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HOF Weekend Roll Call
Coming in from Chi-town. Seeing some of my all-time favorites:
Stan, the man, Burrell - scorer to defender-extroidinaire taking the team to the Elite 8
Amber Harris - More games 133 to Burrell's 132. More points than D. West. Twice WNBA champion
Ta'shia Phillips - any year, any team, could use her rebounding.
and then
Lou Witte - Winningest pitcher
and then, of course,
Andy MacWilliams - continues to be a super fan.
HOF dinner of Friday. Men vs St. John's on Saturday (Andy Mac preview), WBB vs Butler on Sunday.
A Xavier Trifecta! plus I hear there's a 4 month old baby to meet!
Share your memories of our new inductees.
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“Is there anybody here from the Xavier administration? Do you know when graduation is? That goddamn Burrell, every year, every goddam game makes a shot against us. He was averaging 7.5 points coming into the game in seven league games – or eight games. Doesn’t look like the same player, playing great defense. Dagger. I want to be here to make sure that sonofabitch gets out of here to be honest with you.”
Also...U Can't Touch This
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I remember making a point of listening to every road game as a kid and Andy Mac had such a distinctive voice that it took a few years to adjust to Byron when Andy could no longer do the job. Byron and Joe are amazing, but it's Andy that I hear when I think of the radio broadcasts.
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I've never been more proud of a Xavier Hall of Fame induction class than I am of this year's. I also couldn't be more upset that I cannot be there. Trophy Wife and I have tickets to the banquet tonight, the Lew Hirt Society meeting and the game tomorrow. Unfortunately fate has intervened and we will miss the Cincy weekend to to a medical issue (not life threatening but surgical, thank you) with my Trophy. As I type this I'm sitting in a Hospital OR waiting room awaiting the docs. We'll be OK though. My Muskettte Grad daughter and her husband, a former Xavier ball boy of a few years ago will stand in our stead and represent us tonight.
As to the class. Andy MacWilliams deserves his spot as one of those, along with our own Bob Queenan, who fought the Cincinnati red and black tinted powers that be to get Xavier exposure. He used his leverage as WLW Radio sports director to get XU on the Big One over UC, which angered a lot of powerful folks. His play by play calls are legendary and he continues today as a superb ambassador for Xavier. In true Andy fashion, I had sent him another congratulatory email today and expressing regrets that we could not be there and he responded with a gracious email of thanks and concern for my Trophy. A great man.
As to Stanley, he was a classmate of my Musketette and they have stayed in touch through Facebook. They look forward to seeing each other tonight. NO ONE is more deserving of a Hall of Fame spot than Stanley and no one has been a bigger pimp for him than me. His on court performance matched with his off court leadership is unmatched. Any doubts? He scored over 1,600 points and could have had more but he knew the 2008 team needed that defensive stopper. Off court leadership? Just read the classic rant below that Stan gave to the media in 2008 at the A10 Tournament after the all league teams were announced:
""I'm really upset about how things turned out. I called this after the Dayton game, and no disrespect to Brian Roberts, but I said things like this are going to happen; we're going to be left out. I've got champions in that locker room. B.J. [Raymond], C.J. [Anderson], Derrick [Brown]. Those guys shouldn't have been left out like that. No way."
"It's ridiculous. This league is pathetic. We went 14-2, top 10 in the nation. Forget first team, Josh [Duncan] is probably the player of the year. You've got the best team and nobody on the first-team all-conference team? It's ridiculous. You talk about not having motivation? We got plenty now. I'm really looking forward to Atlantic City now."
"You see the teams and you're like, put B.J. in place of a Darnell Harris or somebody who went .500 or below. Put Derrick in place of a Bryant Dunston. You don't leave C.J. out. You don't leave guys out who just won a championship. Those guys could easily go to other teams and easily be getting 14, 15, 16 points a game."
"I'm sick of people overlooking us. I'm sick of us being labeled as a mid-major; we don't get no respect, man."
Of course, that team went on to the Elite 8. Oh, and Stan Burrell sacrificed his offensive game to become the premier defensive stopper. He absolutely clamped Brian Roberts in a XU -Cryer game that year. Stan's cross court pass to BJ Raymond in the NCAA game vs Thuggysauraus' West Virginia team set up one of the most iconic shots in Xavier History. Well done Stanley.
I hope everyone gives these individuals the kudos they deserve this weekend. Sorry I can't be there to do the same.
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Thoughts and prayers go out to the Mrs. MOR - hopefully everyone does okay!
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The guys who were on Stan Burrell's team knew who the Alpha Dog was:
"@C_Weez Tomorrow the Leader of the BEST XAVIER TEAM of all time gets inducted into the #XavierHOF!! Gonna be a good day to be at Cintas!! #StanB"
