{"id":9715,"date":"2017-09-28T06:44:11","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T10:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9715"},"modified":"2017-09-28T06:44:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T10:44:11","slug":"guest-post-golden-age-of-jmu-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9715","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Golden Age of JMU Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hangin\u2019 with other old guys at a post-game party \/ fraternity reunion at an alum\u2019s house in Frisco. I\u2019m the good looking one \u2013 the one on the left.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ken Woodburn won our prediction contest last week and earned the right to guest post. In this piece he looks back at some of the great moments in JMU sports from when he was a student.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPredictions for 600, Alex.\u201d \u00a0\u201cThe answer is: \u00a0Fall 1981\u201d (question near the end)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cGet off my lawn!\u201d<\/i><\/b> (Clint Eastwood in <\/span>Gran Torino<\/span><\/i>)<\/span><\/p>\n

I officially became an intramural player at age 14 (being cut by both the 9<\/span>th<\/span> grade basketball and baseball teams drove that point home), so when I finally got to JMU I chose to work with athletics. \u00a0I was a student manager on the \u201980 \u2013 \u201981 MBB team; worked in the Sports Information Office; spent five years as the PA announcer for the Diamond Dukes; refereed HS basketball in the Valley and for JMU intramurals; and went to all FB, WBB, MBB and BB home games (maybe that\u2019s why my GPA was 2.6)! \u00a0Why did I do these things? \u00a0I thought that\u2019s what being a Duke was all about \u2013 rooting whenever and however you can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving into Hanson Hall in August of \u201880, I attended JMU during what I consider the Golden Age of JMU sports:<\/span><\/p>\n

— the first three bids to, and three wins in, the men\u2019s D-I NCAA basketball tournament;<\/span><\/p>\n

— a true Cinderella winning their way to a College World Series appearance as an at-large team;<\/span><\/p>\n

— moving to Division I football; even though the team wasn\u2019t great, we still went and stayed through the end (I think the full-sized mannequin with the built in liquor cabinet, helped. \u00a0\u2018Herman\u2019 had a hinged, latching door and came to games dressed in jeans and a JMU rugby shirt.)<\/span><\/p>\n

— men\u2019s and women\u2019s archery were national powerhouses \u2013 yes, archery was a big deal then;<\/span><\/p>\n

— the often imitated, but never duplicated, ORIGINAL Electric Zoo;<\/span><\/p>\n

— and the names: Ruland, Townes, Dupont, and Fisher; Gannon, Marant, and Knicely; Clark, Norwood, and Haley; coaches McMillan, Campanelli, Jaynes, and Babcock.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a great time to be a Duke. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What strikes me as I write this piece, though, is that every other sports-loving alumnus that called S. Main Street home can feel the same way. \u00a0They can point to teams and people that made JMU awesome during their student years:<\/span><\/p>\n

— the \u201870s brought Toliver, Dillard (player version), Stielper and Division II hoops success<\/span><\/p>\n

— the next 4 decades gave JMU Landers, Rascati, LeZotte, Driesell, Moorman, Moats, Abdullah, and Houston; Brooks, Evans, Young, and Gwathmey; Dean, Field and Good; and countless others<\/span><\/p>\n

— teams with landmark achievements: \u201992 Field Hockey (JMU\u2019s 1<\/span>st<\/span> National Champions); \u201991 Women\u2019s Basketball (1<\/span>st<\/span> team to defeat a #1 seed (Penn St.) in the #1 seed\u2019s opening NCAA tourney game); \u201904 and \u201916 Football; and \u201915 \u2013 \u201917 Softball<\/span><\/p>\n

— BFS, the Convo, and Sentara and Veterans Memorial Parks<\/span><\/p>\n

— champions and stewards named Carrier, Ehlers, and Hilton<\/span><\/p>\n

As alumni, we tend to view the people and events at JMU through the prism of our student experiences combined with our life experiences so it is not surprising that, for most of us, JMU\u2019s best years <\/span>just happened<\/span><\/i> to coincide with our years on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGet off my lawn!\u201d is the catch phrase often tagged to people who always seem to be grumpy and don\u2019t tolerate differing opinions well. \u00a0Guilty, and I\u2019ve even used that phrase in comments on this blog a time or two. \u00a0I love JMU and everything about it, but I patently refuse to be a homer (I\u2019ve even predicted JMU to lose once or twice in the contest). \u00a0If I feel strongly about a subject, I\u2019m going to give you my opinion:<\/span><\/p>\n

— FCS vs. FBS: don\u2019t care; choose the path that best fits the university\u2019s vision, then properly resource it to succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

— Lou Campanelli remains the best basketball coaching hire.<\/span><\/p>\n

— Dr. Carrier will be the single most important person in JMU\u2019s history.<\/span><\/p>\n

— Sometimes our players DO commit penalties and fouls. Honest.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are more, but you get the drift.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: When was the last time I predicted anything right.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

At George Toliver\u2019s wedding reception that fall, I was standing with Lou Campanelli at the bar of the original Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house on South Main Street \u2013 and by, South Main, I mean REALLY South, like at the city limits South. \u00a0Over a distilled beverage (beer was legal @ 18 then) that probably wasn\u2019t beer, I looked Coach in the eye and told him his Dukes would go 22-4 in the upcoming season. \u00a0He stared back at me and, like only someone from Jersey can do, he politely asked me if I\u2019d had 2 or 3 too many. \u00a0The actual words and level of politeness might have been slightly different but that\u2019s my story and I\u2019m sticking with it. \u00a0The \u201981-\u201982 Dukes went 22-4 regular season (lost the ECAC South tourney final to OD-Yew but earned a NCAA tourney at-large bid \u2013 stunning given the field was only 48 teams at that time).<\/span><\/p>\n

To current Dukes: understand our prism is different from yours. \u00a0Every one of us was at JMU when it was the greatest time to be there, we just have a different perspective of what \u2018greatest\u2019 entails. \u00a0I didn\u2019t enjoy the bitter cold and jubilation of Frisco any more or less than you did, just differently \u2013 and that\u2019s what makes being a Duke so freakin\u2019 awesome.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you Rob and Todd for your labor of love on our behalf. \u00a0If JMU Sports Blog ever goes on the road a la Gameday, come visit and we\u2019ll check out a tasting room or two\u2026or three\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Rest peacefully Dr. Carrier; Go Dukes!<\/span><\/p>\n

\f\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ken Woodburn (\u201985, on the 5-year plan) grew up in Richmond but has retired to Kentucky. \u00a0Post-JMU he served 25 years as an Army officer, so half a country or an ocean kept him from seeing the Dukes for a long time. \u00a0Now retired and teaching high school, he gets to many as Dukes\u2019 events as possible within reasonable driving distance \u2013 and decided to remain married to his wife of 28+ years after his Christmas present last year was airfare and game tickets for Frisco. \u00a0Living in Louisville affords him the opportunity to travel down the bourbon trail one distillery at a time, and he now has a ringside seat to the implosion of a major athletic program. \u00a0But to him, visiting Harrisonburg is therapeutic — even if it\u2019s bigger, more crowded, and he doesn\u2019t really know anyone, it\u2019s still home.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n