THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 5, 1994 TAG: 9412050149
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
When the 1968-69 Elizabeth City State University men's basketball team lost its first three exhibition games, nobody figured that those young men would stand 25 years later to be recognized as the best team the school ever had.
It happened Saturday night in Elizabeth City. Twenty-five years ago, the first man walked on the moon, Woodstock entertained a generation and Elizabeth City State University won the CIAA basketball championship. Participants in the other two events had reunions this past year, so it was high time that Elizabeth City's greatest basketball team got back together.
The 1968-69 team, led by former pro Mike Gale and legendary coach R.L. ``Bobby'' Vaughan, reunited this past weekend for a banquet, a round of golf and to recall memories of the Cinderella season.
The players and coaches were recognized Saturday night between games of the ECSU Tip-Off Basketball Tournament. The players will be mailed their championship rings, which they never received 25 years ago. But they will surely cherish the memories more than the rings.
The 1968-69 team, which wonthe CIAA regular-season and tournament championships and the NAIA District 29 title, and reached the final four of the NAIA championships, was an unlikely winner.
``We lost our center, Oscar Smith, who was 6-8, for the season,'' Vaughan recalled. ``I was talking to Johnny McClendon (another legendary coach) that summer and he said, `Why are you walking down the floor when you have short players?' So we ran and ran and ran. Part of our philosophy was that we were a failure if we had to run the pattern.''
The turnaround from three straight preseason losses was apparent in the first regular-season game. The Vikings traveled to Charleston, S.C., to play in a tip-off tournament and trounced the College of Charleston, 125-64. Eight players scored in double figures, as the Vikings scored 77 points in the second half.
It was not uncommon the rest of the year for the team to score 90 to 100 points, particularly during the team's 18-game winning streak.
Nat Heyward, who also played at the College of The Albemarle, said nobody knew what the Vikings were capable of.
``We didn't know at the beginning of the season, because in the CIAA any team could win on any given night,'' he said.
Lenny Carmichael, who was a 20-year-old freshman on the team, said the 1968-69 squad was an unselfish team.
``We all made each other better people. We didn't care who played on the court - all we wanted to do was win. Eight different people led the team in scoring at one time or another.
``Coach Vaughan and coach (Alvin) Kelley kept our heads in focus all season,'' he added.
Gale, who flew in from San Antonio for the event, said he felt when the season started that the Vikings would be good.
``I thought we had just a pretty good team because we lost all of our exhibition games,'' he said. ``But we played together with a lot of unity and a lot of determination.''
As Saturday night wore on, stories about the season were recalled by players and coaches. Vaughan said CIAA nemesis Winston-Salem State, whom the Vikings beat once during the season, had a surprise waiting for them when they came to Winston-Salem.
``They knew we had a running game, so (Winston-Salem coach) Bighouse Gaines had them starch the nets so the ball would get stuck, and the lights were out around our basket. Those hometown refs wouldn't do a thing. One of the players said at halftime, `Don't worry, we've got the good basket in the second half.' But Bighouse had them switch the nets at the half and fix the lights under their basket,'' Vaughan chuckled. The Vikings lost.
Gale said the Vikings' running game served him well when he was drafted by the American Basketball Association's Kentucky Colonels. ``We had a running game, and I was used to that because we played like that here. It's a better game for me,'' he said.
As the players gathered before the ceremony in the hospitality room of the Vaughan Center, a building named after Bobby Vaughan, Gale said, ``I haven't seen these guys in a long time. I wasn't going to miss this for the world.'' by CNB