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I was there at the Garden along with a large contingent of Holy Cross students, cheering and jumping to my feet as the Crusaders closed in on victory. When the final horn sounded, most of us rushed the floor to be in on the presentation of the championship trophy. I never made it to the floor, but we did have a victory party at my mother's apartment in Queens, with most of the team showing up. I did, however, pay a stiff price for my participation in the victory in New York. A week earlier, I had been restricted to campus for being out of my dormitory after the regular 7 p.m. curfew. I asked tough Rev. John Deevy, S.J., dean of discipline, for a postponement of the penalty — citing the fact that I was the basketball reporter for the school paper and should be in on the NCAA tournament doings. He refused on the grounds that I had a record of previous infractions. I went anyway. And, on my return, I was summoned to "Blackjack" Deevey's office, threatened with expulsion for my wrongdoing, and slapped with a two week restriction to my room — allowed out only for meals and classes. The expulsion threat was later rescinded following the intercession of the sympathetic Jesuit, "Big Jim" FitzGerald, an enthusiastic sports fan who could recite the records of just about any important Crusader victory. And fortunately for me, he liked my reporting in The Tomahawk.
After the heady triumph of 1946-47, there were great expectations for the National Champion Crusaders. They had basically the same team, but with the significant plus of Cousy, who, with a year of experience under his belt, was ready to take charge.
The 1947-48 team racked up a record of 26-4, including 20 straight before charging into Madison Square Garden in March 1948 as the defending NCAA Champions. But in their path was an impending dynasty — the Kentucky Wildcats, coached by the legendary Adoph Rupp.
The Crusaders, with Cousy driving the lanes and Mullaney shooting from outside, took care of their first opponent, Michigan, 63-45, then stood face to face with mighty Kentucky, which held a significant height advantage. It turned out to be an epic struggle. Despite its height disadvantage, Holy Cross stayed in the game until late in the fourth quarter when 6-foot-7-inch Alex Groza overpowered his gallant, but much shorter counterpart, the 6-foot-3-inch Kaftan. Kentucky pulled out a 60-52 victory. The Crusaders gained some solace by finishing in third place in the tournament. Looking back, it was a marvelous run for a small college team. A national championship and a third-place finish, with victories against some of the top teams in the nation over a two-year period.
The years rushed by, but there was one more moment of glory. Holy Cross invited its national champions to return for a 50th-anniversary celebration in 1997. The New York Times covered the event and quoted Bollinger about the return to Worcester after the 1947 Championship game:
"There was a parade with 20,000 people to greet us," he recalled. "Later, there was a reception for the team during which we received $200 gift certificates and other gifts. They could do that in those days. But then, the next day, everyone was back in class. After all, Holy Cross was a very strict Jesuit school."
I had the honor of being there to celebrate with my heroes of 1946-47. I wrote the following in a memoir published in the newsletter of the Class of 1948: In the hotel lobby after the game, were Kaftan and Mullaney. Doing what? Talking basketball just as they did 50 years ago. I joined them and the years fell away as we talked about the trips and the games and victories and the defeats, and the same thread kept winding through all of it — we were young, we were having fun, we loved the game and we were good at it. We were the best.
The boys of 1946-47 are old and gray now and many of them — Mullaney, Oftring, McMullan, Curran, Riley and Graver — have gone on to a better place. But they have left memories that will never die. Memories of a bygone day when young men engaged in a game they loved and, for one magical season, played it better than anyone else.
So, a salute and a "high five" to: Joe, George, Dermie, Ken, Cooz, Bob, Bobby, Frank, Andy, Matt, Charlie, Charlie and Jim.
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