Episode 1 - The Sleeping Giant

Episode 1 of The Dream Season Podcast gives a summary of the UConn men's basketball program from its inception in 1900 through the end of the 1985-86 season.

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Books referenced in this episode:
The Big East, by Dana O'Neil
UConn Basketball Vault, by Ken Davis
Hoop Tales, by Wayne Norman & Robert Porter

Audio clips are from interviews conducted by myself and from YouTube.

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Before we dive into the Dream Season, we need to spend some time trying to understand the state of the men’s basketball program at UConn prior to the 1989-90 season. 

UConn men’s basketball began in 1900, when UConn was known as the CT Agricultural College. They were 1-0 that season, after knocking off Windham High School, 17-12.

For the next 30 plus years, they played a modest schedule each season, around 15 to 20 games, against regional schools of varying sizes.

They played in the New England Conference from 1937-38 through 1945-46.

UConn was a regional power in New England, with backyard rivalries with URI, New Hampshire, Maine & UMass.

Before we go any further, I want to take a minute to detail the national postseason tournaments at this time.

The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) began in 1938, with the NCAA Tournament starting in 1939. The number of teams participating gradually increased for each tournament over the years, from 6-8 at the start, to 12, 16, 24 and eventually 32,  for both tournaments by the late 70’s. 

In the 1940’s, the NIT was the premier tournament of the two and generally featured the better teams. This was mainly due to all of the games being held at Madison Square Garden and the press coverage that those games received. In some years, teams were able to play in both tournaments, thanks to the schedules not being run concurrently.

Eventually, the NCAA Tournament started including more teams in the field, as well as prohibiting any schools from participating in any postseason tournament if they turned down an invite to the NCAA Tournament.

Okay, back to the history of the program.

In 1944, UConn traveled to Madison Square Garden to take on traditional power NYU in a regular season matchup. Despite losing 46-45, the result of the game proved that UConn belonged in the upper echelon of Eastern basketball programs.

In 1946-47, UConn became a member of the six-team Yankee Conference, featuring all 6 New England state universities.

Two major shifts occurred during that 1946-47 season. First, standout Walt Dropo returned from three years of military service in WW2 and Hugh Greer took over as HC. Dropo would finish his UConn career as the all-time leading scorer and is STILL #2 in career scoring average with 20.7 ppg as of 2022. 

Greer, who coached from 1946 to 1963, is second only to Jim Calhoun in total wins & winning percentage. During his 17 seasons as Head Coach, UConn won the Yankee Conference 13 times, including 10 straight from the 1950-51 season through the 1959-60 season.

The 1953-54 squad was arguably the best team of the era. They received the program’s first national ranking (ranked for two weeks by the Associated Press, peaking at  #18) and played in one of the most iconic games in school history.  

On Saturday, February 27, 1954, 20-2 UConn traveled to Worcester, Mass to take on 22-1 Holy Cross. Holy Cross and Bob Cousy had won the NCAA championship in 1947 and were THE program in New England.

The Crusaders entered the game riding a 47 game home winning streak at the cozy Worcester Auditorium and were a decided favorite in the game. UConn and Holy Cross had already played in each of the previous two seasons, with Holy Cross winning both matchups. 

This game was a classic from the start and stayed that way until the final moments. After a steal and bucket by Holy Cross’s Ron Perry Sr with 14 seconds left, the Huskies trailed 77-76.

After a UConn timeout, the Huskies Worthy Patterson, whose pass was stolen just seconds prior, drove to the hoop & scored. Time expired before Holy Cross could inbound the ball and UConn came away with a 78-77 road win. The victory solidified UConn’s place as a New England college hoops power.

That 1953-54 team made the NCAA tournament but lost to Navy in the opening round, finishing at 26-2. The Huskies that year were led by Patterson and big man Art Quimby, who is still UConn’s all-time leading rebounder, both in total rebounds & RPG.

On December 1, 1954 UConn moved into their new home, the glistening 5,000 seat Field House.  At the time, it was one of the largest and finest on-campus basketball facilities in New England.

Quimby ended his career after the 1954-55 season as the first UConn player to score 1,000 points and amass 1,000 rebounds, something that only 5 other players have accomplished through the 2021-22 season.

After Hugh Greer’s unfortunate passing during the 1963 season, Fred Shabel took over as head coach. 

The 1963-64 season produced another all-time classic moment for the Huskies, when they squared off in the NCAA Sweet 16 against Princeton and Bill Bradley, one of the best college basketball players of all-time.

UConn was led by power forward Toby Kimball (who would eventually be the 2nd Husky to have 1,000 points & 1,000 rebounds during his career) but it would be another player that would cement his name in the memories of UConn fan’s that day.

Senior guard and co-captain Dom Perno sank two clutch free throws with 27 seconds left to put UConn ahead, 52-50. Coach Shabel & the Huskies knew that Princeton would do everything they could to get the ball to the All-American Bill Bradley, and here’s what happened next:

(Radio Clip of Steal)

UConn advanced to the Elite 8 with the win, setting up a showdown with heavily favored Duke. In a game played in Raleigh, North Carolina, Duke won easily,101-54.

The 1960’s teams were led by two all-time greats, the aforementioned Kimball and the Poughkepsie Popper, Wes Bialosuknia. Behind those two UConn legends, the 1964-65 squad finished 23-2 and undefeated in the Yankee Conference, before falling to St. Joseph’s in the NCAA Tournament.

Quick note on Bialosuknia… he is the fastest UConn player ever to reach 1,000 points, doing it in just his 47th game, six games better than the next closest player (Bob Boyd).

Fred Shabel left after the 1966-67 season to become the Athletic Director at Penn. In his four years as head coach, Shabel’s teams won the Yankee Conference all four years and made the NCAA Tournament three times.

Burr Carlson coached for the next two seasons before Donald “Dee” Rowe took the reins for the 1969-70 season.

It didn’t take long for Coach Rowe to experience the next seminal moment in UConn basketball history.

Heading into the final game of the season, a matchup with URI at the Field House, UConn had a chance to earn a share of the Yankee Conference championship with a win.

However, two days prior to the game, leading scorer Bob Boyd, along with two key substitutes, were suspended for the game pending an investigation into a campus break-in the prior year. (All three were eventually cleared, but not until long after the URI game.)

In addition to the three suspended players, UConn’s starting center Tony Budzinksi was sick with a high fever and also unable to play. Coach Rowe decided to implement a stall tactic. Because there was no shot clock at the time, this was usually a late game strategy to milk the clock to hold on to a lead. Coach Rowe wanted to do it for the entire game.

The strategy worked and UConn won the game 35-32. Said Rowe, (QUOTE) “It was the greatest day of my career. You talk about a team playing a game where they did exactly what the game plan was. It was a chess match”. (END QUOTE)

Here’s long-time radio color analyst Wayne Norman, on those 1960’s UConn teams:

(WAYNE NORMAN QUOTE)

There was one last bit of glory for Coach Rowe. Led by Tony Hanson (who would leave UConn as their all-time leading scorer), the 1975-76 team won their last three regular season games to advance to the Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament. The ECAC was how teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament after the Yankee Conference lost automatic status.
UConn proceeded to defeat UMass and then Providence to win the ECAC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament, where they would face Hofstra. UConn knocked off the Flying Dutchmen 80-78 in overtime, before losing to Rutgers in the Sweet 16.

The 1975-76 season also marked the first season that UConn had a home away from home, playing games at the brand new Hartford Civic Center.

UConn began play as an independent in the 1976-77 season, which was also Dee Rowe’s final year as head coach. He resigned due to health reasons and to spend more time with his family, moving into a newly created role as Associate Director of Athletics for Development. 

He was an “official” fundraiser for the next 13 years, but continued to represent the school as Athletics and Institutional Ambassador until his passing in 2021 at the age of 91. You’d be hard pressed to find a more respected and influential person in the history of UConn athletics than Dee Rowe.

(Dee Row news clip)

Remember Dom Perno, who stole the ball from Bill Bradley back in 1964? He served as one of Coach Rowe’s assistants and took over as head coach for the 1977-78 season.

The Huskies would struggle during Perno’s first year, but then reeled off three consecutive 20 win seasons, including a berth in the NCAA Tournament in the 1978-79 season.

Here’s longtime CT news anchor Gerry Brooks, who was UConn’s radio color analyst for three years in the 1970s, on the 60s & 70s Huskies:

(GERRY BROOKS QUOTES)

And then, everything would change for the UConn basketball program.

The NCAA passed a rule stating that in order for a conference to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, it must play round-robin games with other conference members during the season. This rule would go into effect for the 1980-81 season.

This created a scheduling nightmare for many of the successful programs on the East Coast. No longer would schools be able to schedule games against teams similar in stature and strength, schools would be forced to play schools that are closer geographically.

Enter former Providence College head coach and current Athletic Director, Dave Gavitt. Gavitt had long envisioned an East Coast “super conference” that would rival the ACC, which was the premier East Coast conference at that time.

Gavitt knew that he wanted successful schools to be a part of the conference, but he also wanted them to be located in larger cities that featured a strong media presence. Gavitt’s vision was exemplary and he knew that television would be a key ingredient to the success of this new league.

In addition to Providence, the first schools to join Gavitt’s new conference were St. John’s, Georgetown, Syracuse and Boston College. Gavitt initially had wanted Holy Cross, but they turned down the invitation.

Here’s UConn’s  longtime director of athletic communications, Tim Tolokan, who in the late spring of 1979, was still covering UConn athletics as Sports Editor of the Norwich Bulletin:

(Tim Tolokan quotes) 

Seton Hall was the seventh and final charter member to join what would become known as the Big East Conference. Villanova would join the following year, with Pittsburgh coming aboard during the 1982-83 season, to make it a 9 team conference.

UConn’s first three years in the Big East weren’t terrible. In 1980-81, they went 3-3 in the regular season and won their first Big East Tournament game against Boston College. It turns out that  would be the only Big East Tournament win for the Huskies until 1988. They even cracked the Associated Press Top 20 poll, peaking at number 20 for two consecutive weeks. In 1980-81, they finished 8-6 in conference play and followed that up with a  7-7 record in 1981-82. They would also earn a spot in the NIT all three seasons, going 1-3 in those games.

However, that 1981-82 season provided a harbinger of things to come. A win at Boston College in early February put the Huskies in first place in the Big East with a 6-2 conference record. They proceeded to lose five of their last six regular season games, earning the 6th seed in the Big East Tournament.

The Huskies were matched up with the number 3 seed, St. John’s. The Big East Tournament was held this season at the Hartford Civic Center, the last time the tourney would be held somewhere other than Madison Square Garden. St. John’s star freshman Chris Mullin hit a dagger shot as time expired to defeat UConn, 54 to 52.

The Big East was on its way to becoming a force to be reckoned with in college basketball, not just regionally, but nationally. Georgetown, behind Patrick Ewing, would make the Final Four three out of the next four seasons, winning the national championship in 1984. The 1985 season saw the Big East send three teams to the Final Four, with Villanova pulling off an upset for the ages, defeating heavily-favored Georgetown in the championship game.

In addition to the Big East becoming a powerhouse, UConn was also struggling with some self-induced issues.

Quite frankly, when UConn joined the Big East, they weren’t ready to make the jump. 

Said Dom Perno, [QUOTE] “To be able to compete successfully in the Big East, the university needed to make a complete commitment to include academic support, facilities, recruiting budget, staff budget and basically subscribe to the philosophy of the other teams in the conference.” [END QUOTE]

Here’s UConn’s former Senior Associate Director of Athletics Communication Mike Enright:

(MIKE ENRIGHT QUOTE)

Despite the limitations that the program faced, Coach Perno still managed to recruit decent players. Legendary players such as Corny Thompson, Mike McKay, Karl Hobbs, Cliff Robinson and New Haven’s Earl Kelley, who was the top high school scorer in the country his senior year, all chose to come to UConn.

Unfortunately, too many top players from Connecticut chose to play at other Big East schools. Charles Smith went to Pittsburgh, Michael Adams and John Bagley chose Boston College and Harold Jensen and Harold Pressley both won a National Championship at Villanova.

UConn still managed a few brief moments of success during the early 80’s. They usually played very well against Syracuse, beating them five times between 1981 and 1985 and they knocked off Georgetown and Patrick Ewing on the road in 1982. They would proceed to lose the next 13 matchups against the Hoyas.

After four straight losing seasons, combined with some off-court issues, mainly star Earl Kelley becoming academically ineligible in mid-February, the bell finally tolled for Dom Perno after the 1985-86 season.

Here’s Tim Tolokan again, who by now was UConn’s Sports Information director:

(TIM TOLOKAN QUOTE)

UConn forward Gerry Besselink, who had just finished his junior year, recalled how he heard his coach was leaving:

(GERRY BESSELINK QUOTE)

Coach Perno was a UConn lifer and was fondly remembered by his former players and fellow coaches at the time:

Said senior center Tim Coles: “I didn’t expect it. I really love Coach. One of the knocks against him was that his players didn’t improve over four years. I’m living proof that with hard work and good coaching, you can improve.”

St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca: “It’s a sad day for the Big East. Dom was not only an excellent coach but a pro in every sense of the word. I’ve said before not all the best coaches have the best records. He’s a class guy. They’ll have a tough time replacing him. Now I can call him and ask him where he got all those defenses from.”

Here’s Gerry Besselink again:

(GERRY BESSELINK QUOTE)

Shortly before Dom Perno resigned in April of 1986, UConn President John Casteen the third, called for a 19 member committee to investigate the entire athletic program at UConn. The committee was charged with finding ways the school can improve academic performance among athletes, increasing the public perception of the university’s academic and research programs via athletics and improving fundraising, amongst other issues.

The committee studied other schools that were strong in both athletics and academics, such as Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame & Virginia.

Shortly after the announcement of the committee’s creation, State Representative John Woodcock of South Windsor had considered filing a resolution in the General Assembly to look into the feasibility of UConn remaining a member of the Big East.

The 66 page report was delivered on May 13, 1986 and it didn’t paint a pretty picture for the university. Among the findings:

The major problem of athletic programs at the University seems to be a problem of attitude, a belief that athletics are not an integral part of the University community, that they are a hindrance to be tolerated but not accommodated.
The failure of the Athletic Director to wisely and effectively manage its resources are largely responsible for the malaise over athletics at the University.
Many members of the University community, including faculty members with student athletes in their classes, are not aware of the existence of the office of academic coordinator.
The major recommendation of the task force is that the office of Academic Coordinator for Athletics be abolished as soon as possible and a new program be created, which will be separate and distinct from other existing programs.

An unnamed member of the task force summed up their findings as such, QUOTE “The fundamental point is that nothing is working right. No matter where you look, we do not have a top-quality athletic department.” END QUOTE

Whoever UConn hires as the next head coach sure has their work cut out for them.


Coming up on the next episode of The Dream Season Podcast, UConn finds its new coach, who as it turned out, is not bad. 



The Dream Season Podcast is researched, written & produced by me, Matt Edwards. Written sources for this episode include, the Hartford Courant archives, Dana O’Neil’s book, The Big East, Ken Davis’ epic University of Connecticut Basketball Vault and Hoop Tales, UConn Huskies Men’s Basketball by Robert Porter and The Mayor, Wayne Norman

If you have any memories to share about anything I just mentioned, want to correct me on something I screwed up or just have general feedback to give, send me an email at dreamseasonpodATgmail.com or call and leave me a message at (903) 884 - EIGHTY NINE NINETY. You can also connect with the show via Twitter and Instagram at DREAMSEASONPOD

I really appreciate you listening and for all of the support I’ve received so far. Thank you!