Game 4 - Fairfield vs Boston College 12-6-77 - Note I am missing the Fairfield Stonehill game, I believe the only game I am missing from the scrapbook. Fairfield now 3-1.
Joey D. sat out almost half the game because of foul trouble? Damn, looks like this one would certainly have been a victory but for this circumstance.
Last Edit: Jan 2, 2020 12:54:13 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
I just noticed the comment at the bottom of the first column about Rick Kuhn missing the free throw. As you probably know, Rick Kuhn was the central figure in the Boston College point shaving scandal the following season.
Last Edit: Jan 5, 2020 22:24:22 GMT -5 by sonofdoc
We naturally tend of focus on past players who were stars, but these articles help us to remember other players who are not often talked about. Joe Nelson and Rich Broggini's names pop up in this article.
I looked up Broggini and, it turns out, he has had a very interesting career.
What I remember of those 3 were Pallazzi and Broginni were part time starters, Joe Nelson came off the bench. Pallazzi was noted for his one-handed slam dunks as he ran the floor. They were all in the same era as Barry Gunderson who was a great shooter, and was a smart player who knew how to box-out. That era did not produce any winning seasons.
Post by dannynoonan on Jan 2, 2020 12:59:00 GMT -5
This is before my time Fairfield-wise, but I worked for Gene Moretti, the author of some of these article, as a sports intern at the Bridgeport Post a few years later.
What I remember of those 3 were Pallazzi and Broginni were part time starters, Joe Nelson came off the bench. Pallazzi was noted for his one-handed slam dunks as he ran the floor. They were all in the same era as Barry Gunderson who was a great shooter, and was a smart player who knew how to box-out. That era did not produce any winning seasons.
Also regarding Pallazzi, he was either the son of or nephew (can't remember which) of the famous Togo Pallazzi of Holy Cross and Celtic's fame. Some wondered why he didn't end up in Worcester at the time as I recall. Anyway, since you brought up Gunderson, Barry was an outstanding shooter (just looked up his numbers) and probably would have scored a lot more career points than he did if he didn't happen to come in during the heyday of the DeSantis, Young years where playing time was limited mostly to the top six or seven players, at least until Joey and Mark's last season. Indeed his last year (1979-80) he averaged over 13 PPG when he was one of the main players on the second to last team that Fred Barakat coached. The guy is still around and comes to a lot of Stag games as well as local high school contests. An alumnus who really cares, and that's a great thing!
Last Edit: Jan 2, 2020 14:16:48 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
What I remember of those 3 were Pallazzi and Broginni were part time starters, Joe Nelson came off the bench. Pallazzi was noted for his one-handed slam dunks as he ran the floor. They were all in the same era as Barry Gunderson who was a great shooter, and was a smart player who knew how to box-out. That era did not produce any winning seasons.
I remember watching Barry. He had an awesome shot from the corner sideline that he consistently hit. One of the tougher shots due to being on the side of the backboard.
Great points made about Barry Gunderson. He actually grew up on Oak Street in Floral Park, NY as I did. That's always been an incredible coincidence. He was 2 years behind me and had a very accomplished high school career at Holy Cross in Flushing Queens. He started on an excellent Holy Cross team and was highly recruited in our Tri-State region. My brother, in fact, started at PG with Barry for 2 years and was definitely was not highly recruited. Ha. Barry was the goods. Smart, tall, and an excellent shooter as was pointed out correctly in my opinion. Someone else opined that he was a victim of when he got to FU. Somewhere in the last 2 years the full season stats were posted here probably by the Master 73. I have it saved somewhere on my PC but of course cant find it as I type. When the season stats were printed I was astounded. I've mentioned this before sorry. Our greatest team ever used just 6 players. It's incredible actually. Six man Space Plefka was a great 6th man. I'll try to find it I promise. So the recruits like Barry etc class of 80 NEVER played as Freshman and Sophs. What are you gonna do? Not a peep was heard by him and his classmates. They enjoyed the ride. I 100% agree with Joe Stag and JGU80 as concerning the Balkun injury. No one knew he wouldn't be playing in the Semis. The big pro Friar crowd were actually rooting for URI against because of our reputation. I totally agree with both posters that we would have won that ECAC. Our total 6 man rotation definitely hurt us even though it was great game. Unfortunately, Balkun still being out for our game in the then still prestigious NIT (Big Dance still 32)on the road at Dayton ended a great year on a sour note. But what a ride it was. Barry just missed.
FYI, Someone posted that they thought the Seton Hall was after the Holy Cross demolition. It was 2 weeks prior.
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