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November 20 “Ben Dover with the Sunday UML hoops wrap up. A 2-0 start for the River Hawks. It was 78-67 in Seattle. Guard Greg Hyde had 25, Tay Lopez had 13, 8, 3 at SF, Joe Arn had 13, 4, 3, 2 at C, and 10, 3, 4, 2 for Pete Hawk at guard. +6 in TOs, but -6 on the boards. The guards got more RBs than the big guys did. “The it was 61-53 at San Francisco. 26, 6, 2, 1, 2 for Tay who is red hot to start the season. 21, 3, 3 for Greg Hyde. -1 TO but +7 RBs. “This week the price of poker goes up, as they say. 1st it’s #21 UCLA, and then it’s off to Philly to play Temple. Coach would never say it but I’m guessing he’d be delighted with a 1-1 week.” November 27 “Ben Dover all alone with the Sunday UML hoops wrap up. We got a 1-1 split last week. It was 46-55 at UCLA. We played good D but couldn’t score. 1-17 from long range, 29.4% over all. Add in 19 TOs and that about tells the story. We WERE +7 on the boards. “Then we turned it around at Temple, 73-60. 21, 3, 4 for guard Pete Hawk, 16, 4, 4 for Tay. When I speak to the coach I’m going to mention that Chris Dye and Lan Shed seem to be playing a bit better than starter Dan Debro right now. As you know we broadcast all of the home games but we only travel during the post season. We listen to the local a.m. station that broadcasts all of the games but we aren’t televising away games yet so I’m hearing more than I’m seeing. And the stat sheet can be deceiving at time. “This week we go to Wyoming and Gonzaga.” December 1974 Final episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus Catfish Hunter becomes a free agent. Signs with Yankees. Altair 8000 computer is displayed December 4 “Ben Dover and I’m here alone again for the ‘Sportstalk’ wrap up of the week in UML basketball. And we’ll take questions. A 5 point win at Wyoming started the week. 18, 10, 4 for Joe Arn in the middle, the other 4 all had between 9 and 12. +6 TOs, -1 on the boards. “Then it was a heartbreaker at Gonzaga, 67-78 in OT. We needed 2 from the line to win it at the end of regulation and Joe Arn hit the first but missed the second. Then in OT they ran over us. 22 and 6 for Joe who was really down after the game, feeling he’d let down the team, 19, 8, 3 for Greg Hyde, 11 and 8 for Peter Hawk. Tay had a rare off night, 2-11, and that hurt. -2 TOs, +3 RBs. It was a tough loss. “This week we go to FL ATL and then #15 Georgia. Joe in Middletown.” “I’m worried about rebounding.” “It’s an issue. We average only 0.8 per game more than the other guys. Coach likes the three guard lineup. He has told me that he wants to maximize playing time for his best 5, and 3 of them are guards. We’re only +1 in TOs though. If you’re going to go with 3 guards that has to improve.” “Greg in Litchfield.” “I’d go with Dye over Debro.” “I was on the phone with Coach Clark and I asked. He said offensive stats favor Dye, as does rebounding, but Debro is stronger on D. He didn’t say it but I’m wondering if Lan Shed’s minutes may go down. I’ll be on my own again next Sunday but we expect to have the coach the following week.” December 11 A 1-1 week but the reverse of what was expected. FL ATK beat us 53-60. Coach said he feels like when he gives up 60 he should win, but 33.3%, 24.3% from long range. “Then we went to Georgia and beat #15, 70-64. 27 for Pete Hawk, +11 on the boards. Coach was VERY unhappy about 20 TOs though. “We’re 5-3 on the road trip so far. This week it’s a 1 game week, 3-3 Rutgers. The team will come home for a few days, for only the 2nd time since Nov. 13.” December 18 “Ben Dover with the Sunday UML hoops round up. 88-64 win at Rutgers. Tay had 21, 3, 3, 2, 2, 17 each for Hawk and Hyde, 10 and 8 for Den Debro, 6, 11, 2 for Lan Shed, 6, 4, 3, 3 for Chris Dye. +10 RBs but 17 TOs. That was about all that went wrong. “6-3 for the road trip with one to play. We’re at 5-4 Butler from B conf. Den Debro has really come on. It’s looking like Coach Clark’s patience is paying off. December 26 “Ben Dover with Coach Clark. 72-57 over Butler, and 7-3 for the road trip. Not too shabby!” “When we score more than 57 in regulation we win. 18, 6 for Tay, 15, 11, 2, 4 for Pete. It will be nice to play at home.” “Colorado tomorrow night.” “F conf., 7-3.”

May 1974 U. S. House begins formal impeachment hearings Symbionese Liberation Army destroyed in a shootout June 1974 Heimlich Maneuver first published 1st extraterrestrial message sent to- er from Earth 1st Universal Product Code Nixon visits USSR June 12 “Ben Dover reporting that UML picked up a Small Forward, Key Davis, from the transfer pool. Key had played for New Mexico.” June 26 “Ben Dover here on ‘Sportstalk.’ We spoke with Coach Clark. UML has 3 scholarships to offer. They are looking at 24 recruits.” July 1974 Pinochet becomes President of Chile U. S. House approves 3 articles of impeachment SCOTUS rules Nixon must turn over tapes August 1974 Nixon resigns, Gerald Ford becomes POTUS Nelson Rockefeller selected to be Vice President John Lennon reports seeing a UFO August 21 “Ben Dover with Coach Clark. Coach, any offers? “We’ve offered to a PG, an SG, and a C. The SG and C are very much long shots.” “Let’s take a question or two. Bobby in Jamaica Plain.” “Coach, you think you can compete in L?” “We’ve managed to be competitive, at the very least, in every conf. so far. At some point I suppose that will end. I make no promises but I think we’ll be okay here.” “Mike in Southea.” “You lib’ruls just drove one a the greatest Presidents ever out of office. I hope your happy.” “The evidence was overwhelming that he was involved in the cover up. Many members of his own party were prepared to vote for impeachment, and those in the Senate, for conviction. If we’re to be a nation of laws the President must follow the laws.” “Okay, we’re out of here. Talk to you again soon, Coach.” September 1974 Ford pardons Nixon Haile Selassie overthrown in Ethiopia Dylan records “Blood on the Tracks” September 18 “’Sportstalk’ and I’m Ben Dover, here iwht Coach Clark. Coach, any recruiting news?” “Still working at it.” “And the schedule?” “Still no early season tournament, and we start with 10 road games in a row. We have 3-4 challenges there but some softies too.” “Talk again soon.” October 1974 Watergate cover up trial begins Pele retires Race riots in Boston over busing Muhammed Ali KOs Goerge Foreman in 8 to regain the title (Rumble in the Jungle) Nate Thurmond gets 1st quadruple double in NBA history October 2 “Ben Dover with the Coach. I hear you got a commitment.” “Geoff Hahn, PG.” “How was the 1st day of practice?” “I think we’re going to have some talent. 5 starters back, and some experienced talent. The lineup is far from set. We’re excited!” “And you’re picked to win the conf.” “Yes, I saw that. Northeastern, Mercer, Cal-Irvine, Ball ST, and Detroit behind us.” October 9 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk.’ We’ve just learned that UML received a commitment from PF Jim Rich. They’re still after a guard.” November 1974 Ella Grasso (CT) elected 1st woman Gov. not to succeed husband or father Freedom of Information act becomes law “Lucy” discovered November 6 “’Sportstalk’ with Ben Dover. We have the coach on the line and we’re taking questions. Coach, lineup set?” “More or less. Pete Hawk and Greg Hyde are back at the guard spots. They’ll sort of go back and forth between PG and SG. Tay Lopez is back at Small Forward. Joe Arn is back at C. Power Forward is the one where we’ll play and see. For now Den Debro will start. He’s a freshman. Lan Shed, a Junior who hasn’t played much, looks ready. He’ll play some PF and a bit of SF. Chris Dye will play at 3, 4, and 5, depending on the situation.” “What about Don Ned, the transfer?” “We’re hoping to find him minutes. He’s a good defender but he hasn’t shown us enough offense and he hasn’t rebounded well. We think he has great potential so we’ll see.” “Jay Rame started last year.” “Yes, we’re pleased to have his experience if we need it.” “You seem thin at guard.” “We aren’t. Tay Lopez is a guard. He’s playing out of position at SF. Whenever we sub for one of the starting guards he’ll move down to 2 or 1. And we also have Chad Dench.” “Okay, Lou from Springfield.” “I’m disappointed that Dye isn’t starting. He gave you a lot of good minutes last year and he seems ready.” “The 4 spot is very much up for grabs. If Chris wants it enough he can earn the starting spot. My mind is not made up.” “Jack in Shrewsbury.” “You’re gonna hurt for rebounding with that small lineup.” “It’s possible but I don’t think so. We rebounded well in the exhibition games.” “Marty in Medford.” “What do you think of that woman getting elected Governor in CT?” “She has a wealth of experience and my friends in CT say she has been a very competent leader. I would have voted for her.” “Okay, we’re about ready to start the season, Coach. I think the schedule is a little soft.” “10 road games in a row to start the season. #21 UCLA, Temple, #22 Gonzaga, Georgia, Rutgers, Xavier- all on the road, all in the first ten. I don’t think it’s soft at all. I’ll be jumping for joy if we get through that at 7-3, or even at 6-4.” “West Coast the first week, Seattle, then San Francisco.” “Two of my favorite cities- other than Boston, of course.” “Okay, we’ll be with the coach whenever he’s available on Sundays. Otherwise I’ll do the wrap up.”

April 1974 Ayatollah Khomeini calls for an Islamic republic in Iran. World Trade Center opens Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth as all time home run champion 1000th victim of No. Ireland conflict Nixon hands over edited partial transcripts of the tapes April 4 “Ben Dover with the coach. Tell us about the final four.” “#1 Duke beat #4 Indiana for the title. Some great games and we spoke with all the big time players in the college hoops world. Grace and I had a great time.” “Awards?” “Tim Neal Conf. M POY. That made me very happy. Joe Arn was Freshman OY, and Defensive POY. They both made 1st team. Tay made 2nd. I thought Greg should have as well.” “And you got the coach award again. See you toward the end of the month, Coach.” April 23 “Ben Dover with the coach to wrap up the season. What did you ask for, Coach?” “Money. As we go up the chain we need more money in order to be competitive.” And?” “We got $4.500. I’ll take it.” 27-7, won the conf. and the tourney, Sweet Sixteen. Not bad!” “You got a $4,000 raise too.” “Yep, still the lowest paid coach in Div. I, but it’s not about money for me.” “Okay, 11 years as head coach, 277-79, .779. Team Prestige back up to 29. Off. 41, Def. 63, Recruit 80, Scout 6, Player Development 52, Reputation 49. How long can UML keep you?” “I’m not even thinking of going anywhere.” “Glad to hear it. Talk to you in May or June, Coach.”

March 1974 Watergate grand jury indicts 7 presidential aides, concludes Nixon is involved in cover up Last WW II Japanese soldier surrenders March 2 “Ben Dover here before the quarter final game between #8 seed Wholly Crass, 15-14, 9-7, and UML. We beat them by 16 here.” … “Ben Dover here after the game with Coach Clark. 87-62, Coach.” ‘We looked good tonight. +16 on the boards. 27 for Tay, 22, 8, 5 for Tim, 17, 11, 4 for Joe, 14, 4, 6 for Greg.” “#5 seed American won their game so they’re next. We didn’t play them in the regular season.” “No, we didn’t. They have a balanced attack and they play man. They score more outside than inside. We think we can turn them over.” “We’ll be covering the game tomorrow.” March 3 “Ben Dover here after the tournament semifinal between American and UML. 83-52. Coach, you guys are on fire!” “We’re certainly having a great tournament so far but tomorrow is the one that counts.” “Tell us about tonight.” “It was never a game. 8 TOs, 34 RBs. 33 and 7 for Tay, giving him 55 in two games, 15, 6, 7 for Tim, 14, 5, 6 for Greg, 11, 10, 2 for Joe. We were dominant.” “And it will be #2 seed Cal-Irvine, 21-9, 10-6 for the title.” “We beat them by 21 in January but they’re 9-2 since so we aren’t taking them lightly. They’re inside D is pretty good but we think we are way better outside. If we can play them even inside, and we should be able to, we think the outside game is ours.” “Talk to you after the game. March 4 “Ben Dover with the coach after the title game between Cal-Irvine and conf. champs UML. 70-55.” “We had a great tournament. 78 points total for MOP Tay Lopez, 23 tonight. We lost the rebounding battle but that was all we lost. +11 TOs, and everyone played well. We’re going into the NCAAs on a roll.” “Ranked #13, RPI #13.” “I’m not even going to play that game. We should get a 3 or a 4 and no doubt we’ll get a 5 or maybe even a 6. Whatever, we’ll play who we play.” "So did we dodge a bullet by not having to play MVS in the conf. tourney?" (Laughs) "We just might have! They played us tough both times we met." “I’ll be there for the selection show on March 12. Join us, folks.” March 12 “Ben Dover with Coach Clark and the team. The selection show is about to begin. Here goes! “Not in the East.” “Good! Not the bracket I want to be in!” “Okay, the Midwest… Not in the Midwest.” “I like the idea of going either South or West so I’m fine with this.” “Here comes the South… Not here either. So we’ll be in the West. Let’s see how high.” “#5. We’ll play #12 NC ST, 18-12. Coach?” “I’ll take it. There are no easy brackets and this one certainly isn’t easy, but if we stay as hot as we’ve been we can make some noise here.” “What about NC ST?” “They play in F. Probably a little better inside than out. Play motion on O, man on D, and press a whole lot. They’re playing well lately. Their D is a little shaky and they don’t have a big time scorer. They take decent care of the ball but they aren’t strong on the boards.” “Okay, WLOW will bring you the game on the 19th. Join us.” March 17 “Ben Dover with the coach after the 1st round game with NC ST. 87-71.” “11 TOs, +10 on the boards. I wasn’t happy with our outside D but everything else looked good. 24 and 8 for our only Senior, Tim Neal, 17, 7 for Joe, 18 for Tay, 14, 6, 5 for Greg. Good work by the bench.” “GA Southern knocked off #4 seed Minnesota so you play the #13 seed.” “Nicely done too, I might add. They looked really good. They’re 8-1 in their last 9. They have a very good Power Forward. They don’t play a lot of D. This is a game we should win but then they shouldn’t be here so it’s not a walk over.” March 19 “Ben Dover after the 2nd round game between GA Southern and UML. 81-63 Coach.” “Similar to the 1st round game in many ways. A real team effort with Tim, Tay, Greg and Joe putting up numbers and the rest doing a great job in support. +5 TOs, +9 RBs. We never trailed.” “And you’re in the Sweet Sixteen.” “Yes. We get to play #1 seed, #4 ranked, #6 RPI Indiana, 27-6. Interestingly enough they are 4-4 in their last 8. On paper they’re the better team. They’re deliberate and they play 5 out. On D it’s man and they only press when they need to. They pass it around a lot looking for a good shot and that’s our opportunity. We need to disrupt their flow, deny the good shot, and turn them over. Easier said than done but that’s the plan. Except for the Point they don’t have a good ball handler. They rebound well. If we can about match them there we can do okay.” “Good luck! We’ll be there to bring the game to our listeners.” March 24 “Ben Dover after the Sweet 16 game between Indiana and our own UML River Hawks. 72-76, Coach?” “19 Turnovers for -9. We did what we wanted to do inside, 38-29 in rebounds but the outside game beat us. Well, the officials were part of the story. They called 10 fouls on them and 19 on us. They went to the line 29 times and we went 13. We did some fouling, I don’t have a lot of trouble with that. The problem was they didn’t whistle Indiana when they did the same things we were doing. Tay only played 22 minutes and Greg 23. Great final game for Tim Neal, 21, 8, 3. We’ll be back.” “Yes we will. And I’ll be here with the coach on April 4 to discuss the Final Four and Awards.”

February, 1974 Patty Hearst kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army Troubles in No. Ireland continue U. S. House of Representatives begins exploring impeachment of Nixon Cher dumps Sonny February 5 “Ben Dover here. Coach Clark is on a plane to Georgia right now so I’ll recap the week in UML basketball. Our first loss in conf. came at Northwestern ST, 75-85 in double OT. We had chances to win in both regulation and the 1st OT but didn’t come through. +4 TOs, -3 RBs. 22, 8 for Tim, 19, 7, 3 for Tay who fouled out at the end of the 1st OT, 17, 5, 6, 2 for Greg. The bench let us down scoring only 2, with only 4 RBs. “Then we came home and won a squeaker over Yale, 72-68. +9 TOs was a big factor. It was a game in which the Refs annoyingly called everything, 46 fouls, 62 free throws taken. Our starting guards had 16 and 15, little used sub Lan Shed had 10 and 3, and Chris Dye had 5, 9, 2, 2. “We still lead the conf., by 2 over Mercer, 3 or more over the rest. “This week we’re on the road all week, 1st at 2nd place Mercer, 14-7, 7-3, 10-2 at home. Then it’s 12-9, 5-5 Murray ST, 9-3 at home. Coach would never say it but I’m guessing that with 2 tough road games he’d be happy with a 1-1 week. We’re ranked #19, RPI #16 right now.” February 12 “Ben Dover with the coach on our Sunday night wrap up. Coach, a 1-1 week left you still in 1st, but only 1 ahead of Mercer, 2 ahead of American with 4 to play.” “It’s probably going to come down to the wire. Mercer beat us, 61-73. Foul trouble did us in, Joe Arn only played 17 minutes and Tay Lopez only 21. Our subs played well but it wasn’t enough. -8 on the boards hurt, as did their going to the line 23 times to our 12.” “You got T’eed up. That doesn’t happen very often.” “I’ve only gotten 3 or 4 in all the years I’ve been coaching. The refs hurt us, but poor D hurt more, as well as all of the things I’ve already mentioned. “Fortunately we got it together at Murray ST, winning 77-67. A season high 42 RBs made me very happy. 19, 14, 2 for Tim, 19, 6 for Tay.” “This week?” We host 12-11, 7-5 Wholly Crass, then travel to our long time rival MVS, 14-9, 6-6, 9-2 at home. We only won by 2 at home against them so we’d better bring our A game.” “I’ll do the weekend wrap before the Bracket Breaker with FL ATL.” February 19 “Ben Dover before the game with the weekly wrap. Another 1-1 week for UML and the lead is back to 1 over Mercer, 2 over Cal-Irvine, 3 or more over the rest with 2 conf. games left. We beat Wholly Crass here, 77-61. Our guards were awesome, 24, 3, 4 for Tay, and 20, 2, 8. 3 for Greg. Joe and Tim each had 11 and 6. +4 TOsa. We played well. “Then we went on the road and lost a heart breaker, 60-62 to MVS. Played ‘em twice, won by 2, lost by 2. +4 TOs, -4 RBs, as the rebounding issue continues. Their SG had 27, including the winner, with less than 2 seconds left. “Tonight we play FL ATL in the Bracket Breaker. They’re 18-7 in N. In conf. it’s 11-14, 8-6 UTSA here. We won by 7 there playing really good D. Then we end the regular season at UMBC, 15-10, 8-6. We won by 24 at home. They’re both big games.” February 26 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk’ with the coach. Great ending to the regular season.” “Yes it was. We beat UTSA here, 69-50. The officiating was awful but we didn’t allow it to become a factor. 16, 5, 2 for Joe, 15, 2, 4 for Greg. “Then we went to UMBC and won 76-63. 11 TOs, +10 RBs. 22, 8, 4 for Tay, 17, 4, 2 for Tim, 13, 7 for Joe, 11, 7, 3 for Chris. The other teams lost so we won the conf. by 3 over 4 teams.” “So we host the tourney again.” “That’s right, Ben, and it’s a huge advantage.” “See you there.”

December 1973 D. C. home rule ARPANET crashes. Windows is blamed. Nixon signs Endangered Species Act without admitting that he is one. December 4 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk’ with our Sunday night wrap up of the week in UML basketball. It was another 1-1 week. We beat Wyoming here, 68-63. We led all the way but they got it to 1 with 65 seconds left. 21, 8, with 4 steals for Tim. 14, 9, 2 for Joe Arn, 13, 32, 2 for Tay. 8 assists no TOs for Greg Hyde. +4 TOs, +3 RBs. “Then we traveled to Arizona and lost 48-57. 27.3% shooting and 15 TOs did us in. We were way overmatched inside. 13 of our 15 field goals were threes. 16, 7, 5 for Greg Hyde, 15, 3 for Tay. Joe Arn had 11 boards but only 1 point. -6 TOs, +1 RB. “This week we start at SO. Carolina ST from N conf. Then we’re home against George Mason from G.” “The coach will be with us next Sunday and we hope to have time for questions.” December 11 “We’re back from break. Ben Dover with Coach Clark. Good week, Coach.” “2-0. We beat SO. Car. ST there, 61-48. Great D and a team effort on O. Jay Rame, our Power Forward who usually does more defending and rebounding than scoring, had 16, 6, 1, 2. Joe had 10 and 7, and Greg 11, 4, 5. Good minutes from the bench. “Then we came home and beat George Mason 73-45. Since the disastrous Ohio ST game we’ve had 5 strong defensive performances in a row. Chris Dye came off the bench and got 18, 4, 1, and Tay got 18 more. 9 TOs, +7 RBs.” “And this week?” “Only one game, Rutgers is here.” “Let’s take some calls. Jeff in Leominster.” “Coach, still don’t have that 3rd recruit?” “We’ve got an offer out there, Jeff. A C we like a lot. Hoping he’ll accept.” “George in Marlboro.” “Coach, Chris Dye needs to start.” “Chris is doing a great job for us. I always like having a player or two who can come from the bench and give us a spark. That’s his role.” “At least give him more minutes.” “You may have a point there.” “Artie from Agawam.” “You must be glad the president is in so much trouble for somethin’ that should never have come ta light.” “Justice is for everyone or it’s for no one. I’m happy to see that no one, not even the President is above the law, but I quickly add that he is innocent until proven guilty.” “Okay, my first rule of radio is when the politics start, I stop. See you next Sunday, Coach.” December 18 “Ben Dover with our weekly UML hoops wrap up. Coach, 71-61 over Rutgers.” “Yes, we did another good job of defending. They shot 34.4%. Greg Hyde led us on O with 20, 4, and 6 but all 5 starters had good nights. 12 TOs, 35 RBs.” “And only one game again this week.” “Home against UNC Greensboro from B. They’re playing well and are very tough inside and at the Point. We’ll need to play well.” “Coach, talk about 5 plus years of sold out home games.” “It’s a great help. My guys see and hear the crowd and they’re energized by that. They don’t want to let them down. I think at times they reach down just a little deeper. We are very grateful to our fans for all of the support.” “Okay, next week it’s Monday, not Sunday.” December 26 “Ben Dover with the coach. 76-71 over NC Greensboro.” “They are a really good team. We never trailed but it was 5 or less for most of the 2nd half. We matched them possession for possession pretty much. 14, 11 for Joe, 19 each for Tay and Tim, 16, 2, 8 for Greg. “You’re 8-2 with one pre-conf. game to play.” “A tough one at Virginia Tech from D. I’d love to go to conf. play 9-2 but it won’t be easy.” “Next week it’s Monday again.”

October 1973 Yom Kippur war begins as Syria & Egypt attack Israel Spiro Agnew resigns as Vice President. Gerald Ford nominated to succeed him. Saturday Night Massacre. Nixon fires Special Prosecutor; deputies resign as a result. Nixon agrees to turn over tapes Israelis kick Arab states butts in Yom Kippur war October 2 “Sportstalk.’ Ben Dover with the coach. Still chasing that 3rd recruit?” “We lost him but we have 5 big guys in mind.” “First day of practice.” “Yes. It’s very early in the process but right now it looks like a 3 guard lineup. A month will tell us a lot more.” (Just noticed that I didn’t move up a conf. this year. We finished 1st in conf. and won the conf. tourney. Yet another glitch I guess.) November 1973 Nixon delivers “I am not a crook” speech. 18 ½ minute gap in Watergate tape announced New Jersey 1st state to allow girls in Little League Maximum U. S. speed limit cut to 55 Gerald Ford confirmed as V. P. November 6 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk’ with the coach. Do we have a lineup?” “We do. The three guard thing went away. I have Jr. Greg Hyde and Soph. Tay Lopez at guards, Sr. Tim Neal at the 3, Freshmen Jay Rame and Joe Arn inside. First big guy off the bench will be Jr. juco transfer Chris Dye, and first guard will be Soph. Pete Hawk. So we’re very young.” “What does that mean?” “It means there will be a period of adjustment. I suspect we’ll lose a few in Nov. and Dec. Hopefully we’ll be ready by the start of the conf. season. We should be a lot better late than early.” “Thanks Coach. We’ll have you with us most Sundays. When you are not available I’ll do the best I can recapping the week. We’ll miss former Provost, now Provost at BU, Grace Clark.” “She’ll be at as many games as she can.” “No problem with her leaving UML?” “Not at all. She saw a great opportunity, and Boston and Lowell are not that far apart. We are in the process of purchasing a new home about halfway between.” “Thanks Coach.” November 20 “Ben Dover here. The coach is preparing for tomorrow night’s game against Ohio State so I’m here on my own to recap the UML basketball week. First game of the season was at home against Western Carolina before an SRO crowd. There hasn’t been an empty seat at a home game in more than 5 years. The fans were not disappointed. UML won 80-67. 6 and 3 for Tay Lopez, 22, 7, 3 for Tim Neal, 14, 5, 6 for Greg Hyde who did a great job at PG. 11, 7, 3 for Joe Arn. +5 TOs, +4 RBs. “Then we traveled to Navy and won big, 72-45. 28 and 4 for Tim, 21, 6, 3 for Tay, 13 for Greg, 6 and 6 for Joe. +3 TOs, +8 RBs. I would say that if there’s a concern so far it’s the bench. The UML bench isn’t doing much. “Challenging week, Ohio ST from D conf., there, and then Mississippi, from K here. We’re here every night except Saturday, and we expect the coach to be with us next Sunday.” November 27 “Ben Dover with the coach. 1-1 this week.” “Ohio ST was very good and they were at home. I can’t say losing surprised me. 77-91, so we didn’t play very effective D. 22 TOs didn’t help either. 17, 4, 2 for Joe, 15, 5, 4 for Tay, 13, 5, 2, 3 for Neal, 12, 6, 4 for Greg, but 10 TOs. It’s still early in the season and we’ll probably have a few nights like this. The only good thing about them is that they make it clear what we need to work on. “Then home against Mississippi and we won 72-42. Our guards were on fire, 22, 4, 3 for Greg, 18, 3 for Tay, and 7 for sub Pete Hawk. Joe had 12 and 9 in the middle. 4 TOs. Kind of amazing that we could have 22 in one game and 4 in the next.” “And this week?” Wyoming here and then we go to Arizona. Another challenging week with a team from F and one from C.” “Any lineup changes being considered?” “It’s something we discuss every day but 4 games isn’t enough time. We want our guys to play together, as a unit. That takes time.” “Thanks Coach. I’ll be on my own next Sunday. Coach Clark is on the road.”

May 1973 Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby and Preakness First TV network female nudity Daniel Ellsberg has charges in Pentagon Papers dismissed Senate Watergate hearings begin Nixon admits to involvement in Watergate cover up June 1973 Patent granted for ATM Secretariat completes triple crown by winning Belmont John Dean begins Watergate testimony June 5 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk.’ Coach Kip Clark says he was surprised and disappointed to learn that Gabe Rodd transferred out.” June 12 “Ben Dover here. Coach Clark reports that UML has a commitment from a transfer PF. Gabe Rodd wound up at Michigan.” June 16 “Ben Dover here. We’ve just learned that UML Provost Grace Clark has taken the position of Provost at Boston University. She told us in a phone conversation that she will no longer be available to do radio work with WLOW but will be at as many of our home games as possible.” June 26 “Ben Dover with the coach. 3 scholarships.” “That’s right, Ben. We would like to get 2 bigs and a guard but let’s see what happens. We’re looking at 20 guys, to start with.” July 1973 Bahamas declares independence Phil Everly smashes guitar, storms off stage, declares end of the Everly Bros. Butterfield reveals existence of White House taping system Nixon refuses to release tapes August 1973 Stevie Wonder involved in serious car crash. Insists he was not driving. Spiro Agnew says he will never resign as Vice President August 28 “Ben Dover with the coach. What’s the recruiting news Coach?” “We’ve offered to 2, a PF and a PG. We’ll offer to the third next month.” “Thanks Coach.” September 1973 Allende deposed in Chile Radio Free America begins Kissinger becomes Secretary of State September 18 “’Sportstalk’ wirh Ben Dover. We have the coach on the line. Coach, what’s going on with recruiting?” “We’re close with all three, a C, a PF, and a PG.” “And we have a schedule.” “We do. Sad to say still no early season tourney. We looked for some challenging games. September 25 “Ben Dover with the Coach. Recruiting news.” “Yes, we have commitments from a PG and a PF. Close with the Center we’re chasing.”

April 1973 1st portable cell phone Designated hitter begins in American League Haldeman, Ehrlichman other members of Nixon inner circle resign April 4 “Ben Dover and we have the coach on the line. Coach, you and the Provost went to the final four.” “We did, Ben. The 4 top seeds made it, and #1 Kansas beat #4 Syracuse for the title.” “Okay, awards.” “Yes. Gabe Rodd got POY, Freshman POY, Defensive POY, and 1st team, along with Tim Neal who certainly earned it. Sal Dock got 2nd team. I was named Coach of the Year.” “Thanks Coach. Talk to you in late April.” “Coach, we’re told you received some coaching offers from some pretty impressive teams. I will only say that there were phone calls. Grace and I like Boston. We’re staying here.” “Okay. Team Prestige dropped from 29 to 27.” “Frankly I simply do not understand that. We had a great season.” “Okay, did you ask for money again this year?” “First, we signed a PG and a PF to fill all of our spots. I did ask for money. We got $4000.” “And the numbers. 250-72, .776, after 10 years as the head coach at UML. Off-36, Def- 56, Recruit- 80, Scout- 6, Player Development- 46, Reputation- 44. Ready for conf. M?” “We’ll give it our best shot. We have Tim Neal, Tay Lopez, Greg Hyde, Gabe Rodd, Pete Hawk, and 2 others back plus 6 promising recruits.” “See you in the new season, Coach.”

March 1973 2 Yankee pitchers trade wives. Best Yankee trade of the season. Comet Kahoutek discovered John Dean, “There is a cancer growing on the Presidency.” March 4 “Ben Dover here pregame for the quarter final game between Cal-Riverside and the UML River Hawks. Provost Clark?” “#8 seed Cal-Riverside embarrassed us there, 58-80. It may have been our worst game of the season. Coach has been using it as a motivator ever since. I never do this but I’m predicting a win.” “Wow! Back with the game after this.” … “Ben Dover after the game with the Coach and the Provost. Coach, the Provost predicted a win.” “She was right! 68-53. 19, 7, 2 for Sal, 17, 3, 3 for Tim, and 4 other guys got between 7 and 9. 8 TOs, 35 RBs.” “So one demon exorcised.” “Not sure I saw it that way, but glad to have the win.” “The big shock today was MVS losing.” “It sure was!” “Next up #5 seed Rutgers.” “We won by 7 there, Grace. We held their starters in check but their bench did a number on us. We were a step quicker and that forced them to foul us. We won it at the line. So we’ll want to set a fast pace again tomorrow. Also, we turned them over 19 teams and we’d like to repeat that.” “Okay, all of us will be here for the game tomorrow. Stay tuned to 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO!” March 5 “Ben Dover here after the Rutgers game. 84-62. Not much challenge tonight, Coach.” “52 in the first half, and a 23 point lead. 20, 6, 10 for Sal, who was fantastic. 21, 5, 2 for Tim, 17, 7, 3, 2, 2 for Gabe. 12 for Tay, 7, 5, 5 for Greg Hyde.” “#3 seed Texas Southern for the title. They’re 17-12, 11-5. We won by 25 here. Can they beat us, Coach?” “Only if we think they can’t, Grace. We’re the better team. They couldn’t stop us on D last time, and they had a lot of trouble scoring. I will say that they are playing really well right now, their best ball of the season. I will make certain that my guys take this one very seriously.” “We’ll bring it to you starting at 7:00 tomorrow. Tip off scheduled for 7:30.” March 6 “Ben Dover here after the Conf. N title game between Texas Southern and UML. 66-47 and the title Coach.” “Yes. 19, 8, 4 for Tim. 10, 9, 6 for Sal, 12, 7, 2 for Tay.” “Coach, for the three previous seasons you had an incredibly talented go to guy in Lee Seitz. No one was quite sure how things would shake out now that he graduated. Talk about that a little.” “Sure Grace. Lee was incredible. I may never coach a more dominant player. It was a big adjustment to have a team that didn’t have that go to guy. But as we progressed, as we learned, in some ways we may be harder to defend at the end of tight games. Any one of our guys might be the one the play is called for in the last few seconds. That makes us harder to defend. I am more than pleased with the way our team adjusted.” “Coach, you breezed through this tournament. Will this help with seeding in the big dance?” “It hasn’t in the past. Once again, for the ninth straight year, we’re one conf. higher. I’m hoping that that will enter into the committee’s conversations. We deserve to be a 3, or a 4 this year. I’m hoping it will happen.” “We’ll be with the Coach, the Provost, and the team on Selection Sunday.” March 12 “Ben Dover here with the team. Provost Clark was unable to join us tonight. We’re ranked #11, RPI #13. The selection show is about to begin so here we go!” “Not in the East.” “Not in the Midwest.” “Not in the South. So we’re in the West. #5. We’ll play 16-14 Wichita ST.” “Coach, after last year’s trip to the Final Four how high are expectations?” “Probably too high. I love my team and I’m confident that we’re prepared to do well in the tournament. How well is always difficult to say.” “And your reaction to getting a #5?” “Well, #5 in the West is probably better than #4 in the East, which is almost always the strongest bracket. We’ll take our chances here.” “Thanks Coach. We’ll be with you as long as you’re playing.” “March 17 “Ben Dover pregame in Oakland with the Provost. Tell us about Wichita State.” “#12 seed, 16-14. They’re in D. Their guards do most of the scoring, out of the triangle. They play man and they don’t press much. D conf. is way the line and Coach is concerned about that.” “Back in a minute.” … “Ben here after the game, a 64-54 win over Wichita ST. Coach?” “I was worried about this game. They’re a good team. We took an early lead and they were never able to catch us. We got it to as many as 18. 15 for Sal but 6 TOs; we had 17 as a team which was not good. 13 and 5 for Gabe who fouled out. 10, 6, 2 for Tim. +11 boards was a big help, and our D held them to 33.3% shooting.” “USC on Sunday.” #4 seed, #14 ranked, from E conf. 24-8. Very balanced scoring out of the motion offense. They play man and they throw the press at you now and then, and it’s difficult to predict when it will come. This will be a very difficult game.” “We’ll be here.” March 19 “Ben Dover with the Coach and Provost Clark after the game. 73-57 over #14 USC and we’re in the Sweet Sixteen again!” “These guys are turning into overachievers. I’m thrilled." “Tell us about it, Coach.” “Happy to, Grace. 4 starters in double figures. Cal was playing hurt and his shot was affected. He played great D and rebounded well thought and he’ll be fine for our next game. 15, 7 for Gabe, 13, 5, 3 for Tay, 12 each for Sal and Tim. Greg had 6, 8, 3 from the bench. +4 TOs, +9 RBs, and we held them to 36.4% shooting.” “You gave up 54 in the first round game and 57 tonight.” “If we can keep up with that kind of D we have at least a chance against anyone, Ben.” “Speaking of which, it’s #1 seed, #4 in the country Syracuse next.” “They’ve been beaten 8 times so it can happen, but they play in conf. A, their SG is an All American, and their SF is almost as good. We’ll give it all we have.” “And we’ll be in Seattle to bring it to you.” March 24 “Ben Dover here with the Coach and the Provost. Coach, the #4 team in the country and you played them even for 40. A three at the OT buzzer gave them an 85-87 win.” “We did everything but win this game. My guys did a terrific job tonight.” “Tell us more, Coach.” “Grace, Gabe Rodd outdid himself with 23, 13, 5 and 4 steals. 16, 3, and 3 for Greg Hyde form the bench. Our starting guards battled foul trouble all night and he was terrific coming in for them. 14, 5, 6 for Sal Dock who fouled out at the beginning of OT, which really hurt us. Tim had 15 and 4, and Russ Fink had 5 and 9. Cal Jones fouled out with about 5 left in regulation and Russ gave us some very good minutes.” “Do I dare ask about the officiating?” “It wasn’t the best crew I’ve ever seen. There were times when we had to foul, but the calls seemed one sided to me. We went to the line 23 times and they went 39. That was by far the difference in the game. I had to work at restraining myself because we couldn’t afford to have me get a technical, but it was a very frustrating night. The bottom line is that my guys did themselves proud.” “Thanks Coach. We’ll give you a call on awards night.”

February 1973 “Hagar the Horrible” debuts Last U. S. soldier killed in Vietnam Senate names 7 members to investigate Watergate U. S. dollar devalues by 10% February 5 ‘Ben Dover here with the provost. A 2 win week.” “It was. We went to Colorado ST and beat them 87-74. 25, 7, 4 for Gabe, 18, 6 for Cal. +15 on the boards but 19 TOs. The O was terrific but the D was unimpressive. “At home we beat Jacksonville ST 79-66. After 4 games in the 50s it looks like the offensive slump is over. 25 for Sal, 18, 5, 3 for Tim, 11, 14, 3 for Gabe. 9 TOs. “This week will be very challenging. First we’re at 16-5, 8-2 Rutgers, the team that is tied with us for 2nd place. “Then we host 1st place MVS, 17-4, 10-0.” “Is 1st place out of reach this late in the season?” “Not if we win 2 this week. It isn’t.” “And we’ll be with the Provost again on Sunday.” February 12 “’Sportstalk.’ I’m Ben Dover and we’re with the Provost. Quite the week!” “Indeed! 2 wins and we’re alone in 2nd, only 1 back of MVS. We beat Rutgers, there, 64-57. 18, 6 for Gabe, 13, 5, 5 for Tim, 14, 3 for Tay, only 10 TOs. “Then 1st place MVS came here and we won 77-61. 26, 4, 3 for Sal, 24, 9, 3 with 4 steals for Gabe, 11, 7, 5 for Tim. 9 TOs and +13 RBs.” “And we’re alone in 2nd, 1 back of MVS with 4 to play-” “Plus the Bracket Breaker.” “So if MVS stumbles at all we have an opportunity.” “That’s true.” “And we’re 18-5, 10-2.” “Jake in Fall River.” “Coach, not a lot of consistency with this team.” “Well Jake, they’re young. We’re seeing that as the season progresses they are getting better as well as more consistent. We had that shooting slump for 5 games but that can happen to any team. We seem to have worked our way out of it.” “Rudy here in Lowell.” “Tim Neal has done a great job.” “Yes he has. We weren’t sure how ready he was when the season started but he has been a rock at Small Forward. We’re delighted with his play.” “Okay, this week?” “2 on the road. 1st we’re at 10-13, 5-7 Tennessee Tech. They’ve struggled this year but they can win at home. “Then we go to 9-14, 3-9 Ark.-Little Rock. We beat them by 32 at our place but it’s always tougher on the road.” “And we’ll be with the Provost next Sunday at 7:00.” February 19 “Ben Dover here with the Provost. A scare but a 2-0 week.” “Tennessee Tech took us to OT, 85-78. We didn’t play much D that night. If they had been hitting their threes we wouldn’t have won. Fortunately for us they were 5-28 from long range. 28, 13 for Gabe, 20 for each of the guards, 13, 10, 5 for Greg Hyde from the bench. 51 RBs but 29 TOs. A win is a win I guess but that game showed us that there are still things to work on. “Then we beat Ark.-Little Rock, there, 72-57. 22, 8, 4 for Sal, 15, 7 for Cal. 17 TOs, which was still far too many.” “We’re here before the Bracket Breaker with 15-10 So. Carolina ST.” “Yes. They play in O, and on paper this looks like a fairly even match up.” “And the rest of the week?” “2 at home. 1st is 9-16, 5-9 Oakland. We won by only 5 there. Then it’s last place 3-22, 0-14 Northern Arizona. They’ve struggled all season long.” “What about MVS? Any chance they could lose one this week?” “They’re at Army, which has not had a good season. Then they close at home with Tenn. Tech. You never know but these are both games they should win.” “UML hit the rankings this week.” “#24. I’m not sure we expected that to happen this season so it’s good news.” “We’re here with the coach next Sunday.” February 26 “Ben Dover with the coach. Quite an ending to the season!” “To be sure! MVS slipped and we didn’t so we’re #1 and we get to host the tournament. Oakland gave us a tussle before we came out ahead 55-51. Wed played good D but we had shooting woes again. Tay had 22, Tim 12 and Greg 10, and that saved us. 9 TOs helped as well. “Then we ended the season with Northern Arizona and won easily, 72-52. 20, 12, 2, and 2 for Gabe, 13, 3, 2 for Tim, 9 TOs again.” “You’re #17 in the latest poll, RPI 15.” “Quite a climb. 23-5, 14-2 going to the post season.” “Are you happy with your lineup?” “We’ve won our last 10. Greg and Russ give us a nice lift from the bench and I don’t feel like we lose anything when they come in.” “We’ll be with you throughout the post season with Provost Clark doing color commentary.”

January 1973 “Schoolhouse Rock” premieres American League adopts designated hitter rule for use in the 1973 season Trial of Watergate burglars begins Miami Dolphins complete undefeated season by winning Super Bowl VII George Foreman wins heavyweight title knocking out Joe Frazier in 2 Roe vs. Wade Peace talks between U. S. and North Vietnam Warren Spahn elected to Hall of Fame January 2 “59-28? You can actually hold a team to 28, Coach Clark?” “I know. It seems impossible, Ben. They had a 5 point 2nd half. We played great D but man! They hit a three and 2 foul shots. They only took 14 shots from the floor and 2 from the line. Too weird! Tim had 16, 6, 3 for us and Tay and Russ Fink had 11 each. +9 TOs.” “Feeling good about conf. play?” “Well, I feel like we’ve gotten a little better every week. We wound up 8-3, and I’m happy with that. I think we’ll do well in conf.” “You start at home with Ark-Little Rock and then travel to Oakland. Good luck. We’ll be with Provost Clark on Sunday.” January 8 “Ben Dover with the Provost. Good first week.” “Yes, 2-0. We beat Ark.-Little Rock here, 70-38. 22, 4, 6 for Sal, 21, 4, 1 for Tim. 7 TOs. “Then we went to Oakland and beat them 73-68 in a real battle. 26 for Tim, 12 each for Tay and Sal, 9, 5, 3 for Gabe, who fouled out for the 2nd game in a row. All in all we didn’t play that well, 18 TOs, and -12 on the boards, and we let them shoot 55.1%, but somehow we did enough to win. Threes sometimes beat us but they saved us that night. We hit 15, and they had only 4.” “This week?” “At 3-10, 0-2 Northern Arizona, and then home with 6-7, 2-0 Texas Southern.” “We’re here with the Coach next Sunday.” January 15 “’Sportstalk.’ This is Ben Dover with the coach. Another 2 win week.” “Yes it was. We beat Northern Arizona there, 67-51. 19, 5, 4 for Tay, 23 for Gabe, who had foul trouble again, but didn’t foul out. Greg Hyde had 13, 3, 2 from the bench. 11 TOs. “Then we came home and beat Texas Southern 85-60. All 5 starters in double figures, 7, 3, 4 for Greg, 5 and 5 for Russ Fink. A real team effort. +6 TOs, +12 RBs.” “Tied for first with long time rival Mississippi Valley State.” “They’ve moved up with us for each of the past several years and they’re always tough.” “Who’s up this week?” “We start at 4-11, 0-4 Cal-Riverside. There are 4 teams that have yet to win in conf. Then we host 5-10, 2-2 Radford.” “Let’s take some calls. Rick in Medford.” “Coach, you’re flyin’ high but reboundin’ has been a problem lately.” “Yes it has, Rick. We’re addressing it in practice and hope we’re making some progress.” “Meg in Braintree.” “Coach, it seems to me you could use another big guy.” “Definitely. We’re thin up front. An injury to an inside player would be really difficult. But you can’t make a trade in college hoops. We’re going with the guys we have and trying to recruit big guys. 3 have signed and we hope to get one more before it’s over.” “Larry here in Lowell.” “Coach, talk about Tay Lopez a little.” “Glad to! He has really responded well to being given the chance to start. He’s scoring points and playing really good D. We think he has a very bright future.” “Okay, we’ll be with the coach next Sunday.” January 22 “”’Sportstalk.’ Ben Dover with Coach Clark. Kind of a surprise this week.” “Definitely. We got hammered at Cal-Riverside, 58-80. We really did not play well, especially on D. We let them shoot 57.1%, and they made 11 threes, most of them open looks.” “What happened with that?” “We didn’t get out on the shooter. I will say that they passed the ball really well, but I tried to make adjustments several times and my guys just weren’t responding to my moves. “Then we came home and beat Radford 59-46. 19 for Tay, 14 and 7 for Gabe, but we didn’t score many points this week, mainly because we didn’t move well without the ball, which led to poor shot selection. We’re working on all of it.” “You’re tied with Texas Southern, 1 back of MVS.” “It’s early. We’ve said this before but we’re a young team, and we made a lot of changes this year. We’ll have bumps in the road but I think we’ll be better as the season progresses.” “This week?” “At 7-10, 4-2 Evansville, and they’ve been playing well lately. Then home against No. Carolina Central, 9-8 3-3.” “Okay, we’re with the Provost on Sunday.” January 29 “Ben Dover with the Provost. Another 1-1 week and now you’re tied for 3rd, 2 games back.” “We’re in a shooting slump and we’re letting it affect the other parts of our game. Coach and the staff are working on it. We lost at Evansville, 50-60. We shot 30.2%. Tim had 10 and 11 but no one had more than Tay’s 11 points and we committed 24 TOs, which is just horrible. “We played great D in a 59-40 home win against No. Carolina Central but we shot under 40% again. 11 TOs, good bench play and good D got us through.” “How do you come out of a shooting slump?” “Work to get better shots, get the ball inside, pay attention to mechanics, and keep shooting. Sooner or later it straightens itself out. We’re hoping it will be sooner.” “Who’s ahead?” “We go to 6-13, 4-4 Colorado ST, and we need a road win. Then we’re home with Jacksonville ST. They’re struggling at 5-14, 2-6.” “Let’s hope we grab that road win and we’ll see you on Sunday.”

November 1972 Nixon re-elected U. S. ends travel ban to China Dow Jones closes over 1000 for 1st time First video game, “Pong” is released November 6 “Ben Dover here with Coach Clark. Coach. Do we have a starting lineup?” “We do, Ben, but not everything is locked in. Sal Dock will start at guard, and Cal Jones and Gabe Rodd up front, and they look solid. Tim Neal looks good at SF. Greg Hyde will start at guard, but Tay Lopez and Pete Hawk will get lots of minutes, at 2 and 3. They both look like they have loads of potential. It will be interesting to see how things progress.” “And recruiting?” “We have a PG, a PF, and 2Cs and we’re working hard to get one big and one small.” “Thanks Coach. I want to let the listeners know that staring on Sunday, Nov. 20, we’ll have the Coach, or his wife, Provost Clark, with us just about every Sunday.” November 20 “Ben Dover here with Provost Clark. The River Hawks got the season off to a good start.” “Yes, we did, Ben. We started at home with Prairie View and beat them 66-49. Gabe Rodd got 28 and 7 at Center and Tim Neal 13, 2, 3 at SF. Sal Dock had 8, 5, 5 at the Point. Tay Lopez had 8 and 5 from the bench. 13 TOs, +9 RBs. “Then we went to Milwaukee and won 70-55. Our guards lit it up. 19, 7, 3 for Sal, and 20, 2, 2 for Greg Hyde. Russ Fink had 5 and 8 from the bench. 10 TOs and +9 on the boards. Considering that we have three new starters Coach was happy with the way we played, and with the way we played together.” “This week?” “#21 Deep Pond is here. They’re in H conf. Then we travel to #25 Tennessee from B conf. So it will be a challenging week.” “Talk to you next Sunday.” November 27 “’Sportstalk’ with Ben Dover. We have Provost Clark on the line. 1-1 this week.” “That’s right. We played outstanding D against #21 Deep Pond here at home, 59-32. 18 and 10 for Tim Neal, 14 and 14 for Gabe Rodd, 18, 5 for Sal Dock, 39 RBs and 6 TOs. “Then we went to Tennessee and lost 56-63. Sal Dock fouled out in 20 minutes and that hurt us, and Greg Hyde, our other starting guard just had a bad night. Our two sub guards, Lopez and Hawk, played decently but they’re new and they need more experience. In time I think they’ll both be very good. 16, 9, 3 for Gabe, 14, 4, 3 for Tim, but it wasn’t enough. We’re a young team and we’ll have off nights, but we’re coming along.” “This week?” “We start at Georgia Tech from B. That will be a real challenge. Then we’re home with VCU from E.” “We’ll have the Coach next Sunday, and we’re here every night except Saturday.” December 1972 U. S. heaviest bombing of No. Vietnam Last issue of “Life” magazine December 4 “Ben Dover with the Coach. 1-1 again this week.” “GA Tech hammered us 57-77. We’re just not ready for a team of that caliber. Later in the season we might do better but we’re still learning to play together. Gabe had 18, 9, 2, 3, Tim 13 and 4, and Tay Lopez had 6 and 5 from the bench. But we had 19 TOs, -9, and that did us in. They also had a lot of open looks. “Then we came home and beat VCU 87-68. 19, 13 for Gabe, 17, 4, 6 for Sal, 15, 3, 2 for Tim, 15 for Tay. Greg Hyde fouled out.” “Is Greg doing enough to stay in the starting Lineup?” “Everything is fluid, and we expect some things to change as we move forward.” “This week?” “2 road games. We’re at Brown from O, and then at #21 Georgetown from B.” “Thanks Coach. We’ll have the Provost here on Sunday.” December 11 “’Sportstalk’ and I’m Ben Dover here with Provost Clark. Another 1-1 week.” “We’re playing some challenging road games. We beat Brown there, 69-57. All 5 starters were in double figures, and Cal had 17 rebounds. 9 TOs and 36 boards. “#21 Georgetown beat us 55-71 at their place. Gabe had 22 and 6, Tim 9, 8, 3, Cal had 12 boards but we got beat up badly in the back court, being outscored by a wide margin and committing 21 TOs. +7 on the boards wasn’t enough to make up for it.” “And this week?” “The road trip continues but only 1 this week, at Princeton from G. They have a good team.” “Any thought to lineup changes?” “Yes. Tay Lopez has been playing really well and he will start at guard in place of Pete Hawk.” “Okay. We’ll be watching to see how that works out. We’ve got the coach next Sunday.” December 18 “We’re back from break and we have Coach Clark on the line. Only one game this week.” “That’s right, Ben. We beat Princeton 81-67. All 5 starters, including new starter Tay Lopez, were in double figures. Gabe had 11 rebounds to go with 23 points.” “Tell us about Tay.” “He had 11, 4, 2 and a steal, and only 1 TO. Held his opposite number to 7. We were pleased with his first start.” “And Greg Hyde got hurt. Hurt his back. He’s out for about a week and a half. Pete Hawk will get his minutes.” “Who’s up this week?” “Another one game week. UTEP comes to us. They’re in E and they can play, so we’ll need to be sharp.” “Bad news on the recruiting front?” “We did lose a guard we had offered to. But there are several guards out there that we like. You never get all of the guys you want. We’ll be okay.” “Thanks Coach. See you next Sunday- oops, I mean Monday.” December 26 “Ben Dover with Coach Clark. A win in the week’s only game.” “Yes. We beat UTEP 78-54. 23 and 6 for Tim who has really played well for us. 16, 2, 8 for Sal, 12, 7, 3 for Gabe, 14 for Tay, and 8 and 8 for Cal. A real team effort.” “One more pre-conf. game.” “That’s right. Mississippi is here. They’re in J. We hope to win that one and end up 8-3 heading into conf. play but we know we’ll need to work for it.” “How did grades come out?” “Great. Lowest GPA is 2.9.” “Let’s take a call or two. Jim from Brockton.” “Coach, ya got 2 scholarships just hangin’. Ya haven’t offered ‘em ta anybody. How come?” “We’re evaluating players, Jim, and we’re in close touch with several guys we’re interested in. We may offer as soon as next week.” “Benny in Lynn.” “Coach, good job putting Tay in the starting lineup.” “He played his way in. We thought he’d need more time to develop but he fooled us. He really came along quickly.” “Ralph in Danvers.” “Your man McGovern got his butt kicked.” “The President won pretty handily. I hope it works out well for the American people.” “When the political questions start I stop. I’m the sports guy. Talk to you a week from today Coach.”

May 1972 No. Vietnam invades the South, forms a revolutionary government. Greenpeace begins Further bombings and killings in No. Ireland Nixon visits Moscow, SALT talks signed White House “plumbers” break into Watergate June 1972 Angela Davis acquitted of murder U. S. bombs Haiphong harbor killing thousands of civilians 5 Watergate burglars arrested during 2nd burglary 1st known cover up talks by Nixon and Haldeman SCOTUS rules death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment June 5 “Ben Dover on ‘Sportstalk.’ We received word that projected starting C for the UML hoops team, Mark Cubb, has transferred out. No reason has been given. This leaves UML with only Cal Jones and little used Russ Fink as experienced big men. Coach Clark told us that the transfer pool was weak this year and UML would not be pursuing anyone. ” June 26 “Ben Dover here and we’re back from break. UML has 6 scholarships to fill. Coach Clark tells us that they need bigs more than guards but that they will offer to the best players they can attract. July 1972 Ms. Magazine begins Essentially war in No. Ireland George McGovern nominated for POTUS by Dems August 1972 First article on Watergate by Woodward and Bernstein Last U. S. ground troops leave Vietnam August 15 Ben Dover here on ‘Sportstalk’ with Coach Clark. Coach, talk to us about recruiting.” “Sure Ben. We’re looking at 22 guys still. We’ve dropped some, added some.” “Have you offered to anyone yet?” “No, we’re going to wait until the 1st of September for that.” “Thanks Coach. We’ll talk again soon.” September 1972 Fischer beats Spassky 11 Israeli athletes taken hostage at Munich Olympics, later killed September 18 “Ben Dover here on 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO! We have Coach Clark on the line. Coach, what’s going on with recruiting?” “We got a commitment from a Center and we think we’re close with a few others.” “And we have a schedule.” “Yes. Again this year I thought we might be invited to an early season tourney, but no luck. Hopefully next year. WE put together a decent schedule with a few ranked teams, all on the road.” “Okay, Coach, talk again soon.” October 1972 46 sailors injured in race riot aboard U. S. Navy ship Mariner 9 takes photos of Martian north pole October 2 “Ben Dover here on ‘Sportstalk’ with Coach Clark. Coach, how’s recruiting going?” “We’ve signed three bigs. We’re still after 2 guards and a fourth big guy.” “Sounds good. Tell us about the first day of practice.” “I think we’ll be okay. Not having Lee Seitz will certainly change everything but it looks like we have at least 8 guys who will get a fair amount of playing time.” “Thanks Coach.”

April 1972 1st ever MLB strike by players lasts 13 days 1st Boston Women’s Marathon Last human landing on the Moon April 1 “Woody Johnson here in the Windy City after the Final Four game between Kansas and UML. Coach, the ride goes all the way to the final game, 68-63.” “If I’m dreaming don’t wake me!” “You are wide awake, Coach. Tell us about the game.” “Happy to, Grace. We took away their inside game. That’s really the story. The game was close for 33 minutes but they never were able to dominate us. The biggest lead they ever had was 4. Then, with just about 7 minutes left and the score tied, we went on a 15-2 run. Then we got the lead to 15, and with 3 ½ left they simply didn’t have time to catch us. We knew it and we ate some clock on every possession. They played three guards at that point to go for threes, which was their only hope. They got a few, but not nearly enough. The final margin of 5 was as close as they got.” “Who did what for UML, Coach.” “Grace, I want to say everyone did, and I really mean that. Deon and Mark were huge from the bench. Neither of them had big numbers but they spelled Lee and Cal, and didn’t allow the Kansas big guys to go off on them. As to the numbers Lee had 27, 11, 2, and Ted had 21, 6, 2. The team numbers were even, 10-10 in TOS, and we were -1 on the boards. I was afraid we’d be -10. They made 9 threes, but at least 5 came late, when they were desperate. We held them to 37.9% shooting, and their starting 4 and 5 were a combined 5 for 16. I have to say if there’s a team in the country that’s better inside than we are, I haven’t seen them.” “And now we play for the national championship. #2 in the country Pitt upset #1 Oregon. Grace, tell us a little about Pitt.” “They’re 32-6, so they’ve been beaten a few times. They play man and almost never press. On O it’s the Princeton. They can score both inside and out. They have a deep bench. Their 2 and 3 are both among the top 10 players in the country, maybe the top 5. They lead the nation in scoring and in assists. They are good with the ball. They are stronger outside than in. Coach, take over.” “Thanks Grace. In order to win we need to have a big edge inside, and we can’t let them score a lot of threes. Outside D, and rebounding are vital. On O we need to bang it inside all night long, and we need to take care of the ball.” “So can you win, Coach?” “We’ve managed to get all the way to the title game. Of course we can win. But we need to play absolutely excellent ball to do so.” “We’ll all be here on Monday night.” April 3 “Woody Johnson and Grace Clark here before the game for the national title between Pitt and our own UML River Hawks. Pretty exciting, Grace.” “Oh my! I wish it would start.” “It will in a few moments. Let’s take a break.” “Woody Johnson here with Grace and Kip Clark after the game. Coach, it was not to be, 69-83.” “First, I couldn’t be prouder of my kids. We never led tonight, but we never gave up. We faced a team that was just plain better than us. There’s no shame in losing to a better team. We did a lot of the things I felt we needed to do, 10 TOs, 35 rebounds, and we pretty much shut down their inside game. One of the things we didn’t do was stop the three. They hit 16 of them and that was a very big part of why we lost. Their starting guards and their SF had 20 points each, with 15 of the 16 threes. Unfortunately the three wouldn’t fall for us, we were 5-20 from out there. On the positive side Lee Seitz did what he has done for the three years he has been with us, he led the way. 35 points, 7 rebounds. The irony of us getting him as a transfer from Pitt is pretty striking. He felt he was lost in the shuffle there, unrecognized. We weren’t sure about taking him. He had been rated only #520 in his senior class. Talk about a sleeper! Our other 4 starters, Deon, Tony and Mark all worked their hearts out. Again, I couldn’t be prouder.” “Coach, their PG, Larry Jones had 20 points and 11 assists.” “He was fantastic, Grcae, the best PG I’ve seen in my 9 years. He was a big part of why they won. Very impressive.” “Okay Coach, we’ll have you on the line tomorrow when awards are announced, and then late in April to reflect on the year and to discuss next year.” April 4 “Woody Johnson here. We have the coach on the line. Coach, let’s talk about awards.” “Okay Woody. For the 3rd straight year senior Lee Seitz won the WS POY award, and yet again was denied a spot as an All American. In conf., Lee was POY, Defensive POY, and 1st team, along with Kurt Sims. That’s it.” “Thanks Coach. I should mention that you were named conf. O Coach of the Year. We’ll call again later in the month.” April 23 “Woody Johnson here with Coach Clark to wrap up this amazing season. 32-5, 15-1, and a trip to the national title game. Not bad!” “What a great year! I’m so happy with the way it turned out, especially for our 6 seniors. When we lost the Conf. tourney final to Wofford it looked like it might not be a happy ending. That certainly changed.” “We’re losing Lee Seitz, Kurt Sims, Ted Mill, all starters, and super subs Deon Wild and Tony Lutz.” “And Nate Walk, who never played much but who worked hard at every practice.” “What does that mean for next year?” “Well, we’re bringing in two transfers who look great, and 6 freshmen, all of whom have great potential. Sal Dock and Cal Jones will be returning starters. Sal will very likely move back to one of the two guard spots. Mark Cubb is a big kid we feel will play a big role for us. And Russ Fink is a guy we’ve always had high expectations for. He’ll be a senior so hopefully he’ll put it together.” “Coach, what are you asking for from you’re A.D.?” “We need a bigger operating budget. I asked for money.” “And?” “I got $12,000. That will be a huge help!” “Let’s talk about your career numbers. 222-66, .771. Off- 31, Def- 49, Recruit- 80, Scout- 6, Player Development- 40, Reputation-40. My question is, how long will you be willing to work for a salary that is maybe 1/5 or 1/10th of what you could be making?” “Grace and I are doing fine financially. We own a really nice home. It’s not extravagant but it has everything we need, and we love it. Neither of us much cares about material possessions. If and when I move it won’t be because of money, and I don’t know that I’ll ever move. We’re very happy here, and that’s very important.” “Last question. Can you compete in conf. N with so many exceptional players graduating?” “We’re going to give it everything we’ve got.” ‘Thanks Coach. This is my last broadcast, as I graduate in two weeks. Next year, sophomore Ben Dover will be doing ‘Sportstalk’ and the games. Woody Johnson saying goodbye.

March 1972 1st flight of the Goodyear blimp Gordie Howe retires Wilt Chamberlain retires March 2 “Woody here with Provost Clark. We play #8 seed Bucknell, 11-17, 8-8. We didn’t play them in the regular season. What do we know about them?” “On D they play man and they don’t press. On O they are very deliberate, and they play the triangle. Stronger in the back court than up front.” “Okay. We’ll be back with the start of the game in just a bit.” … “Woody here after the game with the Coach and Provost Clark. Coach, you were really tested tonight.” “Yes we were, 77-73. We were up by as many as 14, then down by as many as 10- all in the 2nd half, and then we came back late and barely eked out a win. 7 TOs really helped us. We were +2 on the boards. As usually is the case when it’s close or when we lose, they hit lots of threes- 15. Lee came up big for us, 33 and 7. Kurt and Ted had 11 each. It was a seat squirmer.” “And next is the only conf. team to beat you, #4 seed MVS.” “That’s right, Grace. We had 17 TOs, and we didn’t rebound that night. We need to fix both of those things, stop their PG, who had 40 that night with 10 threes, and find the open man. They doubled Lee all night and we weren’t able to take advantage of that. We need to this time or we’ll watch the final in street clothes.” “Okay, we’ll be right here with the game.” “Woody Johnson. I’m here alone tonight. Provost Clark had an emergency to deal with. If she is able to resolve it she’ll be here at some point. If not, she won’t. Back in a minute.” … “Woody Johnson. Provost Clark joined us early in the 2nd half. First Coach, another struggle, 64-57. A bigger issue is Cal Jones’ knee.” “Yes, it was definitely a struggle. We won’t have Cal tomorrow. The knee doesn’t seem to be seriously injured but he’s out for about a week. Deon Wild will start. Okay, MVS jumped out to an early lead and got it to 10 before I had my jacket off. I thought we were in for a very rough night. We didn’t tie the game until the last seconds of the first half. Then in the second it went back and forth for about 10 minutes. We finally went on a run, 14-3. We built the lead to 12 and hung on to win by 7.” “MVS does a great job of shutting Lee down.” “Yes Grace, they do. They held him to 13 and 5 tonight and got him in foul trouble fairly early on. The difference between this game and the last time we played them was that we found Kurt and Sal this time. We also took good care of the ball- 10 TOs. We were -5 on the boards but that wasn’t enough to do us in, and we were even in the 2nd half. Kurt had 17, 5, 2, Sal had 16. We’ll take the win.” “Tomorrow it’s Wofford for the title. They sort of came out of nowhere.” “They did. No one paid them much mind but they wound up as the #3 seed, tied for 2nd place, and they beat Oakland by 2 in the semis. We didn’t play them in the regular season. We know they have a strong inside game, and their guards don’t turn it over much.” “Should be a good game. Join us right here tomorrow night at 7:00. Game time is 7:30.” March 5 “Woody Johnson here with Provost and Coach Clark. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this position, Coach. 58-62.” “A long time. Congratulations to Wofford. As for us, we really didn’t do much wrong, but the one thing we did very badly was to defend the outside shot. Wofford sank 11 of them and that’s what beat us. We didn’t shoot well. We had 13 more shots than they did and made one less. But we had only 8 TOs to their 18, and we were only -4 in RBS. That’s not good but it isn’t horrible. The other thing was bench play. Our bench got 5 points and there’s got 22. Lee had 23 and 6, Deon had 10 and 6 in his first start in 2 or 3 years.” “What does this do to your NVAA seeding?” “It drops us down, Grace. How far remains to be seen. I had hoped for a high seed for our 6 seniors because that always improves the odds for a long run. Now we’ll need to work harder.” “Okay. The three of will be back here for selection Sunday.” March 12 “Okay, we’re back from break and ready to go with the East bracket. UML is still ranked #7, RPI #13. “Not in the East. “Not in the Midwest. “Not in the South. “#6 in the West. We’ll play #11 Colorado, 19-11. Coach?” “They’re from F. They’re strong at all 5 spots but stronger inside. They press often and they play man. They run motion on O. They played poorly at the end of the regular season but rallied in their tourney. They rebound well but we think we can turn them over. That’s about all I know.” “Okay, we’ll be in Anaheim on the 17th.” March 17 “Woody Johnson here after the game between Colorado and UML. Coach?” “A very impressive win, 74-48. 7 TOs, 40 RBs, and we held them to 27.8% shooting. It’s hard to find anything to complain about. They doubled Lee but he had 13 and 12, Cal had 14 and 8, Kurt had 16, 3, 3, Sal had 14, 4, 2, Ted shut down his opposite number, and Deon had 7 and 7. Sorry to report that Wofford lost by 1 to #17 Michigan State.” “Who’s next?” “Well Grace, it’s a tough one, #3 seed, #16 ranked Maryland, 23-9. They’re better inside than out but they’re not bad outside either. Honestly, if we play our best I like our chances.” “Woody here. We’ll bring you the game on Sunday.” “We’re back after the game. Coach, you hammered the #16 team in the country, 64-42.” “Yes, we did. The first half was very close, 9 lead changes, 6 ties, and 32 all at the horn. We made just two adjustments at halftime and wow did they work. We put a little more pressure on their point, and we dropped the off side guy in the 2-3 into the paint when the ball went low. They shot 13-31 in the first half with 2 threes. In the 2nd they shot 4-32, with no threes. We outscored them 32-10. It was amazing. They had 10 TOs in the game but 9 were in the 2nd half. They got 31 RBs, but only 8 in the 2nd half. We had 11 TOs and 48 RBs. Lee led the way with 23 and 9, Sal had 12 and 5 and Deon had 9 and 9 but everyone played D and rebounded.” “And now?” “Well, the only favorite to get to the Sweet Sixteen in our bracket was Wake Forest, and they’re next. The other side of the bracket is #9 Western Carolina vs. #12 Brigham Young. Wake is no slouch though. They can really play. They’re 23-9 in A conf. They are especially tough inside but their guards score. They lost 3 of their last 6 so they can be beaten. Their 4 and 5 are both glass eaters who can score, very, very tough. We feel like we can turn their guards over, and we’ll need to. We’ll also probably see a lot of Deon. I don’t think we can play three guards against these guys. Our bigs need to stay out of foul trouble too. I will also say that we think we can hold our own if we play well.” “Okay Coach, we’ll be right there at courtside in Las Vegas on the 24th.” March 24 “Woody Johnson here in Vegas after the Sweet Sixteen game between Wake Forest and UML. Coach, biggest win of your career?” “I think it just might be, Woody.” “It wasn’t easy.” “No Grace, it wasn’t, but we were there at the end, 64-61. It was a strange game, and if you noted the fact that our two biggest scorers combined for 9 points you’d think there was no way we could win.” “Expand on that, Coach.” “Well Grace, Lee and their Center banged at each other all night and they about neutralized each other. Lee had 2, 7, 2, with 3 steals, and their Center had 4, 5, 3. Their Power Forward, who is also a major rebounder and scorer, got 12, 7, 3, 2, and 3, but we double teamed him, alternating Cal Jones and Deon Wild frequently, until the last 4 minutes when we had them both in. They had 8 and 14 between them and Mark Cubb had another 6 and 7. I knew I’d need to go deep with big guys and Mark responded. Bottom line was we beat them inside, which we really had to do, 40 rebounds to 24. They didn’t have the up front depth we had.” “And the guards?” Grace, their guards got 28, but if you throw Tony Lutz into the mix, our guards also got 28. I tell you, our bench was an enormous part of this win. And don’t forget Sal Dock. He was the odd man out in some ways, at least we thought. He only played 21 minutes but he got 20 points, which was huge. We mixed it up all night long, kept showing different looks, using different offensive patterns and switching up the D as well, and it worked. Then we had the lead late and hit 8 of 8 from the line, which didn’t allow them to get any closer than the 3 point margin at the end.. I’ll tell you, I am jumping for joy on the inside.” “And now?” “And now we’re in the Elite Eight, for the first time in school history,. And we play the #12 seed. Brigham Young beat Western Carolina.” “So you have a real shot at going to the final four.” “One win away.” “We’ll be here in Vegas on Sunday. We’ll break down Brigham Young’s offense and D at that time.” March 26 “Woody Johnson here in Las Vegas for the Elite Matchup between #1`2 seed, unranked Brigham Young, 18-14, and our own #7 ranked UML River Hawks. Here’s Provost Grace Clark to tell us about BYU. Grace?” “Thanks Woody. BYU plays in C and they have had a very up and down season, beating some really good teams and suffering some embarrassing losses. They play man and they press now and then, it’s hard to predict when they’ll use the press. On O they run the Princeton. They have very balanced scoring but all in all they are probably slightly stronger inside than out. They are 6 and 7 in their last 13, lost their last 3 before this tourney where they’ve won 3 in a row. They really have only 2 good defenders, their Point and their 3. Generally speaking they are decent at a lot of things but not outstanding at anything. Frankly, if we play our game we should be all right.” “Thanks Grace. We’ll be back for the opening tip after this.” … “We’re here after the Elite Eight game between BYU and UML. Coach, I’m not even going to ask if this is your biggest win ever.” “No doubt about it. 68-51 and we’re in the Final Four. I get goose bumps just saying it.” “Coach, we had high hopes for this team with 6 seniors, lots of both talent and experience, but I’m not sure the hopes were this high?” “Well Grace, maybe the hopes were but the expectations weren’t.” “Tell us about the game.” “Okay Woody. Give me a second… It’s pretty overwhelming.” “Coach Clark is hugging his wife right now. We’ll happily wait a moment for that.” … “Okay, we scored a 2, they scored a 3, then we scored the next 14. We opened up a 20 point lead and led 40-21 at the half. In the second we just played nice deliberate basketball, tight D, and protected our lead. Essentially we traded baskets for just about the entire half. We had 14 TOs, but most were in the 2nd half, and they had 22. We were +10 on the boards. Lee led the way with 27 and 9, Deon had 14 and 5, and played a lot of minutes, Kurt had 11. But everyone played solid D. We simply never allowed them to go on a run.” “Next up is Kansas.” “Yes, you never want this and I’m sorry to say it, but their starting PF and leading scorer tore a knee tendon in their win today. That’s not official but he was taken off on a stretcher and he’s in the hospital. They had 3 exceptional big guys and not a lot of depth. This is going to really hurt them. Again, you never wish for that kind of thing. Their guards are good with the ball but they don’t score much. Their game is to get it inside. Their other two bigs are very good scorers and rebounders, but they’re losing 13.1 points and 6.4 rebounds a game. They’re 28-7 and they never lost to an unranked team.” “They play man and they don’t press unless they have to. On O it’s the triangle and again, they try to get it inside as much as possible. I’m guessing that, like today’s game, Deon will get lots of minutes.” “That’s the expectation, Grace.” “Can you beat these guys?” “Well Woody, we have a shot. Once again, we need to play excellent ball, but if we do, yes, we have a real chance.” “See you on April 1, Coach. You too, Grace.”

February 1972 1st scientific hand held calculator Britain tries to justify “Bloody Sunday” Nixon goes to China Nixon comes back to U. S. (sigh) Hank Aaron becomes highest paid player in baseball history ($200,000 a year) February 5 “Woody here with Provost Clark. A 1-1 week.” “Coach always says nothing is more likely to cause a loss than becoming ranked for the first time all season. MVS has a good team and we had an off night, 54-74. It snapped a 14 game win streak. Our usual good ball handling wasn’t there, 17 TOs, and we were -10 on the boards. Add in that we allowed a dozen threes and the picture becomes pretty clear. Kurt had 16, Ted 13, and Lee 10 and 6. Tony had 8 from the bench. The rest of the team, combines, scored 7. We really didn’t play good D either. These games happen occasionally. As long as it’s only occasionally it’s often best to just move on. “We hosted Buffalo and won 71-49. We were much more like ourselves, 6 TOs, +7 on the boards. 16, 6 for Lee, 15, 4, 3 for Kurt. The other 3 starters and Deon all played very well. Oakland is now only 1 back of us and Wofford 2. Everyone else is 3 or more back with 6 to play.” “2 road games this week.” “That’s right. 1st we go to FL ATL. They’re 10-11, 5-5. Then we’re at Norfolk ST, 11-10. 6-4.” “So 2 middle of the pack teams.” “True but they both play well at home. And these games are all very important to them in terms of where they finish and how high they are seeded in the conf. tourney.” “The Provost has a Sunday evening meeting so we need to let her go. She’ll be back next Sunday and we hope to take calls.” February 12 “Woody Johnson here with Provost Clark. A two win week, a 2 game lead, and #18 in the polls.” “Yes, it was another good week. We went to FL ATL and won 69-54. The lead went back and forth for 7-8 minutes and then we went on an 11-0 run and that was that. 19, 3, 2 for Sal, 15, 2, 5 for Ted, 9 each for Cal and Deon. Lee was in foul trouble all night, played only 20 minutes, and had a career low 3, but he had 9 boards and 2 assists. We had 13 TOs, more than we like, and we were -3 on the boards, which we also don’t like, but we did what we had to do. “Then we went to Norfolk ST and won 71-58. WE never trailed, and led by as many as 21. Lee was himself, scoring 28, with 7, 2, and 3 steals. Sal, who has really stepped up his offensive game lately, had 13. We had 10 TOs, but were only +1 on the boards. Still, a very good week.” “And coming up?” “5 to play, 4 in conf., plus the Bracket Breaker. We’re at home against 9-14, 3-9 Alabama A & M. Then we travel to 11-12, 5-7 Ark ST.” “Let’s take some calls. Ben in Worcester.” “I think sometimes it’s overlooked a little but you guys really take good care of the ball.” “Thanks Ben. I think it is overlooked. We’re averaging only 10.4 TOs a game, and our opponents are at 16.0. That’s a huge difference and it is a major factor in our success. Relatedly we have a big differential in steals, 8.1 to 4.5. And it’s everyone. We don’t have a player whose A/TO ratio is less than 1.0.” “Nick in Shrewsbury.” “Look, I’m a taxpayer in the state a Massachusetts and I resent the Provost at UML wastin’ so much time on sports.” “Look Nick-” “No, Woody, I’ll be happy to address that. Nick, I average more than 60 hours of work each week. I have no doubt at all that I more than earn my salary. There’s not a well adjusted person anywhere who doesn’t have interests outside of work. My interest is the UML basketball team, certainly in large part because my husband is the head coach, but frankly, I was a big fan of college basketball even before we met. Finally, if there is a ever a conflict of any kind between my duties as Provost and my time here at WLOW, the people here know that they will need to do without me. Again, my conscience is completely clear on this.” “Well said Provost. Dave in Webster.” “You and the coach seem to have a great marriage. What’s your secret?” “I don’t know that it’s a secret. I think for a marriage to work the two people need to love, like, and respect each other. That’s never been a problem for the two of us. I also think both people need to truly listen to the other. It’s important to have both common interests and separate interests. I suppose there are many other factors but those strike me as the most important.” “How about admitting when you’re wrong?” “Oh yes, Kip is very good at that.” “What about you?” “If the occasion should ever arise I’m sure I would definitely admit my error (General laughter)!” “Speaking of errors, I just remembered that we’ll have the coach with us on Monday, not Sunday next week. So how about a word concerning the Bracket Breaker game with Brown?” “Sure. They’re 17-5, 11-1 in P conf, and they can score both outside and in. they’re a good team having a good season so it should be a challenge.” “Okay, we’ll talk to the coach a week from Monday.” February 20 “’Sportstalk.’ We’re here with Coach Clark. First Coach, I was wondering if you heard about the little exchange we had with Mrs. Clark last week regarding marriage and being wrong?” “Oh believe me, I’ve been hearing about it all week (laughs).” “We wanted to give you a chance to respond.” “Mrs. Clark was 100% on target. I always admit when I’m wrong and if she should ever be wrong I have no doubt she will admit it.” (Laughs) “Okay, 3 wins, a 3 game lead with 2 to play, and #15, RPI #17.” “Another good week. It started here against Alabama A & M. We won 63-49. We never trailed and we led by as many as 20. Balanced scoring among the starters. The only one not in double figures, Cal, had 7 and 11, and held his man to 2 and 3. We were +10 in RBs. I wasn’t happy with ball handling though, 17 TOS is way too many. We addressed it in practice. “Then we traveled to ARK ST, where we won 68-44. Again, we never trailed. Lee had 27 and 7, Kurt 13 and 5. Deon and Tony gave us great minutes from the bench. 9 TOs made me happiest. “We finished the week here, in the Bracket Breaker against Brown. We anticipated some trouble in that game but it didn’t happen. Once more, we never trailed, in a 76-54 win. 21, 11, 2, 3 for Lee, 16, 2, 4, 2 for Kurt, 11, 6 for Deon, and good play all around. 10 TOs and +16 on the boards.” “You anticipated difficulty in conf. O. It’s been a walk in the park.” “I’m not sure it’s been quite that easy but we haven’t experienced nearly the difficulty we had anticipated.” “Happy to be hosting the tournament?” “It’s a huge advantage to play at home. That holds true until you get to the top 10 conferences.” “Let’s take a question or two. Moe in Raynham.” “Coach, congratulations. How far up can you go?” “We’ve talked about that, but not for some time. We can go up until we reach a conference where the other teams have way more resources than we do. That will probably happen somewhere around J or K. Then we’ll be really challenged. If other clubs have $75-100 thousand more to spend on recruiting we’ll have difficulty competing.” “Jack in Andover.” “I just want to join the Deon should start chorus.” “Believe me, I hear the music. If you notice he’s getting starter’s minutes in the last few games. That will continue. But I’ve been saying for 2 years now that we love the lift he gives us when he comes from the bench. You may also have noticed that he’s in at the end in close games. It’s more important to finish a game than to start one, which he agrees with, incidentally. He’s happy with his role.” “Okay coach, rematches with Niagara at home, and Cal ST Fullerton on the road.” “Yes. We won both games easily but we aren’t taking anything for granted. We want to close the regular season strongly.” “We’ll be with the Provost on Sunday.” February 26 “Woody Johnson here with Provost Clark. 2 more wins, we win the conf. by 4 games and we’re 25-3, ranked #9, RPI #10. On to the post season!” “Yes, we were very happy with the way we ended the regular season. We beat Niagara here, 78-58. 27, 4 for Lee, and 23, 5, 6 for Kurt. 11 TOs and we held them to 33.3% shooting. "Then we ended the regular season at Cal ST Fullerton, where we were challenged for the 1st time since the MVS game, 65-58. We didn’t play great D, especially outside, and we didn’t rebound well. +12 TOs saved us. Lee had 31 and 8 but Kurt only played 16 minutes due to foul trouble.” “Is there anyone you hope to avoid in the conf. tourney? Or anyone you’d really like to face?” “No, we’ll take whoever we get. Also, I wouldn’t announce it if either were the case because word would get back and it would motivate the other team.” “Do you think, assuming you win the tourney, that your high ranking and your high RPI will help more this year than in the past?” “Well first, we aren’t assuming anything, but if that happens, and I emphasize the “if,” we’re one conf. higher so that should have a little impact. But all in all it’s easy to predict we’ll get a lower seed than we should. Bottom line is there’s a lot of work to do before we reach that point.” “Okay. It’s post season and we’ll have Provost Clark doing color for all of our games, assuming her job allows that.”

January 1972 British coal miners begin their first strike in 50 years Yogi Berra elected to Hall of Fame “Bloody Sunday” January 2 “An easy win this week, Coach. Woody Johnson here.” “Yes it was, 74-51. 32 for lee, 13 for Kurt, 11 for Ted, 10 for Deon from the bench. 11 TOs, +3 RBs.” “You end pre-conf. play at 9-2, PRI #39. Who do you see as conf. rivals?” Probably Oakland, Buffalo, Niagara, and as always, MVS. We play Niagara, there, this week so we’ll see how we stand. This is a good conf.” “Okay, we’ll be here with Grace on Sunday.” January 8 “Woody Johnson here with UML Acting Provost Grace Clark. Tell us about week one of conference play.” “Sure thing Woody, but first, as of late Friday afternoon it’s Provost Clark. I got the job.” “Congratulations!” “Thanks. We started the week at home with Ark. ST and won 68-47. We were never challenged. Lee had 22 and 7, Sal 17, 4, 5. 9 TOs, 34 RBs. "Then we traveled to Niagara, a game we expected to be a challenge. It wasn’t, 63-40. 24, 7, 2 for Lee, and 12 each for Sal and Kurt. We didn’t like having 1`5 TOs but they had 19. We were +3 on the boards.” “This week?” “Cal ST Fullerton is here. They’re 7-6, 1-1. Then we travel to Louis Montford, also 7-6, 1-1.” “Will we still be seeing you now that you have the new job?” “Well, I’ll certainly be busier, but Sunday nights shouldn’t be a problem.” “What about color commentary at the post season games?” “We’ll take that as it comes. I hope to be able to attend all post season games, and if we win the conf. we host that tournament, which makes things easier.” “Thanks, Provost, and we’ll talk with you again next Sunday.” January 15 “Woody here with Provost Clark. Another 2 win week.” “Yes, so far we’re doing very well in conf. We embarrassed Cal ST Fullerton 71-36. 7 TOs, 36 RBs, and a total team effort. All 7 guys who played major minutes played very well. “We beat Louis Montford there, 74-56. We never trailed in that one, and led by as many as 24. 26, 16 for Lee, 22 for Kurt. 11 TOs, 38 RBs. We really played well all week.” “This week?” “4-11, 1-3 Siena at home, then we go to 7-8, 2-2 IPFW.” “We’re tied for 1st with Coppin ST. Let’s take a call or two. Mack in Marlboro.” “Lee isn’t scoring as much this year. Is that bad?” “Actually his aerage isn’t down very much from last year, but no, we don’t think it’s bad at all. He still has a tremendous effect on the other teams’ defenses, which frees up our other players.” “Jeff in Natick.” “I’m one of the many who think Deon Wild should start. Frankly, he’s a much better defender than Dock, he’s a better, too.” “We like Deon and coach is increasing his minutes a bit more. He may eventually start, but one way or another he’s going to get playing time.” “Kerry from Cambridge.” “Why no babies?” “Wait, is this the Kerry I know from Cambridge?” (Laughs) “Yes it is.” (Laughs) “No babies, Miss Busybody (They both laugh). Kip and I work many, many hours in an average week, and our careers are extremely important to both of us. It wouldn’t be fair to a child, and really, being parents isn’t something either of us is particularly interested in.” “We’ll be here with Provost Clark next Sunday.” January 22 “’Sportstalk’ with Woody Johnson. We have Provost Clark on the phone and the lines are open. Provost, another 2 win week and we’re alone in 1st place.” “Yes, things are going really well. No challenges in the two games. We beat Siena here, 83-49. 29, 12, 4 for Lee, 19 for Kurt, and 12 for Sal. 8, 10, 2 for Deon. 7 TOs, 46 RBs.” “Have we trailed in any games in conf. so far?” “Not after the first few minutes, Woody. We traveled to IPFW and played our best D in a long time, maybe ever, 58-34. We never trailed in this one either. 19, 11 for Lee, 15 for Kurt, 9, 6, 3 for Sal. 10 TOs, +4 RBs.” “We thought this was going to be a tough conf. It hasn’t turned out that way.” “Not so far, but we’ve only played one top team. This week we play both of the teams tied for 2nd, 1 game back of us. That will tell us a great deal. Both games are at home though, which makes it easier. Coppin ST is 10-7, 5-1. They have a Point who can score a lot of points, and they can be tough inside. Oakland is 9-8, 5-1. They have a very good Center.” “Thanks. We have the coach next Sunday.” January 29 “’Sportstalk’ here and I’m Woody Johnson. We have the coach on the phone. First, #25! It’s nice to be ranked.” “It is. This is the 4th time in the past 5 seasons. It indicates the strength of the program.” “So tell us about the week. When it started your two opponents were tied for 2nd, 1 back.” “Well, now one of them is alone in 2nd, 2 back. We beat Coppin ST 69-53. We led all the way. 29, 6, 2 for Lee. 11, 7, 4 for Ted Mill. We’ve been consistently good with the ball and tonight was no exception. 8 TOs. WE were +5 in RBs, and we got great bench play. “Then Oakland was here and we won 66-52. They led early, by as many as 7, but by midway in the first half we had taken the lead for good. They doubled Lee so we found the open man. Ted and Sal had 17 each, 11 for Kurt. Lee had 10, 4, 2 against a very good Center. 7 TOs but we didn’t rebound well, -9. Despite that, it was a comfortable win.” “This week?” "We’re at MVS next. They’re 11-8, 4-4, but they’re always tough. Then we host Buffalo, 10-9, 3-5. They were picked to finish 2nd, but they haven’t shown that kind of play so far.” “Coach has a plane to catch so we won’t keep him. Thanks Coach.”

December 1971 Ernie Banks retires Nixon commutes Jimmy Hoffa’s jail sentence India/Pakistan war “A Clockwork Orange” premieres December 4 “Woody here with Coach Clark. Great to have you with us, Coach. Tell us about the week.” “Thanks Woody. #15 Penn beat us 59-74. We’ve had trouble defending the three all year and we gave up 14 against them. That and 18 TOs were our downfall. 18 for Kurt, 14, 12, 2 for Lee, 11, 8 for Cal Jones. “Then in our first home game we beat Rhode Island 73-52. Lee had 33 and 10, Ted 9, 8, 3, Sal Dock 11, 3, 2, and we got good bench play. Only 7 TOs, and +5 on the boards.” “After 6 games are you re-evaluating the lineup and considering changes?” “Good question. We’re constantly re-evaluating and considering. Deon Wild is going to get more playing time. He’s looked good.” “This week?” “At Davidson from M and home with Penn ST from F.” “Recruiting?” “We’re still at it, working to fill our last 2 spots.” “Talk with you on Sunday, Coach.” December 11 “’Sportstalk’ back from break and we have the coach on the phone. The lines are open. Coach?” “We had a real battle at Davidson before winning 84-83. The 3 point shot has been haunting us and they got 13. We were also -4 on turnovers, and Sal Dock and Cal Jones were in foul trouble all night. We got good bench play from Lutz, Wild, and freshman Mark Cubb, which helped. Lee led us with 28, 6, 2, and Kurt Sims had 19, 7, 2. Kurt hit a 3 at the end for the win. “Penn ST was a different story. We led by as many as 34 before winning 86-62. 30, 3, 6 for Lee, 26, 6, 8 for Kurt, 14 for Ted, 9, 7, 2 for Cal. 8 TOs.” “So where do we stand regarding stats right now?” “We’re outscoring the other guys by 7.0 per game, rebounds are +6.5, and TOs are +3.2. Lee is #2 in the country in scoring, #1 in conf. in scoring and rebounding, and we have #3 and #5 in assists, 4 and 5 in steals, #3 in shooting pct. As a team we’re 1st in conf. in shooting, rebounding, and assists, #3 in steals.” “Looks good! This week?” “One game, home against Appalachian ST.” “Let’s take a call or two. Ted in Braintree.” “Coach, Deon Wild should be starting. He’s a senior and he’s paid his dues.” “Yes he is and yes he has. We’ve recently increased his minutes and we’ve always considered Deon a valuable member of our team. I expect that shortly he’ll be our 6th man and will play about the same number of minutes he did last year.” “George in Belchertown.” “Hey Clark, Nixon’s turning the war around. Goin’ into Cambodia is makin’ a big difference.” “Well, there are definitely a lot more people dying, most of them having no combat role whatsoever.” “Bob in Pittsfield.” “I’m a big Tony Lutz fan-” “So am I, Bob.” “Good. Anyway, I’d love to see him get more minutes.” “Tony has had the bad luck of being behind some really good guards. When he comes sin the game he has my complete confidence. I know we’re not going to lose a thing when he’s in. I hope to find a way to get him more minutes.” “Jeff in Springfield.” “Coach, how’s the dissertation coming?” “It’s under review by my advisers. I hope to defend in late January when we’re home for a while. With any luck I’ll be granted the Ph. D. some time during spring semester.” “I need to interject here. I’m a senior and I can’t even imagine hopw you find the time to get this done while coaching the team.” “Well Woody, it has certainly been a challenge but it has also been tremendously rewarding.” “Okay, we’ll talk again next week.” December 18 “Woody here with the coach. Only one game this past week.” “That’s right. We beat Appalachian ST 60-48. We held them to 33.3% shooting, had 9 TOs and 41 RBs. Our scoring was balanced with 7 players getting between 5 and 12 points. It was a team effort and we did a lot of things well.” “7-2, RPI #19. Do you expect to be ranked soon?” “There’s no way to know. We hope to keep winning, and if we do, that will take care of itself.” “Another one game week coming up.” “Yes, we have 2 more before conf. play starts. This week we host Akron from I. They’re struggling this year.” “Let’s take some calls. Larry in Boston.” “See any good movies lately?” “The best movies we saw last year were ‘The Andromeda Stran,’ ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ disturbing as it is, and ‘The Last Picture Show.’ The worst was “The Omega Man.’” “Kim in Cambridge.” “What are you and Grace listening to?” “Queen, Dylan, The Stones, Carole King, The Kinks, The Hollies, Carly Simon, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, blues, old time jazz, Dave Van Ronk. Our guilty pleasure is Gilbert O’Sullivan, and the best son gof the last year or two is “Imagine.” “No country?” “We don’t do country.” “What do you think of Yoko Ono?” “I think it’s John’s life and he should be with whom he wants to be with.” “Sam here in Lowell.” “I thought this was a sports show! Coach, you don’t seem ta be able ta beat the ranked teams.” “Well, we’re 0-2 this year but we’ve beaten our share in the past. We’d like to schedule more ranked teams. We feel we can hold our own.” “And we’re out of time. Next week the coach will be with us on Monday, not Sunday.” December 26 ‘Woody Johnson here with the coach. 69-44 over Akron.” “We were in control all the way. 8 TOs, +4 on the boards. Lee had 25 and 8, Cal 17, 5, 2. A great effort on D.” “And this week ends the pre-conference season.” “That’s right, we’re home again South Carolina from I. They’re better inside than out.” “Talk to you next Sunday- I mean Monday. After that we’re back to Sundays. And remember that ‘Sportstalk’ is here every night except Saturday. Woody Johnson saying good night from 88.1 WLOW, how LOW can you GO!”

November 1971 U. S. extends fighting into Cambodia DB Cooper parachutes out a of a commercial plane with $200,000. Never heard from again. November 6 “Woody here with the coach. Do we have a lineup?” “We sort of do. Mill and Sims are starting at guard, Dock will be at 3, Seitz at 5. Cal Jones will be at Power Forward, but Cubb and Wild will get looked at. My first guard off the bench is Lutz. So we’re basically going with three guards, at least most of the time, and at least for now. We’ll see how things go. I have 10 who are good enough to play.” “And recruiting?" "We’re almost there.” “Okay, coach, we’ll be with you or with Grace every Sunday night starting on 11/20.” November 20 “Woody here. We’re back from break and we have Grace Clark, Acting Provost of UML on the line. First, tell us about the job title.” “Our Provost left for a position at another university. Since I was the first assistant provost I’m doing the job while the job search is ongoing.” “Are you a candidate?” “I am but I can’t tell you much about that.” “Can you tell us how long the search will take?” “Well, they’re doing an internal search first. If they decide to hire in house the whole process could be over by the first of the year. If not, it could take up to a year.” “Good luck! Tell us about the week in UML hoops.” “Okay. The team starts with 5 road games, which is awful. We went to Stetson from L to start off and won 69-49. Ted Mill had 26, 5, 6, and Sal Dock had 16, 1, 6. They chose to double Lee all night so we found the open man. +9 TOs, +1 RB. “Then it was LSU from C. You may remember that they were #3 last year when we went there and beat them by 12. Well, we get them by 13 this time. Lee had 31 and 13, Ted Mill had 13, 3, 2. We had an unbelievable 4 TOs and 42 RBs for the game. So it was a great first week.” “Recruiting news?” “All the recruits who committed signed.” “Great! Who do we play this week?” “We begin at #23 Tennessee from A conf. They’re solid all up and down the lineup, but especially inside. The it’s Marquette from D.” “Tough week!” “Definitely challenging.” “Okay, Acting Provost Grace Clark will be with us again next Sunday, and we’re here every night except Saturday, at 7:00.” November 27 “This is ‘Sportstalk’ and I’m Woody Johnson. We’re here with Acting Provost Grace Clark.” “Tell us about the week.” “1-1, which is good, considering the competition. #23 Tennessee beat us 75-86. We allowed 15 threes and that did us in. We were only -1 on TOs and we were +13 on the boards. Lee had 22 and 6, Tony Lutz had 14 from the bench. Kurt Sims had 10 and our other 3 starters had 7 each. O wasn’t the problem. We’re happy when we get 75, but we didn’t defend the three and they shot 54.5% which means we didn’t defend much of anything. Still, we were better insidse and we did well, considering they’re from A. “Then we had a real battle at Marquette, winning 66-63. 25 and 7 for Lee, 15, 4, 3 for Sal at the 3, 11 for Kurt, 9 for Ted. We were +6 on the boards and +1 on TOs although we had 17, which is way too many. Our starters were much better than theirs but their bench nearly did us in. Again, the outside shot urt us. We allowed 13 threes. Still we’re happy with a win against a team from D.” “This week?” “It stays challenging. We go to #15 Penn, from C. They can shoot the 3 and their PF is solid.” “Then we’re finally home, against Rhode Island, from F conf.” “Good luck. We’ll have the coach here next week.”

May 1971 Amtrak begins operation “All Things Considered” premieres. Insomnia rates plummet. Nixon administration arrests 13,000 anti-war protesters in 3 days June 1971 Final Ed Sullivan show NYT begins publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers Racial disturbances in many U. S. locations SCOTUS overturns draft evasion conviction of Muhammed Ali June 16 “Woody Johnson here on ‘Sportstalk.’ UML has landed 2 transfers, PG Greg Hyde and SF Tim Neal. Back in a minute with UML football coach Joe Burnham.” June 26 “Woody Johnson here with UML head basketball coach Kip Clark. Coach, lots of open spots on the roster.” “That’s right Woody. We have 6 scholarships to fill. We’re looking at 30 guys.” “Thanks Coach.” July 1971 Riots in No. Ireland Kissinger goes to China George Harrison releases “Bangladesh” August 1971 McCartney announces formation of “Wings” Riots and killings in No. Ireland August 21 “Woody Johnson here, and we have the coach. Coach, have you offered any scholarships?” “As you know Woody, we have 6. We’ve offered three, to a PF, a PG, and a C.” “No one else interesting enough?” “More like too many. We want to wait until early September to offer the other 3.” “Thanks Coach.” September 1971 Attica seized by prisoners Nikita Khrushchev dies September 18 “’Sportstalk’ with Woody Johnson. Coach Clark, what’s new?” “Well Woody, we’ve offered to 6 recruits. So far a C has said yes and no one has said no.” “Schedule?” “I had hoped we’d be invited to an early season tournament for the first time but it didn’t happen. We start with 5 on the road, and 6 of 7. Awful. No one with more than 1 ½ stars will play us at our place. 2 ranked teams, on the road.” “We’ll be back with the coach when there’s more recruiting news.” October 1971 John Lennon releases “Imagine” 1st World Series night game Last issue of “Look” magazine China admitted to UN October 2 ‘Woody here with the Coach. More commitments, I hear.” “That’s right. We got 2 PGs to go with our 2 big guys. 2 more slots to fill.” “First day of practice.” “Lots of returning talent, led by Lee Seitz, of course. Right now I feel like we have 9 guys who could start.” “That’s called a pleasant problem. “I see you’re picked #1 in conf. again.” “Yes. I don’t usually say this but with the talent we have we should be able to win the conf.” “Talk again soon, Coach.”

April 1971 Nixon pardons Lt. Calley. Charles Manson sentenced to life. 200,000 anti-war protesters march on Washington. April 4 “Woody Johnson here with Kip and Grace Clark. Coach, you and Grace went to your first final four. Tell us about it.” “Well, the games were exciting, of course. #1 Kansas trounced #10 Syracuse by 18, and #3 Duke won by 8 over #4 Pitt. That set up a great final between #1 and #3. The only time they met in the regular season Duke won in OT so expectations were high. It was a fantastic game and Duke won by 3, in regulation this time.” “And what about the atmosphere and everything else.” “Coach, I’ll go first then you can jump in. It really is a spectacle. Every famous basketball name is there and we got to meet most of them, many for the first time. I really enjoyed that. And of course the fact that it was in New Orleans made it really special. What a city! We saw the sights and it is a fascinating city. We loved it. Coach?” “Yes, as Grace said it was a delightful experience. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to chat with so many top le3vel coaches and A. D. s. They were invariably gracious and I was really amazed and pleased by how much they knew about UML. For me that may have been the best part.” “That’s great, Coach. Tell us about the hardware your guys brought home.” “Okay. For the 2nd year in a row, Lee was named WS POY. That is a great honor. Weirdly enough, fort eh 2nd year in a row Lee was NOT named to either the 1st or 2nd team. It simply makes no sense. Oh well. In conf., Lee was POY, Defensive POY, and 1st team, along with Kurt Sims, who definitely deserved it." April 23 “Woody Johnson here with the coach. And so another season ends, Coach, your 8th.” “That’s right. I want to read some numbers: A record of 190-61, for a pct. of 757. Off- 28, Def-44, recruit-80, Scout- 5, Player Dev-36, Reputation-34. First Sweet Sixteen, first 30 win season. And you’re moving up to conf. O. Not bad.” “No, I guess not. We’ve got a great athletic department, headed up by Jack Lacy. I have experienced, talented assistants. Our players are incredible, and they do all that we ask. It’s a great situation here at UML.” “I think the head coach might be a factor, too. What did you ask for, Coach?” “We always need money. This year we didn’t get any, unfortunately.” “Well, good luck in conf. O, Coach.

March 1971 Frazier beats Ali in 15 to retain the heavyweight title. Bangladesh declares itself independent William Calley sentence to life in My Lai massacre trial Boston patriots become New England Patriots March 2 “Woody and Grace here. All the favorites won in the play in round so the River Hawks will face Austin Peay. Grace.” “We beat them by 16 there 3 weeks ago. Kurt Sims and Chic Blue shot the lights out. We had 20 TOs though. That can’t happen again.” “We’ll be back with the game after this. … “Woody Johnson here with Grace and Kip Clark. Coach.” “It was not our finest effort. Great D pulled us through, but 57-47 means we sure didn’t score much. Lee had 22, Ted had 11, 7, 3, and Cal had 10 and 5. 1-10 from long distance didn’t help. 11 TOs made me happy but -2 on the boards didn’t. Hopefully we’ll run the offense tomorrow.” “And it’s 18-11, 10-6, #4 seed Coppin ST tomorrow. They beat us by 12 at their place.” “That’s right, Grace. We committed 20 TOs that night, shot poorly, and didn’t play outside D. We know what we need to work on.” “Thanks Coach, talk with you after the game.” “Actually Grace, I was hoping to talk with you before that.” “Ha! Good point Coach. Woody Johnson here. We’ll be bringing you the game tomorrow so tune in.” March 3 “Woody Johnson here after the Coppin ST-UML game. I’m with Grace and Kip Clark. Coach, a 78-65 win. Scoring points certainly wasn’t a problem.” “No it wasn’t, Woody. We got the 1st 8 and never trailed. Lee had one of his nights, 33, 16, 4, and 3 steals. The rest of the guys all played well. 43 rebounds- that’s impressive! 12 TOs is okay, too.” “Coach, #3 seed Oakland in the final tomorrow. We beat them by 22 at our place.” “That’s right, Grace. We shot really, really well that night, and we played very good D. We need to do both of those things again.” “We’ll all be back following the game tomorrow but Grace and I will be here starting at 7:00. Game time is 7:30.” March 5 “Woody Johnson back after the game. Congratulations Coach, 67-44.” “It never gets old, Woody. They did everything to Lee but use brass knuckles and they kind of took him out of the game. He fouled out in 25, with only 13, 4, and 1. But we showed what we’re made of. Kurt had 18 and 4, Chic had 13, 2, 2, Ted had 7, 5, 5, Cal had 5 and 6, and the bench played really well.” “Coach, how high can we go in the tournament.” “Always a frustration, Grace. Right now we’re ranked #6, RPI #5. That equals a #2 seed. We’ll probably be lucky to grab a #4.” “The three of us will be here on selection Sunday. Listen in and you’ll know as soon as we do.” March 12 “Woody Johnson here with the Clarks and the team. Right now we’re ranked #6, RPI #4 so hopes are high. And the show is starting. “#5 in the East. We’ll play #12 Clemson, 18-11. We beat Clemson there early on, right Coach?” “That’s right. We beat them by 10. We owned the inside and our guards didn’t match theirs but they came close enough.” “Coach, they did it to us again, a #5.” “I know, Grace. Evidently rankings and RPI mean absolutely nothing to the committee. My comments the past 2 years have been muted but not this year. When the national media comes calling they can expect an earful.” “How about a preview, Coach.” “Woody, we played and beat teams all up and down the conference line. It is absolute bullsh- crap that we’re being treated this way again. Shame on the committee, and shame on the NCAA for allowing this kind of thing to happen year after year. It’s an outrage that a team that is 28-3, 15-1, conference champ, ranked #6, RPI #4, is treated like an also ran. I’m hoping that college basketball fans all over the country will write or call to let the committee and the NCAA know how they feel about this.” “That should get their attention! They just love getting those kinds of letters and calls.” “Grace, I’m going to repeat that message at every possible opportunity.” “Okay, Woody Johnson here. We’ll have the game for you on March 16, right here on 88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO, NCAA!” March 15 “Woody Johnson here on ‘Sportstalk’ on the night before the big game. I am here to report that the NCAA has been flooded with letters and phone calls and they are NOT happy about it. While there are no specific rules preventing coaches from doing the kind of thing Coach Clark did, he certainly has not endeared himself to the organization. Neither the tournament committee chair nor the NCAA president is talking. Whenever questions about the calls and letters is asked, a frosty, 'No comment,' is the answer given.” March 16 “Woody Johnson here with Clarks after the game between Clemson and UML. Coach, 62-55, led by as many as 14, never trailed after the 1st 10 minutes or so. Not bad.” “Not bad. We sort of relaxed a bit toward the end and they got the score a little closer but really, we were never threatened.” “Your leader led you.” “Lee had a good night, 26 and 9, and he shut down the other Center. He had help though. Everyone played good D, we took care of the ball and we were +2 on the boards. Good work by the bench, too.” “#4 seed Ohio State is next.” “We tried hard to schedule them in the regular season but it didn’t happen. They’re 26-5, ranked #7, #10 RPI. Again, the committee is about as aware of their surroundings as that pin ball player “The Who” sing about.” “Now THAT’S funny.” “Anyway, they play man, they don’t press, they run the shuffle offense. All 5 starters can play and they have a bench. If anything they’re stronger up front than in the back court.” “So how do you beat them?” “Well Grace, as always, play good D, take care of the ball, and hold your own on the boards. One thing in our favor, and you never wish for this, their starting PF and their #1 big off the bench are both hurt. They are doubtful at best. Either way we need to play really well, especially inside.” “Okay Coach, we’ll be back with you and Grace on Saturday. Let’s hope we get our first 30 win season and our first trip to the Sweet Sixteen.” March 18 “Okay, we’re back after the game. Coach, there are no words!” “I’ll find some but I do know what you mean. They owned us in the first half, up by as many as 12, 9 at the half. Then they came out and scored the 1st 5 in the 2nd and we were down 14. I called my next to last time out, read the riot act, reiterated what I had said at halftime and sent them out. At that point they started chipping away. We never got the lead until 22 seconds remained, 70-69. They came down and shot just a little too soon. They made a 2 to take a 71-70 leads but we called our last time out with 4.4 left and the ball at half court. That is plenty of time. I don’t usually call a TO in that situation but I felt I needed to. We were able to get it inside to lee, and with less than a second left he was fouled. It was a pretty heavy bump but the OSU coach went a little ballistic. In any case it was their 7th so it was 1 and 1. They called a TO. Lee came out and sank the first. 71-71. They called another TO. When Lee came to the bench he laughed. You don’t ice Lee. He has nerves of steel. He went back out, sank the second one, they barely had time to throw up a prayer but it wasn’t anywhere near answered.” “Game of the tournament so far, according to the network guy who was broadcasting next to where Grace and I were. Grace?” “Give us the numbers, Coach.” “72-71. That’s the only number that counts. But, I’ll give you a few more. Lee had 23, 8, 4, 3 steals 2 blocks, and he held his man to 6 and 4. 15, 2, 3 for Kurt. Ted, Chic and Call all did what they needed to do, and we played four guys from the bench and all of them did great work. We had 17 TOs but they had 18, and we were +7 in rebounding.” “Great news! And as your reward you get to play #1 in the nation Kansas.” “Bring ‘em on!” “We’ll talk about that game at another time. How does it feel to get win #30, and to get to the Sweet Sixteen, both firsts for UML?” “It feels wonderful, Grace. We wanted to prove something to the selection committee and I think we’ve proven it. I wouldn’t mind winning our next game to really drive the point home, but the point was definitely made tonight. I couldn’t be prouder of my guys. Oh, Lee twisted his wrist a little very late in the game. We don’t think it’s a big deal, but we’re having it looked at.” “We’ll keep the fans updated on that. Coach, Grace, see you at Madison Square Garden for the Sweet Sixteen!” March 23 “Woody Johnson here with Grace and Kip Clark, before the Sweet Sixteen game between Kansas and UML. Coach, do you have any chance at all?” “Absolutely. We feel we match them at the very least in the back court. They are excellent up front but they haven’t had a Lee Seitz to deal with. If we play our game and keep our focus, I like our chances. We’ve got to score points because they will. We can hope to limit their points but they’ll likely get 70 or more, so we need to have hot hands. They lost their starting Point to grades, and all of three of their losses came after that, and they are definitely not deep in the back court. We need to press that advantage.” “Thanks Coach. Talk to you after the game.” … “We’re back. Coach, you did us proud.” “I didn’t do anything but our guys did us proud. They fought all night, kept it close for 36 or 37 minutes, and never quit fighting. 61-71 is not bad at all against the #1 team in the country.” “What beat you, Coach?” “Their depth beat us, Grace. Our starters outscored theirs. But their bench was terrific. We have a bench that I’m very proud of but theirs was almost as good as their starting lineup. Very impressive.” “8 TOs to 9 for them, but -9 on the boards.” “That was a factor. They shot better than we did and that was definitely a factor. I thought our D was good, but theirs was better. I just wanted to say that this was the last UML game for our only senior, Chic Blue. He played really well against an All American level SF. He had 7 and 7, and his opposite number only had 9 and 5. We’ll miss Chic and we feel we’ve been really fortunate to have him with us.” “Okay, we’ll be back with the coach and Grace on April 4 to talk about the final four, as well as awards.”

February 1971 Satchel Paige elected to baseball Hall of Fame Nixon installs secret taping system in White House February 5 “’Sportstalk’ and we’re back from break. Coach Clark of the #20 ranked UML River Hawks is here.” “Yes. We thought we were about to be ranked. Another 2 win week but it wasn’t easy. We went to VMI and won 65-59. Lots of fouls trouble in the back court. We had to go to our 4th guard, Jeb Mack, who we rarely used. He really stepped up, 6 assists. Lee had 17 and 8, Chic had 15, Tony Lutz 10, but we never found a rhythm in this game. “We were much better at home against Oakland, 75-53. 22, 10 for Lee, who fouled out late. 17, 2, 6 for Ted Mill, 11, 4, 4 for Kurt. We shot well and defended well.” “2 up on MVS, 3 or more on the rest with 6 to play.” “That’s true but 4 of those 6 are on the road- actually we have 7 to play. We were invited to play Davidson in the Bracket Breaker.” “Let’s go to Jeff in Hudson, New Hampshire.” “Coach, Seitz seems to be off lately. He isn’t getting as many points or rebounds.” “Well, he’s still #1 in the country in both, but yes. He’s being really roughed up inside, often double teamed, and his numbers have dropped. But as I say all the time, if someone is being doubled someone else has to be open. The trick is to get the ball to the open man. We’ve been doing that pretty well.” “Gordie in Charlestown.” “Coach, what’s going on with the Ph. D.?” “Still plugging along, taking 2 classes in the fall, 1 in the spring. I only have one more class to take and I’m taking it this summer. I’ve completed my research on my dissertation, and I’ve begun writing it. I hope to finish it by the end of the summer but that’s probably a little optimistic.” “What about that last scholarship?” “We’ve made an offer to a Center we’ve been after for a long time. We’re hoping to nab him.“ “Next week?” “On the road all week. We start at 8-13, 5-5 Southern. They can be tough at home. Then we travel to 11-10, 5-5 Austin Peay. The road is tough so we’ll need to be sharp.” “Thanks Coach. We’re here with Grace next Sunday, and we have UML baseball coach Jonathan Baxter here tomorrow at 7:00.” February 12 “Woody here. Quite the week, Coach.” “To say the least. First, we beat Southern, there 65-53. So the good D continues. 21, 5 for Kurt, 18, 8 for Lee, 11 for Ted, +5 TOs. But Deon Wild strained a hamstring and he’s down for about two weeks. “Then we went to Austin Peay and beat them 70-54. 28, 4, 3 for Kurt, 10 and 6 for Lee who was doubled all night and who had foul trouble. 17, 6, 2, with 3 steals for Chic Blue. 20 TOs didn’t make me happy though. “Finally, we’re up to #15, and we signed the Center we’ve been chasing.” “This week?” “9-14, 6-6 McNeese ST is here. They have a good point but they’ll have trouble matching our inside game. Then we travel to Maine for a rematch. We won by 19 at our place.” “Kevin from South Hadley.” “So you must be happy now that we’re losin’ the war.” “I’m happy troops are coming home. I wish more would come home, actually I wish all of them would come home, as soon as possible.” “Jerry from Springfield.” “Coach, how high up the conferences can you climb?” “Good question. I’ve said consistently that at some point we’ll reach a conference where the other teams have too many resources. It hasn’t happened yet.” “I guess not! You have a 3 game lead with 4 to play. We’ll be here with Grace next week.” February 19 “Woody Johnson on ‘Sportstalk’ with Grace Clark. Another 2 win week and we’re up to #12 in the polls.” “That’s right Woody. A couple of fairly close games. McNeese ST came here and kept it very close for 35 minutes. Then we went on a run and got it to 11. The final was 67-59. Tony Lutz led us with 18 from the bench. Lee had 15, and Kurt and 10 had 10 each, so our guards did a lot of damage. We were +11 TOs but -10 RBs. That latter stat surprised us because McNeese is supposed to be an outside team. “Then we traveled to Maine and managed another 8 point win. This one wasn’t as close as the score. They scored the last 7. Lee had 21 and 11, Kurt had 12. Nate Walk, who we seldom use, had 10 and 2. Deon will miss one more game. He’s doing well but we don’t want to risk an injury in the Bracket Breaker, which really doesn’t mean a whole lot.” “You mentioned the Bracket Breaker, which leads to this week’s games.” “We play 19-6 Davidson from N. They’re a good team but we think we’re better. Then it’s Youngstown ST here. We won by 13 there. We finish the regular season with Troy. There.” “Okay. We’ll talk with you next week.” February 26 “Woody Johnson here with Grace Clark. A 3 win week, a 3 game margin over MVS, 5 over the rest, and we’re ranked #7, RPI #5. Not bad.” “Not bad. We had our 3rd consecutive 8 point win over Davidson in the Bracket Breaker. We led all the way but they stayed close. Kurt had 20, Lee 16, Chic and Ted 10, and Cal had 9 and 11. “Deon was back for the 60-40 win over Youngstown ST. He was rusty and it showed, but it’s a step. Very balanced scoring. Lee led us with only 14, 9, and 3. “We closed the season with an 80-73 win at Troy. That’s the most points we’ve given up since the Texas game, and we were behind with 6 ½ left, as we had been most of the way. Then we rallied to take control. Lee had 35 and 12, Cal had 9 and 8, and the guards played well.” “UML closes out the regular season 25-3, 15-1. It’s been a good season so far.” “It has. Of course the postseason is very important. We’re hoping to win our touirnament and then to finally advance at least to the Sweet Sixteen.” “Roger in Franklin.” “Kind of jumping ahead aren’t you?” “With the goals? Yes and no. Coach always has both long and short term goals. He focuses almost exclusively on the next game at practice, and on the game being played during the game. It’s helpful to know where you hope to be headed though, as long as you stay focused on what’s right in front of you.” “Cliff in Chelsea.” “I hope you and your husband get hit by a bus you dirty commun-” “And goodbye to Cliff.” “Willy in Andover.” “Well I don’t hope that. I wish both of you well. Anyway, the formula seems to have held up. You’ve got Lee inside, Kurt and a few others scoring outside, you play solid D, you take care of the ball, and you’re about +6 on the boards. How in the world does a coach manage to put all of that together?” “Great question, Willy. It’s a process, and it begins the day a recruit commits. A major part of it is attitude. We look for kids with a team first attitude. Look at Lee Seitz. He’s a genuine superstar, but he pays no attention to his personal stats. Everything he does, he does to help us win, which is why we do. When we make a mistake with a kid who doesn’t think team first we drop him, if we can get him an academic scholarship or a need based one. If not, we’ll pay for his college but not let him near the team. After attitude is in place everything else follows. First comes the willingness to work harder than ever in their lives, every day, for as long as they’re here. Next comes a willingness to learn new things and to be flexible. Then comes a willingness to work beyond practice and game time, to spend extra time in the gym, alone sometimes, with friends at other times to get better and better, to improve weak areas of one’s game, to make the strengths even stronger. That’s the short version.” “And it used up all of our time! Grace will do color commentary for us for the rest of the season. Hopefully that will be a long time!”

January 1971 Cigarette advertising is banned on U. S. TV. “All in the Family” premieres Military coup in Uganda under Idi Amin UCLA basketball team begins 88 game win streak January 1 ‘’Sportstalk.” I’m Woody Johnson and we have the coach on the line. 80-65 over Rice to end the pre-conf., season 9-2.” “That’s right. We led by as many as 28. Lee had 40 and 7, Kurt Sims 13, 3, 6, Cal Jones 9, 6, 2. +13 TO.” “Lee Seitz leads the country in scoring by 7.8 PPG, and he leads in rebounding by 1.1. Talk about what he means to the team.” “I’m not sure I can even define it. Having him in the lineup changes everything. The other team has to focus so heavily on him that other things open up. We work constantly in practice on how to take advantage of that. Having Kurt Sims consistently knocking down outside shots makes it even tougher for the other team to stop us, but Lee makes it easier for Kurt to find open shots. The next 5 guys on the roster average almost the same number of points so the opponents can’t lay off of one guy. We’re tough to stop. And being such a good rebounding team also helps.” “So you have a lot of weapons. I think we do, yes.” “Let’s take a call or two. Larry in Quincy.” “Coach, Deon Wild needs to start.” “No. He gives us a tremendous boost when he comes in, and he likes that role.” “Well then he needs more minutes.” “You may have a point there. We’re definitely trying to make that happen.” “Ronnie from Northhampton.” “Coach, Ted Mill seems to get lost in the shuffle. He does a great job at PG and SG.” “I appreciate you bringing that up. Ted doesn’t get a lot of media recognition. Believe me the staff knows what he does for us. He’s great with the ball, he hits the shot when he’s open and he is easily our best outside defender, which may be his greatest asset.” “Victor in Dudley.” “Coach, when are you gonna leave the socialist politics and concentrate on coaching?” “When the war ends and when women and minorities are treated as they should be.” “Okay, we open conference play this week. Who do you see as your toughest opponents?” “Oakland is 9-2. They were picked 2nd in conf., and they’ll challenge us. Pacific, Wash. St, a couple of others. This is a good conf.” “Good luck, Coach.” January 8 “Woody here. 2-0 start to conf. play, Coach.” “We beat Maine, here, 71-52. Great D, balanced scoring, +5 RB, +7 TO. Lee had 19, 7, 2, 2. Kurt had 17, 2, 2 with 3 steals. 10, 7, 2 for Deon, 9 each for Ted and Cal. “Then we went to Youngstown ST and won 59-46. Another night of great D. 14, 10, 3, 4 for Lee, 16, 5, 2 for Kurt, 12, 4, 3, 4 for Chic. +6, +3.” “Not much scoring for Lee this week.” “No, both teams doubled him. So we found other ways to win. When there’s a double someone has to be free. We found the free guy.” “This week? ” “7-6, 1-1 Troy comes here. “We travel to 8-5, 2-0 Coppin ST.” “Let’s go to the phones. Gary here in Lowell.” “Coach, I have season tickets. I wondered why it’s so warm in Tsongas.” “Good question. First, we feel like kids get fewer pulled and strained muscles when the building is warm. Second, it’s an old building. The heat seems to have 2 settings, too warm, and too cold.” “Ha! Mickey in Danvers.” “Coach, your assistants are all old guys, what’s with that?” “All three have lots of experience. They give me ideas, suggestions, and advice and I listen. I really respect all three of them.” “We have Grace with us next week.” January 15 “’Sportstalk’ with Woody Johnson and Grace Clark. First I understand you received a promotion. Congratulations, and tell us about it.” “Thank you, Woody. My job title is the same but I am now the first vice provost.” “Which makes you the third most powerful person on campus.” “Well… let’s talk about basketball.” “1-1 this week.” “Yes. We beat Troy here, 76-61. Lee had 22, 9, 2, 3, 2, Chic had 18, 8, 3, Ted had 16, 1, 4. +13 TOs. We played well. “Then we traveled to Coppin ST and lost 53-65. We didn’t play all that badly but we shot really badly, 19-50, 4-16 from long range, 13-25 from the line. That and committing 20 TOs did us in. Lee had 14 and 17, Kurt had 16, but it wasn’t enough. They were very good outside, but it boiled down to the fact that you don’t win when you score 53 points.” “But everyone else lost pretty much so you’re in a 4 way tie for 1st.” “5 way, and 7 teams are 1 game back. Quite a log jam, but it’s early.” “This week?” “Fairleigh Dickinson, 9-6, 2-2, is here. They’re good, especially outside. Then we go to Pacific, also 9-6, 2-2. They’re probably better inside.” “Let’s take a call or two. Marie in Waltham.” “Grace, I know this has been talked about but I still don’t understand why Deon Wild isn’t starting.” “Well Marie, the reason is that he and we feel he plays better coming in from the bench, and he gives us a real boost when he comes in. I will say that he is now getting starter’s minutes.” “Bill from Worcester.” “Is this the year you moved up too far?” “Not so far, Bill. We’ve been very competitive.” “Okay. Grace is back with us next Sunday, but tune in tomorrow at the same time. We have BU hockey coach Red Flynn with us.” January 22 “88.1 FM, WLOW, how LOW can you GO! Woody Johnson here with Grace Clark. 2-0, and in a 2 way tie for 1st.” “Yes, another good week. We beat FDU 71-57 here. We played good D and we were +10 in rebounding and +8 in turnovers. Lee had 28, 11, 3, Kurt was 13, 5, 5, but everyone played good D. “The we went to Pacific and it was a really tight game, 58-54. It was back and forth all night. We didn’t take very good care of the ball, 19 TOs, 13 combined for Kurt and Ted. 23 and 6 for Lee, 11 for Chic, 10 for Deon. Still, a win is a win, especially on the road.” “This week?” “We’re at home for two. Robert Morris is 8-9, 3-3, and Longshore-Chicago is 5-12, 2-4.” “Well talk with the coach next week.” January 29 “We’re back, and we have the coach on the line. Quite a week!” “Mostly good news but one of our recruits didn’t hit the SAT score. We are looking at about a half dozen and we’ll make an offer next week. The good news is we’re alone in 1st place after a 2 win week. “We beat Robert Morris 63-39 in a tremendous defensive effort. +14 rebounds and +6 TOs. Lee had 25 and 10, and everyone else played well. “Then Longshore-Chicago came in and gave us a battle, 69-61. +13 on the boards and +12 TOs made the difference for us. Our scoring was balanced. Lee had 19 and 5, Kurt had 13, 12, 9, 3 for Chic, and 10, 4, 2 for Cal. We’re 16-3, 7-1, 1 up on MVS, and 2 or more on the rest.” “This week?” “We travel to 6-13, 2-6, last place VMI; we think they’re better than their record. Then we host Oakland who have slid to 4-4, 13-6 overall.” “Talk to you next week, Coach.”