Big 5 back in full force as 'Nova rejoins

Friday, April 23 marked a historic day in Philadelphia college basketball. The Philadelphia Big Five has returned. What is the Big Five? Well, to put it simply, the Big Five was the best basketball to BRIAN O'CONNELL be seen anywhere in country, and some fans would go as far as saying the best basketball in the world

February I0, 1955 marked the announcement that the five Philadelphia colleges, LaSalle, Pennsylvania, St Joseph's, Temple and Villanova would play each other every season. The site would be the world's greatest and most historic arena, the Palestra on the campus on the University of Pennsylvania. The first-ever Big Five matchup was between the St. Joseph's Hawks and the Villanova Wildcats on December 14, 1955. The Hawks won 83-70. However, the game was not very well attended with only 2,636 fans showing up for the game. The Hawks would also go on to win the city series title going undefeated under legendary head coach Jack Ramsay. The St. Joe's -Villanova game would go down as the biggest game of the year each season in the Big Five. In fact, the rivalry was so big that it was soon called "the Holy War."

Fans suddenly took notice of this special competition among the five schools. Soon, overflow crowds at the Palestra became the norm. Banners became popular at the double-headers with some interesting sayings on them. There were the streamer:; of tl1e schoors colors thrown out by the fans when their school scored their first rwo points. There were the bands playing their school song, and the ever-famous drum St. Joe's had which helped hype up the fans and echoed throughout the Palestra Then there were the fans and the electric atmosphere they created every game. The Palestra provided over 9,000 seats for its fans, but that didn't matter as fans waited outside to get into the building to contribute to the atmosphere inside. When teams got together for double-headers the crowds would be on their feet the entire game screaming and chanting to the other school's crowd and just making the Palestra sound like there were 20,000 people there. The Duke fans can take their cozy Cameron Indoor Stadium, any Big Five fan will take the Palestra. The atmosphere and legendary history between Cameron and the Palestra is not even close and never will be The Big Five match-ups became the competition to see in the city. Fans from all over came to watch the games just for the appreciation of the atmosphere and the Palestra.

Of course there are the players and coaches from the schools who played a major role in providing the fans with what they wanted to see. For LaSalle, there was the great Ken Durrett, Lionel Simons, Larry Cannon, Bob McAteer and Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant. Pennsylvania featured players like Bob Mlkvy, Matt Maloney, Jerome Allen, Jeff Neumann and Corky Calhoun. St. Joseph's had the untouchable Cliff Anderson, who at six feet five inches tall could out-jump and out-rebound anyone he went up against. There was Rodney Blake, the tremendous backcourt of Bernard Blunt and Rap Curry. There was also Norman Black, Mike Bantom, Mike Hauer and Dan Kelly. Temple had the legendary backcourt of Hal Lear and Guy Rodgers, Mark Macon, Aaron McKie and Edie Jones. Also with Temple was John Baum, Bruce Drysdale, and Bill Kennedy. Villanova featured Kerry Kittles, Hubie White, Jason Lawson, Tom Brennan and Bill Melchioni

There were the legendary coaches like St. Joseph's Dr. Jack Ramsay. Villanova had Jack Kraft. Temple's Harry Litwack and current head coach John Chaney,who,will never be forgotten. LaSalle Bob Walters and Joe Heyer. Pennsylvania had Dick Harter and current head coach Fran Dunphy.

Dzik: coach and teacher are synonymous

by Shanna Fanelli features/a&e editor

A coach serves many roles. A parent. a teacher, a mentor, a confidante and a friend. \\'nat are the terms a coach has to live under? Unlimited reserves of patience? Keeping a positive outlook and urging on the tear ' th motivat10n and mspirational words? Long hours and small pay? The answer to all of these is yes.

Being a coach 1s being a teacher It 1s a role that calls for responsibility and good leadership.

The criteria for becoming quired skill and knowledge in order to be a good influence on the players under the guidance of the coach. There is also the subject of being able to handle pressure, keeping one's temper, and realizing that even iliough all people are created equal, this has nothing to do with playing ability. The coach must then aid the team with encouragement and also challenge the player:, with an ultimate goal of increasing their skills.

There are two types of coaches. They are professional coaches, or those who work under a contract for pay, and volunteer coaches. Cabrini has about 26 coaches. both of whom are either volunteer or under contract The coaches are with the team during the entire season, as their contracts are annual.

As it is with any faculty member here on campus, the coaches go through an end of the year evaluation. The members of the team are given the evaluation forms which they fill out. This system of evaluation is going to be adapted in the future to enable a more specific evaluation of the coach.

The more experience a coach has, the more skill is learned and the more valuable the coach can then become to the sport and the team. Being a coach is hard work. It requires one to have self control, knowledge, a positive outlook as well as skill and experience. Of course, a coach must be able to not only get along with, but be part of the team.

However, on May 13,1991 the schools met to reduce the round-robin to two games per school instead of four games. This was due to scheduling conflicts. Villanova took a lot of the heat for the break-up because of the way they wanted to schedule. They wanted to schedule other games instead of the other two Big Five games which they played sine 1955. So, from 1991 through 1999, each school played two official Big Five games and it just wasn't the same anymore. Very few games were in the Palestra anymore. However, the Big Five refused to die The ~chools worked hard every year and submitted proposals to get the best tradition in basketball hack to the way it once was. However, no one thought it would be possible, but that obstacle was overcome when Villanova announced, due to the reduction of two Big East games, they were very interested to returning to the full format of the Big Five. Suddenly all ears and eyes were open to the suggestion. So, all five schools agreed to return to the format and held a press conference last Friday at the Palestra to make the announcement that the Big Five is back. I was so happy that day to hear the news. as were other basketball fans I talked to that day. However, not all Big Five games will be in the Palestra where they belong, but I can almost guarantee that LaSalle and my team, St. Joseph's will move their home games to the Palestra. It has been said that the home team of each game will decide where the game will be held.

There were the streamers, the bands, the teams and the crowds. There were the Explorers, ilie Quakers, the Hawks, the Owls, and the Wildcats. Most importantly, it was the Big Five. It was something special and was alive and well. It took a downfall for nearly a decade. However, April 23, changed the face of Philadelphia college basketball. The Big Five is back and will always be worth watching. Go see it. It is something that has been appreciated by thousands all over the country. Go to the Palestra to :see a game and you will know what I am talking about. Something this special doesn't come a sports fan's way too often.

Phillies continue stadium delay

b~.Brian O'Connell

sports editor

The Ph1lhes continue to delay thelf decision for a location for their new ballpark which directly affects the Ea gles and the stadium plans for both teams.

Howe,er, the Phillies are .ilmo,t co f.d nt that they wtll be able to mike their decmon hopefully sometime before June. Many issues sttll remain such as environ mental s.ud1e-, and parkm <;trnte 0 ie Two loc 1nons re under strong consideration by the Plulll"'s. TI1e tv. o lo cations are Broad and Spring Garden Streets and a site close to Veteran:. stadium. Their first choice is Broad and Spring Garden Streets. Howe\ er. the one problem that exists with bmlding at that site would an extrn $30 million to $80 million. That money will have to come dt rectly from the Phillies.

Bill Giles, cbainnan of the Phillies says that team representativesare continuing to meet with the city so they will be able to reach a decision on a site soon.

The Eagles are growing impatient with the Phillies

They want to get this project underway as soon as possible. Giles also commented that the Phillies will haw no problem with making their decision before the end oftbe year. The stadiums are set to open m the year 2<m.