When I ran the above picture from Peter Dutton earlier today as part of a series of photos from 1989-1992, I did not expect to receive the following email a few hours later.
Internet, you amaze me.
Dear Mr. Solomon,
I can explain the gorilla costume at the 1989 NCAA Tournament game vs. Georgetown. I was wearing it.
I am a member of the Princeton class of 1989 and was the Drum Major of the marching band (although my term had ended by the time the Tournament rolled around). For four years, Bob Scrabis' mother sat near the band for every home game and she and I had what I would call, for lack of a better term, a friendly cheering acquaintance. We both admired her son's basketball prowess. [In fact, I modeled my beer pong form on his free throw shooting form. I always glanced to the left just before releasing the ball.]
I owned the gorilla suit (bought for use in a skit that was a takeoff of 2001:A Space Odyssey that the band performed at the Yale football game the previous fall). My winter coat was stolen that fall at a party on Prospect St. and so, for no other reason than I was somewhat cold, I decided to wear my gorilla suit to the first basketball game of the year. As a gag, I took a bunch of bananas with me and handed them out. The first one, went to Mrs. Scrabis, who laughed out loud. We won the game, and the suit got a good reaction. So, for every home game that year (and several away ones as well), I wore my gorilla suit and presented Mrs. Scrabis with a banana for good luck.
I had a great seat for the game against Georgetown: Section A, Row 1, Seat 1, if I recall correctly. I gave the ticket stub later to a bandmember who had been too sick to attend the game. I managed to get into the arena and locate Mrs. Scrabis (who was NOT near the band for that game). I gave her a banana and got a big hug before arena security accosted me and made me take off the suit. It seems there was a NCAA regulation against a school having more than one mascot at a Tournament game. I pleaded my case to no avail. The suit came off and the rest is history.
Doug Davis, the freshman who is the leading scorer on the Princeton men's basketball team, has let us know that he would prefer to be known by his full name from now on. All future mentions of him will therefore be of Douglas Davis.
To update an earlier post, Davis scored 165 points across 12 games as Doug Davis (13.8 ppg) and needs to total 222 points as Douglas Davis over the final 15 games of this season to match the Princeton record for most points by a freshman.
That's 14.8 ppg, for those of you keeping score at home.
While on Flickr one recent evening, I discovered a huge repository of late 80s/early 90s photos taken by former Princeton band member Peter Dutton.
Dutton was kind enough to give me permission to share a few of his shots, clicked from the stands at various Princeton games, including four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.
They're not expert sideline snaps by any means, but that's not the point. These photos bring me back to a time almost two decades previous that was a whole lot of fun. I hope they'll stir up similar memories for some of you and give people who weren't there an idea of what it was like to follow the team back then.
Hopefully these .jpgs will also get me off my duff and scanning the archived material gathering dust at my parents' house!
Peter has thousands of additional photos on his Flickr page.
If you have any Princeton basketball photos you would like to be similarly shared, please get in touch!
December 1989. That's certainly Kit Mueller (#00), Bob Scrabis (#34) and Jerry Doyle (#5). Fairly confident Marv Williams (#22) is also on the floor. Is #40 Anders Vestergaard?
The Tigers' last lead against Georgetown. 1989 NCAA Tournament.
Georgetown shooting a free throw in the first half. I see George Leftwich (#22), Matt Lapin (#33) and Bob Scrabis (#34) ready to box out.
Second half of the 1992 NCAA Tournament. Chris Mooney (#21) is at the top of the arc. Are those Leftwich and Rick Hielscher (#33) on the floor with him?
The band does "Rock Lobster" after a game at Jadwin. Note the Matt Lapin "Senior On A Stick," which most likely means this came from the final home game of the 1989-90 season.
The Tiger unmasked!
The Princeton band plays towards the end of the first half of Princeton's 1991 NCAA Tournament game versus Villanova - a game I've never been able to bring myself to watch on tape after suffering through it live.
First there was the Northwestern (8-6) game. The Wildcats had a 13 point halftime lead against Purdue and an 11 point lead with under eight minutes remaining. That advantage was incrementally widdled away as Northwestern habitually split their trips to the foul line. The Boilermakers won 63-61 on two free throws with two seconds left. Argh.
Not to be outdone, Denver (7-10) could not hold a 21 point halftime lead at North Texas, as the Mean Green rallied for a 69-62 win. It tied the largest comeback in North Texas history.
The Ivy League has announced that starting in 2010 there will be conference tournaments for men's and women's lacrosse. These four team playoffs will determine the automatic NCAA tournament bid for each sport. Can basketball be far behind?
Craig Robinson is the subject of a feature by Chuck Klosterman in the new issue of Esquire.
John Thompson III will attend Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony, even if he has to walk there from Georgetown.
Princeton recruit Gus Gabel and two teammates are interviewed by the Arizona Republic.
Purdue vs. Northwestern - 7:00 pm ET - ESPN2
Middlesex vs. MCCC - 7:00 pm ET
Denver vs. North Texas - 8:00 pm ET
Washington State vs. Oregon State - 9:00 pm ET - FSN
Oregon State welcomes Washington State to Corvallis. Beavers head coach Craig Robinson will take some time away from his team after this weekend's games to attend the inauguration.
Around the Ivy League: Penn (3-8) was humbled by former coach Fran Dunphy and Temple, 78-53.
...and with this post, I believe you're caught up on everything that happened while the site was on vacation.
Georgetown (11-3) came from behind to beat Providence, 82-75. Freshman Greg Monroe finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and two blocks for the Hoyas.
Richmond (9-6) started Atlantic 10 play with a 60-48 win at George Washington.
Craig Robinson was ejected at the end of a 64-47 Oregon State (6-8) loss at Arizona.
Denver (7-9) rallied past Louisiana-Monroe, 58-47.
Around the Ivy League: Columbia (5-9) kept NJIT winless, 73-50. A third straight victory for Yale (5-9), 71-63 over Hartford. Brown (6-8) beat Bryant 69-56, two days before Cornell (10-6) did the same, 69-46. Conference play began on Saturday with Harvard (9-6 / 1-0) pulling one out in the final seconds at Dartmouth (2-11 / 0-1). The Big Green's 60-52 loss to Stony Brook was their seventh straight.
...to be followed by "Thursday News - Results" later tonight.
Mack Darrow had a monster night, scoring 28 of his team's 47 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in Barrington's two point win over Palatine.
Another future Tiger, Will Barrett, had 26 points in Central Bucks South's conference victory over North Penn.
Darrow and Barrett weren't the only Princeton recruits to record strong showings. Jimmy Sherburne went for 17 as the Whitefish Bay Blue Devils improved to 9-1 with a 62-48 win over Port Washington. Matching up with Pittsburgh recruit Talib Zanna, Ian Hummer had 17 points and nine boards. Gonzaga picked up a 67-41 victory over one of the DC area's best, Bishop McNamara.
Deja vu all over again. Dan Mavraides was named to the Honor Roll of the latest Ivy Weekly Basketball Awards.
Town Topics has a story about Princeton's win over Lehigh.
The Sacramento Bee reports on Pete Carril's return to the Kings.
John Thompson Jr. said on his radio show late last week that his son's team needs some "thugs" to help with the Hoyas' rebounding woes.
Princeton rises to 12th place in the new Schuylkill 16.
That's Princeton recruit Gus Gabel finishing off an alley oop in this shaky footage shot from the stands during Chaparral's win over Saguaro last night. Gabel finished with 16 points.
I'll try and get a few more posts up before tonight's Georgetown game.
The Ivy League held its first Men's Basketball Preseason Midseason Teleconference yesterday. This is the second of three events the league has planned in 2008-09, with all eight coaches answering questions from media.
The portion of Tuesday's Q&A with Princeton coach Sydney Johnson is available above.
For remarks from the other seven Ivy League coaches, click here.
Thanks to Wesley Harris from The Ivy League for providing this audio.
This is something I look forward to every year. If you're going to attend this game, get your tickets from Bob and enjoy an excellent reception afterwards. - JS
Princeton Men's Hoops at Harvard
Saturday, January 31, 2008 - 7:00pm
The reception will be in a new location this year - the Gordon Mezzanine (indoor track) - and begins immediately following the game. Head coach Sydney Johnson and the team will attend the party. Refreshments and a light buffet catered by Nellios of Lexington will be served.
Tickets purchased in advance for the game and party are as follows:
$18 for members of princetonbasketball.com, PANE, PVC or Friends of Princeton Basketball and their guests.
$15 for young alums ('04 - '08) and undergrads
$10 for children under 18
$25 for non-members
Tickets for the party only are $10 with a reduced rate of $5 for children.
Please send a check payable to PANE to Bob Ruxin '76 before 1/20/09 at 8 Larchmont Lane, Lexington, MA 02420 with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to secure your seats.
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
