Lutheran Miracle

[covufan]

Looking back at Miracle on Union Street -- http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/lutheran-miracle-looking-back-on-the-miracle-on-union-street/article_f2f2923a-155b-5dfa-9891-ae37b8df8984.html

Miracle on Union Street: An Oral History -- http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/lutheran-miracle-miracle-on-union-street-an-oral-history/article_03543443-784f-5cb2-ba7f-e1505e976927.html

Great stories, thanks!

I was not at that game, but at the ND game in 1984 to open the ARC. 

Any chance Adam Amin will retweet these and other tweets to his colleague LaPhonso Ellis? 

[StlVUFan]

Any chance Adam Amin will retweet these and other tweets to his colleague LaPhonso Ellis? 

Last time I heard he was paired with Ellis for a broadcast, I tried to get him to do that, but I doubt he did.  But for this occasion?  One can hope

[Pgmado]

LaPhonso was part of the story and we spoke for a good 15 minutes. I tweeted at him the day the stories went up and he replied. He's well aware of the story and was incredibly gracious talking about the defeat. I thought his comments were very insightful. He has a wonderful relationship with the Drew family.

[StlVUFan]

LaPhonso was part of the story and we spoke for a good 15 minutes. I tweeted at him the day the stories went up and he replied. He's well aware of the story and was incredibly gracious talking about the defeat. I thought his comments were very insightful. He has a wonderful relationship with the Drew family.

His comment about not knowing anything about the difference between big schools and small schools was particularly revealing.  Those were innocent times, apparently.  Big time athletes living in a cocoon and so were all the rest of us.

[KL31NY]

"Behind the Scenes" blog post http://www.nwitimes.com/blogs/sports/valparaiso-university/the-making-of-miracle-on-union-street/article_f535b772-67a9-11e3-a006-0019bb2963f4.html

[IndyValpo]

A forgotten player from that victory was Byron Harris a 6-0 senior guard out of Indianapolis (Ben Davis). He played about 4-5 minutes.  Harris, like Todd Smith, saw his PT decrease from freshman to junior under Tom Smith but played more under Homer.  Seems like he got hurt later in the year.

For those keeping score of these type of things, also on the team were Marc Massa a 6-3 guard out of Chesterton, Pete Charleston from the state of Washington and walk-on Craig McKenzie from Chicago.  Finally for real trivia buffs, in street clothes, ineligible was PG Artie Goodwin who would never play another game for VU.

Sign of the times....Pete Charleston at 6-6 185 was considered a big man for us.

[StlVUFan]

The most significant thing I learned from this whole retrospective -- and I found it kind of neat, though I'm not sure why -- was when Jim Ford said the ND game was "for the fans" but for him, the biggest win that year was a road conference win at SEMO (or was it SMS?) who was in 1st place.

[talksalot]

Dec. 17 Notre Dame W(ot) 71-68     <<<Miracle
Jan. 7 at Xavier L 97-88
Jan. 9 at Eastern Michigan L 78-63
Jan. 14 UIC L 92-64
Jan. 16 Green Bay W 63-49
Jan. 21 at Western Illinois W 78-73
Jan. 23 at Northern Iowa L 88-71
Jan. 28 Eastern Illinois L 84-81
Jan. 30 SW Missouri State L 76-58
Feb. 4 Cleveland State W 91-88
Feb. 6 Butler W 104-83
Feb. 11 at UIC L 95-74
Feb. 13 at Green Bay L 70-51
Feb. 15 at Marquette L 91-83
Feb. 18 Western Illinois L 76-70
Feb. 20 Northern Iowa W 79-70
Feb. 25 at Eastern Illinois L 89-83
Feb. 27 at SW Missouri StateW 62-59    <<This is the game Jim Ford referenced....
Mar. 4 at Cleveland State L 107-86
Mar. 6 vs. Green Bay # W 53-51
Mar. 7 at SW Missouri State # L 82-50   <<Not this first round loss in the tournament hosted by SW Mo St.   (We've never played SEMO)

[vu72]

Either we played Green Bay three times in the regular season or the March 6 game was the first round, not the SWMS game.

[talksalot]

SORRY... yup the # is not a twitter reference!  it's the marking for the conference tournament... SMS beat us in the second round.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

10-19, if I remember right.  More wins than the next 2 years put together, right?

Gosh I loved Jim Ford.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Not to quote myself, but:

This might be heresy, but I think this is my favorite win / valpo moment.  1998 was great, but that has become the nation's thing.  That was "Name" off A Boy Named Goo, but this was "We Are the Normal" from Superstar Car Wash.  (Or this was "Fire Maple Song" on World of Noise, before the world heard "Santa Monica" on...whatever that album was (EDIT: SPARKLE AND FADE.  should've remembered THAT).  No?  How about "Best Imitation of Myself" before "Brick" hit?  Eh.  either you get the idea or we would never be friends anyway.)

Speaking of "being friends", one of my best friends is quoted thus in the "behind the scenes: article:

"The Sweet Sixteen was cool, but what was really awesome was the Miracle on Union Street. That was the best."

Yet another reason Karl Berner and I have pretty much always been friends.