"The Holy Cross game was the perfect storm. The coaches did an incredible job of scouting the Crusaders.The noise that night from our fans was beyond description. So loud in fact that we had to use hand signals to call out our plays. To score 123 points was unheard of at that time. The highlight was meeting Bob Cousy ( Holy Cross announcer -Celtic great). Leaving the gym with my parents, I shook his hand and mentioned how I admired his playing days as a Celtic legend. He then replied, " Son, that was once of the best college games I have ever witnessed.. great atmosphere, great fans, a real pleasure to watch.. what a shootout" .. Enough said".
I love this first person account about that night from a person who actually played in that game. Once again, thanks to Mark for coming on board to connect with all the fans. But for so many newer Stag fans who might not quite understand what he and the people who were there are talking about, think about the atmosphere you might see on TV when you watch a typical Duke game from Cameron Indoor Stadium. Very similar in intensity. Indeed there is no embellishment in these memories.
Personal Observations from the 77-78 season: Mark Plefka 1) At the Xmas break our record was 6-1. Stagmania was emerging. The day after Xmas, Fred summoned myself and Mark Young to his office.. Young went first and Fred proceeded to chew out Mark for his lack of aggression and poor play (this lasted a good 30 minutes and Barakat was screaming the whole time). I met with Fred next. He proceeded to lambaste me for my lack of consistency on the boards and scoring. Once calm, Fred asked me, "How do I get Young to play harder? " Stunned, "I replied, "Simple.. Pound it into him on the the box and have everyone else get out of the way". (Noteworthy, Fred never took advice from a ball player especially me). Sure enough, Young had his best practice as a Stag (in my opinion) and the rest is history. 2) Fred Barakat was a master at the X's and O's that year. Discipline, precise and a perfectionist. But moody and temperamental as well. We had triple sessions during the pre-season on every weekend (8:30-10:30, 1-3 pm and 5-7pm). This work ethic paid dividends later on once the season started. Still, even on game days, we would go over our plays and what the opposing team was going to do. Full of sweat we would practice full bore for one hour, go to our pregame meal and go back to our dorm. Tired, all was forgotten when the student section filled up prior to game time. It was an intimidating, incredible sight to see and the team loved every moment. 3) Our student section fan base was incredibly loud, rabid, and loyal to the hilt. Pregame drinking parties at the beach and in the dorms were standard protocol. The drinking never stoped once in the gym. How did I know? After the game, nip bottles were everywhere between the bleachers where the students converged. Combined with pot (which was cheap and easily available back then) well you get the picture.. 4) We basically ran a six man rotation which had its negatives. Fred was stubborn and did not have much confidence in his underclassmen. If you screwed up, Fred would give you a stare that would freeze you in your tracks.This was especially hard for the new ball players to handle. Nonetheless, when we were winning (with Stagmania fully ramped up) Fred always had a smile from ear to ear. 5) The Holy Cross game was the perfect storm. The coaches did an incredible job of scouting the Crusaders.The noise that night from our fans was beyond description. So loud in fact that we had to use hand signals to call out our plays. To score 123 points was unheard of at that time. The highlight was meeting Bob Cousy ( Holy Cross announcer -Celtic great). Leaving the gym with my parents, I shook his hand and mentioned how I admired his playing days as a Celtic legend. He then replied, " Son, that was once of the best college games I have ever witnessed.. great atmosphere, great fans, a real pleasure to watch.. what a shootout" .. Enough said.
Mark, thanks for your personal observations of how Barakat ran practice and dealt with the players. While I graduated in 1977, and did not see practice in the 1977-78 season. However, I used watch practice most days from 1974 to 1977. I was amazed with the intensity that Fred Barakat ran practice. And how he laid into many of his best players to run the plays right. And these practices were "Open to the Public". And I had the honor to watch practice from The John Ryan era and the Joe Desantis era. Two different styles, both great results.
Post by stagmania78 on Jan 9, 2020 22:33:45 GMT -5
To sonofdoc. Posting all these articles from your Dad's scrapbook is amazing very cool. Thanks to nashville for the great article and correcting the date of the Cross game. The remembrance from Space? Awesome. Keep em coming son, with whatever you got.
Post by stagmania78 on Jan 9, 2020 22:56:22 GMT -5
A couple of thoughts on the amazing home streak. Being from Long Island I remember reading an article about us beating Hofstra at home and the coach swearing he would never schedule a road game again at Fairfield ever again. He was furious and I have no idea who it was. He felt he got jobbed in our "pit". And was a pit. So there was this one ref that was very recognizable because he had a full head of grey hair. He reffed a bunch of our home games and I remember my buddies and I saying "hey our ref is here tonight" Somewhere down the line at halftime or before the game it was announced that he was finally retiring after some amount of years and was given a token of appreciation by who or what I had no idea. We were sad because we always won when he was a referee. It seemed like it anyway.
A couple of thoughts on the amazing home streak. Being from Long Island I remember reading an article about us beating Hofstra at home and the coach swearing he would never schedule a road game again at Fairfield ever again. He was furious and I have no idea who it was. He felt he got jobbed in our "pit". And was a pit. So there was this one ref that was very recognizable because he had a full head of grey hair. He reffed a bunch of our home games and I remember my buddies and I saying "hey our ref is here tonight" Somewhere down the line at halftime or before the game it was announced that he was finally retiring after some amount of years and was given a token of appreciation by who or what I had no idea. We were sad because we always won when he was a referee. It seemed like it anyway.
Well concerning the refs at that time it is interesting that because most of the teams competing against each other were basically considered 'independent' rather than league members even though they loosely played under the banner known as the ECAC, the men in striped shirts were actually kind of independent contractors hired by the home teams. I can't remember whether the opponent had any say in who showed up but one thing I do remember is that the coaches had the mechanism of disqualifying a guy who they didn't like for future games in the form of a 'scratch list.' And yes, Barakat had his favorites for sure. I'm not 100% but I think the guy you are referring to was Bobby Balla, a well-known official from Connecticut who kind of got some publicity based on the fact that despite the many games he had worked all over the east coast, he never got to do one in Madison Square Garden. Now if it wasn't him, the other well-known guy who many people will remember was the great Porky Viera, great for three reasons actually. One, as a former player in high school and college (Quinnipiac) he had a reputation of being such a great shooter that to this day there are some who have labeled him as "the greatest shooter that ever lived"! Maybe an exaggeration, but he was famous for scoring a lot of points, and from a long way out. No 3-pointers then of course. Second, he became even more famous in his role as the New Haven Baseball Coach where he won an incredible amount of games over a long and distinguished career. And the third reason he was well-known for was that as an official who showed up often at AH, he kind of had the reputation of being in 'Fred's pocket' whenever a contest was on the line. At least that's how the upset opposing coaches used to think about the situation as they were leaving the building.
Yes Nash, that well known ref you cite was my uncle and godfather, Bobby Balla. He was the leader of the ref's association in Fairfield County. He traveled widely across the Northeast to do college basketball games and many Stag games, but also was the head ref at many high school football games. The Ct Post a number of years ago did a series on the best athletes of each decade, and he was named the star athlete of the 1930's in basketball and baseball at Bassick HS. Afterward he played semi-pro baseball, then during World War II he was too valuable to send to overseas so he trained young recruits in physical fitness in boot camp. Bobby eventually retired to Florida with his wife and passed away about 20 years ago.
I remember “Porky Viera” very well. At the time , I used to sit under the basket in the small section of bleacher seats in the front of Alumni hall. The seats of course are no longer part of the current configuration. I could see first hand that Porky always gave the benefit of doubt to the stags when making foul calls. He was known as a “Homer” amongst refs. Another vivid memory for senior stags to remember is red and white paper streamers being thrown on to the court after the stags scored the first basket. I believe this practice is now outlawed by NCAA rules.
Post by runningman on Jan 10, 2020 11:15:36 GMT -5
I remember a ref from the not too distant past who did not endear himself to Fairfield fans at home games with his "reverse home cooking". I believe that his name was something like Tommy Birch. Anyone know whom I am referencing?
I remember a ref from the not too distant past who did not endear himself to Fairfield fans at home games with his "reverse home cooking". I believe that his name was something like Tommy Birch. Anyone know whom I am referencing?
I vaguely remember the name but for some reason can't picture him in my mind. I can't believe it though, a ref who Stag fans didn't like? Can't be. Oh wait a minute, does Mike Kitts bring out any emotions?