Fans of Husky men’s basketball often reminisce about their favorite players over the years, from the days of the old Yankee Conference to the creation of the Big East Conference and the arrival of Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun. But most probably don’t know that back in 1923 Sumner Dole was named the new basketball coach at the Connecticut Agricultural College, the forerunner of UConn, or that he was named coach of the football and baseball teams as well.
Such interesting nuggets of history have been uncovered by freelance writer Ken Davis in his just-published book, University of Connecticut Basketball Vault: The History of the Huskies, published by Whitman Publishing, as part of its College Vault sports history series. Davis will sign copies of the book at the UConn Co-op on Friday, Oct. 15, beginning at 4:30 p.m., just before the 2010-11 basketball season kicks off with First Night activities at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.
The College Vault series features a “time capsule” approach to its books, including historic images and reproductions of ephemera that are part of the team’s history, such as game programs, statistics sheets, and other items that enhance the comprehensive narrative about each team.
The UConn book includes reproductions of items such as a handwritten Department of Athletics budget for the 1925-26 academic year; handwritten publicity questionnaires for James Ahearn and Worthy Patterson, players in the 1950s; a statistics sheet from the March 12, 1955 NIT Game at Madison Square Garden; a ticket to the first game at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion against St. John’s University on Jan. 27, 1990; and the itinerary for Ray Allen’s official recruiting visit to Storrs on Oct. 22, 1992.
Davis, who has covered the Huskies since 1985 including 12 years as the beat writer for the Hartford Courant, says he faced two challenges in writing the 25,000-word narrative history. First was uncovering the earliest history of Connecticut basketball, which started on Feb. 8, 1901 – just two decades after James Naismith invented the game in Springfield, Mass. – when the Connecticut Agricultural College defeated Willimantic High School by a score of 17-12. It was the only game of the season, but it provided the incentive for organizing a varsity squad the next year. Davis spent many hours looking through old records at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, which includes the University archives.
“I knew a lot about recent history, but certainly didn’t know much about the very beginnings of the basketball program in the early 1900s.That was a very fascinating process,” says Davis. “I wanted to tell people about who they were, where they came from, and what they accomplished in their time. It meant going through the Daily Campus and the yearbooks and finding out what things were like back then.”
Betsy Pittman, the University archivist who helped guide Davis, says staff at the Dodd Center “pulled scrapbooks, yearbooks, student newspapers, everything we could think of. Ken conscientiously went through and did his fact-checking. He looked at everything, including board of trustees’ minutes.
“There were only team photos,” Pittman adds. “You don’t get action photos until later in the 20th century. It took a lot of digging to find out about games. He was looking for stellar highlights, but in the early years they were playing high schools, fire departments, and YMCAs.”
The second challenge for Davis was to edit himself as a writer, since he covered the arrival of Calhoun in 1986 and the transformation of Husky men’s basketball from a regional team to a national powerhouse.
“There were so many things Jim had to do off the court to get things so they could recruit and be competitive in the Big East,” he says. “I view those things as vital to the history. As important as winning the national championships is, I view the NIT in 1988 and Dream Season as equal to the national championships, as vital to the development of the program. You couldn’t just gloss over that. Other authors might have focused on other games or stories, but this simply is my version of UConn history.”
Part of the Vault series template is a format that includes highlights of 10 games for each era in a team’s history. It provided Davis with a way to include specifics of an important game, allowing him to spend more time on the narrative stories.
An archivist from Whitman Publishing, Chris Marsden, visited the Dodd Center to compile historic photos and ephemera from the University archives, but Davis found some items during his interviews with those who were themselves part of UConn basketball history.
During a visit with Howie Dickenman, head coach at Central Connecticut State University, the former longtime Huskies assistant coach to Calhoun opened his desk drawer and pulled out a stack of index cards wrapped in a rubber band. Included in the stack were two cards now in the book – the handwritten notes for Ray Allen and Donyell Marshall listing their home addresses, high school coaches’ telephone numbers, and other notations.
“He’s also got some cards from guys UConn didn’t get, like Kevin Garnett,” Davis says.
Davis, who also just completed editing the “Huskies Tip-Off 2010-2011” season preview magazine published by Maple Street Press, says he found an item in his own files that made it into the book.
While going through old files from his days covering the Huskies, he found a black-and-white photo from the May 15, 1986 press conference announcing Calhoun as the team’s new coach. One of those covering the event was a young reporter for the Courant, Davis himself.
“I sent it to the archivist for a laugh,” Davis says. “I didn’t expect him to use it to open the chapter on Jim’s arrival. It kind of put the book in perspective.”
For more information go to Davis’s website.
