"Generation Laughna" Enters the Fray!

February 10, 1968, is my Hoyaversary -- the day that Georgetown Basketball came into my life. And a memorable day it was indeed! For on that night, that very special night, this then-West Orange, N.J., resident and senior at Seton Hall Prep, then in South Orange, saw my first Georgetown basketball game! The occasion was an incoming freshmen recruiting weekend on the Hilltop, Thus began a life-long odyssey of finding and nurturing a passion for Georgetown Basketball and, ultimately, Georgetown University that is surpassed only by my passion for my family and my faith!

Looking back, I could not have imagined the significance of that weekend and that night, that very special night, on my future life-path. When I checked in on Friday, February 9, 1968, I was assigned to stay in a freshmen dorm room with Pat Quinn, (F'71). Pat, who is now beginning his second term as Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, was to be my first mentor at Georgetown. As the Sports Editor of The Hoya when I entered the School of Foreign Service in September 1968, Pat provided me an entrée into Hilltop journalism when I decided to join the Hoya sports staff at the beginning of my sophomore year. And he mentored me during that next year, a year that saw the Georgetown Hoyas achieve the pinnacle of basketball success for that and prior Georgetown generations -- an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden. I still consider it an honor and privilege to have been selected to succeed Pat Quinn as Sports Editor for the Fall 1969 semester. What a mentor Pat was! To this day, Pat Quinn remains in my mind as the most passionate and compelling newspaper writer and columnist that I have ever encountered on any level. And his populist passion propelled him into a life-long career of consumer-oriented public service in the State of Illinois. He is a living example of the Jesuit lesson of "speaking truth to power!"

But that February 1968 weekend was also special for the introduction to Georgetown Basketball that it gave me. On Saturday, February 10, 1968, Georgetown played host to then inner-city rival, George Washington University, at McDonough Gym. The Animal Section (i.e., the all-male, center-court cheering section across from the team benches before the College went co-ed in the fall 1969 semester) was in full throat! Cries of "The hat, the hat, the hat," reverberated whenever any fan passed in front of the Animal Section wearing a head covering. The chant continued until the offending fan took off the hat! I don't profess to know how that tradition began: perhaps it harkened back to the pre-Vatican II days when men reverentially removed their hats in church upon entering. In another sign of a different era at Georgetown, the Animal Section would also "hoot" whenever any woman passed in front of the Section. (It is little wonder that few women tried to pass that gauntlet given that welcome!) Finally, also for reasons that I never understood, certain male fans would be passed up and deep into the Animal Section amid welcoming cheers of "pass-em up, pass-em up, pass-em up!" What an introduction to Hoya Hoops. And the game had not even started!

Georgetown smashed GW that night, 76-49, according to the account in the then-weekly The Hoya of February 15, 1968, "bury[ing the] hapless George Washington" quintet and "outscoring the Colonials 25-6 in the final minutes of action." But the reason that this game is in the Hoya record books is because of one man -- then-sophomore sensation and now a member of the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame, Charlie Adrion, (C '70), who pulled down 29 rebounds and scored 30 points for the victorious Hoyas, in what may well be the single most dominating performance ever in a single game by a Hoya player of any era. Adrion, a 6-foot-6 forward/center from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey, dominated all aspects of the offense for the Hoyas that night, and, in my mind's eye, I can still see him skying high above the rim to snare yet another rebound. On a career basis, Jerome Williams (C'96), Dikembe Mutombo (I'90), Merlin Wilson (C'76), or even my own classmate and Adrion-teammate Mike Laughna (C`72) may have amassed better numbers, but on that one magnificent Saturday evening in February 1968, Charlie Adrion was the Chairman of the Boards!

On February 10, 1968, my Hoyaversary, I had no reason to know that that night was the 61st anniversary of Georgetown University Men's Basketball. For it was on that night in 1907, that Georgetown's first men's basketball team defeated Virginia. Nor could I have realized that 39 years later, I would be so actively involved in helping to plan the 100th Anniversary Celebration of Georgetown Men's Basketball scheduled for February 10, 2007. This celebration will culminate on February 10, 2007, with a game against BIG EAST rival and currently nationally-ranked opponent Marquette at the Verizon Center in the afternoon and then, that night, with a Gala 100th Anniversary Celebration of Georgetown Basketball at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Georgetown! It promises to be an outstanding day for anyone associated with Hoya Hoops. Invitations will be sent out in the next week or so, and the Hoya Hoop Club will be able to purchase their tickets at a discounted rate over general admission prices. Thus, yet another reason to join the Hoya Hoop Club, the support club for Men's Basketball at Georgetown!

Finally, the headline for this column, "Generation Laughna Enters the Fray," needs some explanation. My colleagues, Tom Wong (C'82) and John Hawkes, (F'02), have adopted "Generation Ewing" and "Generation Burton" as their on-line handles. So I, a member of Class of 1972, choose my classmate, my freshman year floormate on Fourth New North, and my high school rival from St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, New Jersey, Mike Laughna, (C'72), as my generational reference. Mike, or the "Big Fella" as we termed him on Fourth New North, was always as much a gentleman off the floor as he was a lion on the court for the Hoyas. For years after his graduation, he held the career record for rebounding at Georgetown. He was as consistent a player as I can ever remember on the Hilltop. And I am proud to call him friend, just as I am proud and privileged to have been associated with the men's basketball program at Georgetown since that fateful February day in 1968!

WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!

Michael E. Karam, (F'72, L'76, L'82)
Immediate Past-President, Hoya Hoop Club
Vice-President, Hoyas Unlimited