Give Another Hoya!

By John Gearan '65

Being a giant-killer is a role Holy Cross plays with relish on the stage of college sports. But the Crusaders are learning that they are wielding a dangerous two-edged sword.

If the Crusaders are too upsetting, there is a risk of upstaging the giant egos who prance about the modern world of athletic theatrics. And that ain’t always a good thing.

The Cowardly Lion, you see, is supposed to display only a fake roar and no bite.

In recent times, however, it seems as if Holy Cross is scaring folks such as mighty Boston College, formerly known as “The Archrival.”

When the audacious Crusaders shocked Minnesota in the NCAA hockey tournament, the College’s reputation as an untrustworthy, scene-stealing character only grew.

The powerhouses would much prefer schools such as Holy Cross merely to show up for games and sacrifice themselves on the altar of big-time entertainment.

Apparently the Crusaders and their ilk are arriving all too often ready to do battle—intent on gaining the applause of audiences. Witness the 11,000 Fighting Sioux fans screaming murderously in Grand Forks, N.D., urging the Crusaders on against hated Minnesota.

Following that miracle, we discovered that Boston College coach Al Skinner quakes in his sneakers at just the thought of playing Ralph Willard’s Crusaders. Who would have thunk it? Boston College is afraid of playing Holy Cross! Indeed BC has dropped HC in hoops.

Skinner claims that he worried about his Eagles getting roughed up by our chippy Crusaders, even asserting that the referees had not been protecting his blue-chippers against “less talented players.” Mind you, this is basketball played in short pants and T-shirts. This is not anything like deciding to end The Rivalry (1896-1986) in football where the Jesuit-run institutions of higher learning were clearly heading in opposite directions.

In short, the Eagles are too chicken to compete against the Crusaders in basketball. What, in Colonel Sanders’ name, is going on here?

I’ll tell you. It’s not about Skinner fretting about his beastie boys getting beat up by the scholar-athletes from Mount St. James. It’s all about Skinner being concerned that he’ll be outwitted and unmasked by the superior coaching and smarter strategy of Willard the Wizard.

Skinner, with a hefty contract, just doesn’t want to be embarrassed on the way to the bank.

Simply put, although the Eagles had won 14 of their last 15 men’s basketball games against the Crusaders, the encounters were too close for comfort. Two years ago, the Crusaders pushed BC into overtime before losing. Willard relishes the challenge of playing BC, a recruiting talking-point. Dick Regan ’76, the College’s director of athletics, is sorely disappointed at the loss of an important traditional rival from the schedule. BC’s AD, Gene DeFilippo, scion of a Holy Cross hero, caved in to Skinner’s success while giving lip-service to the notion BC and HC will meet again sometime in the future.

BC, like many others, tries to tailor its schedule for success and the riches to be found in the Land of March Madness. Television loves time-filling and ad-attracting sports and, ergo, enriches colleges and coaches to provide such cheap entertainment. That golden-brick path is leading to the corruption of the true competitive college spirit, among other things.

So the exclamation point has been drawn. Holy Cross, in its role as underdog, must keep its place or else. Which is sad because Holy Cross rather enjoys being a small, feisty and always-dangerous foe. Our history tells us so. We can recite a litany of Crusader shockers before the gonging of the Golden Gophers in March. (Feel free to send accounts of your favorite upsets to Gearan@aol.com)

Arguably the biggest upset in college football came on Nov. 28, 1942, when 4-4-1 Holy Cross croaked Sugar Bowl-bound BC, 55-12. Coming into the game, BC had thrashed its foes by a cumulative score of 249-19 and had yielded an average of 29 yards a game. The epic conquest in Fenway Park lost its glee when the monstrous Cocoanut Grove fire took 491 lives that night.

Since then, the seasons have been peppered with delicious upsets. Led by Jon Morris ’64, Jim Marcellino ’65 and diminutive Franny Coughlin ’65, the College surprised the 1963 Eagles team and its superstar, Jack Concannon. 
On Nov. 19, 1977, the 1-9 Crusaders stunned BC at home, 35-20, behind half-pint quarterback Peter Colombo ’79 and ruffian running back Steve Hunt ’78. Holy Cross had lost in the previous fall’s contest, 59-6. Now that’s a turnaround.

Holy Cross shook the gridiron nation with one-point victories over the Syracuse juggernauts in 1957 and 1958, the Orange’s only losses in those two seasons.       

Even when Holy Cross won NCAA championships in basketball (1947) and baseball (1952) they were substantial darkhorses. Yet the Crusaders ran the table in 1947 with George Kaftan ’49, Bob Cousy ’50, Bob Curran ’48, Frank Oftring ’50 and company against Navy, City College of New York and highly touted Oklahoma. And Jack Barry’s hardball Crusaders won seven games in six days, playing in 100-degree heat in Omaha while never using a substitute or relief pitcher. Holy Cross posted a victory over Texas (the ’49 and ’50 NCAA champs), and two more against Missouri to become the first team east of the Mississippi to wear the national baseball crown.

One of the College’s most renowned performances was a “moral victory“ on New Year’s Day in 1946—a game regarded as the greatest Orange Bowl ever played. With seconds left, trying to break a 6-all tie against Miami, Gene DeFilippo ’49 lofted a desperation pass that was tipped by lunging receiver Bob Conway ’49 into the arms of a sprint-champion named Al Hudson—a Hurricane who blew 89 yards up the sideline, crossing the goal for the startling triumph with no time left.

Scaring giants is another College specialty. Recall Willard’s guys throwing a fright into Kentucky, Kansas and Marquette in three NCAA appearances that will forever reside as W’s in the hearts of Purple partisans.

The list of Crusader stunners goes on and on. From Doc Anderson’s first-season 3-0 upset over football power Colgate in 1935 to George Blaney’s hoopsters knocking off sixth-ranked Cincinnati during the Rainbow Classic in 1975. From Billy Gibbons’ women tripping Maryland in the 1991 NCAA tourney opener in the Hart Center to Togo Palazzi ’54, Ron Perry ’54 and their mates beating LSU and Bob Pettit in the Sugar Bowl—and later capturing the 1954 NIT—to 1-AA HC beating Division 1 Army back-to-back at West Point in 1986 and 1987.

But, alas, upsetting the high and mighty seems no longer fashionable. Yet proudly the Crusaders can continue to say that they are not chicken to play anyone, anytime, anywhere.

John W. Gearan '65, was an award-winning reporter and columnist at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette for 36 years. He resides in Woonsocket, R.I., with his wife, Karen Maguire, and their daughter, Molly.