The ‘Zoo’

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1966 Sub Turri photo

On this date, 52 years ago, BC played St. Joseph’s in basketball. St. Joe’s was in its heyday, at last one of them, in those years, and was ranked #8 in the country. The Hawks came into Roberts Center with a 10-4 record to meet the Eagles, then 9-4. According to the account in the Boston Globe, St. Joe’s pulled away in the second half to beat the Eagles, 107-89.

The Heights printed its first issue that February on the 11th. As was its wont, the sports section focused more on games coming up, less so on what had happened previously. There were brief articles about the basketball wins over Holy Cross and UMass that had taken place within the week before, but nothing about the two games, both losses, before that with St. Joe’s and #6 Providence.

Nothing in the sports section about the St. Joe’s game per se, but a lot in the overall issue of the paper about what went on at the game. Those in attendance — “a capacity audience,” according to the Globe — and a national television audience were introduced to the “Class of ’68 Zoo.” Think of a coarse, vulgar, perhaps inebriated relative showing up at a family gathering, and that’s kinda how the Zoo was described in The Heights . . . and many more times than once.

Page 1 — “Campus Groups Censure St. Joe’s Game Crudity”
Page 3 — “Cousy Calls B-ball Incident Tasteless, Isolated Action”
Page 6 — The lead editorial “Student Banners — A Proposal,” as well as letters and a cartoon
Page 9 — Letters to the editor from two former Heights sports editors — Hank Steadman and Moke Pados

Coach Bob Cousy

When an icon like Bob Cousy calls you out, that’s a pretty big deal. “BC fans ‘can’t be anything but ashamed’ of the actions of some fans at that game,” according to the interview. While he described those acting badly as a “minimum number of fans,” he said he regretted that a national television audience saw BC in a way that would have been misleading. There were also two potential recruits in the audience with their parents, he said, and he had a practical concern about the effect on them.

“. . . [A]side from the incidents,” he said, “this was the best support we’ve ever had for a game here.”

The Heights editorial said the St. Joseph’s game had “undoubtedly the most enthusiastic crowd in many years to attend a Boston College athletic event. It also was undoubtedly the most tasteless . . . ”

Team member and classmate Jim Kissane recalled: “We were sophomores for that game and, to tell you the truth, I was much more interested on what was going on while I was playing than what was going on in the stands. I don’t really remember it being so bad as we read about the next day! I was used to playing in front of hostile crowds and my focus was on stopping St Joe’s very good players. We had great fan support during those years mostly from the dorms. Some of the signs were very rude, but I didn’t notice them while I was playing. We beat them the next year in the Palestra and that was a very tough place to play, with the fans right on top of you.”

Classmate Reid Oslin said the TV announcer for the game was legendary Philadelphia radio/TV personality Les Keiter. Rowdy BC fans, Reid said, pelted Keiter with beer cans and trash as he tried to do his pre-game stand-up intro. (That could have influenced some of the tone of his telecast.)

The “Zoo,” as classmate Tom Sugrue recalls, was formed to try to create a “hostile environment” for BC opponents similar to those faced by the Eagles at such schools as St. Joe’s and St. John’s. “I think the original intention was in good fun and was meant to change the reputation that Roberts Center was not a particularly difficult place for visiting teams to play,” Tom added. “This night, however, it clearly got out of hand. Alcohol played a role no doubt — a lot of the Class of ’68, myself included, came to the game pretty oiled up. Unfortunately, some of the signs were offensively profane/dirty, as were some of the chants. And throwing stuff on the court at opposing players is never cool.”

As for the actual game . . . BC center Willie Wolters committed four fouls in the first half, which ended with St. Joe’s leading by only one, 44-43. Wolters had a double/double in that half (11 points, 10 rebounds) and several blocked shots, but he sat on the bench when the second half started. Cousy did not put Wolters back in until five minutes had gone by, but Willie picked up his fifth and disqualifying foul only 22 seconds later. With Wolters sitting, “the Hawks had a field day hitting the B.C. hoop,” reported Bob Monahan in the Globe. St. Joe’s outscored the Eagles, 63-46, in the second half. Overall, the Eagles shot poorly, making only 32 of 82 from the floor.

All-America John Austin scored 34 points for BC and sophomore classmate Steve Adelman put in 30.

As classmate Kevin O’Malley observed, “That was a memorable St. Joe’s team. Matt Goukas and Billy Oakes at the guards, and Cliff Anderson the 6’4″ center was a leaper who was shorter than the two forwards, Tom Duff and Marty Ford. Dr. Jack Ramsay was the genius on the bench, and we took some advance heart from the fact that Goukas had a bad case of the flu, but he played fine and the Hawks gave us all a lesson. BC was on the move, but we weren’t on a level to compete with this savvy, well-coached group of seniors.”

With the loss to St. Joe’s, BC had lost two straight games to top 10 teams. They did not lose again that season until the quarterfinals of the NIT, when Villanova beat them, 86-85. The Eagles finished 17-5 with their last win of the season the historic, thrilling triple overtime victory over Louisville in the NIT opening round. But that’s another story.

Februarys

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Lower Campus, 1967 (Sub Turri photo)

Second semester. In the busiest stretches of basketball and hockey seasons. Beanpot. Winter Weekend. Still cold. Here’s a sampling of what was going on at BC and in the world in Februarys, 1965-68

1965

Ad, The Heights, February 12, 1965

Lots of attention to the Peace Corps. The Heights of February 12 ran a page one story on Peace Corps recruiters coming to campus and a two-page feature — “If You Would Like to Change the World” — on the Kennedy administration initiative. Broadcasting to hundreds over the campus phone lines, WVBC, subject of a page-long feature in the February 19 Heights, was “The Voice of Boston College.”

1966

The campus residential community was gripped by “the grippe” in mid-February. Campus officials were forceful in declaring that the vomiting and severe stomach cramps were not connected to food served on campus. (Why would anyone think food in McElroy might have been the cause?) We’ll expand on the topic later, but the February 18 Heights devoted its editorial pages to the living conditions BC resident women endured at the time. An editorial chastised the administration for providing only “lip-service and sympathy” rather than long-promised action. An article reported the history of women’s housing and another described “The Present Situation.”

Scene from sophomore (1968) skit, “Days of Wine and Robes”

The Heights of February 25 reported on a meeting of the “Food Committee” of the Council of Resident Men with “Mr. Coughlin,” director of food services. The Food Committee provided Mr. Coughlin (no first name mentioned in article) with a list of 14 recommendations and Mr. Coughlin did approve the request for different kinds of ice cream. There was a two-page spread in the same edition on “The Ed Skits,” the popular competition among classes in the School of Education. More on those also to come.

1967
Citing the “nature, aims, and tactics” of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the February 10 Heights reported, the Campus Council, governing body for BC students, rejected SDS’s application to be recognized officially as a BC student organization. Page 2 of the same edition featured a large ad for an organization most often pretty secretive. The National Security Agency was looking for “Mathematicians with Versatility & Imagination.” Starting salaries of $7,729-$12,873 were offered, with the promise that “increases follow swiftly.” There was also another feature article on Middle Earth, featuring a photo of classmate Bill Dalton. The February 24 edition carried the announcement that BC had accepted an invitation to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

1968
Our final semester at BC started off with the announcement in the February 2 Heights of the resignation of President Michael P. Walsh, SJ, effective June 30. He had been president since 1958 and also said his successor would be a Jesuit. Two articles in the same edition reflected something of the political turbulence and uncertainty of the time — growing national student support for the presidential candidacy of Sen. Eugene McCarthy and a report that draft deferments to attend graduate school were in doubt.

Outside world

1965
Police in Selma, Ala., began the month by arresting over two days more than 1,200 civil rights protestors. An editorial in the February 9 edition of the Washington Post about a series of joint US-South Vietnam air attacks on North Vietnam, said, “. . . withdrawal from South Vietnam would not gain peace, but only lead to another war,” and added, “The United States Government has taken the only course available to it, if it does not wish to surrender.” The home of Malcolm X in Queens, New York, was firebombed on the night of February 13. He, his wife, and four children inside are unharmed. A Canadian flag featuring a red and white maple leaf design made its debut February 15. On February 21, Malcolm X was assassinated by rival Black Muslims as he prepared to give a speech to the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was 39 years old.

1966
The board of governors of the National Hockey League voted February 9 to double the size of the NHL, to 12 teams. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann goes on sale February 10 and quickly rises to the top of the best-seller list. The first observance of “Festivus” takes place February 12. The Soviet Union launched two dogs aboard a satellite into orbit on February 22. They orbited the earth for 22 days and returned safely.

1967
The month began with an increase in the federal minimum wage from $1.25 to $1.40. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour made its debut February 5 on CBS. The Beatles released on February 13 a “double A-side” 45-rpm record containing Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. The Pontiac Firebird made its first appearance on February 25.

1968
Former Vice-President Richard Nixon announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President on February 1. Federal minimum wage went from $1.40 to $1.60. Planet of the Apes premiered February 8. The first active demonstration of a 9-1-1 emergency call was made February 16. That same day, the US Selective Service announced the removal of draft deferments for most graduate students seeking master’s degrees. On February 24, Fleetwood Mac released its eponymous debut album. The South Vietnam city of Hue was declared secure and rid of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops February 26, bringing defeat to their Tet Offensive. On February 27, CBS news announcer Walter Cronkite opined on a national broadcast that it was “now more certain than ever” that the war in Vietnam would end in stalemate and urged negotiation.

LewCLA

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Fifty years ago today, January 27, 1968, the Eagles played UCLA in basketball at Madison Square Garden, New York City. It was an opportunity for BC fans to see their team play the most storied college basketball team . . . and player . . . of the time.

BC’s Terry Driscoll ’69 in a jump ball with Lew Alcindor early in the BC-UCLA game. Also in this Sub Turri photo, classmates Jim Kissane (10), Steve Adelman (44), and Jack Kvancz (24).

The Bruins simply dominated the college basketball scene in the mid-sixties, and into the mid-seventies. When we were freshmen, UCLA went 28-2 and won their second consecutive national championship. Among those 28 wins was one over BC, 115-93, on December 19, 1964, in Los Angeles. The following year, 1965-66, was an awful one in Bruins terms. Ranked #1 preseason, they were 18-8 and unranked at the end of the season. There were portents, though, that year of things to come. UCLA’s freshmen team, in a preseason scrimmage, had defeated the varsity, 75-60.

Scoring 31 points and pulling down 21 rebounds in that scrimmage was 7-foot-2-inch Lew Alcindor, who had played his high school ball at Power Memorial in New York City. (In 1968, Alcindor converted to Islam and began using the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar publicly in 1971.) Joining Alcindor as freshmen were Lynn Shackelford and Lucius Allen, who would also play in the 1968 game against BC.

When Alcindor and the other freshmen joined the varsity in 1966-67, the run was on. Thirty and 0 that year and national champions. The Bruins started the 1967-68 season with 13 straight wins, bringing a 47-game win streak into what was billed as the “Game of the Century” on January 20, 1968. UCLA played the undefeated and #2-ranked Houston Cougars, and their great player, Elvin Hayes, in the Houston Astrodome.

One indication of how long ago this was is that this was the first regular season college basketball game to be televised nationally. And it was not on a major network, the only such networks being NBC, CBS, and ABC at the time. The UCLA-Houston game was televised on a syndicated network, TVS. One hundred and twenty stations around the country signed up for the event.

Eight days before the Houston game, in a game against Cal, Alcindor suffered a scratched cornea in his left eye. He missed the next two games and spent several days in the hospital receiving treatment. His first game back was against Houston.

In front of 52,693 fans, Houston’s Hayes scored 29 points in the first half against UCLA, finishing with 39, and Houston won the game 71-69. Alcindor scored a way-below-average 15 points.

We started by mentioning the BC game. Whatever happened to that? Well, the UCLA-Houston game had set the stage the week before the BC game took place. UCLA came into Madison Square Garden to play Holy Cross, then coached by Alcindor’s high school coach, on Friday night, defeating the Crusaders, 90-67. So UCLA was on a one-game winning streak when they took the court with the Eagles.

Oddly enough, the Eagles had had a similar week. They lost to St. Joseph’s the previous Saturday and defeated LeMoyne handily two days before.

As the record shows, UCLA beat BC, 84-77. But, as classmate Bob Ryan, who later went on to a 40+-year career as a sportswriter with the Boston Globe and who has been described as “the quintessential American sportswriter,” demonstrated something close to that status even in his article in the February 2, 1968, edition of The Heights: “Eighteen thousand people came to Madison Square Garden last Saturday night to see an execution. They stayed to see a great ball game.”

Proud Refrain was able to contact three classmates on the basketball team to get some of their recollections from the game.

Jack Kvancz, starting guard: “We had a very short scouting report for that game. Usually [then-BC coach Bob] Cousy was very thorough, but this time it was pretty much ‘Do not drive on the big fellow.’ Early in the game, I brought the ball up and I beat Lucius Allen, quite easily, so I go to the basket. And I score a layup. I’m thinking ‘Maybe Cousy got this wrong. I can do that anytime.’ A little while later, I bring the ball up and I beat Allen again. I notice, though, Allen starts running the other way, toward their basket. I go up again and I see this big hand. Alcindor didn’t “block” the ball, he caught it, and then he threw it down the court to Allen for an easy layup. I learned that lesson.”

 

Jim Kissane, starting forward, had an interesting comment on a sartorial issue: “I remember walking into Madison Square Garden and passing the UCLA team. We had on our ugly maroon blazers that we traveled in, which had been made for the football team. You can imagine how those fit! We were all long and skinny and the blazers were all wide and short. UCLA looked like they stepped out of GQ magazine or the Mod Squad, long leather coats and even a few hats. We should have known we were in trouble right then!

“We had played in Madison Square Garden many times but this was different,” he added. “The noise level was incredible and there was standing room only.The first half seemed to fly by and they were as good as advertised. They couldn’t miss and we were in a good size hole at halftime.The second half, we made a huge comeback and played much better. If memory serves me, we were down four with the ball and two-three minutes to go, eventually losing 84-77.”

Tom Pacynski, reserve center/forward: “The game was the red letter game on our schedule and I recall that the aura of the Garden was amazing. It was like looking through a cloud when looking to the high seats. I recall playing against Lew in the second half and coach Cousy wanted us to play ‘physical.’ Lew didn’t like physical play and, as a result, became frustrated and eventually fouled out (editor note: the only time in his college career). The memory for me that stands out most was my ‘air ball’ from the foul line.
“We played well, but not quite well enough. I recall Billy [Evans] and Jack [Kvancz] easily handling the UCLA press and [Steve Adelman] (my college roommate) lighting it up with his jumpers.”
Tom scored 16 points in the game, which may have been a season high for him.
UCLA went on that season to win the national championship without losing another game. Indeed, they gained revenge in the NCAA tournament semifinals, defeating the Houston team that had beat them, rather easily, 101-69.

Ryan and classmate Kevin O’Malley broadcast the BC-UCLA game on WVBC. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to hear a tape of that now?

Us . . . now

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According to the Alumni office’s “official” list of the Class of 1968, none of the 1,219 of us on the list lives in Wyoming, North Dakota, or Utah. Not really surprising, I guess. We do cover the 47 other states, however, as well as Puerto Rico and Quebec.

Before we drill down geographically, here are some other stats.

929 — Male
290 — Female

492 — A&S
353 — CBA
250 — Education
124 — Nursing

By state
519 — Massachusetts
80 — Florida
66 — Ain’t sayin’
63 — New Hampshire
62 — New York
57 — California
49 — Connecticut
40 — Virginia
31 — New Jersey
25 — Maryland
19 — Rhode Island
17 — Maine, Pennsylvania
15 — Colorado, North Carolina, Texas
11 — Georgia
10 — Ohio
8 — Arizona, District of Columbia, Minnesota, Vermont
7 — Oregon, South Carolina
6 — Delaware, Illinois, Michigan
5 — Puerto Rico
3 — Alabama, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Washington
2 — Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wisconsin
1 — Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Quebec, West Virginia

Oh, and we’re all about the same age — old.

There is another contingent of “our class” that is both apart and also “of BC.” Newton College’s Class of 1968 will celebrate its 50th anniversary, of course. They number somewhere around 100 and there will be events for them at BC’s reunion weekend.

Januarys (and so much work to do)

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Januarys for us at BC began in the doldrums, as we returned to dorms and/or classes from the holiday break, and quickly became busy, as term papers and final exams loomed ahead.

Only six editions of The Heights were published in the four Januarys — two each in 1965 and 1966, one each in 1967 and 1968 — indicative of the attention directed elsewhere. Here’s some of what was going on at BC and in the outside world in Januarys 1965-68.

On campus

1965
That year’s editors expressed what some, many, all of us felt in their editorial “Angst and January” (January 8). After suggesting that the month be simply eliminated, the editors point to the dual burdens of term papers and finals, along with the external cold. (Though this year’s cold has been historic.) They conclude with the unsurprisingly androcentric view that the only positive aspect of it all is that “. . . beards can grow in freedom . . . .” The January 15 edition included a feature article about the freshmen basketball team, i.e., our classmates.

1966
Not much. Januarys were busy in the winter sports — basketball and hockey — but we’ll try to talk about those separately.

1967
Classmates Len Sienko and Bob Abruzzo were part of a trio of students who represented the “Ad Hoc Committee to Oppose the Tuition and Room Increase” in meeting with University officials. The article in the January 13 Heights said Fr. Dorr had agreed to an open forum to “explain” the increases. An ad in the same issue provided a coupon to BC students that would entitle them to half-price at the nearby Burger King on Brighton Avenue. That would certainly alleviate the burden of such “regular” prices as $.19 for a hamburger and $.29 for a giant shake.

1968
Joe Yukica was announced as the new coach of the BC football team. The January 12 Heights carried an interview with Coach Yukica by classmate Reid Oslin. In it, Yukica said something that seems today very anachronistic, but was relevant at the time. Just several days earlier, in late 1967 and early 1968, 16 major college football teams played in 8 bowl games. Comparing BC to those football powerhouses, Yukica said, “Boston College doesn’t belong in bowl games. We don’t give out those 50 scholarships each year, and we are not the type of school to let in every football player that wants to come here.” Saying his teams would be solid, aggressive, and tough, he added, “Let the wins and losses fall where they may.”

The outside world

1965
Alabama quarterback Joe Namath signed with the New York Jets for a then-unprecedented $400,000 contract on January 2. US President Lyndon Johnson announced his plans for a “Great Society” in his January 4 State of the Union address. He was inaugurated on January 20 for his first, (spoiler alert) and last, full term as President after succeeding the assassinated JFK in 1963. Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of England during World War II, died January 24, two weeks after suffering a stroke, at the age of 90.

1966
A group known previously as “The Warlocks” appeared for the first time with its new name, the Grateful Dead, in San Francisco on January 6. Batman, starring Adam West, made its debut January 12 on ABC. Robert Weaver, on becoming the first secretary of Housing and Urban Development, became the first African-American in a US presidential cabinet. The number of US troops in South Vietnam topped 200,000 for the first time. On January 18, the New York Stock Exchange’s Dow Jones Industrial Average exceeded 1,000 for the first time. Bob Knievel of Montana appeared for the first time leading “Evel Knievel and the Motorcycle Daredevils” in Indio, Calif., on January 23.

1967
Ronald Reagan was sworn in as governor of California on January 2. The song Light My Fire by The Doors is released January 3. On the same day as the first “Human Be-In” was held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Louis Leakey announced on January 14 the discovery of pre-human fossils in Kenya, evidence of the earliest known ancestors of Homo sapiens. In what was then only unofficially known as the Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on January 15 to win the first AFL-NFL interleague championship. That same night, the Rolling Stones made their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, but only after agreeing to change the lyrics of their song Let’s Spend the Night Together. Mick Jagger instead sang “Let’s spend some time together.” Albert DeSalvo, convicted as the “Boston Strangler,” accused of the murders of 13 single women in the Boston area, was sentenced January 18 to life in prison. A fire aboard Apollo 1 on its launchpad January 27 killed the three American astronauts inside — Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee.

1968
US Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.) announced January 3 he would challenge President Johnson for the Democratic Party nomination. Mattel’s “Hot Wheels” toy cars were introduced January 4. The price of mailing a letter in the US increased from 5 to 6 cents on January 7. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) announced January 12 plans for a universal emergency phone number in the US. For various reasons, the best choice seemed to be 9-1-1. Johnny Cash gave a concert January 13, which was recorded, at Folsom State Prison, California. In the first regular season college basketball game to be broadcast on national television, #2 Houston defeated #1 UCLA, 71-69, at the Houston Astrodome on January 20 in the “Game of the Century.” The battle of Khe Sanh began early the morning of January 21 in South Vietnam. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In made its debut January 22 on NBC. On January 23, North Korean forces seized the USS Pueblo, claiming violation of its waters while spying, and imprisoned its crew of 82. A series of widespread attacks by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces on January 30 began what would be called the “Tet Offensive.”

Merry Christmas (remember that term paper?)

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Two-page spread in Sub Turri. Who was Santa? Anybody know? We know, of course, who the Grinch was. :)

During Christmas break, most of us were home . . . working on term papers and other projects due soon after we were to return in January and preparing for final exams that would occur about the same time. Actually, I was not engaged in such worthy and potentially beneficial activities. Instead, I was enjoying the holidays — Christmas parties, New Year’s Eve, seeing friends, spending time (very little) with family and extended family. I expect nearly all of our class did much the same.

The semester schedule then seemed almost diabolical. The fall semester went past the end of the calendar year and hung around until mid-January. That extended break from school was a font of temptation to procrastinate. Whilst we were frolicking about during the holidays, every once in a while the “nag,” that part of our brains that doesn’t frolic, would send piercing signals. “What about that exam? You didn’t do that great in the midterm, how are you gonna catch up?” “You should really be doing research for that term paper!” It was annoying, but, in my case, at least, grossly unsuccessful. I think I always returned to school after the break with everything still to do and much less time to do it.

Merry Christmas to all! Hope to see you at our reunion in June!

Meet the committee

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There is a committee of classmates working with the Alumni Office on our 50th Reunion year. And, according to Christina Coleman, assistant director for alumni classes and our liaison with BC, more are welcome to join the committee. Contact the Alumni Office for more info on becoming a committee member.

Committee members are interested in your thoughts on the reunion, especially the events planned for Reunion Weekend, June 1-3, 2018. Send in ideas, questions, etc.

Here’s the committee, in alphabetical order (maiden name for women), identified by photos from the 1968 Sub Turri:

Jim Galiano (Education)

Dave Griffith (CBA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug Hajjar (CBA)

Bill McDonald (A&S)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom O’Neill (Education)

Frank Porcelli (A&S)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharon Silva Bartley (Nursing)

Anne Wilayto Bishop (Nursing)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decembers

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December 11, 1964 Heights

Decembers were a bit truncated . . . and cold. I think most everyone was thinking ahead to Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and a break. Thanksgiving holidays only a short time back whetted our appetites. Here’s some of what happened at BC and in the world in Decembers 1964-67.

On campus

1964
Apparently not much was going on. The Heights, in its two issues that month, pretty much focused on routine events and activities.

1965
The December 3 edition of The Heights contained announcements of significant academic changes. The Deans Council had decided to change the rules about class attendance. Department chairs also announced that there would be expanded programs and electives in Philosophy and Theology.

Heights features editor Michael Egger had a column about the “Boston College Girl,” in which he took BC to task for how it met its obligations to women students. Mansplaining? Or ally?

The December 17 edition reported on something that would take on more significance in coming months but certainly had its effect at the time. The headline tells the story (as it should): “Drury Commission to Study Christmas Dinner Sickness.” The article notes that resident students were already complaining about the quality of food in McElroy before the December 12 meal. “Hundreds of students complained of stomach cramps, gas pains and diarrhea as a result of the food served at the McElroy banquet,” said The Heights. (I always remember the culprit as “roast beef au jus.”)

1966
BC’s annual gift to students in December was the announcement of a tuition increase. For 1967-68, it was to go up $200 to $1,600. Room and board was to increase $100 to $1,050. The new charges were not out of line with other local schools. But still . . .

The December 14 edition had a small feature on the “coffeehouse,” Middle Earth.

1967
In the December 1 issue, it was reported that BC had added a new computer. The new IBM 360 doubled the number of computers to two. This model IBM offered 128K bytes of storage, and cost $13,000 a month to rent. Yowzah!

Same issue had another article on conditions in the women’s residences, based on a visit by Heights editors and interviews with several residents.

It’s basketball season and the biggest student organization at BC is . . . the Courtside Club, according to The Heights. Fifteen hundred hoop freaks! And why not? The preseason AP poll put the Eagles at #7.

The Heights Review in the December 1 issue included the short story, “Psalm,” by former Stylus editor and classmate Richard Sawaya that resulted in its censorship by the University and his resignation.

No more Jim Miller. The December 15 Heights reported that Miller, not offered an extension of his contract, chose to resign. In an editorial, “Was it only the coach?,” The Heights described Miller as a “gentleman” who had been made “a scapegoat for the many-sided failings of a costly and frustratingly unsuccessful program.”

A feature article celebrated the 20th anniversary of the School of Nursing.

The outside world

1964
Mario Savio stood in Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley, on December 2, and told the students before him that “you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.” The Free Speech Movement began. The FBI arrested 19 men on suspicion of their involvement in the killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. The US Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a Florida law that prohibited cohabitation by black and white persons of different genders. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize. Singer Sam Cooke was shot and killed in Los Angeles in what was ruled justifiable homicide. Canada raised its new flag, with a maple leaf design. The James Bond film, Goldfinger, had its US premiere.

1965
The Beatles released the album Rubber Soul. Pope Paul VI proclaimed the end of the Second Vatican Council. A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted on CBS. The Dating Game made its debut on ABC. Doctor Zhivago is released.

1966
Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabar) made his basketball debut with UCLA. Walt Disney died at the age of 65. The destroyer USS O’Brien became the first American ship to be hit by shells from North Vietnamese shore batteries, which killed two sailors and wounded four others.

1967
South African physician Christiaan Barnard and a team of surgeons carried out the first human heart transplant. Otis Redding was killed in the crash of a small plane in Wisconsin, at the age of 26. The Concorde, the world’s first supersonic commercial airliner, made its first appearance in Paris. Evel Knievel crashed his motorcycle after attempting to leap over the fountains at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas.

Holy Cross – then . . . and again!?

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1966 Sub Turri

If it was Thanksgiving weekend when we were students at BC, it was also BC-Holy Cross football . . . except once. While the first three BC-HC games took place on the traditional Turkey Saturday, the 1967 game was the following Saturday, December 2. (That season started late. First game wasn’t until September 23. Not sure if it was just calendar or something else.)

BC-HC football was also the season finale. There were only eight or nine bowl games back then — the iconic Rose, Sugar, Cotton, and Orange bowls, along with the newer and lesser Tangerine, Liberty, Bluebonnet, Sun, and Gator (and occasional Pasadena) bowls. Only 18 teams made it to bowl games then, far fewer than the 80 teams that will play in bowls this season. Most of the teams playing in bowls in the Sixties were southern schools with the Pac-8 and Big 10 meeting in the Rose Bowl. (After the 1943 Orange Bowl, the Eagles didn’t play in a bowl until the 1982 Tangerine Bowl.)

Always the final game and against Holy Cross, the age-old rival from nearby Worcester, the Friday night before the game featured a rally, the most expansive of the year. In our first couple of years, at least, the rally consisted of a parade of vehicles “adapted” to be floats carrying large signs (some of which carried somewhat profane language, as at right). The parade would leave the area in front of McHugh Forum, proceed east down Beacon Street to Cleveland Circle, and return via Commonwealth Avenue to Upper Campus. (Permits? We don’t need no stinkin’ permits!)

The promo in The Heights for the 1964 rally promised “fiery speeches” and a bonfire in which the floats “will go up in flames and smoke.” I was home, in Western Mass, that Friday and didn’t attend the rally, so I cannot confirm the existence of a bonfire. We welcome any recollections of that rally, or any other Holy Cross rally.

That November 24, 1964 issue of The Heights (published on a Tuesday) also carried an edition of The Infidel, a purported edition of a Holy Cross student newspaper. The lead article announced that Holy Cross had once again sought to forfeit the game against BC because of “fright.”

In 1964, the Eagles avenged a shutout defeat (9-0) the previous year by winning another low-scoring game 10-8 to finish the season 6-3 (best season record while we were there).

Team, fans, everybody leave the field at Alumni Stadium following 1964 win over Holy Cross. Caption in The Heights: “On to the Victory Dance!”

As sophomores, we saw classmate Brendan McCarthy, playing his first varsity season, win the O’Melia award as top player in the BC-Holy Cross game. McCarthy’s 139 yards on 20 carries and 1 touchdown (on a very muddy Fitton Field) led the Eagles to a 35-0 rout of the Crusaders.

Preceding the 1966 game, Heights sportswriter and classmate Bob Ryan (retired Boston Globe sportswriter and 4-time national sportswriter of the year) penned a column for the November 18 issue entitled “Cross Game Ain’t What It Used To Be.” In it he opined that, at least that year, the BC-HC rivalry was better on the hardwood, i.e., between the Eagles’ and Crusaders’ basketball teams. Holy Cross, however, decided to make it a rivalry that year, securing their only victory over BC while we were students, 32-26, in a “wide-open finale.”

Heights sportswriter and classmate Reid Oslin, in his article on the 1967 BC-Holy Cross game, called Fitton Field “The World’s Coldest Place.” Oh, I remember that one! The Eagles won 13-7 and quarterback and classmate Joe DiVito took home the O’Melia Award.

We played Holy Cross in football four times while we were students. In basketball, BC and Holy Cross met eight times on the court, twice each year. The greater frequency, and probably the ability to see players up close, made the basketball rivalry seem more intense. You could really see “villainry” in the opponent, cf. Keith Hochstein. By the way, BC’s record against the Cross in our years — 7-1.

We’ll talk more about BC and Holy Cross in basketball in coming weeks.

The last BC-Holy Cross football game was played November 22, 1986. BC won 56-26 in its eighth-straight victory in the series. The Eagles had won 17 of the last 19 games in the series. The Crusaders had won two games in 1977 and 1978 by a total of six points.

There is, however, a next BC-Holy Cross football game. In January 2014, it was announced that BC and Holy Cross had agreed to a two-game series, both at BC, in 2018 and 2020. Those games, instead of completing the regular season for each team, will be in early September. What do you think of the renewal of this series? Is it again a “rivalry”? Or is it a restatement of Bob Ryan’s 51-year-old column — “Cross Game Ain’t What It Used To Be”?

Thanksgiving thanks

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Norman Rockwell’s iconic vision of Thanksgiving. Was yours like this in the Sixties?

I don’t remember ever not looking forward to Thanksgiving. Especially while a student at BC.

If it wasn’t the first holiday of the fall semester, it was the first multi-day one, giving us a four-day break from classes. After nine weeks or so of school, didn’t we like that!

Resident students, at least most of them, went home for the holidays, and commuters slept in and kicked back. Freshman year, I invited my roommate, who was from San Francisco, to spend the holiday at my family’s home.

I remember using the break to catch up with old friends from high school, visit some of the high school hangouts. While we were now college students, we weren’t by much and the familiar faces and places were comforting to see.

There’s a lot of talk now about family dynamics at Thanksgiving. What’s the protocol for discussion (perhaps more often argument) about the issues of the day? Should everyone shut up? Avoid politics and cultural issues? Listen to the “old folks” talk about the “old days” or just stick in your earbuds and go on social media?

At least later in our time at BC, e.g., 1966, 1967, I remember things becoming somewhat tense at the Thanksgiving table. It was mostly about Vietnam and ancillary issues, like the draft, draft-dodgers, etc., but also politicians like George Wallace and LBJ. My dad and I sometimes got to the point where my mother and sister would get up and leave us.

Once again, what seems new and distinctive has forerunners.

We wish all our classmates and their families safe travel and a wonderful Thanksgiving.