The 1st Husky?

[mauconnfan]

Al Skinner Fredrick (Stamford, Ct)

Having played against him as I said and then watching him in a Husky uni, a bit of an underrated player in my mind. Besides the fact he was a freak athlete at only 6'4" playing the wing, he had an uncanny ability to make the 12 foot bank shot at a high percentage. Rebounded pretty well in the trenches too for his lack of size.

 

[PhilG]

Scott Burrell - say next to him on a flight and had a nice conversation.

 

[Huskybass]

Great thread topic.

Earl Kelley for me. Bad mo' fo' back then. It was brief. I was scared.

Played against Earl behind the Jungle. I was scared too, but he was cool to me. I fouled him pretty hard under the hoop (completely unintentional) and I feared the worst. I said "I'm sorry, Earl". He looked at me, smacked me on the butt and gave me a big smile and said "Its ok, you're playing hard."

They won 11-7, but I came away with a good story and a lifelong memory.

To answer the original question, I had a class with Gerry Besselink my first semester. Real nice guy. He dated a woman named Tina who looked exactly like a barbie doll. She was beautiful, but also a super nice person.

 

[Giscombe12]

Gerry Besselink. He was my coach during Calhoun's first camp in the summer of '87.

 

[Huskybass]

Tyler Olander in Houston 2011. Coming out of an elevator at the players' Final Four hotel.

Spittin' fire.

 

[Mazhude]

Earl Kelley. Of course, I went to high school with him, so that might have had something to do with it... oh, and I was working at the White House when the '99 team met POTUS at the WH (hence the photo), so I met all of them as well.

 

[Dibbie]

Chris Smith, Gwynn and Murray Williams...hung out with them at the Carraige House back in the day.

 

[husky8273]

Who's the first UConn basketball player you've ever met?

For me it was Tate George (June 1990)

Joey Whelton, took PT at same time for sprained ankles in the Infirmary. I suspect players today no longer get treated at the Infirmary

 

[UconnMICK]

Jim Abromaitis circa 1978 - He spoke at my town rec basketball league year end banquet. At that age, I remember being in complete awe at how tall he was.

Fast forward... I ended up living in Watson Hall with Tate, Steve Pikiell, Scott Burrell and a few other players. Had the honors of sharing my Marketing notes with Tate whenever he missed the class... One of my roommates and I also had the honor of playing an annual 2 on 2 game against Pikiell and Jimmy Dargati on the courts outside of Alumni. Steve even knocked on our door one night during the week he was going in for his shoulder surgery and said, come on, we gotta get this in before we can't play... Good times!!

 

[Huskybass]

Jim Abromaitis circa 1978 - He spoke at my town rec basketball league year end banquet. At that age, I remember being in complete awe at how tall he was.

Fast forward... I ended up living in Watson Hall with Tate, Steve Pikiell, Scott Burrell and a few other players. Had the honors of sharing my Marketing notes with Tate whenever he missed the class... One of my roommates and I also had the honor of playing an annual 2 on 2 game against Pikiell and Jimmy Dargati on the courts outside of Alumni. Steve even knocked on our door one night during the week he was going in for his shoulder surgery and said, come on, we gotta get this in before we can't play... Good times!!

I spent hundreds of hours playing on those courts between Alumni and South Campus during that same time frame. We probably played against each other at some point.

 

[MattMang23]

I feel like there's gotta be one earlier but the earliest one I can come up with now is Kevin Freeman. He was visiting a basketball camp at my high school the summer after the 1999 title.

 

[bear]

Played pickup with Doug Wiggins early in my freshman year. He was incredible. That kid had so much ability.