53 Years Ago Tonight! Original post

LS71 · Post by **LS71** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 9:35 pm

Bumping this one...it was 51 years ago tonight that UMass played Syracuse at the Cage. It was Julius Erving’s 21st birthday and it turned out to be his last home game.

As many of you know, dunking was not allowed then…even during warm ups (thanks to Lew Alcindor). If a player dunked during warm-ups a T was called.

On this night, Syracuse came to town with an All-American center by the name of Bill Smith. The game was on TV (channel 27 in Worcester), a rarity in those days. The Cage was packed early in anticipation of the big game.

Before the refs came out, Julius appeared at the south end of the Cage floor with two basketballs. He went from one end of the floor to the other and dunked BOTH balls. The place went wild. Syracuse and their center never had a chance. UMass won 86-71 and Julius got a double-double…36 point and 32 rebounds as UMass went to 20-3.

Still my favorite UMass basketball memory!

Happy 72nd birthday Julius Erving!!

tdmass · Post by **tdmass** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 9:41 pm

I was there! The greatest performance by one man I've ever seen!

sasso72 · Post by **sasso72** » Mon Feb 22, 2010 9:47 pm

I was at that game also. What a performance by Julius! There is something about watching a game when its so crowded you can't move. Those were the days and we were sure lucky to be able to see Julius put on his show for 3 years. That freshman team was fantastic.

Floyd · Post by **Floyd** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:19 am

32 rebounds in a game is absolutely crazy!

CrooksisRhyming · Post by **CrooksisRhyming** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:35 am

To put that in perspective, St. Louis, as a TEAM, had 30 rebounds against us on Sunday.

Chemical Ali · Post by **Chemical Ali** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:43 am

Tremendous image of the Cage frenzy and a great memory to share. Thanks!

Kosty · Post by **Kosty** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:10 am

Lew....not Lou. Just saying.

LS71 · Post by **LS71** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:26 am

Edit made...

Lew Alcindor and Lou Roe...got it!

bottom line · Post by **bottom line** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:48 am

I was watching the golf channel last night and Dr. J was playing with Charles Barkley; it was great to see Julius and it was even greater to see him wearing a UMass cap!

Quann · Post by **Quann** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:02 am

Not to make you guys feel old, but my dad was at the Cage that night in '71 as well! He's been telling me about Erving's 32 rebounds for as long as I can remember.

LS71 · Post by **LS71** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:26 am

FEEL old? Hell, I AM old...although I won't hit the big six-ohhhh for another three months...and I hope to get older!

Old Cage · Post by **Old Cage** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:32 am

Looks like we will end up with 62,500 people claiming they were jammed into the Cage that night.

tom mclaughlin · Post by **tom mclaughlin** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:55 am

It doesn't seem that long ago to me and that night was special. Syracuse was on the verge of not only being an Eastern power but a national power. It seemed as if Providence and Syracuse were the teams that believed they were better then us. Well on this night Julius showed everyone he was the best. To show you what kind of teammate Julius was he acted no different after this game and it was no big deal and the team made no big deal about it. Jack Leaman did a great job treating Julius no different then any of us. That was the secret of Jack - He absolutely had no favorites!
I was one of the guys who boxed out so Julius could go get the ball. That game we jumped all over them and they had an All-American Bill Smith who was 6'10" and an NBA prospect. Julius had to block at least 7 or 8 of his shots and as soon as Smith turned to shoot we'd take off running looking to get a breakaway layup Julius was sending the ball out towards half court. Jack never let us run except on a steal or block so this was fun.
The three things I remember most was when the entire packed cage sang Happy Birthday, when at timeouts the managers had to wipe off the court because the cage was so packed there was condensation on the floor and the last thing was the energy of the fans. Playing in the old cage was magical because the fans would energize you and you would play with your heart.
Trying to explain the feeling between the fans back then and now is extremely difficult. When you'd arrive at the Cage at 5:30 for a 7:30 game you would see thousands of students standing in line waiting to get in. You weren't every thinking about losing all you wanted to do was get on that floor and play. Those fans were unbelievable and playing in the Cage was the best feeling an athlete could ever have. The fans were behind us and we knew it- we were all one and we played for them and they made it special every night we took the floor to represent UMass. We loved to stick it to Syracuse, UConn, BC and Providence because they always thought they were better then us. We had a lot of fun beating them and the Cage became known as the place you didn't want to play at because the fans were right on top of you. It was special!!!

InnervisionsUMASS · Post by **InnervisionsUMASS** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:00 pm

I remember that game. I walked around the corner into the gym right as he dunked the balls. It was amazing. I've never experienced anything like it before..... hopefully again some day.

xlgman · Post by **xlgman** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:25 pm

Tom - the electric feeling and crazed fans you describe when you played in the Cage is exactly how I remember it. The difference is that I wasn't there during the Leaman era - I was there during the Cal years when we were battling Temple and running through the A10 in the early 90's. Peeling paint, long lines, the whole deal.

For those that were there for both eras, how did it compare?