Post by rainman on Dec 9, 2007 10:24:37 GMT -5
Schaus reunion special for all involved
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— It wasn’t surprising that those who played basketball during the Golden Era of the 1950s thoughtfully got together this weekend to pay tall tribute to Fred Schaus, who was their head coach.
Of the 30 still living, 19 participated in the two-day reunion at the Waterfront Place Hotel. Then they attended Saturday night’s Duquesne-West Virginia men’s basketball game at the Coliseum.
That’s certainly remarkable. Like Schaus, some aren’t in the best of health. Yet they took time to travel to Morgantown and break bread with Fred and Barbara, his lovely wife.
Paul Witting, Pete White and Ron LaNeve organized the reunion for surviving members of the 1955-1960 teams. Those combined for a six-year record of 146-37, still the best in WVU history.
What’s more, the Mountaineers won six Southern Conference championships, played in six consecutive NCAA tournaments, and finished as national runners-up in 1959, losing to California in a 71-70 heartbreaking final.
The records were: 19-11, 21-9, 25-5, 26-2, 29-5, and 26-5. In the process, those teams set an NCAA record with 44 consecutive victories in Southern Conference competition.
In 1957-58, the legendary Jerry West’s sophomore season, West Virginia finished No. 1 in the nation. The team was upset by Manhattan 89-84 in the first round of the NCAA tourney, but there was no postseason poll during that period.
To a guy in his 61st year on the WVU sports beat, that six-season stretch sticks out as perhaps the most enjoyable. He was permitted to travel with those teams on planes, trains and buses (at his newspaper’s expense, of course).
As a result, I probably became closer to those football, basketball and baseball players of that era than to many of the others that followed. But even the youngsters of today certainly are cooperative when it comes to interviewing.
Back to the weekend reunion:
This was special. It not only involved some of the university’s most highly successful student-athletes, but also a gentleman who served the institution in distinguished fashion as an All-America player, winningest-ever coach, and tight-fisted athletic director by necessity.
It was Fred Schaus who took over direction of the athletic department on Sept. 1, 1981 when it was in the red, financially, and he retired on June 30, 1989 after putting the overall program in the black.
He hardly made any friends along the way doing what needed to be done during a critical period.
A hearty welcome to those outstanding players from long ago and a tip of the cap for honoring their old coach and — in person — giving him the respect and credit he so richly deserves.
o o o o o o
Running late on what to get for the Mountaineer sports fan in your family?
You might consider Norman Julian’s history of WVU basketball entitled Legends.
It profiles the coaches, All-Americas and great games from the Dyke Raese 1942 NIT championship era into Gale Catlett’s reign.
“A ‘must read’ for every Mountaineer basketball fan,” said none other than Jerry West.
Fred Schaus was impressed with the accuracy.
“It was fun for me to relive some of my fondest memories,” he said.
Legends can be ordered by sending $19 to Trillium Publishing, 454 Kensington Ave., Star City, WV 26505. You may read more about the book at www.normanjulian.com.
Proceeds from the book help the Legends of WVU Basketball athletic scholarship endowments.
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— It wasn’t surprising that those who played basketball during the Golden Era of the 1950s thoughtfully got together this weekend to pay tall tribute to Fred Schaus, who was their head coach.
Of the 30 still living, 19 participated in the two-day reunion at the Waterfront Place Hotel. Then they attended Saturday night’s Duquesne-West Virginia men’s basketball game at the Coliseum.
That’s certainly remarkable. Like Schaus, some aren’t in the best of health. Yet they took time to travel to Morgantown and break bread with Fred and Barbara, his lovely wife.
Paul Witting, Pete White and Ron LaNeve organized the reunion for surviving members of the 1955-1960 teams. Those combined for a six-year record of 146-37, still the best in WVU history.
What’s more, the Mountaineers won six Southern Conference championships, played in six consecutive NCAA tournaments, and finished as national runners-up in 1959, losing to California in a 71-70 heartbreaking final.
The records were: 19-11, 21-9, 25-5, 26-2, 29-5, and 26-5. In the process, those teams set an NCAA record with 44 consecutive victories in Southern Conference competition.
In 1957-58, the legendary Jerry West’s sophomore season, West Virginia finished No. 1 in the nation. The team was upset by Manhattan 89-84 in the first round of the NCAA tourney, but there was no postseason poll during that period.
To a guy in his 61st year on the WVU sports beat, that six-season stretch sticks out as perhaps the most enjoyable. He was permitted to travel with those teams on planes, trains and buses (at his newspaper’s expense, of course).
As a result, I probably became closer to those football, basketball and baseball players of that era than to many of the others that followed. But even the youngsters of today certainly are cooperative when it comes to interviewing.
Back to the weekend reunion:
This was special. It not only involved some of the university’s most highly successful student-athletes, but also a gentleman who served the institution in distinguished fashion as an All-America player, winningest-ever coach, and tight-fisted athletic director by necessity.
It was Fred Schaus who took over direction of the athletic department on Sept. 1, 1981 when it was in the red, financially, and he retired on June 30, 1989 after putting the overall program in the black.
He hardly made any friends along the way doing what needed to be done during a critical period.
A hearty welcome to those outstanding players from long ago and a tip of the cap for honoring their old coach and — in person — giving him the respect and credit he so richly deserves.
o o o o o o
Running late on what to get for the Mountaineer sports fan in your family?
You might consider Norman Julian’s history of WVU basketball entitled Legends.
It profiles the coaches, All-Americas and great games from the Dyke Raese 1942 NIT championship era into Gale Catlett’s reign.
“A ‘must read’ for every Mountaineer basketball fan,” said none other than Jerry West.
Fred Schaus was impressed with the accuracy.
“It was fun for me to relive some of my fondest memories,” he said.
Legends can be ordered by sending $19 to Trillium Publishing, 454 Kensington Ave., Star City, WV 26505. You may read more about the book at www.normanjulian.com.
Proceeds from the book help the Legends of WVU Basketball athletic scholarship endowments.
