Dick Barnett, a two-time NBA champion with the legendary New York Knicks teams of the 1970s and, later, a passionate educator who earned a doctorate from Fordham, died on April 27 in Largo, Florida. He was 88.

Barnett was born in Gary, Indiana, and attended Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University (now Tennessee State), where he led the school’s basketball team to three consecutive National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships, from 1957 to 1959. He was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals in 1959 and went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA—the last nine of which were with the Knicks.

Two Knicks Titles and a Passion for Education

Known for his unorthodox jump shot, Barnett was named an All-Star in 1968 and was part of the Knicks teams that won championships in 1970 and 1973. Those teams—which also featured Earl Monroe, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Bill Bradley, Willis Reed, and Dave DeBusschere—were known for their balanced rosters and tough defense. Adaptability was a key to their success, Barnett told Fordham Magazine in 2018. “You make whatever adjustments that are necessary to function in a multicultural society. All of that is related to what we accomplished playing basketball with the New York Knicks. And one of the very fortunate things is that those kind of relationships that were established on the court have lasted a lifetime.”

The Knicks retired his number, 12, in 1990, and he was voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Although he didn’t graduate from college before turning pro, Barnett placed a great amount of importance on education during his playing days and beyond. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Cal Poly while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and got a master’s degree in public administration from New York University while he was a Knick. He earned a Ph.D. in education from Fordham in 1991.

“I wanted to get my doctorate and go to the highest point that I possibly could,” he said. “Very few professional athletes have really gone down that road. I thought it would open doors that perhaps were not open before.”

Barnett taught sports management at St. John’s University from 2003 to 2007, and he spent much of his later life speaking to youth and writing about sports, race, and culture, including through the publishing imprint he founded, Fall Back Baby Productions. His Dr. Richard Barnett Foundation offered scholarships to high school students from underserved communities across New York City and sponsored career exploration events. 

Cementing the Legacy of a Historic College Program

Barnett also dedicated himself to getting his Tennessee A&I teams wider recognition. The teams featured all Black players—the first team from a historically Black college or university to win any national championship, and the first college team to win three back-to-back championships. They were collectively inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019, and last year, the surviving members were invited to the White House, where they met with Vice President Kamala Harris. His efforts to gain attention for those teams were featured in a documentary, The Dream Whisperer, broadcast on PBS in 2022.

The title came from Barnett seeing himself as a “dream whisperer,” as he hoped to inspire young people to follow their own goals.

“Martin Luther King Jr. said a long time ago that to live one’s dream, you’ve got to reach down into the inner chambers of your own soul … and sign your own Emancipation Proclamation,” he told Fordham Magazine in 2018. “And that has been always a guiding light in my life and the message that I’ve taken forward to young people.”

Barnett is survived by his wife, Erma; his daughter, Tona; his son, Jeren; a sister, Jean Tibbs; and grandchildren.

Against all the odds, Fordham basketball had a remarkable year. The men’s team finished with a 25-8 record, making it to the semifinals of the A-10 championship this weekend. The women achieved an 18-12 record, securing their seventh straight postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament berth. Both teams played with fierce determination and talent—they simply never gave up. No team in the nation had more come-from-behind victories after the half than our Fordham men’s team.

This in a year when the football team also made us proud with their 9-3 season, making it to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. Fordham water polo won its second consecutive Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship this fall, to earn the Rams their second straight trip to the NCAA Championship. I won’t list all of our teams here, but you get the idea.

Do you know what makes me even prouder? Our student-athletes have a collective GPA on par with, and sometimes higher, than the collective average. They have higher retention, graduation, and employment rates. They learn from their wonderful coaches, and from each other, an extraordinary level of discipline, teamwork, and leadership.

I also need to thank the whole student body because if there were a March Madness for college basketball fans, we would clearly win. For all of you students and alumni who packed the Rose “Thrill” gym, for the thousands of you who came to the Barclays Center—for those who painted letters on your chests (well done, front row, well done) and shouted your heart out—I think our own Vince Lombardi and Vin Scully would have been very proud.

All my best,

Tania Tetlow
President

The Rams went 26-3 that season, rose as high as No. 9 in the Associated Press national rankings, and made the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional Semifinals, where they lost a heartbreaking game to Villanova. With their 29-year-old first-year coach Digger Phelps and his assistant, future Fordham athletics director Frank McLaughlin, FCRH ’69—for whom the basketball court was recently named—the team captured the attention of New York City, selling out multiple games at Madison Square Garden and making them the cream of the New York college hoops crop at a time when the New York Knicks were also the reigning NBA champions.

For the team members in attendance, the celebration was overdue—they weren’t able to gather for a 50th reunion because of COVID-19, and it was the first time they had gathered at Rose Hill in such a large number since 2011. In addition to attending the game on Saturday, which Fordham won 74-71, the team gathered for several events throughout the weekend, including one of the current squad’s practices.

Fordham Magazine spoke with members of the 1970–1971 team about that magical season, the bonds they created, and the similarities they see in this year’s Rams under first-year coach Keith Urgo.

*Quotes marked with an asterisk come from other sources.

A New Coach Arrives at Rose Hill

During the summer of 1970, after a disappointing 10-15 season, Fordham offered its head coaching job to a 29-year-old assistant from the University of Pennsylvania named Digger Phelps. Phelps accepted the job and brought on as an assistant Frank McLaughlin, FCRH ’69, who was captain of the Rams team that went 17-9 in 1968–1969 and had spent a year as an assistant coach at the College of the Holy Cross after graduating.

McLaughlin: In ’68 and ’69, we had very good teams. So there was a winning culture. Then this total unknown, Digger Phelps, was named the head coach, which shocked everybody. People did not know who he was. But he came in, he was very charismatic, very enthusiastic, and it just flowed over to the team.

Tom Pipich, FCRH ’73, guard: Digger called a meeting to meet all the players. Everybody’s filtering in pretty much on time. I think Kenny [Charles] walked in maybe 10 to 15 seconds late. And Digger had something to say along the lines of, “The meeting’s at 3:30, everybody needs to be here on time.” And so Bart [Woytowicz] and I looked at each other and said, “Oh, things have changed a little bit.”

Stephen Marcellino, FCRH ’72, student manager: When Digger came in, he was very detail oriented. When you see the team picture, he had all the coaches get these camel hair blazers, right? It was unique at the time.

Eugene Doris, FCRH ’70, GSE ’74, assistant coach: I can say he was well ahead of most of the people that I had ever met in the coaching business. Scouting reports 20-something pages long. There wasn’t much that he didn’t want in terms of information. That was not very typical of the way that was being done back in those days. I don’t think I saw anybody break down the game as well as Digger did. He just had a way of pushing the right buttons with everybody to move everything forward.

George Zambetti, M.D., FCRH ’72, forward: We really didn’t have any ability to evaluate what kind of coach he was eventually going to be. But he came in and he hired Frank McLaughlin, who we all knew. I think that eased the transition for him. And then he was just such a dynamic and enthusiastic coach that we all just were able to bond with him.

Wendell Holland, FCRH ’74, freshman team guard: Frank McLaughlin was an incredible influence in my life.^ He stressed to me and to us the whole concept of defense. He was the one that helped me to understand the finer things that Billy Mainor and Tom Sullivan would do when it came to defense. He was the youngest coach I’ve ever had in my entire basketball career. And because he was so young, he used to play with us. I learned so much from him.

Ken Charles, FCRH ’73, guard: [Digger] didn’t know us, we didn’t know him. Practice started October 15, but we really didn’t have an offense till November 1st, because he just wanted to see what everybody can do.

Digger Phelps, head coach: I had a good feeling. Of course, even I had no idea how good.*

A Team Identity Starts to Take Shape

As the season got started, center Paul Griswold sustained a leg injury, leaving the team with a starting lineup with no one over 6’5″. Phelps used the team’s quickness to implement a smothering full-court-press defense, which gave the team its identity.

Phelps: At first, I thought we’d start three guards. Then I decided to go with four and press all over the court because we had guys like Charlie Yelverton and Kenny Charles, Billy Mainor and Jackie Burik, who were quick.*

Marcellino: When Paul Griswold went down with an injury, the press is what Digger and Frank put together. You could tell that we were pretty quick. We were undersized, but we could score a lot. In the early parts of the season, we were racking up some pretty heavy scores. The question was, since we were small, could we effectively outrun teams? It was a vintage New York City basketball team. It was just very, very tough. Basically, we’d outrun you and outscore you. Height didn’t really overly concern us.

Jack Burik, FCRH ’71, guard: I’ve never been part of a situation where you never practiced an offensive play. It was all about establishing our identity from the beginning. And we’re going to press everyone and we’re going to take control of the game. We’re just playing New York back cuts and triple screens. We did things naturally because we were experienced. You’ve got to know how to play it. But to be a cohesive unit and take advantage of our quickness, that’s what Digger was all about with this full-court press. We just wore you out. We pressed you constantly. We had all kind of different traps, whether it’s zones or man to man. And then when they finally get into a half-court game, we’re still trapping you. We’re double teaming, rotating.

Zambetti: Yeah, I was actually the tallest guy that started at 6’5″, so it was my job to defend against the opponents’ biggest players. So there were a lot of 6’8″, 6’9″ centers that I had to guard. It was just a matter of trying to be more physical than they were. The expression “laying a body on them” would be appropriate because you just had to be in constant physical contact and be able to basically box them out and prevent them from getting the ball in the low key to grant them an easy basket.

Pipich: Digger always gave the impression, from the beginning, that whoever we were playing, no matter whether they were theoretically better than us, we’re going to find a way to win. It was always about how do you beat them, not how good they are.

P.J. Carlesimo, FCRH ’71, guard: Digger came in and did not a good job, but a great job. Every button he pushed that year was the right button.*

An Early Winning Streak and Adversity on the Road

With their four-guard lineup and press defense set up, the Rams started the season 11-0, including wins against Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Holy Cross, as well a pair of road victories over Miami and Florida that helped bring the team closer together, in part because of difficult circumstances off the court.

Charles: When we played Syracuse [at home on December 19], we had to get to the game early, and for some reason, it sounded so loud upstairs. I remember thinking, “The band must be right over where we practiced.” We didn’t expect what we saw when we came out to warm up. The place was crazy because we were 5-0. It was really nice to see. They had people sitting between the end stanchions and the baseline, so we barely could take the ball out. It was just so packed in there.

Paul Griswold, FCRH ’73, center: Syracuse came in and they were a very serious team with a 6’10” center. And we started off with the press, we went up by about 20 points in the first half. I watched Tommy Sullivan, at 6’4″, manhandle a 6’10” kid. And I’m saying, all right, this is interesting. And the way Kenny Charles came in and played a very, very solid role, scored when needed. Burik ran the team. He was a drill sergeant. He was the Patton, if you might.

McLaughlin: And all of a sudden as we kept winning, guys started believing more and more in how good they were. We went down and played Miami and really won a game on the road that was impossible to win. And then followed it up with a win at Florida. And I think when that happened, we started saying, “Hey, this could be something special.”

Bob Larbes, FCRH ’71, forward: I remember the Florida game vividly because it was a very hostile environment. It was the first time I was ever aware of a crowd making negative comments toward our players. And that was kind of striking, and it motivated us to play even harder.

Burik: After the [Florida] game, we’re getting on the bus in Gainesville. We’re not allowed to go in certain restaurants because of our Black players.^^ I remember like it was yesterday. Digger says to Billy Mainor and me, “What are we going to do?” I said—and Billy shook his head—”We’re staying together. I don’t care if we have to go to Georgia to get a meal.” This really brought us together. We’re all in this together. From then on, we couldn’t have been any tighter.

Zambetti: One of the things that Digger always prevented us from feeling was complacency. We were always to strive for more, and we were never to be complacent in what we had accomplished, but only look forward to what we could accomplish further.

Larbes: When we got to 10-0, we completely bought in at that point to what Digger was trying to get us to do. It turned into an us against the world mentality in a way, because we were always the underdog.

Facing a ‘Goliath’ In Dr. J

After a one-point loss—their first of the season—to Temple at Rose Hill Gymnasium on Jan. 16, the Rams traveled to Amherst on Jan. 27 to face the University of Massachusetts and their star forward, Julius Erving. This game, which Fordham won 87-79, was one of the examples author Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in his essay “How David Beats Goliath.”

Marcellino: “The Cage,” I think it was called, up in Amherst. It was a horrible place to play. It was brutal. Really, really hostile. It’s a very big game. Erving, I’d never seen a human being jump that high. The game was really, really hard fought, to the point where when we were going to the locker room at halftime, people were throwing things at us from the stands. When the game ended, I remember a police guard taking us through. That game really said that we were a national-caliber team.

Charlie Yelverton, FCRH ’71, forward: I had to beg Phelps to put me on [Erving]. So he put me on him, and I know how to just squeeze a guy out, because I had played against ballplayers that were quicker than he was. So I knew how to anticipate and force them to go back door. We had a great defensive team.

Joseph “Chip” Polak, FCRH ’72, student manager: Charlie really outplayed him. Charlie was so good in all factors. I mean, he could stop on a dime. He had an outside jump shot. I mean, he was like Elgin Baylor in terms of moves. He was just so good.

Charles: They were yelling at us, booing at us. I thought that game cemented the team. I remember being quiet on the bus on the way back, only because I think we were all thinking, “Damn, are we this good?” You know, really, because it crept in.

Taking Madison Square Garden—and New York City—by Storm

After the win at UMass, Fordham beat Army, Boston College, Rhode Island, and St. John’s, bringing their record to 16-1. Now ranked No. 18 in the country in the AP poll, the Rams played their biggest game of the season to date: a much-anticipated tilt against No. 14 Notre Dame on Feb. 18 at Madison Square Garden in front of a sellout, college-record crowd of 19,500.

Charles: On the way to the Notre Dame game, Howard Cosell was on the radio, interviewing Johnny Dee, the Notre Dame coach at the time. And Howard said to him, “Well, we all know you’re going to win. This Fordham team, they’ve been playing over their head the last week.” Johnny Dee said, “I’m not so sure that’s true.”

Burik: Johnny Dee’s trying to defend us. Imagine that. “Oh, I saw them play. They’re pretty good.” And Cosell said, “Oh, you guys are going to kill them. You’ve got Austin Carr.” He’s just revving people up. And oh, we’re listening to this. I can’t wait for tip off.

Yelverton: He’d say, “We don’t have to talk about that. We know how that’s going to be.” I said, “Wow.” I couldn’t wait to play, you know?

Pipich: We were kind of used to playing at the Garden. But we weren’t used to 19,500 people in the building, virtually all of them cheering for us. When we walked on for warmups, by that time, the crowd’s pretty much filled in. You could feel the electricity in those days.

Holland: You couldn’t hear the ball bounce. When it gets loud, you literally can’t hear the ball bounce as you’re coming down as a point guard. In any place, you try to block it out, but you really kind of say to yourself, “I am playing Madison Square Garden. There’s no arena like it in the entire world, and we are making a statement, us Fordham Rams.”

Fordham beat Notre Dame 94-88, boosting them up to No. 11 in the AP poll and commanding national attention. After beating Rutgers two days later, the Rams got ready for another huge, sellout game at Madison Square Garden, this time against No. 2 Marquette on Feb. 25.

Charles: At this point, the whole city was just Fordham crazy. Alumni, guys you haven’t seen, people were back on campus.

Burik: And everyone knew where we lived. They wanted to be a part of it too. Of course, we’re getting besieged for tickets. There’s no way you’re going to get four or eight tickets. It’s not going to happen. But everyone’s begging and pleading like you’re going to find a way to get in that arena. You talk about maroon and white: every person there is rooting for us against Marquette. There’s no question about it. And they were so proud to be Fordham fans. And of course, whether they were before or not, it didn’t matter. They were fans that night.

Bob: The environment was raucous. It was unbelievable that we put that many people in the stands in New York City. I grew up in Fairfield, Ohio, where the population was about 10,000. So, to be in an arena with 19,500 was remarkable. The ovation that we got at the end of the game, that both teams got, was spontaneous and heartfelt and really appreciated.

McLaughlin: We lost a heartbreaking game [85-80] in overtime, but just played great. We became the darlings of New York. Everybody was rooting for us. It created a lot of credibility for us.

Holland: This was a very special week because this is when I think the basketball world realized that Fordham was a genuine contender. Marquette didn’t come in from Wisconsin and embarrass us. We did a pretty good job against one of the top four teams in the nation.

Carlesimo: It was so special because [the fans]were there for Fordham. They weren’t there for Notre Dame, they weren’t there for Marquette. They were there for Fordham, and it was incredible. The noise level was unbelievable, from the beginning to the end.*

Galvanizing the Campus

Following that week, Fordham was at the top of the college basketball world in New York City, and players and staff alike were treated like local celebrities on campus and beyond.

Charles: I took the train home on the weekends to hang out, and all the way home, when I got off the train and walked home, people were yelling “Fordham” to me. My friends were happy, New York City was happy.

Polak: We were having a great time. There used to be a bar across the train tracks—the Penny Whistle Pub or the Web, we used to call it. And after games, I used to come back and stand on the bar and read the stats.

Marcellino: Just being a lowly student manager, we were like the gods. There was a little deli across the street on Webster Avenue, and we couldn’t buy food. They put our pictures—student managers’ pictures—in the window of the delicatessen in our Fordham gear we had on. At the Web—of course the drinking age was different then—you couldn’t buy a beer. Professors would come into class and say, “How we doing?” The whole school, from the top academic administration all the way down, that was the focus. It really put our University on the map at that point.

Doris: One of the things that Frank and Digger and I [talked about was]how do we get the students involved? How do we make them the sixth man in a way? We started at the beginning of the fall semester of that year—and you could do this back in those days [when the drinking age was 18]: Get a keg of beer and bring it to the dorm. It was in Martyrs’ Court and there used to be a meeting room area over there where everybody could get together and enough to fit a good number of kids. So basically we would go out and get a few pizzas and bring the beer over and then Digger comes over and really gets into it with the kids, telling them how important they were to the program. So the following and the atmosphere really started to build with that.

Griswold: It really brought so much to the campus. My recollection, more than anything, is just the way it galvanized the campus.

Ups and Downs in the NCAA Tournament

To close out the regular season, Fordham picked up wins against NYU, Georgetown, Fairfield, and Manhattan College, and earned a No. 9 national ranking. The team had been invited to both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT, and they decided to play in the former. After defeating Furman in a play-in game at St. John’s Alumni Hall, the Rams traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, where they faced off against No. 19 Villanova on March 18.

McLaughlin: Villanova was loaded. They had great players. But what happened, I think looking back, Charlie Yelverton picked up a third foul in the first half, and we sat him. And hindsight would say, “Hey, don’t sit him. Let’s just roll with Charlie and see what happens.”

Charles: The Villanova game was the only game I wish I could play over, because I was sick and I couldn’t do what I needed to do. So it sticks in me. It really does. All these years later, I still wish I was feeling better that game, but it was a great experience.

Larbes: That was heartbreaking. It was literally heartbreaking because in our minds we were headed for the [finals at Houston’s]Astrodome. And we deserved to be there, and then it didn’t happen. It was quite a shock, and there were lots of tears in the locker room. But in those days, you had another game to play.

Two days after their 85-75 loss to Villanova, the Rams played in the consolation game against South Carolina, a team that had several New York City connections.

Marcellino: South Carolina at that point had the New York Express. [Former Archbishop Molly star] Kevin Joyce was down there; [former St. John’s coach]Frank McGuire was the coach. We beat them 100 to 90. It was a consolation game, but still it was New York versus New York. That game actually had meaning for us.

Polak: South Carolina was all New Yorkers. And they went out and they went up on a 12 to two run or something, and Digger called timeout. And he said, “Stop being nervous. Just have fun.” And we won by 10. It was pretty cool for Sully and me because one of our really close friends, Jimmy Powell, was playing on the other team, and we knew Kevin Joyce and then Bobby Carver. They were unbelievable. I think they were preseason No. 1. So even though we played a consolation game, it ended on a really good note.

Burik: You talk about a game I will never ever forget, it was that one. Because who’s best in New York? Well, we just proved who was best in New York, pal, by us beating you.

Doris: In their mind they got recruited ahead of our guys. So was there an edge? Yeah, there was a big edge in terms of wanting to win that game. That was not a consolation round for Fordham.

Phelps Moves On

In early May, Digger Phelps accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame—a job he had been candid about always having dreamed of. After a historic year, the Fordham program would have to prepare for another coaching transition.

Charles: It was a rumor that he would be leaving. And then, when it became a reality, I was like, “Oh, no. Start all over again.” It was like a malaise. It took a while for everyone to just get into it. But you’ve got to make the best out of it, so we just played.

Griswold: He talked to the team and he said, “Look, I’ve always wanted this job.” I think he even produced an old letter that he had written [saying that].

Pipich: It was a difficult transition after a year that, you come to think there are certain things you do well, and it takes a while for the new coach to recognize that, or he may not have placed the same value on what you’re doing in one system as he has in his own system. And to be fair, it was difficult for a new coach coming in like that.

McLaughlin: Unfortunately, when Digger left for Notre Dame, some people badmouthed them. And it was very, very unfair. I think what happened was people were very, very hurt and they didn’t know the true story. Then people tried to protect themselves by making Digger the scapegoat. But Digger has a great love for Fordham.

Retiring a Team Leader’s Number

In addition to belatedly celebrating the 50th anniversary of the season in late February, Fordham retired Charlie Yelverton’s No. 34. After four years at Fordham, Yelverton played for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers for a year, then enjoyed a long, successful European career, including a Euroleague title with Ignis Varèse in 1975.

Holland: I’m going to be very prejudicial in saying this: I think he was the greatest basketball player in Fordham history. I am so grateful that I was there with him at the time. Charlie epitomized determination; he never gave up. He could play virtually any offensive player at any time and shut him down.

Polak: Charlie was our leader. And he was just such a good person and a hard worker. My picture of Charlie is after he graduated that summer, before the [NBA] draft, he would be in the gym. All the lights were out. It was like 150 [degrees], and he’d just be going from baseline to baseline with the ball dribbling through his legs, just working on his ball handling.

Marcellino: There’s no question that Charlie was the leader. You had no doubt about that whatsoever. At 6’2″, just going up against some of these guys. Marquette was enormous, and he was fearless. Him being fearless, I think, set the tempo for everybody else. Once, he said, “I don’t care. 6’8″, 6’10”, it doesn’t bother me. I’ll do my thing and you guys do your thing.”

Zambetti: Charlie is not only a great player, he’s a great personality. He’s almost a transcendent personality and athlete and a great combination of talent and enthusiasm and camaraderie that makes him a fabulous teammate.

Larbes: Charlie is the best player I was ever on court with. And he appreciated everybody who played against him, which was kind of surprising. But more than a good player, a great player, he’s a great person. When we had our 40th, we were all at dinner, and Charlie was late, of course. And when he came in the room it was like somebody turned the lights up. It’s like, “Charlie’s here, now the party can begin.” He’s so full of life and energy. He’s truly a blessed individual who spreads it around to everybody on the team.

A Lasting Legacy

Looking back at the 1970–1971 season, the team’s players, coaches, and managers say it was not only a memorable time for them as individuals but also an important period in the University’s history.

Stephen: So many folks went onto great professional careers after that club. People did great things in life. The ethos was, again, these were the kind of guys that would bring a lunch pail to work. Fordham was really a heavily New York school. We had 26 kids from Brooklyn Prep, a Jesuit high school, going there. Fordham Prep had 40 kids going there. Regis, Loyola. It really built in this Jesuit high school tradition. We were always proud to call ourself a Jesuit school.

McLaughlin: It was a group of hardworking, dedicated guys that had a charismatic leader in Digger Phelps, and that just overachieved. And from that year on, there is not a day gone by that people don’t talk about that team and the success and what the team meant to the University. It was a great emotional feeling. And it still is today.

Larbes: Not only did it end that period in my life, it was a bridge to the next period of my life because I went on to coaching. I coached basketball for 16 years. And I think it was that team and that feeling and trying to recapture that, that led to my career, which lasted 39 years. The sense of loss, though—I kind of realized then I would never recapture it.

Zambetti: I had my 50th reunion last May, and the overwhelming emotion and remembrance and people’s greatest memory of their years at Fordham in many cases was that one season. It was really a huge part of the student body’s experience at Fordham.

Pipich: As the years go by, you have more and more respect for your teammates and what you did back then.

Phelps: I still say it was the greatest single year of college basketball New York has ever seen. We really had the city falling for us. We had it going so well. It was incredible.*

Shades of 1970–1971 in This Year’s Team

Those who have kept up with Fordham basketball over the years say the 2022–2023 squad has shown some of the same qualities that the 1970–1971 team had. The current Rams finished the regular season with a 24-7 record, including a Fordham record 12 wins against fellow Atlantic 10 conference opponents. On the eve of the A-10 Tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Rams are looking to make a run that returns the program to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1992.

Griswold: What they’ve got going this year is—if it’s not a mirror image, it’s very similar to what I felt we had in ’70–’71. The coach clearly has built in the confidence for the players. Players compensate, they pick up. They all step up, and that’s really what I like and what I see [similar]to what I remember us having.

Pipich: I think the biggest similarity clearly is that playing with intensity. Just playing intensely on defense. I mean, really just getting after it and playing together as a group.

McLaughlin: They’re playing better than they think they are. People are supporting them; they’re overachieving. But I thought the big thing about the ’70–’71 team, and this year’s team too, is the institutional pride. Every day people are coming up to me saying, “I’m a Fordham graduate.” I mean, they had never done this before, but it shows you the importance of having a first-class athletic program and creating an institutional pride that we all relate to.

Burik: I had my brother at the [Rhode Island] game. He lives in Princeton. And he said, “I’ve never seen anything like it except way back when.” And it’s just incredible that the same thing’s going on. It’s the beginning of something great.

After John E. Toffolon Jr., GABELLI ’73, ’77, died on April 26 following a battle with cancer, his family asked for memorial donations to be sent to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and to Fordham—specifically, to its New Era Fund supporting the men’s and women’s basketball programs in their drive for national prominence.

About $400,000 in memorial donations has come in to date, a sign of the strong interest prompted by Toffolon’s leadership in advancing the basketball programs, said Fordham’s athletic director, Ed Kull.

“This strong community of donors is a testament to John’s passion for the University,” said Kull, adding that Toffolon’s memory will be honored at a home basketball game this season. “I want to thank all of those who have given to Fordham basketball in memory of John Toffolon. Thanks to our community’s strong support for the New Era Fund, his passion for the program will continue on.”

That passion took root in his student days, when Fordham basketball became a national powerhouse that sold out Madison Square Garden and fueled fierce pride in the University. In 2020, as a trustee fellow, Toffolon co-founded the New Era Fund as part of the University’s current $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, which seeks to enhance the entire Fordham experience. He brought many other supporters along through his example.

In fact, he had been setting an example of giving back and helping others for most of his life—and not just in the arena of basketball.

Forged at Fordham

During his student years, Toffolon was active in many areas of University life, including United Student Government, and seemed to be able to move in every circle of students, as described by two of his classmates, David and Don Almeida, twin brothers and 1973 graduates of the Gabelli School of Business. “He was very much a Fordham guy,” said Don Almeida, a Fordham trustee fellow, “and when he graduated, he remained that for the rest of his life.”

After graduating, Toffolon launched his investment banking career in the management training program of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and came back to Fordham a few years later to earn an M.B.A. That’s when he met his wife, Joan C. Toffolon, GABELLI ’77, a fellow student in the program. He went on to hold leadership roles at First Boston Corporation, Nomura Securities international, and the Cowen Group, among other firms.

He was board chairman at Cowen during its 2009 merger with Ramius LLC, and showed genuine concern for everyone in the merged company, said Jeffrey Solomon, who was a managing member and founder of Ramius.

“John was always well intended, thoughtful, and wanted to make sure that he was making a positive impact in the lives of others,” said Solomon, now chairman and CEO of Cowen, a New York-based banking and financial services firm. Toffolon “wanted to make sure that, through his board stewardship, we were doing the best things we could for everybody at Cowen,” he said.

Giving from the Heart

That care and concern extended to his philanthropy. “John was the real deal,” said David Almeida, a board member with the Making Headway Foundation, which serves families of children diagnosed with brain or spinal cord tumors. Toffolon was a longtime supporter, and “would actually call me up every year to make sure I got the check,” a level of personal attention that meant a lot to him, Almeida said.

Toffolon gave to many organizations supporting health, education, and youth development, and played a leadership role in Fordham’s fundraising efforts. He often gave in partnership with his wife, Joan; in 1995, they created the Joan and John E. Toffolon Jr. Presidential Endowed Scholarship Fund for women attending the Gabelli School of Business.

The first recipient of the scholarship, Cindy Vojtech, Ph.D., a 2000 graduate of the Gabelli School, periodically met Toffolon for lunch. “In any conversation, it was just very clear that he was very enthusiastic about this school and about giving back and trying to … help shift the industry” toward having more women represented in its ranks, said Vojtech, a principal economist at the Federal Reserve Board and a member of the Fordham University President’s Council.

The Toffolon scholarship made it possible for her to come to Fordham and pursue her career dreams in finance and economics, she said. Today, she is paying it forward by creating a scholarship of her own, so that future students can enjoy the Fordham community and support that she did. “It’s just such an amazing gift,” she said.

Another recipient, Samantha Barrett, GABELLI ’21, met John Toffolon on a few occasions, joining him for a Fordham basketball game and dinner at Roberto’s on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx in 2018. “He was just a truly wonderful man, with the kindest heart, and I am a better person for having known him,” she said.

It was humbling and amazing, she said, to learn that the Toffolons’ scholarship would be covering the full cost of her Fordham education. “In that moment, I knew that I needed to have a college career where I did my best—for myself, for John and Joan, for my family, for those around me,” said Barrett, now an analyst at Jefferies Credit Partners in New York City. “I kept John and Joan in mind in every decision I made at Fordham,” wanting to make them proud, she said.

Before the launch of the New Era Fund, the Toffolons made many gifts to support athletics. At the Lombardi Center on the Rose Hill campus, they funded the installation of a wood floor on a practice court—now named in their honor—that is sometimes used by the basketball teams.

That gift seemed to come out of the blue, said Frank McLaughlin, FCRH ’69, athletic director emeritus at Fordham and special advisor to the director of intercollegiate athletics and recreational sports.

“He would do a lot of things unannounced like that, to help people,” McLaughlin said.

Days of Glory

McLaughlin knew Toffolon for about six decades, since Toffolon was a student and he, McLaughlin, was a young assistant basketball coach at Fordham for one season under head coach Richard “Digger” Phelps.

“In 1970–1971, it was a magical year where we were a national power, and he saw what that meant to everybody,” McLaughlin said. “There was a tremendous pride in the institution.”

The Rams went 26-3 that year, playing twice before sold-out crowds at Madison Square Garden—beating Notre Dame the first time and falling to Marquette a week later. Fordham advanced to the “Sweet 16” in the NCAA tournament and finished the year ranked ninth in the country.

“Everybody was coming to see us, and Madison Square Garden was full,” Don Almeida said. “I was scared the place was going to fall down, it was shaking so much [with]everybody standing and rocking.”

The school spirit had a unifying effect, he said. “You had ROTC marching in Edwards Parade and you had anti-Vietnam War demonstrations going on all over campus, and at night, everybody was at the basketball game,” he said.

“For the four years that [John and I were] at Fordham, we had very, very respectable basketball teams,” which set a benchmark for the team’s future efforts, Almeida said. “No matter what happened thereafter, we knew what we could do, because we had done it.”

Launching a New Era

Almeida and Toffolon were part of a group led by Fordham trustee Darlene Jordan, FCRH ’89, that started the New Era Fund to boost the basketball teams as a unifying source of Fordham pride and enhance the University’s national profile.

The fund pays for the recruitment of coaching talent and various supports to help student-athletes do their best in class and on the court. With its help, the men’s team improved to a 16-16 record last season under then-head coach Kyle Neptune, and it’s seeking further progress this year under Keith Urgo, who became head coach in April.

Toffolon “was very passionate about seeing the New Era Fund get off the ground” and cared deeply about helping the student-athletes, said Frank Aiello, GABELLI ’76, a supporter of the fund and member of Fordham’s Athletics Hall of Fame committee.

He kept coming to Fordham basketball games while undergoing cancer treatments. “He was all in,” Don Almeida said. Toffolon knew and interacted with all the players, and the entire men’s and women’s teams came to his wake, along with members of the coaching staff. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” he said.

Following a Mass of Christian Burial on May 5 at St. Joseph’s Church in Bronxville, New York, John Toffolon was laid to rest at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Survivors include his wife, Joan, their daughters, Ashley and Allison, and his sister, Penley Kidd (Douglas).

“There isn’t a day goes by when I am not saddened that he is no longer here to support us. But he’s there in spirit, I’ll tell you that much,” McLaughlin said. “He was an inspiration.”

To ask about contributing to the New Era Fund, contact Kara Field, director of athletic development and assistant athletic director, at 973-223-2157 or [email protected].

Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student and make a gift.

What was the first day on the job like? “It was really intense, and it was very, very, intimidating. Everything was my responsibility,” she said. “There was only one judge as well.”

During this and other moments in her multifaceted career, she said, she was well served by what she had learned at Fordham—not just writing and debating skills honed in her political science classes but also the habit of seeing things through a compassionate lens. “Cura personalis is not just a phrase,” she said, referring to the Jesuit ideal of caring for the whole person. “It is throughout everything at Fordham, and it shapes you.”

A philanthropic leader once described as a “rainmaker” by The Boston Globe, Luccio Jordan has given back to Fordham for 17 years as a trustee and one of the University’s most generous benefactors. A recipient of the 2012 Fordham Founder’s Award, she has been a leader in Fordham campaigns that raised funds for endowed chairs, scholarships and financial aid, and other critical needs.

Advancing Fordham Athletics

Today, she is playing a leadership role in another fundraising priority: athletics. That and scholarship giving are her focus areas as a co-chair of Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, a $350 million fundraising campaign designed to enhance the entire Fordham student experience.

This is the first Fordham campaign to have athletics as a pillar. A key priority is the New Era Fund to support the basketball program, to which Luccio Jordan recently made a major gift. Last season, supported by this fund, the men’s team improved its record to 16-16 under a new head coach, Kyle Neptune, who left in April to become head men’s basketball coach at Villanova and handed off the reins to the new head coach, Keith Urgo. Next year, given the strength of the team and its staff, “there’s no reason why basketball should not put Fordham back in the spotlight, where we belong,” she said. “Some of the greatest names in sports history have been a part of Fordham’s history, and we are reclaiming our place in the sports conversation.”

Why is athletics being elevated in the University’s fundraising now, at this moment?
Athletics has long been a part of our strategic plan. Under the leadership of Father McShane [Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University], Fordham has experienced tremendous growth, where we completed a comprehensive campaign that resulted in the transformation of Hughes Hall into a home for the Gabelli School of Business and new residence halls being built on the Rose Hill campus. We also completed construction of the new Fordham Law School and residence hall building at the Lincoln Center campus. We raised $175 million for student financial aid and, as you know, we have embarked on a new campaign and have recently dedicated the new McShane Campus Center. We are focusing on athletics now because we can. Since Fordham University is in a very strong place, this is the natural next step.

I think Fordham, as a community, has realized what other schools have done by embracing the additive nature of athletics and that it really is integral to the student experience. It’s complementary to the academic mission and the overall development of our students as future leaders. There’s a long list of schools—Villanova, Boston College, Georgetown, Duke—that have embraced athletics, and doing so has raised the profile of those universities. It shines a light on the institution. I just am so excited for Fordham that we are finally doing the same.

You said athletics is integral to the student experience. Can you elaborate?
In addition to the almost one-third of our student body who participate in varsity sports, club sports, and intramural teams, you have the rest of the students who benefit and participate: they work in the athletic department, they are trainers or managers for teams, they work on WFUV broadcasting the games, they are fans. It enriches not just the student-athlete; it enriches the entire community. There’s a phrase we use in athletics and in fundraising, and in particular for basketball—it’s like the front porch of the institution. You need something for people to gather around, because there is this need for people to find commonality in something that’s exciting and positive.

Can you describe the New Era Fund’s uses and the response to it?
I think people have been waiting for the men’s team to excel, and we have been able to raise money for the New Era Fund in a very short period of time. These resources are used to increase financial support for the entire basketball staff. It is really a holistic fund for the athletic department and the basketball program to use—we need more trainers, we need nutritionists, we need meals, we need foreign tour trips for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as tutors and charter flights so that less class time is missed. We have to remember they’re still students. We are asking them to represent Fordham at a level that we aspire to be at, so we need to support them. They’re learning leadership skills, they’re learning discipline, focus, physical and mental stamina, that ability to work together as a team, and there’s a lot that goes into that.

I think this past season was almost like a test case for us, because it showed what you can achieve if you’re focused, if you bring the right people together. If you support the program the way it should be supported, you can get results. It raises the excitement level, having various Fordham student-athletes highlighted as Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. Fordham started to be back in that conversation again, in a New York way.

We will also look to expand our media partnerships and footprint locally and nationally. The other important area will be to upgrade the locker rooms, office space, and training facilities to stay on par with the A-10. The improvements to the Rose Hill Gym will continue to cement its place as Fordham’s “6th man.”

How does athletics fundraising benefit the rest of the University?
My involvement with my husband’s alma mater, Harvard, and sitting on financial aid committees and campaign committees with him, taught me the importance of an integrated approach to fundraising. I wanted to replicate some of the things that happened there. Jerry would say that some of the biggest donors to Harvard were people who played a sport. They might have been swimmers, they might have been baseball players, football players, but they made gifts because of their feeling of belonging, because they were part of a team and what that felt like and how that shaped them. However, they didn’t just give to athletics—they might give to refurbish a field or build a weight center or offices or a new auditorium or gym, but they were also building science labs and endowing scholarships and professorships. More broadly, athletics benefits fundraising across the University as the success of our teams inspires and excites our Fordham communities who represent the past, the present, and, with victories on the field, a robust future “Ramily.”

Looking back on your career, do you have any advice for students?
Every task you take on, do it as well as you can, because you might use that skill again. When I was a newly installed prosecutor, after working for not even six weeks in the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office, I was told they were moving me to one of our satellite courts, which covered five different towns. They said, “You’re going to run the court.” And I said, “I don’t even know if I passed the bar yet.” My supervisor said, “Don’t worry, you’re certified. We need you out there because it’s a short-staffed courthouse.”

So, I didn’t have a full-time secretary. I didn’t have a dedicated victim witness advocate for the victims and witnesses in my cases. It was just me. When I asked, “Why me?” they said, “Well, you’re the only one who knows how to do everything.” Because as an intern, I had worked the switchboard for the office, I had worked as a victim witness advocate, as an investigator for the various attorneys, and as a secretary. I had helped write briefs. I actually didn’t realize how prepared I was walking into the courthouse. You never know whether the job you’re currently doing is going to be necessary for the job you will be doing. I think that was a good lesson for me.

Also, being in a courthouse and being a prosecutor is a huge responsibility. I think it also taught me to treat people equitably, and with compassion, because you never know what someone’s going through.

Is there a book that had a lasting influence on you?
Yes, it’s a book called There Are No Children Here, and it describes the experience of a family, and particularly focuses on two of the brothers, who grew up in Chicago’s housing projects. It made such an impression on me, reading it when I was in the legal profession. In law school, when I worked for a domestic violence clinical lab, I accompanied women to court and helped them to obtain restraining orders, and domestic violence is a theme in the book. However, the bigger theme is what is happening in society, particularly to children in areas like this housing project, which was notorious for gangs and drugs and violence.

I think the most important part of the book is the idea that children, if given a chance, want to succeed and can succeed. And so for me, that lasting impression is the power of education. Keeping the playing field as level and as open as we can has been critically important to me and to my family. My husband went to Harvard on scholarship, and he says that if somebody did not pay for him to go to school, he wouldn’t be who he is. We’ve endowed scholarships at Harvard and at Fordham, because to us, keeping access is critical. Fordham is one of the most inclusive communities, and we need to ensure that everyone who wants a Fordham education can get one!

What are you optimistic about?
The direction of Fordham! I’ve been involved for 17 years, and over that time I’ve seen Fordham continue to excel and keep the focus on the student and the student experience. Fordham has risen in the rankings while staying true to the mission and cura personalis. So, Fordham’s direction gives me hope based upon everything else that’s going on in the world.

To inquire about giving in support of Fordham athletics or another area of the University, please contact Michael Boyd, senior associate vice president for development and university relations, at 212-636-6525 or [email protected]. Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, our campaign to reinvest in every aspect of the Fordham student experience.

They’re backed by new energy among fans, a network of enthusiastic student supporters—and a new pool of alumni gifts that athletics director Ed Kull likens to startup funding.

Indeed, the name of the fund—the New Era Fund—reflects the hope that men’s basketball can begin anew after past struggles and that the women’s team can continue its past success.

“Our overall goal right now is to build something from the ground up, something that people are proud of, and want to invest in, because they think it’s special,” Neptune said.

The new fundraising effort is fueled by a belief in the potential of men’s and women’s basketball to advance the University generally—and a hunger for a new winning culture in the men’s program, which has had just two winning seasons since joining the Atlantic 10 in 1995.

For Every Fordham Student-Athlete

As part of its current fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, the University is seeking new investments in all sports programs, including men’s and women’s basketball, to enhance the student experience in multiple ways: by supporting student-athletes’ overall development; by stirring new Fordham pride on campus; and by bringing new renown to the University.

Other universities “have really used athletics and maximized them … to elevate the profile of the university,” said Darlene Luccio Jordan, FCRH ’89, a Fordham trustee, co-chair of the campaign, and leader in athletics fundraising. “Strong athletics goes hand in hand with [the]student experience, so it fits perfectly into this campaign and the large themes of the campaign.”

She also noted the potential for athletics to draw interest from donors who start by supporting athletics but go on to invest in other areas, including endowed professorships and financial aid.

Don Almeida, GABELLI ’73, another University trustee and a Cura Personalis campaign cabinet member, said a strong basketball program can draw in lots of new non-alumni donors who are excited about athletics. It can also signal excellence at the University more generally, and showcase Fordham not only nationally but also globally, in part by leveraging the University’s New York location, he said.

“It’s not [just]about basketball. Basketball is the enabler,” he said. “It’s the method by which Fordham can leverage all its good attributes with a national and international profile and with donors, alumni, students, parents, and others.”

“If you have a national profile, you’re on national TV, you’re in the national press, and everybody gets to know real quickly what Fordham is,” he said.

And new investment in the team is essential, Neptune said. “We’re going against a really, really good league,” in which multiple schools are spending two to four times as much on their teams, he said.

The New Era Fund has drawn more than $3 million in giving to date. It offers support for the men’s and women’s programs in hiring and retaining a talented coaching staff, Kull said, in addition to other things such as marketing, production equipment for recording games, and software to help players analyze the performance of teams they’re about to play against.

It could also fund facilities renovations or charter flights that minimize the disruption of student-athletes’ academic schedules by providing faster, more convenient travel to and from games, he said.

The Herd

Meanwhile, Fordham athletics is also working with a student group dubbed the Herd (formerly Fordham Fanatics) to build new enthusiasm for basketball and all other sports teams at the University.

The basketball season began with a Nov. 4 “Late Night on the Hill” celebration at the historic Rose Hill Gym; rap star A$AP Ferg performed for a crowd of 2,700 students, with student-athletes in attendance. And the Herd’s five student organizers are corralling students via social media and other means to fill the stands for all Fordham sports—from basketball and football to water polo, swimming and diving, softball, and everything in between—and restore the athletics energy that was muted last year because of pandemic lockdowns.

“Already this year there’s been a huge culture change in the fan base,” said one member of the Herd, Dillane Wehbe, a swim team member and a senior at the Gabelli School of Business. “That’s what we’re really going for, just to make the whole experience better—for students to … have fun at the games, for athletes to really feel like they’re being supported by their school.

“It’s a whole new crowd at the games, a whole new energy,” he said.

Another Herd member, women’s basketball team member Kaitlyn Downey, also a senior at Gabelli, is happy to be playing in front of others again after a year of games in “quiet, quiet gym,” with only a recording of applause. “You never really appreciated it, having fans in the stands, until you realize what it’s like when there’s none there,” she said.

Both the women’s and men’s basketball teams are off to encouraging starts, with the men having won seven of their first 12 games and the women surging to 8-3 on a four-game win streak. The Herd members are trying to fill the Rose Hill Gym for home games for both men’s and women’s basketball to fire up the players and fuel their success, said another member of the team, Thomas Aiello, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill.

“Just trying to get that feeling back is so imperative to … everything that we’re trying to do,” he said. “When the Rose Hill Gym is full, there’s nothing like it at all.”

To ask about contributing to the New Era Fund, contact Kara Field, director of athletic development and assistant athletic director, at 212-636-8896 or [email protected].

Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student and make a gift.

If you have a question about giving to Fordham, call 212-636-6550 or send an email to [email protected].

“You want to build the whole person right? And it’s not just, all right let’s get these guys on the court and run some plays… That’s probably the last piece,” said Neptune. “We really believe that what you do off the court, and your maturity off the court, and who you are as a person off the court, bleeds onto the court, but who you are as a person that’s the most important thing.”

To congratulate Breen on the honor, a number of fellow Fordham and WFUV alumni appeared in a video from Fordham athletics, sending kind words and paying tribute by reciting one of his signature calls: “Bang!”

Congratulations to Mike Breen FCRH ’83 who will be presented with the @NBA Naismith Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Award tonight.

Many @FordhamNYC greats got together to show their appreciation for all that Mike has done for our community. pic.twitter.com/SMbb9VASeW

— Fordham Athletics (@FordhamRams) May 14, 2021

Konchalski was born in Manhattan and moved to Elmhurst, Queens, as a child. While he did not possess athletic gifts himself, he fell in love with the game of basketball and spent time in his youth following Connie Hawkins from playground to playground to watch him play.

After graduating from Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, Konchalski attended Fordham College at Rose Hill, where he majored in political science and philosophy. Upon graduating magna cum laude, he began teaching eighth grade social studies and math. He stuck with teaching for just over a decade before he turned his passion for basketball into a career.

He was hired in 1979 to work for Howard Garfinkel, the founder of Five-Star Basketball Camp and publisher of a scouting newsletter called the High School Basketball Insider (HSBI). After writing the newsletter for five years, Konchalski bought HSBI from Garfinkel in 1984, and he continued to write and run it until retiring in 2020. His impact on the game is evidenced by his candidacy for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021 as a contributor.

An Oracle-Like Predictor of Players’ Potential

Konchalski’s process was the stuff of legend in the basketball world. He would enter and leave gymnasiums, in the New York metropolitan region and beyond, as quietly as a six-foot-six scout could, making his way to the top row of the bleachers to watch games among fans and players’ families. He would focus on a handful of players during games, jotting down just about any kind of statistic one could track, as well as pithy descriptions to include in the newsletter (“Scores like we breathe,” “Bodyguard w/surgeon’s touch”). His notes, according to those who knew him, were almost supplementary, as he reportedly had a photographic memory of every moment in a basketball game.

At his home in Forest Hills, Queens, Konchalski—who didn’t own a car, cell phone, or computer—would turn his notes and recollections into the final HSBI form: stapled, typewritten, hard-copy pages that he placed into manila envelopes and sent out to college basketball coaches around the country 16 times a year. The newsletter’s tagline was, “Others tell you where they’ve been. We tell you where they’re going.” And the biggest names in college coaching, from Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski to Villanova’s Jay Wright, trusted Konchalski as an oracle-like predictor of players’ potential for success.

‘Respected and Loved By All’

Many of those same coaches expressed their admiration for Konchalski upon his passing, which came two years after he was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. Krzyzewski said of him, “He was a saint. There was something divine about his work and about him.” Kentucky’s John Calipari called him “one of the best human beings I have ever come across.”

Outside of his eye for talent, Konchalski was known for his personal touch. He got to know players and their families and placed an emphasis on helping people make their lives better through the sport. When he retired last year, he said, “I love the game of basketball and I love the people in the game of basketball, the players and the coaches.”

Frank McLaughlin, FCRH ’69, athletic director emeritus and associate vice president of student affairs for athletic alumni relations and external affairs at Fordham, described Konchalski as “a gentle giant, respected and loved by all.”

“[He] helped so many student-athletes achieve their dreams. Tom was truly a man for others.”

Breen began calling Knicks games in 1992, first on WFAN radio before moving to TV at MSG Network in 1997. He has stayed at the network since then, partnering with Knicks legend and Hall of Fame player Walt “Clyde” Frazier to form a fan-favorite broadcasting duo. Since 2006, Breen has also been the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s and ABC’s nationally televised NBA games, including the NBA Finals, which he has called for a record 14 straight seasons.

A native of Yonkers, New York, Breen got his start in broadcasting as an undergraduate at Fordham.

“One of the main reasons I went to Fordham was WFUV,” he told FORDHAM magazine in 2012, referring to the University’s public media station, which has been a training ground for generations of well-known sports broadcasters starting with Vin Scully, a 1949 Fordham graduate. “I can’t think of anything that could have better trained me for my career.”

Breen recently told the New York Post that his signature on-air call—“Bang!”—was something he first tested at Fordham.

“When we weren’t doing games, I was in the stands as a student,’’ Breen said. “When a Fordham player made a shot, I would scream, ‘Bang.’ I tried it on air as a student couple of times. I said, ‘This doesn’t work. I don’t really like it.’ … Then I went back to it when I started doing TV and felt it was a nice, concise way in a big moment. You say a one-syllable word and the crowd rises and you don’t have to scream over it. One easy word. I’m from the Vin Scully … school of conciseness. It worked with a big, loud crowd.”

Breen is the third Fordham graduate and fourth member of the Fordham family to earn the Hall of Fame’s Gowdy Award, which recognizes members of the electronic and print media for “outstanding contributions to basketball.”

John Andariese, FCRH ’60, one of Breen’s former Knicks broadcasting partners at MSG Network (and a star player at Fordham during the late 1950s), received the honor in 2014. Malcolm Moran, FCRH ’75, who was a sports reporter and columnist at The New York Times for nearly 20 years, and later wrote for USA Today, among other newspapers, won the award in 2007. Like Breen, Moran, who is now the director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University, got his start at WFUV. And legendary broadcaster Marty Glickman, who mentored and advised students at WFUV for 12 years, from 1988 to 2000, won the award in 1991.

But while the New York City parks department maintains hundreds of public courts, there has long been an ecosystem of alternative hoops in the city. These hoops—ones that reflect the history of inequity in New York, almost always lacking nets, sometimes constructed from a mix of found materials—are the focus of a new book of photography, B-BALL NYC, by Larry Racioppo, FCRH ’72. Selected photos from the book are also on display at the Brooklyn Arts Council in Dumbo until December 19, with viewings by appointment.

While working as a staff photographer for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Racioppo, a Sunset Park native who has previously released books of Halloween photos and Brooklyn street scenes from the 1970s and 1980s, was tasked with taking pictures of vacant land and distressed properties. It was in these areas that he began to notice a common sight: makeshift basketball hoops, attached to the sides of buildings, steel fences, trees—wherever folks could get a backboard and rim (of some sort) to stay up.

Whether born out of a lack of proximity to a playground or the need for kids to create a safe playing space as close to home as possible, these hoops represent the resourcefulness of New Yorkers who have always found a way to bring “the city game” to wherever they are.

“[It’s] a game you can play with a minimum amount of equipment,” Racioppo recently told WFUV’s George Bodarky. “All you need is a basketball and a few friends. And if you [can’t] find anyone to play with, you [can]just practice your shots.”

Along with Racioppo’s photos, taken between 1971 and 2018, B-BALL NYC features New York Times writer Dan Barry’s 2012 essay, “Hoops Spring Eternal,” and an original poem, “For Those Who Know … the Playground,” by legendary DJ, filmmaker, writer, and basketball aficionado Bobbito Garcia.

While several of the photos depict official playgrounds, the majority of them tell a story of the unconventional spaces that have served the needs of resource-strapped hoops heads over five-plus decades in New York City.

More information about B-BALL NYC can be found on Racioppo’s website.

“Here it hangs, another basketball hoop built into the brick of the city. Probably without a net. Maybe bent a little at the front of the rim. Maybe nothing more than a milk crate hammered into a plywood backboard. But it speaks to you.”

–Dan Barry, from “Hoops Spring Eternal”

“For those who didn’t have rims, who have shot on the bottom step of a fire-escape ladder or bottomless milk crate, or empty trash can … For those who know the Playground, that playground is you.”

–Bobbito Garcia, from “For Those Who Know … the Playground”