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While leafing through some materials related to days gone by I noted a group of players who were headliners in their days of NCAA basketball. I thought that by sharing them some of the oldtimers would be interested in reviving a memory. Some will recall these players, to some they will mean nothing. Their day is over...but not quite forgotten by all:

Taylor Coppenrath - led Vermont to 3 NCAA Tournaments including a surprising upset of Syracuse. Averaged 25.1 ppg in 2005. The Catamounts have a chance to return to the Tourney this year. They are 22-9 (12-4 in the American East trailing Stony Brook by one game).

Ron Cox - Eastern Washington's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. A first team All-American in 1977. Today, the Eagles have fallen on harder times. They are 9-21 (5-10 in the Big Sky)

Cliff Meely - Colorado. Two-time Big 8 Player of the Year. #1 NBA pick in 1971. In top 5 in Colorado for points/rebounds/blocked shots. Most think of football when they think of Colorado. That Buffalo charging onto the field....These basketball Buffaloes are 14-15 (only 5-10 in the Big 12 but with wins over Baylor and Oklahoma). Meely was the biggest name in the NCAA back then.

Billy Shepherd - Butler. All-time leading scorer. Averaged 24.1 for his career. Played in NBA. Today the Bulldogs are growling - 18-0 in the Horizon and primed for the NCAA. Shepherd set the standard.

Mychal Thompson - Minnesota's all-time scoring leader. A #1 NBA draft pick in 1978. Played on back-to-back NBA Championships.

Just a few of the names that I ran across. I'll give a few more tomorrow. These guys played in the true "Glory Years" for their schools and their names are held high in their arenas today. I hope they have brought back a memory for the reader.

One you may have forgotten..........

ESPN Classic was showing a tribute to Hank Gathers (1967-1990) today. He was the all-time leading scorer at Loyola-Marymount and had a bright future in the NBA for sure.

I knew that you would have a good one, C.A. I am sorry that I missed the Classic on Hank, March 4, the 20th anniversary of his passing. Gathers was amazing, a tough Philadelphia kid. Transfering from Southern Cal, he led the nation in scoring (32.7) and rebounding (13.7) in his junior season. He was the mainstay of Coach Paul Westhead's helter-skelter plan...high-octane offense shooting as soon as you enter the zone, a barrage of three-point attempts, full court press all over the court. We haven't seen that particular style and philosophy before or since.

After a thunderous dunk by Gathers in a Conference Tournament game at Gersten Pavillion in LA, Gathers slapped hands with a teammate, then slumped to the floor, dead before even the nearest person could reach him. Perhaps it was major college's saddest on-court moment. We on the East Coast couldn't witness it, of course, but the film was replayed over and over on our TVs. We couldn't believe that it happened.

LMU forged on with very heavy hearts without Hank Gathers. America adopted them as heroes, favorites as the moved to the NCAAs. They began a Tournament win streak that took them to the Elite Eight. It was a very emotional ride, maybe one they would have never achieved had Hank been alive. A teammate who transfered to Loyola with Hank shot his first foul shot of each game left-handed in honor of his friend. God directed the weak-handed shots and he was 4 for 4. I recall independent league players in the Valley shooting one lefthanded for Hank.

The ride finally ended as LMU lost to UNLV, one of the country's best in those days. Marymont never regained the magic of the Westhead/Gathers years. They were 3-28 last year, and a more respectable 16-14 this year. Yet, the memory of Hank Gathers will never fade from the minds of those that remember his run. Thanks to C.A.Tuirc we have this review.

I intend to read "Heart of a Lion: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Hank Gathers" which was recently published and released, but for now, "We miss you Hank. You left so soon we hardly got to know you."

Good call, Pubman. I had forgotten Bo Kimble's name. Kimble was a good player in his own right, and linked with Gathers, he certainly qualifies to be a "Forgotten Legend".

An update on the Loyola Marymont 2010 team, at this moment they are "still alive". They defeated both Pepperdine and San Francisco U. in the West Coast Conference Tournament to run their record to 18-14 and they play Gonzaga tonight in the semi's. Probably their last game of the year barring a big upset, but it was a nice finish for the Lions. Good luck, LMU.

Arguably some of the most entertaining games to watch "back in the day" were the LMU / La Salle and LMU / UNLV match-ups. Defense was more of a suggestion than the norm. With final scores of 125-119, fans were treated to a fast-paced, high octane game from the opening tip. I used to love those games.....

I know he was definitely not a forgotten legend due to his success and college notariety, but the Hank Gathers talk got me to thinking of another "lost legend" is Lenny Bias from Maryland. Drafted out of college by the Boston Celtics, he had a very bright future ahead of him as well, only to also see it cut short. Another heartbreaking story.....

The guy that teaches across the hall from knew Lenny Bias, played with him on the playgrounds growing up and against each other in Prince Georges County. He actually saw Bias that dreadful night before Lenny headed back to College Park. There have been multiple ESPN specials and Washington Post specials on that event as its impact was tremendous in the Metro Area

Possibly another one of those "memory busters" for some would be Les Hunter of the 1963 NCAA National Champion Loyola-Chicago team.

Actually, he was known as Leslie "Big Game" Hunter to his fans as the Ramblers defeated defending champion Cincinnati in the finals. Loyola started 4 African-Americans on a team that pre-dated Texas Western's Black 5 that won in 1966 over Kentucky.

Loyola-Chicago was the highest scoring team in the nation that season averaging 91.8 ppg - a fact that was accomplished, according to Hunter, in part by the racial barbs the team endured. Their most satisfying win other than the championship came in New Orleans in the NCAAs against Mississippi State, a school that never played a game involving Blacks before. Hunter, Jerry Harkness, the late Vic Rouse, and one other starter had to stay separated from their teamates in hotels due to segregation in the 60s.

Like top news events, I can remember where I was in 1963 when the Ramblers won the championship. T-Rays Bar in Edinboro had the game on what was probably a 13" screen, and I watched it there with my friends.

A good memory and a "Forgotten Legend" in Big Game Hunter.

Last evening I watched a rerun of an old Roy Firestone interview on ESPN Classic of the never-to-be-forgotten legend, Jim Valvano. To say the very least, it was a treat, and as always, Valvano made my day!

The interview was taped in 1984 when Valvano was a young coach at NC State. He answered every one of Firestone's questions by practically and sometimes literally jumping out of his chair with enthusism. No pat answers, no short sign-off replies. JV double and triple-answered everything, adding interesting and exciting details to his replies. By the end of the half hour, I was so keyed up that I had to turn to an actual game to calm down. Even at that youthful age, what we know now about what was to come left me teary-eyed and weak.

Not given on this program were the insightful quotes of this man. One favorite of mine is, "How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal, and you have to work for it." I've shared this with my students down through the years. I thought of this quote as a younger Jim was being interviewed; how he was true to his own words.

And as parents and even grandparents, we need to heed Jim's lesson when he said, "My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give to another person. He believed in me." Wow!

As a teacher, or as any coach would know, many kids along the way need someone to believe in them before they can believe in themselves. Valvano's words live on as his legacy. Jim Valvano - a never-to-be forgotten legend, for sure!

That's one of the main things that I look forward to each new aseason, the Jimmy V Classic. You can rest assured that you will get to see the speech each year, and even though I've seen it 11,000 times, I sit there and watch it year in and year out. Truly a coaching legend.

CAT may I add I sit I watch I bawl like a little baby.