I hope it is not the Coors light classic that Fresno holds out there...We took a bit of a PR hit for going to that back in 96. It is a great tournament though but the beer sponsorship was kind of a conflict. The funny thing is that Fresno had a player named Chris Herrin that was in rehab for alcohol abuse and their team runs out of a tunnel shaped like a giant Coors Light can!
That tournament, Larry Jackson went off on Cal Poly and hit 9 three pointers! Also on that trip Dunton and I were both assistants and in the 1st game vs Cal Poly, he nearly had an anurism or something. He stood up and stomped his feat in RD fashion and then slumped back in his chair. I was sitting next to him and monitoring his status cause he was not looking good. He was quiet the rest of the game. We still don't know what happened but we had a good chuckle as a staff later about it. Also I remember our trip to Fresno was right after a game in Bangor Maine. Stephen King was there! He is a native of the town and there is not much else to do up there. Meyer was good about getting everyone back to their home town to play and Mark Reed (and RD for that matter) were from Bangor. He got me to Philly 2 times! We beat Maine up there then we flew a prop plane in an ice storm to Boston, then out to Utah before heading to California. I say California because most of the team had to be diverted to San Franciso but Me, Meyer and 2 players, I think Aluma and Jackson got to fly straight to Fresno. I felt priviledged til I realized that I was the one with all the money (and I do me cash) so coach needed me to go. Aluma and Jackson were captains and Meyer was the head coach so the decision was easy I guess. Dunton and Nazigian took the rest of the team to SF and they had to scurry up a hotel for everyone and fly to Fresno in the morning...They were not happy. Last memory of that trip is that Fresno beat the pants off of us and was really the only team to do so that season. One guy had a dunk so nasty we all nearly stood up and clapped on the Liberty Bench before coming to our senses. We were 23-9 but competitive in every game we lost. We lost to #23 Eastern Michigan by 2 but we hit the shot to win, a 3 by Aluma but the clock malfunctioned and we lost. A 3 by Aluma you say? Why? We ran the Christian Laetner play and it worked but Peter caught the ball outside of 3 and launched it. That game was in Hawaii. What a great season for travel too. Hawaii, Maine, Texas and California! We almost beat TCU that season too. Marcus White went off. He had 3 nasty dunks too. Anyway, can't wait to see the rest of the schedule.
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
. Secondly, I still have a pull over that has Fresno St Coors light and Liberty all written on it! It still fits and it still turns heads when people see the logo.
- By LU Armchair coach
- By Purple Haize