and not just for basketball.
Memory Lane
- Thread starter SLYFOXX1968
- Start date
His nickname was Carrot Top because of his Red hair
During the 1960's, basketball was like a fraternity. While not a very good player myself, I was Blessed to be on the periphery because I had a few friends who were very good. Through them I met other players. We would go from park to park all day Saturday and Sunday just playing ball.
Quick story, the summer 0f 1968, I had dropped ot of college and was working in the Auditing Department at the NY Stock Exchange. Kareem's family had just moved into our neighborhood in Queens. Every Sunday Kareem, John Busby, Gene Knolle and myself would drive to Riis Beach to play against guys from all over the city. If we got there early enough, I would get a chance to play, lol. Around noon, we would drive up to Harlem to watch Wilt, Connie Hawkins, Bill Bradley and many other pros play in the Rucker Tournament on 155th St. One of the best summers of my life.
Panther in those Riis Beach games did you ever remember playing against, with, two white guys from my park in Flatbush (Forster Park--tho they were much older than me), their names were Tom McNiece and George Bruns (Bruns not Burns)???
George briefly played for Looie when Looie coached the LI Nets if I am not mistaken, maybe college ball at Manhattan College.
George briefly played for Looie when Looie coached the LI Nets if I am not mistaken, maybe college ball at Manhattan College.
Don't remember McNiece but remember Bruns from high school, not sure which one though. He was a couple of years older than me. He was a hell of a player at Manhattan College.
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Itās a bygone era but , Manhattan College , Fordham , NYU were all top notch BB programs back in the day .
Both Mahoneyās Brian and Charlie played for the Jaspers .
Bruins too !
SF1968 you left out some other NYC winning programs in the bygone era, like Clair Bee's LIU teams, especially Nat Holman's CCNY teams (NC Champs once I think), and even St. Francis (Bklyn) now and then, not NYC but Seton Hall was very good off and on back in the day.
Manhattan's Mahoney brothers were great, especially "our" Brian who held a bunch of records there for a long while. A guy named Bill Campion too, (I think?).
I loved watching George Bruns play at Foster Park (he visited his friend Tommy McNiece who lived right near the Park (not himself a regular), but he was so smooth and had a terrific jump shoot. If I am not mistaken McNiece might have played college ball out in PA somewhere, perhaps St. Francis PA.
The best player in my Parish back then was Hugh McMahon, who played on powerhouse Marquette teams for the late Al McGuire, though his minutes were quite limited, those teams were highly ranked. Hugh graduated before the NC for Al.
Isn't that the game where we went scoreless over an 18 minute stretch? WTF would a St. John's fan want to watch that again it was torture the first time!
The CCNY team that won the NCAA and NIT tournaments the same year were so good they could shave points and still win every game.
CCNY in 1950 was a very talented team who were not very good at shaving points and still managing to win the game They ended the regular season 17 and 5 losing games they were shaving points and couldnāt stay under the point spread and win.
Their best win was vs SJU who were number one at the time and an eight point favorite which was a big spread in 1950. CCNY wouldnāt shave points in that game, played well and beat SJU by two.
They wouldnāt shave points in in the point season games and won all seven games. They were fortunate to get bids to the post season because they were not in the top twenty five because of their blowing those games they were shaving points.
Their best win was vs SJU who were number one at the time and an eight point favorite which was a big spread in 1950. CCNY wouldnāt shave points in that game, played well and beat SJU by two.
They wouldnāt shave points in in the point season games and won all seven games. They were fortunate to get bids to the post season because they were not in the top twenty five because of their blowing those games they were shaving points.
As a youth, I saw Bruns (who was a college professor IIRC and would be called up to play due to injuries), Sonny Dove, Billy Schaeffer, Rick Barry and of course Billy Paultz all play for the NY Nets in the old ABA. John Roche (LaSalle Academy) too.
We did that many times during the Norm eraIsn't that the game where we went scoreless over an 18 minute stretch? WTF would a St. John's fan want to watch that again it was torture the first time!
Neither team could score and we became known as āThe Gang That Couldnāt Shoot Straightā. Oregon State was ranked No. 1 at that time and I wasnāt impressed (I was at the game at the Nassau Coliseum).Isn't that the game where we went scoreless over an 18 minute stretch? WTF would a St. John's fan want to watch that again it was torture the first time!
GeorgiaRed
Well-known member
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
BJM, gee whiz . I can only tap into my memory bank on 1950ās BB just so much before , it shuts down .
You are right of course about the teams mentioned but , LIU was a little too early for me to recall. CCNY also in that category .
Seton Hall , I only started remembering because of Walter Dukes , a legit 7 ā footer .
Richie Reagan too . Who later became their AD.
The Knicks had Ray Feiix, close to 7ā too , but only a inch shorter than Dukes .
Joe Lapchick was still Coaching the Knicks at that time .
I have a 50ās story about Louie but , Iām going to have to search my archives to get all the facts .
This game was dubbed āThe St.Valentines Day Massacre.ā
Treasure Coast Johnny
Well-known member
I was also at that game. My friends and I were sure we would win this one handily. One of the most disappointing losses Iāve witnessed.
Bruns, taught Math at NCCC for 50 years, coached McClancy baseball and BB, had a youth BB camp for a long time and Coached Manhasset BB did well everywhere he coached.