50 YEARS AGO Paul Allen BA 63 I fell in love with Assumption University of Windsor in 1958 and again in 1959 when

I visited the campus as a 16 and then a 17 year old student/athlete. On another visit in 1960, at the urging of my Chatham Colleigate high school basketball coach Gene Dziadura who was a proud AUW grad, I knew Assumption University was the place for me. My enrollment at AUW was cemented in the summer of 1960 when my parents and I were hosted for a campus tour by then athletic director Dick Moriarty. I was soon to have a great respect and admiration for the likeable and hard-working Moriarty who was the face of Assumption for me. Now a member of the University of Windsor Hall of Fame, Moriarty led the way for the University of Windsors athletic growth and continued proud traditions for many years. In my teens, I saw the AUW Lancer basketball team play the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in St. Dennis Hall twice and I still cherish that experience. I fondly recall the intensity and prowess of Coach Hank Biassettis Lancer stars such as Dick Mackenzie, Jerry Kotwas, Jack Hool, Gene Rizak, Leo Innocente, Paul Valentine, and Fred Devriendt as they rushed out on the floor at St. Dennis Hall to the tune of Sweet Georgia Brown. The thunderous applause and energy of the crowd was electric and I was soon to enjoy the excitement of Lancer basketball in my three years at AUW. It was a great time to be in Windsor. Taking up residence in St. Michaels, I made friends with amongst others Bill Brown, PJ Casella and Mike Hayes from Rochester, New York and quickly learned of the St. Thomas Aquinas and Bishop McQuaid High School connections to Assumption. McQuaid was run by the Jesuits and Aquinas was the Basilian Orders school in Rochester. It was inevitable that Catholic students from Rochester would cross the border to the Basilians Assumption University in Windsor. I was soon to learn there was also a great connection between Sudbury St. Charles and Assumption. The Rochester boys had many funny anecdotes about the infamous Father Flood who who was my Professor of English15. Stories about his sense of humor were accurate and most in residence treasured Fr. Floods annual Christmas speech in the dining hall. Food was mostly good at the University but we, of the residences, did rebel against the serving of spare ribs in late 1960 by refusing to eat them. We punctuated the protest by having a food fight featuring flying ribs. The cafeteria staff got the message and we never had spare ribs again that year.

Although I should have spent more time in the Library, I regulalrly attended lectures mostly in Dillon Hall and they were great when you had Professors such as Fr. Boland, Dr. Rayson and the always interesting Fr. Flood. Things were great at Assumption and if wasnt going to a Lancer Basketball game, it was heading to the Grotto to dance the night away. Who in my undergraduate era of the 1960-63 could ever forget Ginny McHugh teaching us how to twist to the Chubby Checker hit or pleading for our lady cheerleaders to do the Cha Cha cheer at a Lancer basketball game? When some of the guys at Western (UWO) were having their trendy 1960s panty raids and getting expelled, the guys at Assumption were trying a more mature approach. At least at a distance, most of us admired with respect such Assumption beauties as Ginny McHugh, Liz Dettman, Martha Gosselin, Carolyn Walling, and Judy Stefanik. It wasnt all fun and games in the early 60s when October 22, 1962 came to the campus. It was a date most of us wont forget from those times. US President Jack Kennedy made a historic TV address announcing a blockade of Soviet ships to Cuba during what historians now call the Cuban Missile Crisis and residents of St. Michaels and the newly constructed Cody Hall sat together to watch the broadcast. It was a frightening time as two super powers squared off and teetered on the verge of a nuclear war. To our relief and that of the world, the Soviet Unions Premier Nikita Kruschev quickly backed down and JFK got nuclear missiles out of Cuba. We thought the world was safe and turned our attention to the next year which would feature a Canadian Championship basketball tournament to be hosted by Windsor. In 1963, student spirit soared before the first CIAU basketball tournament in Windsor when a GO AUW GO bed sheet appeared attached to the top of the Ambassador Bridge and a 48 hour basketball bouncing marathon was covered by the press and CKLW television. Excitement was at a high level with Windsor to host this first Canadian National Basketball tournament. Acadia University from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Loyola University of Montreal, and the University of British Columbia were to join the Lancers for the two day tournament beginning March 15th and 16th. After two easily forgotten preliminary games, the two best teams in Canada, Assumption University of Windsor Lancers and the Acadia University Axemen squared off to do battle for 40 minutes in the Championship game. Neither team was to yield or attempt to adapt to the others contrasting styles. The pressing, run and gun Lancers coached by Bob Samaras and the ball control and zone defense-minded Axemen coached by Stu Aberdeen was a historic and gigantic struggle for University basketball supremacy in Canada.

Even after 50 years of that breathtaking game, its still considered to be a classic. The two teams couldnt have been more different. The Lancers led the nation in scoring. The Axemen were national leaders in defense. The championship game set up nicely for the evening of March 16, 1963 Led by players Bob Horvath, Jack Kelly, Bill Brown, Joe Green, Bernie Friesmuth and a strong bench, the Lancers often scored over 100 points in their league games and Acadia, anchored by 6 10 foot Charlie Thomas in the middle of a 2-1-2 zone rarely allowed more than 40 points a game to their opponents. Helped by outstanding scorer Richie Speers and ball-handling backcourt whizz Dan Parrinnelli, Acadia was a formidable opponent. The Lancers however, prevailed in a nail biting struggle as they nipped the Axemen 5350 in front of a deliriously happy standing room St. Dennis Hall crowd of 2500. Trailing 52-50, Acadia stole the ball with only one second remaining in the game but a technical foul was called on Acadia coach Stu Aberdeen for having called too many timeouts. In a scene that could have been the climax of any basketball movie, Captain Jack Maverick Kelly stood at the free throw line without any rebounders on the lane and calmly sank the free throw to make it 53-50 and preserve the Lancer win. The 1963 Assumption University Lancers were the first Canadian Intercolleigate Basketball Champions and they hoisted the Fr. W. P. McGee trophy. I was there. I saw it from courtside at the PA announcers chair. It was the best seat in the house and the highlight of my three years at Assumption.