Sports Illustrated Vault: Getting the Vandy Treatment

Judy Van and I were discussing how to make sure we reach our goal of getting 200 classmates back for Reunion in October. I started playing around with some random memories of our days at Vanderbilt, and one of those was the 8-day stretch in December, 1967, when our guys defeated UNC, Davidson, and Duke consecutively in some truly memorable games. I wanted to make sure I had the correct month, so I went on glorious Google, and came up with Curry Kirkpatrick's article in Sports Illustrated about that wonderful sweep of the State of North Carolina. I believe Kirkpatrick had just graduated from UNC, and this was one of his first articles for the magazine. I also believe that Henry Hecht was covering the game in his position as Sports writer for the Hustler, and told several of us how much Kirkpatrick had fallen in love with our Commodore basketball team that week.

This article brings back such wonderful memories of screaming our lungs out when Lefty Driesell got the technical foul that turned the momentum of the Davidson game, of the heroics of Hagan, Warren, et al, of Roy Skinner's calming the crowd--what a marvelous time that was. In any event, Judy and I hope that when you review this article you will have even more of a reason to join us for our Reunion to both reminisce and catch up with your classmates. If this article doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will.

Kevin

Sports Illustrated—December 25, 1967—Getting The Vandy Treatment
The Commodores come out faint from illness and looking half the size of their rivals. Then they fall way behind. And then they win. That is the treatment three of the nation's best teams received last week. Click here to continue reading