Your first Uconn game

[Ricker]

Most of the games in those days were only on WTIC radio, with George Ehrlich. We spent many cold winter nights watching or listening to those games.

Stop - Pop - Swish

George Ehrlich was the Joe D of the 1960's and painted a great verbal picture of the action. Listening to games on AM radio was the only regular option. Only 3 tv channels at the time, (abc ch 8) (nbc ch 30) (cbs ch 3) and half the time you had to hold the rabbit ears antenna to get those. Most telecasts black & white and color TV's were just appearing. Listened to all the Holowaty - Ritter - Hesford - Penders - Wes B games, then Bill Corley. I have a vague recollection of Wes being in the hunt for NCAA scoring title vs maybe Rick Mount from Purdue and perhaps a Rutgers player? For me that was high school and my love of the team was a significant reason I ended up at UConn.

 

[jdb50]

Mine was when my Dad took me out to Storrs for a game in the Fieldhouse in 1967 against New Hampshire. We sat 2 rows from the green floor behind the UNH bench. I was 9. Wes put up a big number with mostly long range J's. I think he hit for 40. I kept the program for a long time but it is gone now. Spent many afternoons after school being Wes in the driveway. In college we would go early to sit under the UCONN basket for the first half and watch Tony Hanson come out and go through his shooting warm up routine. There is a reason he made shots in the game. He still is one of the best baseline players UCONN ever had. We had Whelton, Abro, Jeff Carr, Al Weston, Jeff Thomas in 1975. In 78 Corny and Mike McKay showed up and the rest is history. I have always been thankful Corny chose UCONN. He was the first big one. Huge boost to the program. Then came Earl Kelly who kept us alive till JC and Chris Smith arrived.

 

[Richmondhsky]

Early 70's...Field house with my Dad seeing Joey Whelton play....family friend. Don't remember the opponent.

 

[Alum86]

Had to look it up, UConn vs. Yale, December 1978 New Haven Coliseum. I was nine. UConn lost 92-78. Program has come a long way.

The Coliseum games were fun. I remember Cuse game there around that time where my friend pushed the spongy orange mascot. It got ugly.

 

[swami7774]

That was a heck of a game. Too bad the Morris Mountain never played that well again.

I think you mean the ‘81 game vs ‘Cuse at New Haven. We throttled them.
Aleksinas wasn’t with UConn until 80-81.

 

[swami7774]

If TV counts my first game was likely an NCAA tourney game around 1963-64. I was too young to remember much about it. We watched every game that was on TV through the 60's and early 70's. I distinctly remember watching the first round NCAA loss to BS College in Bialosuknia's senior season (66-67). We lost to those turds 48-42 at Keaney Gym on the URI campus. I believe Kara Wolter's father Willie played on that Beagles team.

Channel 8 in New Haven, with Dick Galiette and "Tiny" Markle. Most of the games in those days were only on WTIC radio, with George Ehrlich. We spent many cold winter nights watching or listening to those games.

Erwin “Tiny” Markle was a great guy.

 

[swami7774]

January 1978 UConn defeated umass Hartford civic center

I was there for that one too. Couldn’t believe my ears when I woke up the next morning and heard Bob Steele talking about the roof.

 

[Kathy]

Boston University field house Feb 1976.
Hanson,whelton, weston, carr, abro - hooked from then on. Made it to Sweet 16 that year.

 

[swami7774]

Nope. I'm positive DeSantis played for Fairfield that game (12/78). I remember his bald spot.

That was my first game too. DeSantis was on that squad, as was Mark Young. Fairfield billed them as “Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside.”
Corny was on the front page of the CDC the next morning celebrating the win.

 

[swami7774]

December 6, 1978 68-67 win at the field house against a very good Fairfield team. Great game

Here’s the front page of the CDC the next morning.

 

[swami7774]

That's a horrible 1st game. Mine was 1973 at the Field House against Yale. It was SRO, I remember because I was standing. My councilor that summer at basketball camp was Yale's best player. I forget his name.

Trent Tucker destroyed us from the outside that night(meaning the Minnesota NIT game). Could the Yale player have been Butch Graves?

 

[swami7774]

The ESPN Dunk of the Year

Great dunk vs Villanova. Good game; Aleksinas and Pinone nearly killed each other down low. ‘Nova ended up winning.

 

[Waquoit]

View attachment 29992
Here’s the front page of the CDC the next morning.

I had Corny in a course that semester. At the end of the last class, I asked him to sign that newspaper. He kind of rolled his eyes a bit, we were the same age after all, but he signed it "Corny Thompson #52".

 

[swami7774]

I had Corny in a course that semester. At the end of the last class, I asked him to sign that newspaper. He kind of rolled his eyes a bit, we were the same age after all, but he signed it "Corny Thompson #52".

I saw him in the library a few times. Seemed like a good guy.

 

[UConnNick]

Erwin “Tiny” Markle was a great guy.

Until I read your message, I don't think I ever knew what his real first name was. That was a really long time to find out. Thanks for that.

 

[UConnNick]

Stop - Pop - Swish

George Ehrlich was the Joe D of the 1960's and painted a great verbal picture of the action. Listening to games on AM radio was the only regular option. Only 3 tv channels at the time, (abc ch 8) (nbc ch 30) (cbs ch 3) and half the time you had to hold the rabbit ears antenna to get those. Most telecasts black & white and color TV's were just appearing. Listened to all the Holowaty - Ritter - Hesford - Penders - Wes B games, then Bill Corley. I have a vague recollection of Wes being in the hunt for NCAA scoring title vs maybe Rick Mount from Purdue and perhaps a Rutgers player? For me that was high school and my love of the team was a significant reason I ended up at UConn.

That was Bob Lloyd at Rutgers. His backcourt mate and PG was Jim Valvano.

 

[swami7774]

Until I read your message, I don't think I ever knew what his real first name was. That was a really long time to find out. Thanks for that.

I knew him through Yale football. He was the radio color commentator when I did public address at Yale Bowl. Nicest guy you could know.

 

[UConnNick]

I knew him through Yale football. He was the radio color commentator when I did public address at Yale Bowl. Nicest guy you could know.

What years? My dad and I attended every Yale home game from around 1960 to 1970.

 

[swami7774]

What years? My dad and I attended every Yale home game from around 1960 to 1970.

I did PA from ‘86-‘99. Tiny preceded me but I don’t know how long he was there.

 

[swami7774]

Speaking of Chuck Aleksinas, this article ran a year ago:
https://nypost.com/2014/04/17/holy-grail-of-muscle-cars-found-by-discovery-host-in-conn-garage/

 

[Waquoit]

Speaking of Chuck Aleksinas, this article ran a year ago:
https://nypost.com/2014/04/17/holy-grail-of-muscle-cars-found-by-discovery-host-in-conn-garage/

With the UK hat on. Putz.

 

[Devland]

Since I grew up in PA I didn't attend a UConn basketball game until got a job in CT and attended grad school at UConn in the early 70's. Back in those days it was not uncommon to arrive to the game early and have a women's game being played on the floor. So it's quite possible my first UConn game was a women's game. lol

 

[CL82]

I think my dad saw them sometime in the 1700s or something.

 

[ucp990411]

A little something on the lighterside, now that we are all happy and looking hopefully to a bright future. What was your first Uconn game? For me it was 1954, Hawley armoury, Uconn vs. Holy Cross. I was to little to know what was going on, but I remember being there with my dad. Was actually the first time I ever saw basketball. I do remember the place being tiny, my kids HS gym was bigger.

My first game was Feb 21,1967 vs New Hampshire. The Poughkeepsie Popper went for 43. Huskymania had started well before that however. I can remember listening to George Ehrlich in the early 60's. Dan "The Spider" Hesford was my favorite player. The guy played his heart out.

 

[ucp990411]

It's a bit of a stereotype, but the first game I ever saw was Allen vs. Allen. My dad was/is a casual fan but the whole state watched this game. I was 9 and I decided this was my game, my team, and took ownership of being a fan of the team from that point on.

Beautiful. Those were the days.

 

[Balker]

Beautiful. Those were the days.

Hopefully we’ll have more days like that one in the next decade

 

[Stinger92860]

First time seeing game live on campus was vs Fairfield in 1976, I believe

 

[UconnMICK]

The Fieldhouse. I had absolutely no idea who they were playing, or even that a game was happening. I walked in after my daily racquetball game after classes. I was hooked. Little did I know that I was watching Corney Thompson. It was a great day.

Here's another Field House "racquetball" story. I use quotes because the courts were actually squash courts - or something else, if I recall. My roommate and I just finished playing our match in 1986 (our freshman year) and as we were leaving, the basketball team and coaches were pouring off the basketball court into the back hallway - right into our path. We asked one of the guys who won the game. His first response was unintelligible. So we asked again and got a surly "the Australian team." Later that evening, we were watching the sports report on the local news and realized that we actually gave coach Calhoun his first ever post game interview question!

My years there were unbelievable... from the 9-19 inaugural Calhoun season, to reading the Courant every week to see if we were listed in the "also receiving votes" category, to the 1988 NIT Championship, to the opening of Gampel, to sitting in Tate's dorm room watching as he hit "the shot!"

It certainly has been a rough couple of years, recently. My hopes are high that we get some of that magic back with coach Hurley!!

GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[Dogdeacon]

Here's another Field House "racquetball" story. I use quotes because the courts were actually squash courts - or something else, if I recall. My roommate and I just finished playing our match in 1986 (our freshman year) and as we were leaving, the basketball team and coaches were pouring off the basketball court into the back hallway - right into our path. We asked one of the guys who won the game. His first response was unintelligible. So we asked again and got a surly "the Australian team." Later that evening, we were watching the sports report on the local news and realized that we actually gave coach Calhoun his first ever post game interview question!

My years there were unbelievable... from the 9-19 inaugural Calhoun season, to reading the Courant every week to see if we were listed in the "also receiving votes" category, to the 1988 NIT Championship, to the opening of Gampel, to sitting in Tate's dorm room watching as he hit "the shot!"

It certainly has been a rough couple of years, recently. My hopes are high that we get some of that magic back with coach Hurley!!

GO HUSKIES!!!

Definitely squash courts that we played racquetball on, there were OB radiators in front wall that if you hit ball just died. I can’t remember if we used to bring in beers & leave in corners or if I’m conflating my racquetball game with John Candy’s!

 

[junglehusky]

Bobby Hurley probably has some opinions on a weight room program for these guys.