“At halftime Coach comes in and says, ‘If this is any incentive to you guys, a fellow just stopped me outside — he’s one of our big fans — and he said, if you win the game, each one of you can go downtown on Monday and get yourself a new suit of clothes,’ ” Donoher recalled.
“We ended up winning by two (71-69) and sure enough, after the game Coach came in and went right down the roster and said, ‘OK, you go to the Metropolitan, you go to Dunhill’s. You go to the Metro, you to Dunhill’s.’ ”
Donoher laughed as he thought of him and his teammates marching into the pair of downtown Dayton men’s stores for new threads.
“That wouldn’t fly now, but I guess back then it wasn’t against the rules. But I tell you what, I liked it. Before that I had just one suit. In fact, Chris Harris was my roommate and it was both our suit.”
And while those new suits are long gone now, the memories are lasting ones. When it comes to UD-UC, that’s often how it is.
91st UD/UC game
Saturday, the Flyers and Bearcats meet for the 91st time in a rivalry that dates back to 1907. That’s two years before UD ever squared off against Miami University and 13 before Xavier.
Although Cincinnati holds a 59-31 advantage, the series has gone in cycles. From 1989-04, UC won 13 of 14, but now the Flyers have triumphed in two of the last three meetings, including last March’s 81-66 victory at Fifth Third Arena in the second round of the NIT.
While that game was the springboard to the Flyers’ NIT championship last season, it did not have the buzz of the March 4, 1958 game at the Cincinnati Gardens.
“That one was a classic,” said Donoher. “The Bockhorn brothers were playing for UD and Cincinnati had Oscar (Robertson). It set a record back then. It drew the largest crowd (15,011) ever to see a college basketball game in Ohio. I mean the place was jumping.”
Bucky Bockhorn — whose Hall of Fame career at UD was followed by seven years in the NBA with the Cincinnati Royals — will never forget that game.
“The place was an absolute zoo,” said Bockhorn, now the longtime color commentator for Flyers radio broadcasts. “I think they were ranked No. 1 and we were No. 11. I played in a lot of games over the years, but I never — never — felt emotion like that night when I came onto the court.
“Fans had broken down the ticket booth. Dayton’s crowd was on one side, Cincinnati’s was on the other and we really had a go at it.
“We were a small team and they had 6-foot-10 Connie Dierking, but we played ’em to a standstill.
“Back then, Oscar was the first guy to go behind his back with a dribble, and late in the game I told my brother Terry, ‘Take him to the sideline when he’s dribbling and when he goes behind his back I’m going to try to steal it.’ I did and went down and scored, and when he came back down the court I just fouled the hell out of him.
“Blackburn tried to say Oscar charged, but no, I hit him a ton. He missed the free throw, but they tipped it in and edged us (70-66).”
Before he went any further Bockhorn — who was Robertson’s teammate on the Royals and remains his friend — added a laugh and a qualifier: “I don’t want to sound like I was bragging, Oscar was a great athlete. He’d be a great player today. And we got along fine. I knew my role. Like I say, ‘I didn’t mind taking the ball out of bounds for Oscar, but I hated carrying his bag every night.’ ”
The good and bad
Talk to almost anyone who took part in the UD-UC games and they have memories — some good and some not.
Donoher remembers Jim Paxson colliding with UC’s Pat Cummings on a loose ball and ending up with a separated shoulder: “That probably cost us a trip to the NCAA tournament that year.”
Ironically, Donoher remembers little from his team’s 109-100 triple-overtime victory over UC at UD Arena in 1981.
“You tend to remember the losses more than the victories,” he said.
And some of UD’s losses have provided searing memories. The first time former Flyers coach Oliver Purnell took a Dayton team to Cincinnati — Feb. 12, 1995 — UD was drilled, 116-63. It remains the worst loss in Flyers hoops history.
The first time Brian Gregory brought a team to UC, it was clobbered 82-53 by the Bearcats. Afterward, UC’s Jason Maxiel said he thought Gregory looked pale before the game, insinuating a scared coach made for a scared team.
It was a cheap shot and when he heard it, Gregory was ticked off.
Since then, the Flyers coach has gotten the last laugh, beating UC two times in three games. The last victory was the 81-66 thrashing of the Bearcats in the NIT last March.
Afterward, UC freshman Lance Stephenson admitted the Flyers “looked pretty good.”
Of course, not quite as good as that victorious ’54 team in its brand new threads.
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