It's Aways Sunny In Athens, Ohio (Home of Ohio University)

My teammate/college roommate  Joe Barry, his Wife, Mary Lou, Our Good Friends From Ever 

With Inductees into the  Ohio University Basketball Hall of Fame,  Paul Storey and Jerry Jackson, Class of 1964

A 'Turkey Hall of Famer' with OU Hall of Famers, Mike Haley and Jerry Jackson

Up at 9:15, thus the late blog and I have to be over to the Ohio University Convocation Center in a half hour, for a tour of the locker room, pre game talk, then  our team being honored sometime during the game which starts at 1:00.  Just had breakfast with my teammates, telling more stories about how 'good' we were back in 1964 and as I said many times, 'we get better and better each year.'

We left yesterday morning around 9:00, picked up our good friend Virpi Buck in Painesville, then drove down to Ohio University, an easy drive getting there around 3:00.  We did drive around the campus a bit, totally unfamiliar because of its growth over the past 50 years (surprise), but I did see my old dormitory, also the hall where I worked in the kitchen for my board (all athletes has board jobs until my senior year), a trip down nostalgia lane.  Around 4:30, Evie and I  went for a walk, to clear our heads, toured the amazing student center, four floors, the tallest escalator in the state of Ohio, and walked by the spot where my old fraternity house, Phi Delta Theta, used to stand, now a grassy knoll. After we left in 1965, they actually moved the course of the Hocking River because of its flooding capabilities; it ruined our field house floor in 1964.  It buckled upwards of 3 feet when we returned from the NCAA.  Now the Student Center is built over the old river, amazing engineering. We returned to the Inn around 5:00, and Joe and Mary Lou Barry thought ahead enough to bring a few bottles of wine and cheese and crackers, so we sat in the lounge with other players, till around 6:00, a good way to start our celebration of the 1964 team.

West Green at Dusk,  Ohio University, the Harvard on the Hocking

Former Site Of Phi Delta Theta House, 'The Castle on the Hocking'

Main Street, Ohio University

Oho University Convocation Center

Just a word about the 1964 team.  Fifty years ago, we beat Louisville in overtime, to win our first game in the NCAA tournament; we qualified for the then 32 team tournament by winning the MAC.  We then flew to Minneapolis to play 3rd ranked Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp.  We beat them by 14 setting up our next game, and making  the final eight in the NCAA. the first time for a MAC team. Unfortunately, we lost to 2nd ranked Michigan by 11 points. All I remember from the game was trying to guard Pro NBAer Cazzie Russell at the end of the game, futilely trying to steal the ball from him.  If we had won, we would have been in the Final Four.  We still have the record for having gone the farthest in the NCAA by a Mid American Conference team.

Vi and Joanie, Bobcat Friends  For Over Fifty Years

Team Manager, Milt Plunkett and Wife, Jean, Enjoying the Gathering

We had a gathering for the team at 7:00 here at the Ohio University Inn, sponsored by the Bobcat Club, met the coach and other guys associated with the program, had a cash bar (cheap ) and 'heavy appetizers' which were not very heavy.  Evie ordered three pizzas, much to the appreciation of the team.  It's always good to see the 'old guys', a new one or two appear every two or three years, this time my freshmen buddy, Mike Haley, my first really good African American friend.  He's has had a tough life the past ten years with his health, but was a very successful Ohio high school coach in the 1980s, coaching four State of Ohio Championship teams.  The rest of us spent the night reminiscing about the good old days and my college roommate, Joe Barry, a college coach at rival Miami for twenty years, regaled us with stories from his coaching career; he obviously has that gift for telling a good story, so important in recruiting and being a good coach.  We stayed up till 1:00 talking, thus my late awakening.
This morning, I got Evie some Starbucks coffee from kiosk ten yards from or room, then went down and had breakfast with the team, all of whom were already up, looking chipper.

Time for a shower, then we head over for the tour and the game at 1:00 against rival Toledo.