. Other than us keeping Sonar Hassett in check, the other thing I remember is the cheap shot on Whelton by that punk Steve Strother.

 

[CTFIRERETIRED]

Love the old commentw here. Soup was a great player for the Friars. Smooth. Point forward before the term was even invented. As to even connsidering UC.? That was a pipe dream. As we all know any talent from Connecticut high schools never considered Storrs. UCONN was in the last few years of the Yankee Conference, and the early stages of the ECAC. In other words....................Not good enough. Players like Soup, Sly, Super John, Jiggy, John Garris, et.al. barely gave UC a sniff. It was more exciting to play for PC, URI, HC, BC, The Cuse, UCLA, etc. I recall seeing Soup at the 1974 or 75 NIT. His game was so different. Never thought a 6-9 player could handle the ball, and shoot from the outside like he did. HIs play even predated Magic Johnson. Yup, sad day. RIP Soup.

 

[cohenzone]

How on earth could us old timers forget Calvin Murphy. OMG!!!!!!! Now I am going to say, not even close.

Although this thread is basically about the best player we witnessed, I’d vote for Murphy even though I never saw him play in hs, as the best ever. Ditto I never saw Corny Thompson in hs.

Best one I saw in person was SuperJohn. I go way back. Eddie Griffin out of Hartford Public was a great hs guard and a terrific running back. Killed my Weaver team. We had some pretty fair players too, John Egan being number one. He went to Providence too, but I’ve heard he had an admissions issue at UConn, don’t know if that was just UConn fan jealousy. Fun thread.

 

[Palatine]

I was a senior at Hamden High in 1972 and our team started that season 5-0. Cross came in and Soup and Jiggy laid a memorable beat down on us. I was at the ECAC game In Providence. Other than us keeping Sonar Hassett in check, the other thing I remember is the cheap shot on Whelton by that punk Steve Strother.

The game where Whelton got cheap shoted and we beat Soup was in the Springfield Civic Center in '76. I checked my last synapse for that piece of trivia.

 

[G0UCONN]

Corny and his Middletown team never lost a game in 4 years....

That is unreal.

 

[G0UCONN]

Great players mentioned already but some honorable mention:

Charles Smith
John Bagley
Michael Adams
Kris Dunn
Harold Pressley

Undersized but that is a solid NBA team right there....

 

[gtcam]

We beat Hofstra with an epic comeback in Round 1, then got run out of the gym by the then-undefeated Rutgers Scarlet Knights(who went on to the Final 4 that season).

Was at that Hofstra game with my Dad - remember it well

I lived in New Haven in 1973-1978. I had a friend who played HS ball in the old CVC (I'm a Rockville HS and he was from a neighboring town) who played at SCSU and was a very good player. In the summers, he used to go down to the New Haven courts and play ball with Soup and the guys - While my friend held his own, Soup used to kill it. John Thomas from UConn used to come down sometimes and play - what a rebounding machine!!! Al Weston, Willie Lenon, Ernie Cobb, Jimmy Abro, Johnny DeLagrange, Jimmy Williamson, Micky Heard - those are some of the guys I remember playing on and off - Quite some battles and everything was a foul!

 

[Mr. French]

That's because now if they're that good they have no loyalty to their home town and head to a "Catholic" school or Prep. It will never be like that again, those were the days as they say.

Heyyyy easy on the “Catholic” leagues ... not that I care much ab the CT ones but over here that’s a civil war conflict, catholic v. public

 

[swami7774]

I was a senior at Hamden High in 1972 and our team started that season 5-0. Cross came in and Soup and Jiggy laid a memorable beat down on us. I was at the ECAC game In Providence. Other than us keeping Sonar Hassett in check, the other thing I remember is the cheap shot on Whelton by that punk Steve Strother.

Strother was a Boston playground legend(if I’m thinking of the right guy).

 

[alphasigko]

Ulysses played at NW Catholic

Did he play with Doug Melody at NW? Doug was the starting point guard at UConn in the '70, '71 and '72 seasons. His specialty was dribbling the ball when the four-corners offense was still legal, before the days of the shot clock. I think that UConn won a Yankee Conference championship game against URI with both schools scoring in the teens.

 

[swami7774]

Was at that Hofstra game with my Dad - remember it well

I lived in New Haven in 1973-1978. I had a friend who played HS ball in the old CVC (I'm a Rockville HS and he was from a neighboring town) who played at SCSU and was a very good player. In the summers, he used to go down to the New Haven courts and play ball with Soup and the guys - While my friend held his own, Soup used to kill it. John Thomas from UConn used to come down sometimes and play - what a rebounding machine!!! Al Weston, Willie Lenon, Ernie Cobb, Jimmy Abro, Johnny DeLagrange, Jimmy Williamson, Micky Heard - those are some of the guys I remember playing on and off - Quite some battles and everything was a foul!

Thomas was a beast. I think he led the nation in rebounding one season.

 

[my2cents]

Best player I ever saw was Walter Luckett from Bpt. Left handed shooter who avg 44 pts a game with two defenders draped on him.
Made the cover of SI as a freshman for Ohio U.
I had about 5 friends of mine from Fairfield Prep go to school at Providence with "Soup" and said he was just the nicest kid. RIP Soup

 

[Danzz]

The Flying Dutchmen at the time. I remember that game well, thought our guys would have a chance vs Rutgers but they were just too strong and still unbeaten.

I believe we won the ECAC's at PCC vs URI in the finals that year with Sly and the kid Nelson from Hall High? Jeff Carr had a great game if I do recall correctly and Abro, Lavigne and Whelton also were good. Remember celebrating in the streets with some champagne and handing it to Toner who took a sip!

The Hofstra game may have been the best comeback win in UConn history. Whelton had an incredible game.

 

[uconnfan68]

Did he play with Doug Melody at NW? Doug was the starting point guard at UConn in the '70, '71 and '72 seasons. His specialty was dribbling the ball when the four-corners offense was still legal, before the days of the shot clock. I think that UConn won a Yankee Conference championship game against URI with both schools scoring in the teens.

Doug Melody was East Catholic.