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 The game was actually played on
Thursday Feb. 4th, 1993 and to the uninitiated many times they will
refer to a sports contest like that one as just a game. Like earlier
that week when people said, yah, Illinois has another game coming up
this week with the Iowa Hawkeyes. They said it would be just another
game. That it would be just another Big Ten conference game. But
they were wrong. That contest was way more than a game. It had been
circled on the calendar for months. Twenty-five years later we are
still talking about it. And I for one, miracle or not, am so glad
Illinois won those braggin’ rights on that frozen night never
forgotten in Illini land.
The Background
As a native Southern Californian I was brought and moved as a kid
against my will to the Midwest and eventually landed in of all
places Lincoln, Illinois [a great place to land if you are a
basketball fanatic like me]. As a student at Lincoln Christian
College, my friend Larry Felgenhauer from Danville, IL immediately
tried to proselytize me into becoming an Illinois Fighting Illini
fan. That was going to be a tall order since I grew up following the
UCLA Bruins of Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton fame and I got used to
winning lots of National Championships.
I thought Larry was on an impossible quest, he thought he was on a
mission from God! I’ll never forget my first Illini game [not the
Iowa game-a random game in the 70s]. Larry talked about the Assembly
Hall experience from the time we got into the car till we pulled
into Lot 32 where I still park today. Larry felt that I would be so
overwhelmed by what I would see and experience that he felt
convinced I would see the great potential Illinois had to be a
serious player on the national scene. I have never had a friend be
so right about anything in my life! Larry has gone on to his
heavenly reward, but I don’t think he ever fully realized the
monster he created. And that monster was me!
 It was one of those magical starts to something you are sometimes
blessed to have in this life that you hope will be great, but deep
inside you wonder if it could ever approach all the hype. In this
particular case, on that particular night, all the planets aligned
and it was one of the greatest sports nights of my life. And it
launched a life’s adventure for me. Larry had built up everything
Illini so far beyond reality it would have been impossible for any
aspect of it to reach the level of greatness those aspects measured
in Larry’s eyes. I don’t know how it happened but everything he
lectured me on was even better in real life than he had described.
At one point in the night we walked downstairs. As the doors opened
and I saw the seats in A-section for the very first time my gaze was
firmly fixed at center circle. The Chief was holding court there and
a powerful transformation immediately began to take place. You could
say maybe I wasn’t as big a UCLA fan as I previously argued [they’re
still my west coast team and always will be], but Illinois was in
the process of winning my heart. And one of the hazards of attending
a Christian College is that everything seems like a religious
experience. Nothing more so than my first trip that night to the
real Assembly Hall.
I have never forgotten it nor my roots. Even though I have been
blessed to cover the Illini for the Lincoln Daily News as a sports
reporter for nearly 20 years, I was on my own for the previous 25.
And needless to say I spent years making any and every sacrifice
known to man to get to as many Illini games as I could. To this day
regardless of how the boys are playing I literally hate to miss a
game. And yes I realize that Illinois Basketball means way too much
to me. I know the games aren’t very important in the grand scheme of
life so I’m only partially kidding when I say that Illini basketball
is a matter of life and death. The reality is… it’s way more
important than that.
I wanted our loyal readers to know the back-story before I shared my
account of that Feb. 4, 1993 event.
Setting the Stage
If you don’t know the story about the recruitment of Deon Thomas and
how Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl schemed and manipulated an
investigation that led to unsubstantiated charges against the Illini
program you need to read the book. It had to do with a phone
conversation Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl had with incoming
Illini super star recruit Deon Thomas. Pearl called Thomas after
midnight one night and asked if Illinois was open to giving him a
car and some money to play for the Illini. Thomas tried to get Pearl
off the phone and sarcastically said yah…ok. Pearl sent the tape to
the NCAA and I’d love to know who heard it and how they came to any
conclusions with something as circumstantial as that from a rival
coach of a rival program no less. The NCAA ruled that there was no
evidence to charge Illinois based on that tape. But for some
unexplained reasons Illinois received some bogus lack of
institutional control sanctions and Thomas, who was completely
innocent, was forced to sit his freshmen year and the Illini were
banished from the NCAA tournament the next. So, by the time the
Hawkeye bus rolled into town that cold winter’s night, let’s just
say that a hostile situation was brewing.
 To say that Illini nation was appalled would be a slight
understatement. Speaking only for myself, I was outraged. And I am
even blessed to have several friends from Iowa but I don’t care if
they ever win another game…ever! And yes you can tell by my loving,
totally forgiving response that I’ve come a long way in my therapy
sessions and you can easily see how the bitterness has subsided over
the years…not one bit. So when people
talk about a divided country recently I always ask them if they are
familiar with the Iowa-Illinois sports rivalry…we’ve been living a
Hatfield-McCoy existence for 25+ years!
So that night in the Assembly Hall some people came right in when
the doors opened and the environment was palpable. I don’t want to
say that hate was in the air as that is much too strong, but you
could have cut the atmosphere with a chainsaw. When the Hawkeyes
took the floor for pre-game shooting, several fans that had arrived
early greeted them with a chorus of boos. We knew what had been done
to our basketball team and program and we, as a collective fan base
really wanted that game more than life itself on that particular
night. When you are a big fan of any
sports team you are forced to navigate several obstacles to support
your team at the rabid level you crave the most. Sometimes spouses,
kids and even your job can get in the way. I’m not saying that
Illini basketball should be more important than any of that…I’m just
saying…take my situation that night for example. [to top of second column] |
At the time I was the Enrollment Manager/Director of Admissions
of what would become Lincoln Christian University. I stupidly,
willingly also took on the roles of Athletic Director and Head
Coach of Men’s Basketball [nowadays scheduling doesn’t allow
that many hats and each one of those positions has a separate
individual covering those responsibilities]. One of my
frustrations during those days was that my Lincoln Christian
College team that I coached played on many of the same nights
that the Illini played and I was the one that set our schedule.
On that particular night there was no conflict. Because I had to
miss so many games that season and the season before I really
didn’t want to miss that Iowa game. In the middle of the
afternoon I contacted two great former Lincoln residents- I
called my preacher, Doug Maris and our church’s youth minister,
Jason Smith-two of the all-time great Illini fans, and told them
to get their coats I was on my way after practice to pick them
up because I felt we were going to need every fan we could
muster that night. We scrounged around and stumbled on some bad
tickets that led to 3 terrible seats behind the pep band and up
high behind the basket.
It was a physical game and not really a thing of beauty. The
Illini did manage to hold a lead at halftime. But as the game
picked up in intensity in the second half. I began to get a
little bit agitated. I’m sure the calls were 50-50 but I felt we
were getting hosed…that we were getting homered…at home! And
then a disturbing idea hit me. If Iowa somehow wins this game,
they’re going feel like they were exonerated in this whole
recruiting shenanigan thing and I couldn’t bear to think of
that. Then it happened. Things got worse. Iowa somehow got back
in the game and took the lead.
Thank God for Richard Keene. He quite possibly is the player
with the greatest hair of any Illini player that side of Dee
Brown. He also had one of the silkiest long-range shots you’ve
ever seen. And when we needed a “3” like we’ve never needed a
“3”, Keene stepped up and nailed the biggest one of his life! It
tied the game at 75-75 with less than a minute left in
regulation. I felt relieved…but if ever a feeling evaporated on
impact it was that one.
The next possession was one of the strangest, zaniest sports
plays I had seen since my Raiders had pulled off the miracle of
the Holy Roller! Some Iowa player dribbled through the other
nine players, travelled 2 or 3 times, stepped out of bounds,
exceeded the 5-count, and somehow got the ball to Iowa big man
Acie Earl who threw up a double-pumped herniated brick that came
down somehow into the fumbling hands of an Iowa player named Jim
Bartels. Bartels couldn’t control it but somehow swatted it and
somehow Deon Thomas couldn’t corral it either…it literally hit
Thomas in the shoulder and in one of the universe’s biggest
mysteries ever, somehow defied gravity and actually went up,
caromed off the backboard and fell softly through the net. The
silence was deafening. And was only shattered by the wild antics
and celebratory Hawkeyes dancing off the court and into the
Assembly Hall tunnel. I was crushed. Even though I was seated
next to arguably two of the finest men I have ever been blessed
to call friends, I’ve never felt more alone than I did in that
moment. I sank between my seat down to the floor. I was
devastated. If we had to lose, did we have to lose like that? I
felt it was some kind of cruel fate. Somebody asked-If I was
ready to go home…even though the refs had gathered to see if
they were going to put any time back on the clock and make Iowa
return to the court for some ridiculous desperation heave at the
buzzer. I didn’t answer and didn’t make a move.
I didn’t think I was able to function nor think straight. But
even in my darkest hour I wanted to think strategic basketball
coaching thoughts, but I just couldn’t or wouldn’t. It was over.
I wanted to disappear. I never wanted to see another basketball
game the rest of my life. So when they handed the ball to T. J.
Wheeler on the end line I just wanted T. J. to toss it in and
just get it over with. I wanted to be left alone. Are you kiddin’
me? We just got beat by stinkin’ Iowa. In light of everything we
had been through as a fan base it was the most crushing defeat I
had ever suffered as a sports fan.
And then the most amazing thing happened. I saw we actually had
a play set up. A screen was set and T. J. Wheeler had an open
passing lane to Andy Kaufmann who somehow had popped free and
was open. Andy made a super bowl winning catch on that pass and
took a dribble to clear himself. And then he let fly the most
perfectly aerodynamic shot in the history of college basketball.
That shot was dead on from the time Andy placed it in his
shooting pocket.
Sometimes in life you get to enjoy a surreal moment. In every
way, that shot was one. I guess it was lucky. I guess it was
just good fortune. There was justice in the universe. All I know
is that the whole state of Illinois erupted as that ball went
through that net. Thank God for Andy Kaufmann. That celebration
will never end…it will go on forever!
And Larry Felgenhauer was right! I like it! I like Illini
basketball…I like it a lot!
Postlogue
I flew over the wall from C to A section grabbing and pulling
Doug & Jason with me. The players were in a pile on the floor,
but we slapped five with those we could reach and hugged
everybody and danced like a real Illini Nation! I just remember
jumping up and town trying to console and entertain the Iowa
fans.
All I know is that if there was ever redemption in those
ridiculous recruiting allegations, and if there was ever a call,
or a shot that provided justice, retaliation and closure all in
one possession, then it was that shot…truly one for the ages! [By JEFF MAYFIELD]
Respond to the writer at
jeffqmay@gmail.com.
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