{"id":27402,"date":"2010-12-31T10:47:43","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T15:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=27402"},"modified":"2015-08-11T15:19:37","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T19:19:37","slug":"husky-alumni-and-fans-gather-in-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/12\/husky-alumni-and-fans-gather-in-phoenix\/","title":{"rendered":"Husky Alumni and Fans Gather in Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Photo<\/a>
Husky fans get together at the tent for the pre-game activity ‘College Football’s Biggest Party.’ Photo by Kenneth Best<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Husky alumni from the northeast and southwest filled the greater Phoenix area with all manner of Husky Blue and White, as they celebrated Big East champion UConn\u2019s upcoming first BCS bowl appearance this Saturday in the 40th Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against Big 12 champion Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s headquarters at the Fairmont Scottsdale welcomed the Huskies with signs and team colors, as fans arrived throughout the week after overcoming weather delays from the holiday weekend snowstorms.<\/p>\n

Yet even as unseasonably cold weather \u2013 including two feet of snow in the Flagstaff area \u2013 settled on the desert, alumni and fans expressed their warm affection for the Huskies, who rebounded from early season losses to win the Big East and qualify for a BCS bowl game.<\/p>\n

One of the earliest gatherings of alumni occurred Thursday night in Phoenix\u2019s new Musical Instrument Museum, during a reception that was co-sponsored by the UConn Alumni Association and the UConn Foundation. The museum, which contains more than 14,000 instruments and associated objects from around the world, is led by MIM president and director Bill R. DeWalt \u201969, who hosted the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty excited about the Huskies coming to their first BCS bowl,\u201d said Don Mills, a 1986 MBA alum, who he often gathers with other Husky alumni to watch basketball and football games in the Tucson area where he lives. \u201cI\u2019m very impressed by what Randy Edsall has done. He\u2019s a terrific coach, built a program from scratch to where they are today. It\u2019s hard to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joyce Gruger \u201978 and her husband Jeff drove through a blizzard from their home in Austin, Texas to attend the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing UConn made it before TCU [Texas Christian University] transferred to the Big East,\u201d she said. \u201cWe follow Texas football. TCU will be a problem, a force to be reckoned with in football. Don\u2019t worry about their basketball team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick Martin \u201988, who helps military personnel earn their degrees through online programs at the University of Phoenix, said reaching a BCS bowl game is a significant event for UConn fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think UConn going to this bowl game is as important as us going to the Sweet 16 in 1989, where I had to tell people: \u2018No, not Alaska,\u2019 when I said UConn,\u201d Martin said. \u201cNobody here knows the UConn fight song, so I have to sing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he has been following the women\u2019s basketball team as well. \u201cKudos to Geno [Auriemma] and Chris Dailey [for the team\u2019s record number of consecutive wins]. I remember winning five games in a row and thought that was something. That\u2019s incredible to have such talent year in and year out and make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Edelen \u201993 said she learned about Husky sports when she attended her very first class at UConn.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody noticed Nadev Henefeld in the class and I didn\u2019t know who he was. From then on I needed to learn about basketball,\u201d she said, admitting that she had not followed the football team so closely until this year. \u201cBut I\u2019m here, so it\u2019s a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Photo<\/a>
UConn fans gather before the game for ‘College Football’s Biggest Party.’ Photo by Kenneth Best<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paul Roshka, a 1972 law alum who attended the reception with his wife and two young daughters from their home in the Phoenix area, said the Fiesta Bowl is an important part of the local community this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe area is very excited about this game,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a lot of talk about UConn and the progress it\u2019s made. Everybody\u2019s looking forward to the game. Now that the University has developed a strong program in football, every Sunday morning I check the scores.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the evening, many of those at the MIM event headed over to the Fairmont to join about 150 Husky faithful watching the women\u2019s basketball team try to extend its winning streak against Stanford, the last team to beat the Huskies.<\/p>\n

Cheering the UConn baskets and jeering the referees\u2019 calls that they felt went against Maya Moore and her teammates, the crowd was dressed in assorted UConn shirts and caps. Even as Stanford extended its lead in the final minutes, the crowd kept urging the Huskies on until the game concluded with Stanford\u2019s 71-59 victory, ending the heralded winning streak.<\/p>\n

As the final score flashed on the screen, the fans stood and cheered in appreciation of what had been accomplished by the women\u2019s basketball team over the past 90 games and in preparation for the football team\u2019s challenge on New Year\u2019s Day, shouting \u201cLet\u2019s Go Huskies!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid unseasonably cold local weather, alumni and fans express warm affection for the Huskies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-27402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 07:40:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27402"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103802,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27402\/revisions\/103802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27402"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=27402"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=27402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}