My latest $0.99 eBay steal is another late-1970s Princeton program, this from the Tigers' first meeting of the 1978-79 season with eventual Final Four participant Penn. On the cover you'll find 6'11" senior center Tom "Too Tall" Young (#45).
Highlights are scanned after the jump. Click on any image to enlarge.
Princeton was 7-5 on the season heading into the game, 1-1 in Ivy play after dropping a 51-33 decision to Gary Walters' Dartmouth Big Green and defeating Harvard the previous weekend. Penn stood at 8-2, 2-0 in conference. The Quakers were coming off a 79-74 win over Temple earlier in the week.
The Tigers built a 10 point halftime lead at Jadwin Gym before Tony Price's point blank shot bounced home with 25 seconds left in regulation to pull Penn even at 50. Neil Christel's turnaround jumper (video) that would have won the game for Princeton at the horn was too strong.
In overtime Bobby Willis made four free throws in the final minute to keep the Tigers at bay. The home team was within one four times in the extra frame but could not take the lead. The night was Penn's 59-58.
Co-captain Bob Roma's 22 points for Princeton led all scorers.
The next month the Quakers clinched at least a share of the Ivy title with another single point overtime win against Princeton, coming out on top 42-41.
Johnny Rogers headshot.
Dave Blatt headshot.
Steve Mills headshot.
There are two pieces in this program written by future Sports Illustrated scribe Alexander Wolff '79 - a game preview and a short feature on Tom Young, which is reproduced below.
The team roster contains a rare listing of actor David Duchovny's time on the Princeton JV, with the former X-Files star's last name misspelled as "Duchozny."
1978-79 team photo.
An ad for Andy's Tavern, where Coach Carril would drink, tell stories and sometimes cook eggs just down the street from Jadwin. Today, Soonja's Restaurant sits on Alexander Road where Andy's once was.
Penn finished the season 25-7 overall, 13-1 in the Ivy League, conference champions and Big 5 co-champions. The Quakers would make it all the way to the Final Four, where they fell to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the semis and dropped a three point OT decision to DePaul in the consolation game. It was the second of three straight Ivy titles for Penn to end the decade.
Princeton struggled to a 14-12 mark, 7-7 in conference. The Tigers played four OT games in the Ivies. Besides their two losses to Penn, Princeton would nip Dartmouth 44-43 after five extra minutes of play and outlast Cornell 66-61 in a school record five overtimes.
