Two iconic college basketball broadcasters – CBS Sports play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist and his longtime partner at CBS, NCAA analyst Bill Raftery, also the lead analyst for FOX Sports college basketball game coverage – will be the recipients of the second annual Fairfield University Basketball “Stags Lifetime Achievement Award: Leader of the Herd” for long and meritorious service on Wednesday night, October 22, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
Two notable Fairfield alumni, Mark Beckwith (’80) and Diane Oakley (’75), will be the inaugural “Stags Distinguished Service Award: Leader of the Herd” recipients in recognition of their unwavering support of Fairfield Athletics.
The Basketball Tip Off event will begin with a reception at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner and awards presentation at 7:00 PM. Tickets are priced at $175.
For tickets and more information please contact the Office of Special Events via email at ose@fairfield.edu or by calling (203) 254-4000 ext. 2661.
Having Bill Raftery at this years event is certainly worth the price of admission.... which is steep. He should be able to relate to Fairfield and Mid-major basketball, as he and Fred Barakat had a lot of battles in their heyday as Head coaches.
Last Edit: Sept 10, 2014 14:18:40 GMT -5 by JoeStag
JS, I remember those battles very well. I remember one home game at a packed alumni hall in the 70's against Seton Hall. I was sitting in that small section of bleachers at the front of the building and bill rafferty was the pirates head coach at the time. He was really upset with the number of calls against his team . At the end of the half he picked up a metal folding chair that he was sitting on and thru it against the back wall of alumni hall. He stormed off the court to the locker room. The official giving his team the hardest time was "porky" Viera who was known to be a bit of a "Homer" in his day. Much has changed since then, Rafferty is a respected media personality, porky has passed on, fred barakat sadly has passed passed on, they do not use metal folding chairs as benches, the small section of stands at the front of alumni hall is gone, the basketball crowds have disappeared.
Mark Twain was incorrect. “The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.” ....and Stags74 in the stands...with Bridgeport, Nashville, Reindeer, Albert, JoeStag and a handful of others whose handle I don't know.
"Leaders of the Herd" - Fairfield Basketball Lifetime Achievement Awards
Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at 6:00 PM. The Basketball Tip Off event will begin with a reception at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner and awards presentation at 7:00 PM.
Grand Hyatt New York Park Avenue at Grand Central New York, NY
Individual Ticket(s): Individual @ $175.00
Sponsorship Opportunities: MVP ($25,000) • Table of ten with Prestige Seating • Special event acknowledgement
All-American ($15,000) • Table of ten with Premium Seating • Special event acknowledgement
All-MAAC ($10,000) • Table of ten with Preferred Seating • Special event acknowledgement
Coaches Club ($5,000) • Table of ten • Special Event Acknowledgement
For additional sponsorship information and opportunities, please contact Marie Muhvic, Director of Development for Athletics and Recreation at mmuhvic@fairfield.edu or call (203) 254-4000 ext. 2474.
If you are thinking about going to this event, please respond. The University is making a push to make this event successfull. Its already a great event, just need the Alumni and Fans to turn-out. Advancement is now in charge of this event, and they want it to succeed. I told them they need the NYC Alumni to turnout to support this.
Just as a side note, both Alumni Honorees, Mark Beckwith ('80) and Diane Oakley ('75) were both Math Majors. Don't know how many Math Majors were in their graduating class, but I graduated in '77 and we had only 12 Math Majors. I was there at the same time as both Mark and Diane so I know it was a small class.... what are the odds that 2 Math majors would be honored the same night. I guess a Math Major would need to figure that out. Not too sure, but they might have given the 2 largest gifts to the Men's and Women's Basketball programs.
1 week before the event. RSVP if you are are coming.
If anyone wants to meet early for some beers, we are meeting at the information booth in the main lobby of Grand Central Station at 4pm. I will post the happy hour location when we get there.
BTW, we started with 50 math majors and ended with 12 from 73 to 77
Some thoughts on the event as I try to type as train is flying.
Top flight event Lots of hoops people there I sat next to Len Elmore...... Very impressive CBS execs were there with Sam silver giving an inspiring tribute to raferty and lundquist Coleman and women's player miller spoke on the generousity of beckwith and Oakley Former players Rafferty, groom, Ryan, Kelly and needham issued a 25k challenge to fans to match their donations Oakley announced that she got someone to match her 25k challenge, and then issued another 25k challenge With beckwith and berchman there is a lot of financial leadership
Some hoop buzz Lots of healthy fighting going on ..... That's a good thing Competition fierce Players seem very confident Kirkland is a big and strong kid
More than 100 individuals turned out for the event that also included a reception before dinner. Fairfield University President Father Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., Director of Athletics Gene Doris, and Friends of Men's Basketball President Bob Berchem also spoke at the event. Student-athletes Kristine MIller and Coleman Johnson thanked everyone for their support and expressed their appreciation to Beckwith and Oakley for the contributions to the program.
Post by nashvillestag on Oct 23, 2014 8:26:18 GMT -5
Just a little more hoop buzz. Although Degnan is progressing nicely with his injury and should be completely recovered shortly, he probably will not play this Sat. (although he might participate in shooting drills and such before the scrimmage). Other players (knock on wood) in great shape. BTW if Coleman plays anywhere near the proficiency that he showed in his speech to the crowd he would be All-MAAC. Extremely well done, performed almost completely without notes, and all this under the pressure put on him by Sydney who explained in his introduction that his performance would reflect how well he was progressing in his public speaking class.
