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.
Mark Simonson
Area basketball rivalry has long, if irregular, history
- Mark Simonson
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A Main Street facelift for Oneonta in the 1920s
It has been just a little over 30 years, 1980 in fact, that Main Street in Oneonta went through a major transformation in appearance. Even now I'll hear mixed comments about the changes, which included antique style lamps, trees, planters and brick trim. Some liked the changes while others liked the wider street with the even-sized sidewalks.
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
100 Years Ago -
Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
A young person of 75 years ago may still recall where they were or what they were doing in the month of May, as two big news events took place. They were the Hindenburg disaster and the passing of billionaire John D. Rockefeller. There were some local connections with both news items.
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Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
It is always good to keep up with current events. However, it is starting to become an unwritten requirement to seek some diversions from staying up to date on news, as for some it can become overwhelming or depressing.
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Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
Oftentimes, in the distant past, the place you worked for became a social nucleus in the village or town. Employees at large companies such as Endicott-Johnson Shoe Co. or IBM in the Binghamton area took part in activities after work such as sports, music and theater, both in and out of town, to represent their company.
- Monday, May 7, 2012
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Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
As a youngster growing up in the area and having a fascination with radio broadcasting, I used to consider it a part-time hobby to put the earphone into my transistor radio and go exploring what was out there to listen to, up and down the dial. It was indeed a long-distance journey at night when listening to AM radio, as you could hear live and locally staffed stations from Chicago, Windsor/Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans, to name a few cities. I never spent a lot of time listening to FM radio 40 years ago, simply because there wasn't the same "excitement" of the long-distance journey. Little did I realize, things were changing locally on that "other" band of radio frequencies that included decimal points.
- Saturday, May 5, 2012
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Congressman Fairchild added downtown growth in 1912
Another case of wandering imagination struck this historian recently, while learning about the building at 244-248 Main St. in Oneonta, storefronts for the Autumn Café and Razzle Dazzle. This structure is known as the Fairchild block, and it turns 100 this year.
- Monday, April 30, 2012
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From no TV to saving eagles, it was life in April 1982
No television. No place to pay the phone bill. No more Spaulding's baked goods. Possibly no more Center Street School. While these were some of the noes in the news of our area in April 1982, there were some yeses as well, including a new structure at Corning Inc. of Oneonta and help to save bald eagles.
- Saturday, April 28, 2012
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A daily newspaper for Oneonta was an achievement in 1887
Depending on the electronic device you have these days, accessing news can be made nearly as soon as something happens. Oneontans of 125 years ago got their news on a weekly basis, courtesy of The Oneonta Herald.
- Monday, April 23, 2012
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Area saw Hollywood stars up close in April 1952
It has been a mighty long time since Greer Garson, Victor Jory, Don Taylor and Audrey Totter drew big numbers of people at the box office of our local movie theaters. Make it 60 years, in fact. Now generations removed from popularity, some are still able to remember the names of these four movie stars who paid a visit to our area in late April 1952.
- Saturday, April 21, 2012
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Spring tree plantings were numerous in 1927
None of my calendars at home or at my other workplaces show that April 27 of this year is Arbor Day.
- Monday, April 16, 2012
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Nuclear weapon debates were plentiful in April 1982
Plan for a nuclear war -- or seek a nuclear weapons freeze. That was a frequent debate going on in our region during the month of April 1982.
- Saturday, April 14, 2012
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A Titanic survivor stopped in Oneonta days after disaster
Edward Bean was one amongst the lucky one-third of the passengers aboard the Titanic who lived to tell about the disaster of the ill-fated ship that sank after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912. Only about a week after the disaster, Bean was in Oneonta, on his way home to Cincinnati.
- Monday, April 9, 2012
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Simonson: April 1952 brought educational developments in Oneonta
There were some interesting new developments in education in Oneonta during the month of April 1952. These took place in the public and private schools, as well as on the Hartwick College campus.
- Saturday, April 7, 2012
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Oneonta's first automobile exhibition took place in April 1917
An automobile show as large as those in Albany or Utica. That was the heady claim of the organizers of Oneonta's first such show, set for early April 1917.
- Monday, April 2, 2012
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Thruway bridge collapsed 25 years ago into Schoharie Creek
I had just started my evening music shift at a Binghamton radio station on Sunday evening, April 5, 1987, with a network newscast at the top of the hour.
- Saturday, March 31, 2012
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Oneonta responded to declaration of World War I
"President Asks For War."
- Monday, March 26, 2012
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Devastating fire, loss in sports status, education made major area news in March 1982
A fire destroyed a foundry in Morris, Hartwick College basketball dropped a division level, two schools considered a merger, and a local Odyssey of the Mind was born. These news items and more made for a busy month in March 1982.
- Saturday, March 24, 2012
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Useful advice for farmers came to the area in 1912
It is practically a rite of autumn for high school students, or college students looking to transfer to a different college.
- Monday, March 19, 2012
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St. Mary's Church of Oneonta dedicated 55 years ago
"With solemn, historic pageantry, the Most Rev. William A. Scully, bishop of Albany, yesterday dedicated the new St. Mary's Church."
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A Main Street facelift for Oneonta in the 1920s
