THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280575
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 214 lines
So you say the Sweetpea Whitaker-Buddy McGirt fight Saturday night is the most important sports event ever held in South Hampton Roads?
A lot of folks would agree with you. Because the fight will decide a world boxing title, and because it is being televised by HBO, many contend that this is as big as it gets in these parts.
Unlike similar-sized areas such as Charlotte and Jacksonville, Fla., Hampton Roads doesn't have an impressive sports resume. No ACC tournament, men's Final Four, Gator Bowl or NFL. But that doesn't mean we are without a history of memorable sports events.
I grew up in Norfolk in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, when Hampton Roads had its own golden age of sports. A major league team called Norfolk home, big-time college football came to Foreman Field, Old Dominion played in the same basketball league as Syracuse and Georgetown, and high school football was a huge draw.
The Census Bureau says most of you weren't here to enjoy that golden age. Hampton Roads is a transient area, and many of you are newcomers. So here's is a quick history lesson. In one man's opinion, the 10 most memorable sports events we've hosted:
1. ABA All-Star Game: On Jan. 30, 1974, the best players in red-white-and-blue league came to Scope, as did CBS, which televised the game nationally. It was the only time the American Basketball Association brought its All-Star classic to Virginia.
Some of the biggest names of that time played - George McGinnis, Mel Daniels, Swen Nater, Julius Erving, Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore and George Gervin. Jim Eakins and Gervin represented the hometown Virginia Squires.
A sellout crowd of 10,624 cheered a 29-point, 22-rebound effort from Nater, who had been sold by the Squires to San Antonio earlier that season. The crowd booed lustily when Gilmore (18 points, 13 rebounds) was named the MVP.
The true crowd favorite might have been Wilt Chamberlain, who did color commentary for TV and was deluged with autograph seekers.
2. Opening of Harbor Park: The Norfolk Tides downed the Ottawa Lynx, 2-0, in front of 12,113 on April 14, 1992, but forget the score and remember the event - the opening of Harbor Park, the $16 million ball yard by the river that sparked an amazing baseball renaissance in Norfolk.
The Tides drew record crowds that first season, and fans poured into Harbor Park at an even faster clip this past summer. Norfolk averaged nearly 8,200 per game in 1994 to finish fifth in minor league baseball.
Harbor Park helped make the Tides hip in Hampton Roads.
3. Admirals win first ECHL title: Hampton Roads was a graveyard for minor league hockey until Blake Cullen brought the Admirals to Norfolk in 1989.
Poor attendance had doomed the Virginia Red Wings, Tidewater Sharks and Hampton Gulls. But the Admirals struck a chord with area fans in their first season. In their second, they won an East Coast Hockey League championship.
The title came with a victory over the hated Greensboro Monarchs at Scope on April 11, 1991. A crowd of 8,609 screamed with joy as the Admirals beat the Monarchs, 6-3, to win the best-of-seven series, 4-1.
The Admirals, including co-MVPs Dave Flanagan and Dave Gagnon, took turns hoisting the Jack Riley Cup above their heads for their victory laps around Scope.
All of Hampton Roads cheered not only a championship, but the the end of the area's reputation as a hockey wasteland.
4. NCAA Women's Final Four: Yes, the biggest event in women's college basketball came to Scope in 1982. Not only was this the Final Four, it was the first NCAA women's Final Four. Previous tournaments had been sanctioned by the AIAW.
The championship game didn't quite sell out - the announced gate of 9,531 was just short of the capacity of 9,600 - but at the time the crowd was considered a major success story. CBS, which televised the championship game, extolled the virtues of women's basketball fans in Hampton Roads.
Louisiana Tech defeated Cheyney State, 76-62, in the final. A year later, Cheryl Miller and Southern California came to Norfolk and defeated Louisiana Tech for the second NCAA title.
5. Squires battle Nets: The Virginia Squires' short life in Hampton Roads is a sad tale.
Earl Foreman brought us our first and only major sports franchise, one the fans never truly appreciated. He then gutted the team by holding a fire sale. He sold Erving, Nater, Gervin, Charlie Scott, Dave Bing and Rick Barry to pay the team's bills, then sold the club to a local group and left town. In their final two seasons, the Squires set records for losing, and drew meager crowds.
But there were good times and fond memories, including the 1970-71 season, when the Squires won the Eastern Division regular-season title. The most memorable game may have come a year later, when a sellout crowd of 10,410 watched the Squires and the New York Nets meet for the Eastern Division playoff title.
Never have I heard the decibel level at Scope at such a fever pitch. The crowd stood throughout, as Eakins, George Irvine and Doug Moe battled the more talented Nets.
Dr. J. was a one-man show, scoring 35 points and pulling down 20 rebounds. But coach Lou Carnesecca's team got 27 points from Rick Barry and a powerful inside game from Billy Paultz (18 points, 24 rebounds) to win, 94-88.
The next season the Squires struggled to finish 42-42. Shortly thereafter, Erving was sold to the Nets. The slide had begun.
6. 1962 Oyster Bowl: In its early years, the Oyster Bowl hosted some of the nation's top teams.
Ernie Davis and Syracuse, ranked No. 12 at the time, came to town and defeated Navy en route to the 1959 national championship. A year earlier, a crowd of 32,168, then the largest to see a football game in Virginia, saw Tulane hand Navy its first loss, 14-0, as Richie Petitbon scored twice. That's the same Petitbon who coached the Washington Redskins last season.
Every current member of the ACC, except Florida State, has played in the Oyster Bowl, as has Georgia, Virginia Tech and South Carolina.
But the most memorable game may have come in 1962, when Roger Staubach quarterbacked Navy past Pitt, 32-9, in front of 32,000.
It was in this game the ``sleeper'' play was born. Navy wide receiver Jim Stewart feigned an injury and limped toward the sideline but stopped before going out of bounds. Staubach then threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Stewart that ignited a national controversy.
The play made the front pages of newspapers nationwide. Many criticized Navy coach Wayne Hardin for ``cheating.'' The NCAA banned the sleeper play at its next meeting.
The Associated Press designated Staubach's sleeper pass the most unusual play of the season.
7. Old Dominion upsets Syracuse: Most of Old Dominion's significant basketball victories have come on the road. The women won three national championship games away from Norfolk. The men won the Division II national title and, after moving into Division I, upset top-ranked DePaul, Georgetown and Virginia, all on the road.
But in 1980, the Monarchs finally did it for the home folks. The ODU men upset third-ranked Syracuse in a game televised regionally by CBS and witnessed by 7,900.
Bobby Vaughan hit a short jumper at the buzzer as ODU rallied from a 13-point deficit in the last five minutes to defeat the previously unbeaten Orangemen, 68-67. Because the game had run long and other regional contests had ended early, the final four minutes were seen on national TV.
Jim Boeheim never brought his Syracuse team back to Norfolk. Little wonder.
8. Lou Gehrig gets beaned: It was just an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Norfolk Tars, the Yanks' farm club. The 1934 game was considered so routine that New York sports writers all stayed home.
They missed a towering home run by Babe Ruth that may have been the longest hit in Hampton Roads. They also missed one of the biggest news events of the season when Ray White, a Norfolk pitcher, beaned Lou Gehrig.
Gehrig was rushed to the hospital. It was at first thought that he was seriously injured and that the Iron Man of baseball would see his streak of consecutive games broken.
The story was on the front page of most, if not all, newspapers in America.
The next day, however, Gehrig played in Washington against the Senators and had three triples. But this wasn't his lucky week. That remarkable performance was erased when the game was rained out.
9. The 1966 Maury-Granby football game: A high school football game in the top 10? Yep, and there are many more that could make the top 10. Prep football was as big here as anywhere in the '40s, '50s and '60s. Maury-Granby and Norview-Great Bridge on Thanksgiving Day were staples. Norcom-Booker T. Washington and Wilson-Great Bridge were other rivalries that often sold out and produced classic confrontations. The first Oyster Bowl, matching Granby and Clifton High of New Jersey on Pearl Harbor Day in 1946, drew 21,000.
But Granby-Maury in 1966 was the last high school game to fill Foreman Field and was one of the best games I ever saw. Both teams were 9-0, and the winner was guaranteed a shot at Andrew Lewis of Salem for the state championship.
Granby won, 14-7, before a paid crowd of 17,000. The actual gate was well in excess of the stadium's 26,500-seat capacity. All seats were full, and people were sitting in the aisles and standing everywhere they could find a few spare inches.
Fortunately, no fire marshals were in sight, so my father, brothers and I were able to squeeze in next to some friends on the cold cement on the stadium's east side. We watched in awe as 5-foot-5, 145-pound quarterback Junior Montoya tossed touchdown passes to Bob Canepari and Dale Carlson, and withstood a brutal beating from Maury's defense.
A week later, Granby won the state championship on statewide television.
Like I said, times were different.
10. Neps beat Orlando: You've never heard of the Norfolk Neptunes football team? Suffice it to say that of the sports teams to call Hampton Roads home since the 1950s, only the Admirals attracted a following that rivals the loyal legions that followed the Neps.
Even the cheerleaders were glamorous. Debbie Shelton and Ann Romeo later went to Hollywood to become successful actresses.
The Neptunes led minor league football in attendance throughout their short but happy existence and averaged nearly 15,000 per game in 1967. The highlight of that season came on Oct. 29, when a record crowd of 20,334 poured into Foreman Field to see Norfolk upend the Orlando Panthers, 35-31.
Dan Henning, now the head coach at Boston College, completed 14 passes for 276 yards for the Neps, outdueling former Penn State star Don Jonas, then considered the best quarterback this side of the NFL and AFL. A last-minute interception by Joe Hightower sealed the victory over the defending Continental Football League champions.
It was the high-water mark for a team that drew well in three leagues, then folded when it ran out of leagues in which to play. ILLUSTRATION: FILE
Hall of Famer Julius Erving led the Virginia Squires to the 1972 ABA
Eastern Division final. When the team began to struggle financially,
he was traded to the New York Nets.
THE BIG TEN
One person's list of the 10 most memorable sports events in
Hampton Roads history:
1 ABA All-Star Game, 1974
2 Opening of Harbor Park, 1993
3 Admirals first ECHL title, 1991
4 NCAA Women's Final Four, 1982
5 Squires vs. Nets, ABA playoffs, 1972
6 Navy vs. Pitt, Oyster Bowl, 1962
7 ODU upsets Syracuse, 1980
8 Lou Gehrig gets beaned, 1934
9 Maury vs. Granby football, 1966
10 Neptunes beat Orlando, 1967
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff file
Harry Mews celebrated after scoring a goal in the Admirals'
clinching victory in the 1991 Jack Riley Cup final.
BILL ABOURJILIE/Staff file
In the '60s, the Neptunes led minor league football in attendance,
drawing as many as 20,000.
by CNB