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GREAT MOMENTS AND GAMES NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship
Central Missouri swept two championship games in one night in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1984.
One night, one court, two titles Central Missouri’s championship doubleheader sweep still stands out in NCAA annals By Todd Krise
T
he energy, as Robin Scully described, was too much for him and his fellow Pine Street business owners to handle. So the inevitable happened. Thousands of crazed Central Missouri State fans began pouring onto Warrensburg, Missouri’s, famed downtown road. The date was March 24, 1984, and 1,342 miles away in Springfield, Massachusetts, the university’s men’s and women’s basketball teams had just completed the most unlikely doubleheader sweep in the history of college basketball. It was the first and only time two teams from the same university won national titles on the same night and on the same court. Police were forced to shut down the three-block stretch and had no choice but to allow public celebration, which lasted until nearly sunrise. “It was the only time I ever remember them doing that,” said Scully, who opened the doors to his Heroes Restaurant and Pub in 1981. His ex-wife, Katie, is now the owner. “One of the best nights in my memory as far as business, too.” Memorabilia from that season still dons the walls of the 31-year-old restaurant. Plaques and pictures surround an autographed game ball, which Robin purchased at a university auction. They serve as a constant reminder to townspeople of the most prolific night in the school’s (which is now called the University of Central Missouri) rich athletics history.
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GREAT MOMENTS AND GAMES NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship “Everyone came together,” Scully said, “and it started a long-term love affair with Central Missouri sports.”
High expectations The blueprints for the Central Missouri men’s and women’s basketball teams were laid out well ahead of their 1983-84 campaigns. Both were still licking wounds from deep postseason defeats the year prior. Each had dynamic senior players, Ron Nunnelly and Carla Eades, who finished their careers with a combined 4,566 points. The two squads also had complementary players who proved to be priceless contributors down the stretch. “I think both teams were expecting to do well,” said Bill Turnage, who was the Central Missouri sports information director from 1981-2002, “because they each had a pretty good nucleus back. I don’t know if they were expecting to win the national championship, because we were in a pretty tough league at the time. But they were expecting to do well.” The Mules and Jennies took their time coming out of the gates. The men’s team began its season 42 with tough losses to Division I foes Oklahoma — which sported the strength of Wayman Tisdale — and Oklahoma State. The two defeats were by a combined 55 points. Despite the losses, the Mules finished the regular season on an 18-1 tear. The Jennies also had a tough nonconference slate, going 7-3 against programs that are now Division I. Three of their five losses on the year came to Kansas State, Nebraska and Ole Miss. Following back-to-back conference defeats at the end January, the Jennies rattled off eight straight wins to finish the regular season. They steamrolled over their competition, scoring more than 100 points four times in 32 games. Luck still remains a key ingredient to both squads’ successes. The men won seven regular-season games decided by five points or fewer — a trend that would continue in the postseason. One of those contests was a sloppy 26-24 affair with Missouri-Kansas City early in the year. “Both teams were just horrible that night,” Turnage recalled. The women finished 10-2 in conference play and found themselves in a three-way tie in the MidAmerica Intercollegiate Athletics Association standings. A coin toss between Northwest Missouri, Southeast Missouri and Central Missouri gave the Jennies a bye and homecourt advantage in the winner-take-all finals. After Southeast Missouri defeated Northwest Missouri, the Jennies took the post10
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Memorabilia from the night still adorns the wall at the Heroes Restaurant and Pub. season crown with an 88-65 victory. “We lucked out on that one,” Turnage said. Favorable bounces continued to fall Central Missouri’s way as both teams hosted all of their NCAA tournament games at the school’s Multipurpose Building up until the Division II semifinals. The Mules went 19-0 at home in 198384, while the Jennies went 18-1 at the “Multi.”
The national semifinals In the early 1980s, MIAA men’s and women’s basketball games were scheduled as doubleheaders. So, having played all 24 conference games together, on the same courts and in the same buildings all season, it only seemed fitting that both Central Missouri squads would head to the national semifinals together. The Mules and Jennies did not go alone, either. A mass following of school administrators, alumni, students and fans followed the teams to Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of basketball. Most patrons flew in to New York or Boston, while a few diehards left on buses the day before the semifinals and drove 24 hours straight to make tipoff. Thousands of Central Missouri fans packed the Springfield Civic Center (now called the MassMutual Center) for all four games.
The Jennies kicked off the semifinals with a close 74-70 victory over Valdosta State. The Mules followed with an 89-85 overtime thriller against North Alabama. Both finals took place on Saturday with the men’s bout broadcasted on ESPN. The women’s final was on tape delay, but radio stations reported live. In the men’s championship, Central Missouri held a slim two-point lead over St. Augustine’s at halftime until Nunnelly caught fire. The 6-foot-3 guard, who Turnage described as “160 pounds soaking wet,” opened the second half with eight straight points to help widen the Mules’ lead to 60-53 with 10 minutes to play. Nunnelly finished with 38 points. The Falcons began concentrating heavily on Nunnelly, allowing fellow senior Brian Pesko to ice the game. Pesko came into the semifinals known more as a passer but scored 55 in two games, including an unexpected 25 in the championship. “They were basically trying to stop everybody else,” Pesko said. “They were kind of saying, ‘OK, we’re going to let this guy beat us.’ ” He did by sinking 50 percent of his field goals and nailing 13-of-14 from the free-throw line. It was Pesko’s final foul shot that put the Mules up three in the waning seconds, eventually winning the game, 81-77.
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GREAT MOMENTS AND GAMES NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship
THE PATH TO HISTORY Central Missouri became the first school in college basketball history to win the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships in the same season. The feat was later duplicated by Connecticut in 2004 at the Division I level and also by Northwestern College (Iowa) at the NAIA level in 2001. Central Missouri, however, is the only school to win both titles on the same court and on the same night. Here are the postseason paths Central Missouri took in accomplishing that feat: Central Missouri Men Central Mo. 70, Northwest Mo. St. 57 # Central Mo. 70, Northwest Mo. St. 65 # Central Mo. 50, Columbus 47 * Central Mo. 79, Jacksonville St. 72 * Central Mo. 74, Morningside 60 * Central Mo. 89, North Ala. 85 * Central Mo. 81, St. Augustine’s 77 * Central Missouri Women Central Mo. 83, Mo.-Rolla 38 # Central Mo. 88, Southeast Mo. 65 # Central Mo. 76, Southeast Mo. 64 * Central Mo. 77, Chapman 59 * Central Mo. 74, Valdosta St. 70 * Central Mo. 80, Virginia Union 73 * # — MIAA Tournament * — NCAA Tournament
The Central Missouri women, in the meantime, were watching the game from their sideline seats. Eades said they entered the locker room with 10 minutes to play, requesting their team managers to give updates throughout their pregame preparation. They eventually came back on the floor with a minute remaining and celebrated with the men’s team. “When the men won, we were like, ‘O.M.G.,’ ” Eades said. “Then we felt like we had to win. We were on the court celebrating their national championship. It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, can this be real?’ ” Despite the pregame chaos, the Jennies kept revenge on their minds. Their opponent was Virginia Union, which eliminated Central Missouri from the semifinals the previous year. A day before the 1984 championship game, Eades and her teammates saw the Pantherettes wearing a certain type of clothing. “Virginia Union came walking in with their 12
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national championship sweats,” Eades said. “We were like, ‘Those are our sweats!’ We were highly motivated.” The Jennies began the game on a 25-4 run before Virginia Union and its powerful 6-foot-2 center Veta Williams, who had 39 points and 20 rebounds, closed the gap to within 11 at half. Williams opened the second stanza with 14 straight points, narrowing the margin to three. But a moment later, Central Missouri went into the one-and-one as Virginia Union was called for a tournament-record 42 fouls. Eades’ 20 points and the Jennies’ clutch free-throw shooting (14-of-20 in the second half ) led to an 80-73 victory. “When they win, we win,” Jennies head coach Jorja Hoehn told the Associated Press following the game. “If this is a dream, I hope we never wake up.” Central Missouri took home several postseason awards in 1984. Eades was named Division II Player of the Year and the tournament’s most outstanding player. Her teammate Rosie Jones joined her on the all-tournament team. Nunnelly was named the men’s most outstanding player, while Pesko was added to the all-tournament team. Mules head coach Lynn Nance was named NCAA Division II Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. “I do remember after the game Lee Williams, who was the executive director of the Basketball Hall of Fame at that time, grabbed my arm as I was going across the court, and I was 33 years old at the time, he said, ‘You’re a young man, but you will never see this again,’ ” recalled Jerry Hughes, who was in his first full year as Central Missouri’s athletics director and still holds the position today.
Carla Eades (22) and Brian Pesko (12) were each key in helping their team sweep both ends of the “doubleheader.”
The celebration Warrensburg is a small town in Johnson County, Missouri, about an hour east of Kansas City. In two days following the national championships, it became the country’s basketball capital. Following a police escort and warm reception upon their return, the university held an Appreciation Day for both teams. Classes from 10 a.m. to noon were canceled and then-Gov. Christopher Bond led a victory parade through town and the 9,000-student campus. “If you’ve ever been to Warrensburg, you know it’s a basketball town,” Pesko said. “If you were a basketball player, everyone kind of knew you. It is a Division II school, but you were treated like a Division I school.” More than 3,000 fans in the Multipurpose
Building watched as state and local politicians joined Gov. Bond in proclaiming March 25-31, 1984, as “Jennies and Mules Week.” The same morning, university officials received a telegram from Washington, D.C. ending with, “We wish you the very best for an enjoyable celebration and, again, CONGRATULATIONS! — Signed: Ronald Reagan.” A copy of the president’s message can be found right where the celebration was at its craziest: in a glass case at Heroes Restaurant and Pub.