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The 1st Husky?

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The one that took my daughter to her high school prom. If I say who I may lose my anonymity (he may be a poster) and possibly my still single daughter. LOL

C'mon Kita can't do that to the yard. Let's hear it?
 
The one that took my daughter to her high school prom. If I say who I may lose my anonymity (he may be a poster) and possibly my still single daughter. LOL

Without asking who, did he go to prom with her when he was still in high school? Or was he already playing for UCONN?
 
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Jim Sullivan. We had a class together and both lived at Carraige House. Would drive into class together on occasion. Nice guy
 
Jim Sullivan. We had a class together and both lived at Carraige House. Would drive into class together on occasion. Nice guy

Disco Jim, I wanted him to be so good. Didn't he come from the Boston area, like Dom Bosco HS and was the leading scorer in the state or something?
 
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Actually I should add Al Fredericks from Stamford to mine. Played against him while he was at Mattatuck CC and got to know him then. Saw him post UConn career at Hartford games and chatted at length a couple times due to our playing against each other. Probably because he owned me but he was a great guy and appreciated people playing him tough I guess. Tough as in tough, not as in stopping him all that much LOL. We played 3X and matched up because our team was so small. They also had the kid Tony Gonzalez from Pulaski New Britain(was in my league in HS went to CCSU I believe) and another big kid from Fischer NY 6'8 and were ranked top 10 in the country Jr college. Fun time to play against them.
 
Tom Penders in freshman poli sci class. Sat next to me. Stories I could tell. no lack of self confidence. Actually got to know him reasonably well. My longest term roommate was a hs baseball player in Stratford and knew the whole Penders family. The next one I got to know and always a real good guy was Ron Ritter. Knew Wes B. a little because we went with girls from the same dorm our fresh year. BTW, until the "modern" era, that freshman team, which couldn't play varsity, was considered the best and packed the house. Bialosuknia, Penders, Holowaty, Ritter, Dick Thompson and PJ Curran. That was the year Dom Perno famously stole the ball from Bill Bradley to seal UConn's first NCAA tournament win in ages. They got clobbered by Duke in the next game.
 
Tom Penders in freshman poli sci class. Sat next to me. Stories I could tell. no lack of self confidence. Actually got to know him reasonably well. My longest term roommate was a hs baseball player in Stratford and knew the whole Penders family. The next one I got to know and always a real good guy was Ron Ritter. Knew Wes B. a little because we went with girls from the same dorm our fresh year. BTW, until the "modern" era, that freshman team, which couldn't play varsity, was considered the best and packed the house. Bialosuknia, Penders, Holowaty, Ritter, Dick Thompson and PJ Curran. That was the year Dom Perno famously stole the ball from Bill Bradley to seal UConn's first NCAA tournament win in ages. They got clobbered by Duke in the next game.

Tell, by all means TELL!!
 
Disco Jim, I wanted him to be so good. Didn't he come from the Boston area, like Dom Bosco HS and was the leading scorer in the state or something?
I think at time he graduated he had the record for most points in the Massachusetts for Catholic schools. At least that is my recollection. Also hoped he would be a good player. I would call his career solid. Not as good a shooter as I thought he would be and slower afoot then needed to be successful at that level.

Again a nice guy at UConn, and happened to run into at The Rent once. Talked for a bit, nice to see him. Seemed like he was doing well.
 
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Tyler Olander in Houston 2011. Coming out of an elevator at the players' Final Four hotel.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
Chris Smith, Gwynn and Murray Williams...hung out with them at the Carraige House back in the day.
 
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
 
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!!
 
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.
 
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