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 After 35 years, a wrong is righted
Posted: Thursday April 01, 1999 07:06 PM
Yes, I graduated from the University of Connecticut about a million years ago. I was there, I think, just after Gutenberg invented the printing press, just after Isaac Newton figured out all that stuff about gravity, just after Leonardo Da Vinci decided to give the Mona Lisa the hint of a smile. Yes, I was a big UConn basketball fan. It was during my time at the school that the boys made their first successful foray into the NCAA Tournament. It was the spring of 1964, just before -- or maybe just after -- the Rolling Stones started playing music in public. Just when the word "Vietnam" was reaching the American consciousness. UConn went on a roll. There were only 32 teams in the tournament and the Huskies beat Temple, 53-48, in the first round at the Palestra in Philadelphia. They then went to Raleigh, N.C., for the Eastern Regionals, where they beat Princeton, 52-50, in a wonderful game. The key was holding Princeton star Bill Bradley, future Knick and future presidential candidate, to 22 points. This set up a meeting with Duke in the Regional Final, the winner to go to the Final Four. I remember watching the game at the auditorium at Storrs on a big screen, black and white, just before color television arrived. I remember Duke 101, UConn 54. I remember UConn couldn't get the ball past halfcourt. I remember Duke had Jeff Mullins and Jack Marin and a bunch of tall people. I remember the score at the half was 62-27. Well, 35 years have flown away. Thirty-five years? Revenge, like a good wine, tastes better with the passing of time. Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.
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