Jan. 19, 2024

Bearcat men’s basketball players, coaches of 1980s teams reunite

[This story is published in conjunction with the winter 2023 edition of the Northwest Alumni Magazine. View the print version of the magazine in its entirety by clicking here.]

Ben McCollum and the Bearcat men’s basketball team had some special guests watching them in Bearcat Arena on Aug. 25 when they took the floor for their first practice of the 2023-24 season.

在比赛休息的时候, McCollum – a benefactor of the men in the bleachers who donned the Bearcat uniform during the 1980s and laid a foundation for the program’s continued success – approached the first row where Dr. Lionel Sinn was seated and presented him with a hat commemorating one of the Bearcat basketball program’s recent national championships.

史蒂夫·塔普梅尔加入了麦科勒姆和辛恩, the last three head coaches of the Northwest men’s basketball program – also the three winningest coaches in its history – were together in the same arena for a couple hours that afternoon. 辛恩从1979年到1988年执教这支球队, 在把权力交给塔普梅尔之前, 谁在2009年之前领导这个团队. McCollum, 塔普梅尔的球员兼研究生助理, was named the head coach in 2009 and led the Bearcats to their first of four NCAA Division II men’s basketball national championships in 2017.

“以为它会发展成现在的样子, I like to think Coach Sinn and what he did here kind of laid the foundation and got things going,塔普梅尔说, who was an assistant coach with Sinn from 1981 through 1985. “Then, what Mac’s done here – if anybody would ever say of any D-II in the country, you could win four national championships in five years – it just doesn’t happen in basketball.”

Sinn, Tappmeyer and a dozen of their former players gathered for a couple days in August to explore Maryville and the Northwest campus, taking in all that’s changed and all that’s stayed the same. After a morning of golf at the Maryville Country Club and lunch at The Palms, they took up a section of bleachers in the corner of Bearcat Arena, reminiscing more and smiling with pride for all the program has achieved since they occupied the gymnasium.

“这真的很整洁, 我就像一个骄傲的家长, 回头看看这些家伙现在在做什么，在想什么, 我在这里打球, 我在这里执教, 我住在这里,维克·科尔曼说, a standout player for Bearcat basketball teams from 1980 to 1984. “一日为熊猫，终生为熊猫。. 太棒了.”

托尼白, who played with the Bearcats from 1981 through 1985 and helped orchestrate the reunion, added, “Seeing Coach Tapp take it to another level and then seeing Coach McCollum take it – like a rocket ship taking off – we feel like we’re part of it.”  

Tappmeyer said the motivation for the reunion was an opportunity to bring Sinn back to the Northwest campus. It was the first time many of the players from the Sinn era had been together since their Bearcat careers ended.

“你们永远是一家人, and so when you don’t see family for 20 to 30 years and you get together, 这就像, wow,科尔曼说。.

1979年夏天，辛恩来到哈佛大学, only one Northwest men’s basketball team had won more than 15 games in a season and the Bearcats hadn’t sniffed an MIAA championship or postseason invitation since the 1940s teams led by Bearcat icons Ryland Milner and Sparky Stalcup.

布卢明顿人, Indiana, 辛恩获得了学士学位, 在印第安纳大学获得硕士和博士学位, where he served as a graduate assistant with coaching legend Bob Knight during the 1972-73 season. 那一年, the Hoosiers advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I national basketball tournament and lost to John Wooden’s undefeated UCLA Bruins, who went on to claim their seventh consecutive national championship.

Sinn had earned coach of the year honors at several Indiana high schools before transitioning to the college coaching ranks. His Northwest tenure was preceded by six seasons at Bethel University, 田纳西州的一个NAIA机构. He also served as that school’s athletics director and was the founding coach of its baseball program, 但他在1979年做好了改变的准备.

“Northwest basketball was kind of up and down,Sinn说. “我想找一个可以测试自己的项目.”

Sinn also had a bit of the Bearcats instilled in him already. 奈特曾和亨利·伊巴一起执教, who accumulated a record of 93-15 and three MIAA championships in four seasons at Northwest from 1929 to 1933 before cementing his Hall of Fame status at Oklahoma State University. 另外, 辛恩认识斯塔普, who played for Iba and succeeded him as head coach at Northwest before having more success at the University of Missouri.

Those influences helped Sinn and his motion offense turn Northwest into a winning program.

“Back in Indiana high school, I was a man-to-man defensive philosophy kind-of-coach,Sinn说. “但是，令人不快的是，我是以模式为导向的. 我和奈特一起做了一年半的GA, 还有那年他进了四强, 他提出动议进攻. … He had talked to Henry Iba and two or three of his buddies from the old days to help him. He knew what he wanted to do with a freelance offense, a motion offense. I believe in it because it teaches your players to read the defense, teaches them to learn basketball and to do what the defense gives you.”

During a time when only 32 teams qualified for the NCAA Division II basketball national tournament, Sinn’s 1981-82 Northwest team finished 20-10 – the most wins for Bearcat men’s basketball since Stalcup’s 1940 team – and advanced to Northwest’s first-ever appearance in the South Central Regional, 熊熊队在1983-1984赛季又做到了吗. The latter team might have been Sinn’s best with a record of 24-7 and a spot among the top five teams in Division II throughout the season.  

1984年, the Bearcats knocked off the University of Central Missouri, 64-57, 在熊猫体育馆加时赛. Three weeks later in Warrensburg, Central took a 55-53 win. 在MIAA锦标赛中, 西北击败东南密苏里州立大学, 80-72, 然后再次输给中环, 70-65.

在网上赌博网站十大排行的联盟里, 这是网上赌博网站十大排行的好意, Central Missouri and 东南 Missouri during that stretch,塔普梅尔说. “Central Missouri in ’84 won the national championship and lost three games that year. They lost to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Northwest Missouri State. 网上赌博网站十大排行把它们放在这里, 在他们那里，网上赌博网站十大排行被绑在一起, and at the free throw line with a little over 10 seconds to go, 罚球不中, 他们在蜂鸣器前打了一球.”

White said the 1983-84 basketball season ranks among his favorite memories.

“网上赌博网站十大排行一直以为网上赌博网站十大排行会赢, and we found out the other teams were a little intimidated when they saw us warming up because they knew we could beat them a number of different ways,怀特说. “Just the competitive nature of being a part of the team and going out, 作为一个整体与其他球队竞争. 网上赌博网站十大排行相处得很好. 化学反应从来就没有问题.”

Coleman, one of the most heralded players in Bearcat men’s basketball history, 他说，辛恩的团队工作很努力，做得很开心.

“网上赌博网站十大排行的主场是这样的优势，”科尔曼说. “It’s beautiful now, but when we played, it was just plain, brown bleachers. 球迷们百分百支持网上赌博网站十大排行, 所有的队伍都来了-中环, 东南, 不管网上赌博网站十大排行在这里和谁比赛，他们都知道, 要打败这些家伙是很难的.’”

Coleman was named to the all-MIAA first-team in 1983 and 1984 and earned honorable mention All-America honors in 1984. 在1982-83赛季的大三赛季, 他带领熊队得分, 反弹, 助攻和投篮命中率. 1983-84赛季，他是全队得分和抢断最多的球员. He finished his four-year career at Northwest as the program leader in points (1,795) – a record eclipsed only in recent years by Trevor Hudgins, 贾斯汀皮特, Diego Bernard and Ryan Hawkins – as well as assists (467) and games (114).

Coleman was a 10th-round draft selection in 1984 by the NBA’s Kansas City Kings before that franchise’s final season and its move to Sacramento, 但他没有进入球队的常规赛名单. He played with the CBA’s Kansas City Sizzlers during the 1985-86 season and coached in the St. Joseph School District before returning to Northwest as an assistant coach for the 1987-88 season.

20世纪80年代初的熊猫乐队也有乔·赫斯特的身影, who blocked a Bearcat record 53 shots during the 1983-84 season and holds the program record for blocked shots in a career with 153. He also remains in the program’s top 10 for career scoring average (14.5 points per game), rebounds (777) and free throws made (310). 1984年，他入选了全明星一队, 当时他是熊熊队篮板球最多的球员, and 1985, 当他在得分和抢断上领先全队的时候, 然后在澳大利亚开始职业生涯.

The 1986-87 team finished 19-10 and claimed Northwest’s only MIAA regular season championship of the Sinn era and the University’s first men’s basketball title since Ryland Milner’s 1946 team. That 1986-87 Bearcats also featured five starters who averaged double figures in scoring.

Sinn’s 1983-84 team is in Northwest’s M-Club Hall of Fame along with three of his Bearcat players – Coleman, 赫斯特和鲍勃·桑德尔.

没有停顿, Sinn says a hallmark of his Bearcat squads was unselfish players who wanted the team to succeed.

“We looked for a good player that fit what we were looking for, 任何网上赌博网站十大排行能找到他的地方,Sinn说. “We were just fortunate to find players that make you look good as a coach. 这就是它的全部.”

说白色, “网上赌博网站十大排行都相处得很好, 但网上赌博网站十大排行知道网上赌博网站十大排行必须努力工作, 如果网上赌博网站十大排行不这样做，网上赌博网站十大排行就会被传唤. 它创造了一种文化. 麦科勒姆教练一直在说这个. You’ve got to create that culture and everybody’s got to buy into that culture.”

1987-88赛季之后, Sinn departed Northwest to return to his home state and coach at Southern Indiana University. In nine seasons with the Bearcats, Sinn accumulated 164 wins with a .643胜率 and finished just one season – his second at Northwest – with a sub-.500年记录.

“He loved Northwest and loved Maryville, but he’s an Indiana guy,塔普梅尔说. 他曾是鲍比·奈特在印第安纳大学的研究生助理. His wife’s dad was the PA announcer for 40 years for Hoosier football and basketball and has pretty deep roots there. 所以当南印第安纳州追捕他的时候, I think it was leaving a place he loved to go back to a place where he really had a lot of deep roots.”

代替Sinn, 西北打电话给他以前的助手, Tappmeyer, who had completed three seasons as head coach at East Central College in Union, Missouri. 肩上披着他标志性的绿色毛巾, 塔普梅尔带领西北男子篮球达到了新的高度. 在他担任主教练的第一年, 塔普梅尔1988-89赛季的球队21胜9负, claiming the program’s first MIAA tournament championship and a spot in the NCAA Division II tournament. Tappmeyer’s teams earned the program’s first Elite Eight appearances in 2001-02 and 2003-04.

塔普更进一步. I mean, just a fantastic job,Sinn说 before turning his attention and nodding at McCollum. “然后这个人，令人难以置信，四次总冠军. 多么伟大的成功故事啊.”