Carlos Boozer
Memory Lane
- Thread starter SLYFOXX1968
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I have never heard Dr. J connection to St. John’s which of course doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.
The story (repeated hundreds of times) that I know is when a young Julius Irving was contemplating leaving UMass early and playing professionally, the Nets who were coached by Lou Carnesecca had a shot at taking him as the ABA had a hardship rule (the NBA at that time did not) that would allow players to leave college early. The Nets could have signed Erving but Coach Carnesecca advised Erving to stay in school. Erving wound up signing with the Virginia Squires.
Gary Payton
aka The Glove
GeorgiaRed
Well-known member
I remember Len Elmore saying he was interested as well.
Dr J was in Lou’s office but a coach of his had a connection with the UMass head coach and helped steer him there along with wanted to go away to school. He lived Lou and we were indeed right there with him.
Bob Cousy: He wanted to transfer back home after battling with his coach at Holy Cross but Joe Lapchick advised him to stick it out.
THIS is the actual letter that Cousy published in his autobiography.
“Dear Bob,
You're not in college primarily to play basketball, but to get an education, and you're getting a very good one at Holy Cross. If you should transfer to St. John's you wouldn't be gaining anything in that respect.
Your coach at Holy Cross, Doggie Julian, is one of the finest basketball coaches in America, and someday you'll be proud you've played for him. He doesn't want to hurt you and isn't doing so deliberately. I know he is depending heavily on you in future years, and would be very much upset if he knew how you felt.
Aside from everything else, transferring from one college to another is at best a risky move. You don't know if you're going out of the frying pan into the fire. And college rules dictate that you must wait a year before being eligible for varsity competition. This would hardly make it worthwhile for you.
Be patient. You're only a freshman. Your turn will come. Stay at Holy Cross. You'll never regret it.
Sincerely,
Joe Lapchick."
I had to look up Doggie Julian. He was a football Coach and Basketball Coach. Very interesting.
Doggie Julian - Wikipedia
I focused on the part of the letter following, getting an education and 'you're getting a very good one': If you transfer to St. Jon's you wouldn't be gaining anything in that respect."
This makes me respect Lapchick because he is looking out for the player's education and no knock on St. John's but Holy Cross and its Jesuit education is superior for sure. Lapchick knew it. Even today, Acceptance rate: SJU: 85% HC: 21%
Yeah but it's in Worcester. I spent my early years in Worcester. It's a nice place to be from.
But I def get the message Joe was sending. If you haven't read Gus Alfieri's book about Coach you should, great read.
fan since 65
Well-known member
To be fair though, he said he wouldn't be "gaining" anything if he transferred. And SJU as a Vincentian school and a Jesuit school like HC have different missions.
Jesuit mission: Faith, justice and solidarity with the poor and the excluded are central elements of the Jesuit mission of reconciliation.
Service to others and HC highly encourages and has a very high % of students who graduate and give one year of service called the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. serving underrepresented and underprivileged communities.
Vincentian mission: to empower students to promote the inherent human dignity of all people, especially marginalized communities, by educating students to cultivate relationships rooted in service, faith and justice.
Pretty similar.
I recently re-read Gus's book, Lapchick is a hero of mine.Yeah but it's in Worcester. I spent my early years in Worcester. It's a nice place to be from.
But I def get the message Joe was sending. If you haven't read Gus Alfieri's book about Coach you should, great read.
What he did early on standing up for the rights of African Americans was tremendous and the story about someone hanging a noose outside his home is truly awful.
The statue outside CA is well-deserved and was long overdue.
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Yes , it is similar ..After all , both Orders are Catholic first , philosophy second .
I think St John’s , from its infancy in 1870 felt its Mission was to educate as many Students as possible . Hence , the School having nearly 20,000 Students at one time and being the largest Catholic Univ in the US .
Since displaced by another Vincentian School, DePaul.
Jesuit Schools have always had higher standards of Admission and , are quite a bit smaller . I doubt Holy Cross has 5,000 Students .
Even Fordham has a smaller Student population .
Jesuit schools in Amerca have quite a few Colleges in the US News top 100 . No Vincentian Colleges .
Like other have mentioned . The Orders have different objectives .
ND , Villanova aren’t Jesuit schools but , are in top 100.
Again , much smaller Student population . ND might have 10,000 Students . Villanova about the same . Creighton , Marquette also Jesuit Colleges in BE .
RedmanMike
Well-known member
This is correct. Dr. J wrote about it extensively in his autobiography. He loved Lou and even mentioned that Lou had Willis Reed reach out to him and make a personal pitch for SJU. Apparently, Willis picked him up one day and he and Julius spent the day together driving around the city and talking hoops.
I don’t know how close SJU came to getting Tom Gola but in his autobioraphy Gola wrote that he considered La Salle where he ended up along with NC State and SJU as his final three Golas name won’t get much of a reaction nowadays but if ended up at SJU he would be considered their greatest player of all time.
Gola graduated in 1951 when SJU was at its peak. He wanted to play in MSG but in Feb 51 the college point shaving scandal broke and MSG became the arena to avoid so any chance SJU had went out the window. Goal went from La Salle high school to La Salle college which was a much bigger name in college basketball then than now
He led La Salle to the NIT championship as a freshman winning the MVP and to the NCAA championship as a jr winning the MVP and lost in the NCAA final to Bill Russell as a sr.He was a four time all American and player of the year twice I have never read anybody from SJU say how close they were but the scandal would have killed any chance they had.
Gola graduated in 1951 when SJU was at its peak. He wanted to play in MSG but in Feb 51 the college point shaving scandal broke and MSG became the arena to avoid so any chance SJU had went out the window. Goal went from La Salle high school to La Salle college which was a much bigger name in college basketball then than now
He led La Salle to the NIT championship as a freshman winning the MVP and to the NCAA championship as a jr winning the MVP and lost in the NCAA final to Bill Russell as a sr.He was a four time all American and player of the year twice I have never read anybody from SJU say how close they were but the scandal would have killed any chance they had.
An interesting tidbit I learned the other day...the Knicks drafted the first non-white player in 1947, Waturo Misada, when Lapchick was their coach.
Lapchick was the one to bring Sweatwater Clifton to the Knicks.
First Knick African American.
Lapchick also refused to stay at a hotel down south becase they would not let one of his black players stay in the same hotel.
When the old Celtics barnstormed with the New York Rens, a black team, Lapchick and Tarzan Cooper would embrace before every game.