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Saint Francis adds chapter to its history

LORETTO – Tyrone’s Nick Leasure looked out at the full house at the John F. Kennedy Center and quickly summed up the feelings of those honored.

“It’s a humbling experience to be in front of all the Saint Francis greats,” he said.

Those fortunate enough to attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony were indeed in the presence of greatness.

Very few small colleges can boast Saint Francis’ basketball tradition, and it was on full display here Saturday night.

In addition to inducting three individual standouts in Leasure, fellow-1970s legend Clarence Hopson and Beth Swink, one of the best women’s players in school history, Saint Francis brought back its 1991 men’s basketball team that delivered the Red Flash’s only NCAA men’s tournament trip.

Jim Baron, who guided that team to its only Northeast Conference championship, was touched to be back in his roots, which helped him springboard to the great career he’s enjoyed at St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and now Canisius.

“I love Saint Francis,” he said. “I have so many friends here, and you all helped us build it.”

Since that magical 1991 season, when the Maurice Stokes Fieldhouse (now DeGol Arena) was regularly packed, the Red Flash have stalked their holy grail, and under Rob Krimmel these last couple of years, they’ve made more noise in the NEC playoffs than they have in 20-plus years.

Clearly, though, to this point, the 1991 stands alone.

“That was a miracle season,” Baron said.

There’s no question Baron was fortunate to land Mike Iuzzolino, who was the perfect complement to scoring machine Joe Anderson, who broke Stokes’ hallowed all-time scoring record.

Emcee Pat Farabaugh, author of a wonderful book about Stokes, was in the crowd the night Saint Francis punched its ticket to the NCAA play-in game by beating Fairleigh Dickinson.

“If you were at that game, you could feel the electricity,” Farabaugh said. “Everyone was wearing red that night. The legend of that team has only grown.”

In addition to Baron, the ’91 team was represented by John Hilvert, Mike Fink, Jim Horn, Rob Pasci and assistant coach John Sanow. (Iuzzolino is currently an assistant under Baron at Canisius and is running a basketball camp there, and Anderson is out of the country).

Nearly 25 years later, though, the significance of the achievement is not lost.

“We played for the history of Saint Francis,” Pasci said.

Many teammates of Hopson and Leasure were in attendance, including the great Kevin Porter and others such as Rick Hockenos, Alan Spencer, Sam Sloan and Pat McGeary along with past coach Pete Lonergan.

But Saint Francis’ basketball community goes beyond players and coaches. It includes many of the longtime supporters who have made up the red seats and committed alumni like Bob Moore, founder of SFU’s Golden Era, former Atlantic 10 commissioner Ron Bertovich and past athletic director Jeff Eisen.

“What an honor it is to come back to see everybody and reminisce,” Sanow said. “Saint Francis is a special place because of the people.”

It showed that again Saturday night.

Rudel can be reached at 946-7527 or nrudel@altoonamirror.com.

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