After listening to many discussions this season about the great Stag teams and players of the past, I am starting this thread dedicated to arguably the greatest Fairfield team in history. Some of you may know that my dad Dr. Walter Pleban kept a scrapbook from the 1977-78 season which saw Fairfield go 22-5 highlighted by perhaps their greatest victory in school history. With the blessing of JoeStag, I am going to recreate/post the scrapbook over the course of this season. I was only 9 at the time and don't have a memory of the season, as I didn't attend games regularly until the following year - but I hope everyone can share their stories and memories - especially those of you who were students that year!
Bear with me at the beginning as I learn the most effective ways to scan and post the newspaper articles (if you have any suggestions or comments please email them to me).
"25 years plus one: Recounting the meteoric rise of Fairfield Basketball" – 1974 by Don Harrison (Out of print but probably in the University's library or the Athletic Department).
Son if Doc a great idea. Your dad , Walt and I were basketball friends an I have found memories of him and the “round table” basketball ball meetings he would orchestrate.
"25 years plus one: Recounting the meteoric rise of Fairfield Basketball" – 1974 by Don Harrison (Out of print but probably in the University's library or the Athletic Department).
"25 years plus one: Recounting the meteoric rise of Fairfield Basketball" – 1974 by Don Harrison (Out of print but probably in the University's library or the Athletic Department).
Great memories from all of these articles, and BTW really a must read for the younger Stag generation if they want to understand how different the interest and electricity was concerning the program back then as compared to now. I see from reading one of these pieces that the attendance capacity was listed at just over 3,000 back then. But I distinctly remember some estimates of crowds almost up to 4,000 shoehorned into the place before the fire marshals had to cut off others that wanted to get in. Unbelievable and also unthinkable to people who weren't around to witness this madness!
The Fairfield home attendance average was 3,101 for that season. The Home Arena was listed as the Fairfield Gym (3,284) before the name was changed to Alumni Hall.
1977-78 Schedule & Results Game-Date-Type-Opponent-Conference-Team-Opp-W-L-Streak-Arena 1 Tue, Dec 6, 1977 REG @ Boston College Ind L 76 79 0 1 L 1 Roberts Center 2 Sat, Dec 10, 1977 REG Duquesne EAA W 90 84 1 1 W 1 Alumni Hall 3 Mon, Dec 12, 1977 REG Vermont Ind W 82 67 2 1 W 2 Alumni Hall 4 Tue, Jan 3, 1978 REG @ Canisius Ind W 83 69 3 1 W 3 Koessler Athletic Center 5 Fri, Jan 6, 1978 REG Catholic Ind W 72 64 4 1 W 4 Alumni Hall 6 Sat, Jan 7, 1978 REG American ECC W 105 88 5 1 W 5 Alumni Hall 7 Wed, Jan 11, 1978 REG @ South Carolina Ind L 69 75 5 2 L 1 Carolina Coliseum 8 Sat, Jan 14, 1978 REG @ Yale Ivy W 73 72 6 2 W 1 John J. Lee Ampitheater 9 Wed, Jan 18, 1978 REG Hofstra ECC W 112 86 7 2 W 2 Alumni Hall 10 Mon, Jan 23, 1978 REG Iona Ind W 78 76 8 2 W 3 Alumni Hall 11 Fri, Jan 27, 1978 REG St. Francis (NY) Ind W 96 87 9 2 W 4 Alumni Hall 12 Sun, Jan 29, 1978 REG @ New Hampshire Ind W 90 55 10 2 W 5 Lundholm Gymnasium 13 Mon, Jan 30, 1978 REG Boston University Ind W 89 83 11 2 W 6 Alumni Hall 14 Sat, Feb 4, 1978 REG Manhattan NJNY7 W 82 78 12 2 W 7 Alumni Hall 15 Sat, Feb 11, 1978 REG Seton Hall NJNY7 L 77 99 12 3 L 1 Alumni Hall 16 Mon, Feb 13, 1978 REG @ Saint Peter's Ind W 81 71 13 3 W 1 Yanitelli Center 17 Sat, Feb 18, 1978 REG Saint Joseph's ECC W 86 62 14 3 W 2 Alumni Hall 18 Mon, Feb 20, 1978 REG St. Bonaventure Ind W 92 81 15 3 W 3 Alumni Hall 19 Wed, Feb 22, 1978 REG Long Island University Ind W 72 56 16 3 W 4 Alumni Hall 20 Sat, Feb 25, 1978 REG Holy Cross Ind W 123 103 17 3 W 5 Alumni Hall 21 Tue, Feb 28, 1978 REG Connecticut Ind W 63 57 18 3 W 6 Alumni Hall
Game-Date-Type-Opponent-Conf-Tm Opp.-W-L-Streak-Arena 22 Thu, Mar 2, 1978 CTOURN N Rhode Island Ind L 69 71 18 4 L 1 Dunkin' Donuts Center
Game-Date-Type-Opponent-Conf-Tm Opp-W-L-Streak-Arena 23 Fri, Mar 10, 1978 NIT @ Dayton Ind L 93 108 18 5 L 2 University of Dayton Arena
Post by nashvillestag on Dec 27, 2019 9:46:46 GMT -5
Funny but I always remember the famous Holy Cross game as being played in mid to late January. The memory can be fogged up a bit after all these years I guess.
That was such an awesome year to be in attendance! We sat on the ledges on the sidelines because all the seats were full! Also remember when some fans dribbled basketballs on a journey to MSG for the NIT. Don’t remember if they made it.
Funny but I always remember the famous Holy Cross game as being played in mid to late January. The memory can be fogged up a bit after all these years I guess.
Based on the scrapbook articles, I believe you are right - for whatever reason the game was played in January although originally scheduled for February
I also notice it appears that Army game was scheduled but never played. Does anyone remember why that happened?
Last Edit: Dec 27, 2019 10:24:59 GMT -5 by sonofdoc
Funny but I always remember the famous Holy Cross game as being played in mid to late January. The memory can be fogged up a bit after all these years I guess.
Based on the scrapbook articles, I believe you are right - for whatever reason the game was played in January although originally scheduled for February
I also notice it appears that Army game was scheduled but never played. Does anyone remember why that happened?
Ah Ha, my memory wasn't so bad after all! BTW as longtime and Va. have stated above, the Blizzard of 78 probably was the reason we didn't play Army. Ironically they were very strong that year and would certainly have been a threat to beat us in that game. One reason is they had a pretty good coach. A young coach K. as a matter of fact.
Last Edit: Dec 27, 2019 13:46:30 GMT -5 by nashvillestag