April 17, 2008
GALLERY
Washington, D.C. - The thing that stood out the most for the many people was the size of the crowd. More than 500 people - team members, staff, administrators, family, students and fans - packed the Leavey Center on the Hilltop to celebrate the annual Hoya Hoop Club Banquet, honoring the 2007-08 Georgetown University men's basketball team not only for its accomplishments this season, but to celebrate a senior class that will go down as one of the best to ever step foot on the Hilltop.
"I say this every year and it's extremely important, but everyone in this community has been extremely supportive and they come out and cheer for us," Head Coach John Thompson III said. "The biggest part of this is thanking you, thanking everyone that supports us, from the students to the fans to the bands and the cheerleaders, and thanking you for helping us to do what we do and helping to accomplish the little bit that we have accomplished, and what we will accomplish. We are extremely appreciative and I can't express that enough."
So it was a night of celebration. On this, however, it was a celebration of the team and a special group of seniors - managers Martin Bahar and Greg Feeney, guard Tyler Crawford (Stuarts Draft, Va./Robert E. Lee), forward Patrick Ewing, Jr. (Marietta, Ga./National Christian Academy [Md.]), center Roy Hibbert (Adelphi, Md./Georgetown Prep) and guard Jonathan Wallace (Harvest, Ala./Sparkman) - who have helped to establish the foundation for the future.
The evening started with a cocktail reception before the welcome from the President of the Hoya Hoop Club, Alfred Bozzo, Jr. (B '85). He was followed by Master of Ceremonies, Joe Lonardo (C '69) and the Reverend William McFadden, S.J., who handled the invocation. Following the invocation, assistant coach Robert Burke took time to thank the support groups, including the band, cheerleaders and students, who have helped make Verizon Center - where the team has won 21-straight games - one of the toughest places to play in the country.
Director of Basketball Operations Matt Henry admitted that he had big shoes to fill, taking the role of former assistant coach Kevin Broadus, who would introduce each member of the team as they received their awards for the season, and always had a funny twist for each player. Henry, however, handled his role well, drawing a loud ovation from the crowd for his introductions.
Each of the Hoya seniors had a chance to address the crowd as well. The first person to the podium was graduate manager Martin Bahar, who is finishing his second year with the program. "To be able to be a part of this program and be a part of something so much bigger than myself," Bahar said, "it's something I'm so thankful for. It's been a great experience to be part of such a great staff."
Senior manager Greg Feeney was kidded by Henry and Thompson for the tan he had acquired since the end of the season. "I really enjoyed coming in to work with this team," Feeney said. "The people that make up Georgetown Basketball are what did it for me. It comes down to the people, all the guys on the team and the people behind the scenes, they made my experience. I tried my best to do what I could and I enjoyed every minute of it."
The first player to speak was Crawford, who Thompson said he would want to work for one day and that he hoped his kids would be like when they grow up. Crawford, who introduced his parents, said that it had been a dream of his since he was a little boy to play basketball at Georgetown. "I've loved each and every minute of it," he said. "I can't explain it and I can't put it into words. It's something that I've taken pride in, having GEORGETOWN across my chest and getting to play with these guys."
During Crawford's speech, he, like others to follow, thanked his parents for their sacrifices and Thompson echoed those sentiments. "You have raised men," Thompson said. "They came here as men. I was extremely fortunate to have walked in the door we walked in with. In their upbringing, they understood, and understand, what's good and what's right. I want to sincerely thank each of the parents. It's an incredible group of men. They walked in the door like that. I thank you for sending them here and for supporting everything that we did here and raising them like you did."
Next up was Ewing, who many kidded throughout the evening that he was much older than a senior in college. Thompson spoke about a senior captain who, after 10 games, was told he was going to be coming off the bench and did not ask any questions, "because he wants to win." Ewing spoke about each of his teammates, especially Crawford, who he credited for pushing him and being a major part of his winning the BIG EAST Conference's Sixth Man of the Year Award.
When he introduced Hibbert, Thompson said that Ewing was right when he said Hibbert was maybe the second or third best player on his high school team. Now, four years later, Hibbert is one of the best players in the country and leaves Georgetown among the top-15 all-time in scoring and among the top-10 all-time in rebounding. "That's because of his work ethic," Thompson said. "Getting good doesn't happen by accident. This is someone who for four years has consistently put in more work than anyone else.
Like others, Hibbert said that it was hard for him to believe that it was four years ago when he was sitting in the same seats now occupied by the Georgetown freshman. He spoke about the sacrifices his parents made for him and the drives his father would make to bring a young Hibbert to McDonough Arena during the summer to work out after his work day. And he admitted that, yes, he had indeed come a long way since he came in as a freshman and credited the coaching staff, the trainers and the strength and conditioning staff for their help.
"I'm proud to be a Hoya and thank you for giving me the chance to perform," Hibbert said. "The future is going to be Georgetown and I'm happy I came back for my senior season." Before leaving the podium, Hibbert said that he didn't want to hear the "Roy, Roy, Roy, Roy..." chant yelled at games, but led the crowd in a chant of "We Are...Georgetown."
Thompson recalled a story of going to recruit Wallace and traveling down country roads in Alabama to reach his high school in Harvest. Thompson said that, along with the rest of the seniors, he would hope his name would be one day associated with Jon Wallace's name. And while everyone had heard the stories of Wallace growing up on a farm, almost going to Princeton and walking on to the team at Georgetown, what was lost was "him being one of the best darn guards in the country."
"it's all about the same things," Wallace said. "Coach always preached about the baby-step process, about how we should go about things and how he goes about things. You can apply that to life. Nothing happens overnight. From where we came in our freshman year, a new coach and you think things will be fine and dandy. Our first game, we lost by 20 to Temple.
"But then you look at the picture (of a packed crowd at the Villanova game) and we never knew that was going to be the outcome. We never knew that would be the picture we'd leave with, but it all comes in time. You have to start at the beginning with the end in mind. These have been the best four years of my life. I can honestly say thank you, thank you for what you've done."
Thompson closed the evening by thanking the seniors again, but also pointing toward the future. "It's a special group and they will always be special to me, but we move on," Thompson said. "In as much as I hope to be associated with this group forever and I hope they associate with me forever, we have to move on. We have a group coming back that we expect to win."
Hibbert was named the team's Most Outstanding Player and Wallace was tabbed the team's Most Valuable Player, while all four Georgetown managers (Bahar, Feeney, Chris Golski and Ray Moss) received the Team Manager Award.
