When the men's basketball teams of Hartwick College and the State University College at Oneonta tip off at 8 p.m. Thursday in Lambros Arena, it will mark the 20th anniversary of a scheduled modern-day rivalry. The rivalry is substantially older, but there were some major gaps in years the teams didn't play each other.
Hartwick College was still fairly new to Oneonta in 1936. Some students at what was then called the Oneonta Normal School felt there should be some athletic contests between the two schools. In the Jan. 29, 1936, Normal School student publication, Pen Dragon, there was an open letter to the Hartwick College Athletic Association, finding it "regrettable that regular athletic relations have not been established.
"We of the Normal School feel that a failure so far to establish such contacts with a neighboring institution is the fault of but a small group at Hartwick," the letter read. A search through the Hartwick student publication, Hilltops at Hartwick, found no reaction or response to the Normal open letter.
At some point representatives of the two institutions met and decided to schedule a basketball game during the 1937-38 school year.
The first game took place Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1937. Hilltops at Hartwick reported, "One thousand two hundred spectators jammed the State Armory ... and sat bug-eyed through a thrill-packed fracas, that saw the lead change five different times until the fatal fourth quarter."
Hartwick dropped "a bitterly contested game, 38 to 34."
The teams met each year until 1942. The last contest between the two for several decades took place Monday, Feb. 9, at the former Oneonta Junior High School gym on Academy Street. Hartwick made it four straight wins over Oneonta Normal that year, 46-33. The reason it was the last contest was that many male students on both campuses were heading overseas to fight in World War II.
Both colleges resumed interscholastic sports after the war, but no efforts were made to resume the Hartwick-Oneonta basketball rivalry. For years to come, both college presidents agreed they didn't want the teams to meet.
Former basketball player, coach and Oneonta resident Anthony Drago recalled going to the Hartwick-Normal games while a student at Oneonta High School and shortly after his graduation.
There was truth to those "bitterly contested" games, as Drago recalled some fights between the teams on the court. The scuffles, in addition to the war, likely led to the demise of the early rivalry.
There was one unexpected matchup between Oneonta and Hartwick in late December 1980. Both teams had been invited to an eight-team tournament, the Sacred Heart Basketball Classic, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oneonta State, coached by Don Flewelling, defeated Hartwick, coached by Nick Lambros, 61-60.
Times and college presidents changed. Alan Donovan, former president of SUNY Oneonta, remembers getting a call from Philip Wilder, then president of Hartwick College, in the spring of 1990. Donovan recalled they met at Morris Hall to discuss renewing the basketball rivalry. There were concerns brought up about possible bad fan behavior.
"In any case, we agreed that we would give it a try, and see how it went, and it went very well," Donovan said.
The two teams met in the first scheduled game since 1942 on Saturday, Feb. 16, 1991, at the G. Hal Chase Gymnasium on the Oneonta State campus. According to The Daily Star, "The gym was packed with 1,500 loud partisans, each school represented equally."
The fans saw a good matchup. Hartwick's Jerry Mackey, now a multiple-sports coach at Oneonta High School, scored a career-high 27 points in a 64-56 win over Oneonta State. Players and fans alike were well behaved.
Oneonta State Athletic Director Al Sosa said: "We were unsure what the students would be like. But this demonstrates that the two schools have the ability to play with each other in healthy competition."
That game was actually the second matchup of the academic year. Once again, both Hartwick and Oneonta State were invited teams in a tournament, the Coca-Cola Classic, held at Hartwick College in November 1990. As the tournament progressed, Oneonta and Hartwick unexpectedly met Sunday, Nov. 18. Oneonta handily won that contest, 81-62.
Twice was nice, but only nine days after the scheduled game in February 1991, Oneonta State faced Hartwick again in the first round of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, held at the G. Hal Chase Gymnasium on Wednesday, Feb. 27. Guard Joe Britton led the scoring with 26 points for Hartwick, defeating Oneonta 89-73.
The hillside basketball rivalry has become an early-December tradition ever since.
This weekend: Oneontans at Andersonville during the Civil War.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Columns
Area basketball rivalry has long, if irregular, history
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
Some wisdom is best passed down through books
I was visiting a friend out-of-town recently and the subject of providing a "reading list" to young people came up in conversation. He said years ago he had asked a respected acquaintance in Oneonta to compile such a list for his teenage daughter, to help her be better prepared for life, culture, education, politics and people.
Continued ... - Let pragmatism, not politics, determine birth control debate
- As Center Street Elementary goes, so goes Center City
- U.S. intervention in Syria's uprising would be a gamble
- Santorum, Obama both got it wrong on Honduras
-
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
In Otsego County’s local elections last fall, a number of candidates — most of them on the independent Sustainable Otsego line — ran on an anti-fracking, pro-sustainability platform. They recognized that our current way of life — dependent on increasingly scarce, costly and polluting fossil fuels — cannot continue.
Continued ... - Time to get off the bus and on the computer
- Cuomo's Machiavellian maneuvers are a danger
- Home rule laws aren't a radical idea
- Sustainable shouldn't be a dirty word
-
If we don’t develop a sustainable system, who will?
- Lisa Miller
-
-
Being a parent is a constant learning process
I am sitting cross-legged on the floor in the dressing room, waiting for Allie's dance number to be called. The cave girl costume has been donned, the jazz shoes double-tied, the hair pulled back, the requisite dab of lipstick applied.
Continued ... - Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
- Untethered from the cable box
-
Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Mark Simonson
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
OUTDOORS COLUMN BY RICK BROCKWAY ... Last week, my friend George and I returned to the Gunks for another rock-climbing adventure. After last week's column, I asked about the rattlesnakes and was told not to worry. Rattlers are usually quite timid and will avoid people as much as possible. It's the copperheads that'll give you trouble. They're aggressive and will stand their ground to defend it. Oh great!!
- Rattlesnakes may be closer than you think, so pay attention
- Spring is here, so fishing should pick up soon
- Sneaky fox may be the next animal looking to horse around
- Pass down the rush of turkey hunting to your kids this weekend
-
Climbing is one thing, but skydiving?
- Sam Pollak
-
-
I'm happy with our kids to a certain degree
It was several years ago, and I was in the kitchen, telling my eldest daughter and my then-teenaged son about the person who was taking over as publisher at The Daily Star.
Continued ... - I get by with a little help from my 'friends'
- It’s not easy for a politics junkie to get off the stuff
- The Encyclopaedia Britannica in print, unmourned by me
- Angelo Dundee was always a good man to have in your corner
-
- William Masters
-
-
Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
Richard Lugar, after six terms as a Republican senator -- known for his middle of the road rationality and his foreign policy finesse -- has been ousted by a Tea Party extremist backed by outside right-wing funding.
-
War not worth gambling with lives of soldiers
Are you not tired of our war in Afghanistan? It had a point, once, after 9/11. Bush couldn't distinguish his myopic personal agendas from the nation's needs and let Osama escape, dropping the ball entirely, causing many deaths.
-
Titanic was a microcosm of U.S. economic disparity
Haunting reminders of the Titanic tragedy have wafted over us with the centenary of its sinking. The maiden voyage of an impressive, state of the art vessel, was a little like that of the Challenger space shuttle, at the cutting edge of developing technology. But the shuttle carried our pride in science and space exploration, not hundreds and hundreds of people.
-
William Masters: Nation stands divided between 'us' and 'them'
In February, Trayvon Martin was shot dead as "suspicious" by a volunteer neighborhood watch man. The case has aroused community reaction in Sanford, Fla., and is still echoing across the country.
-
A quarterback can't win the game alone
What is the relationship between democracy and wealth? Democracy is a political system, while wealth relates to economics. We have equal political rights, but we don't all have money. Extreme differences destroy the continuity of community solidarity.
-
Time for lawmakers who put needs of society first
