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Centennial Celebration

Lanier’s Return Sets Off Chills During Saturday’s 50th Festivities

Members of the current St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team stand with members of the 1970 Final Four team at the Reilly Center on Saturday. P-J photo by Tim Frank

ST. BONAVENTURE — Over the last three-and-a-half years, my typical seat in the Reilly Center — second seat inside the home side of the scorer’s table — has given me an up-close view of some incredible moments in the 100-year history of St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball.

Between a three-overtime triumph over Davidson, a court-storm over No. 16 Rhode Island, a 44-point performance by Jaylen Adams, and Mark Schmidt surpassing Larry Weise as the winningest men’s basketball coach in the program’s history, my time as an undergraduate at Bona has been pretty exciting.

But, with all due respect to those who participated in those moments, I’m not sure I will ever forget the chills running up my spine as I witnessed 71-year-old Bob Lanier walk onto the court which bears his name with “Wade in the Water” — the anthem that served as his team’s soundtrack to a magical run to the Final Four during the winter of 1970 — playing in the background.

Saturday afternoon’s recognition of the 50th anniversary of the run made by that team — a memory that has been slow to fade in the eastern part of Cattaraugus County — served as a backdrop to a day full of celebration honoring the program’s centennial.

Members of the program’s All-Time Team, selected several weeks ago by a panel of experts that included former Olean Times Herald sports editor Chuck Pollock; beat writer J.P. Butler; 1989 graduate and New York Post sports columnist Mike Vaccaro; and “Voice of the Bonnies” Gary Nease, were also honored at halftime of Bona’s 73-45 victory over Hofstra.

But, the highlight was Lanier’s return to the court on which he first put the basketball world on notice during the late 1960s en route to becoming an All-American and nearly leading Bonaventure to a national title had a knee injury during the regional final against Villanova not kept him from playing Jacksonville in the Final Four.

“My four years here were, I dare say, the best of my life,” Lanier told the sold-out crowd Saturday at the Reilly Center. “The joy, the enthusiasm and the friendships that were formed over the last 50 years were just remarkable. I think that was a reason for our major success.”

I’ve written before that it’s hard to properly express the Bonaventure basketball tradition to those who have never experienced it before. They simply don’t understand the appeal of an athletic building with red movie theater seats and plain white walls and how it nearly burst at the seams in coming alive a half-century ago.

That’s because St. Bonaventure basketball history must be shown. It cannot be told. And, that’s what Saturday afternoon was in the Reilly Center.

And, if seeing Lanier and his teammates in attendance, with a loud roar accompanying them moves the needle toward understanding, seeing the “Big Cat” embrace Schmidt on the court has to seal the deal.

“Once a week, I always talk to the guys on our team about the history and tradition of this program,” Schmidt said at a celebration dinner after the game. “I talk about the Final Four team, the (1977 NIT Championship) team, and all of the great teams from this program’s history and its great players.”

“Thirteen years ago, I made the greatest decision of my life when I came to become a Bonnie,” Schmidt said, noting the hesitancy to take the job after inheriting a program that went 24-88 in the previous four years. “I asked myself, ‘Can we bring this back?’ he added. “And then I realized … they won before. They can win again. And, we have.”

Much of that ‘winning before’ came in part to the previous stewards of the program. Three of them — Jim Satalin, Jim O’Brien and Jim Baron — were in attendance on Saturday.

“The coaches that came before us — they paved the way,” Schmidt noted. “They made this place a place where you could win.”

He added, “This is a special place. Basketball ties us all together. We work every day to make sure that the tradition of Bonaventure basketball remains high on the list. It’s important to us.”

Mission accomplished.

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