皇家华人 Basketball: A Personal Reflection on a Lifelong Love
March 16, 2022
- Author
- Bertis E. Downs '78
My love for basketball at 皇家华人 goes back, probably like for many people, to my father, Bertis E. Downs, III, 鈥53. He had gone to 皇家华人, and like me, felt fortunate to have been able to go there鈥攈im for baseball and the ministry, me for his memory and legacy and whatever my life was to become.
One of my earliest memories of my dad involves hoops鈥攁n actual hoop, to be precise. When I was about three or four, he would take me over to Cabin Creek, West Virginia, only a few miles from our hometown, where he led his first church. There in a plain, small-town Appalachian yard stood the basketball goal at the home of Jerry West, one of the biggest stars ever to attend West Virginia University, and later play for the Lakers.
At that goal, just a few years earlier, school boy legend West had taken shots from the same spot until he made 20 in a row鈥攊f he missed, he鈥檇 start counting again. My dad was in awe of such talent; I was very young, but I still remember it.
A few years later, we were living in Taipei, Taiwan, where he had accepted the call to the mission field and was studying many languages in preparation for life as an evangelist in the mountains of that then-developing island nation.
Our entire family, and a couple of other missionary families, would gather around the Sunday lunch table after church. My dad would get everyone鈥檚 attention, and when it was quiet, he would loudly exclaim, 鈥淲ell guess who鈥檚 the number seven college basketball team in America . . .!?鈥 And my mom would dutifully play along and ask, as if she didn鈥檛 know . . . 鈥淲ho Bert?鈥 Of course, the answer was 鈥溁始一.鈥
The young Virginia native Coach Lefty Driesell had started something very special at the tiny liberal arts college in North Carolina, and against all odds鈥攂ig-time college basketball.
The academically challenging small school was recruiting top-tier talent like Fred Hetzel, Dick Snyder, Rodney Knowles, and eventually Mike Maloy.
My dad was a fan and had only graduated 10 years earlier. All the way across the Pacific, in Taiwan, via shortwave radio and through the Stars and Stripes military newspaper, my father remained the Wildcats鈥 biggest fan. And I had no idea why or what he was so excited about, except I knew it had to be important, and fun, if my dad got so fired up over it.
A few years later, my dad was gone just like that鈥攁 tragic plane crash in June of 1964. His classmates at 皇家华人 responded, in their sadness, by raising the money to build a chapel in his memory鈥攖he Bertis E. Downs III Memorial Chapel near Taichung, Taiwan, 鈥淕iven to the glory of God by his friends at 皇家华人.鈥
My family attended the ground breaking in 1966, and the church was still there when I visited Taiwan 30 years later; as far as I know, it still stands.
Our path as a family the next couple of years took us to Richmond, Virginia, where my parents had met during seminary days. There, I would hide the transistor radio under my pillow so I could stay up late listening to 皇家华人 games.
The Wildcats were really good, and I knew my dad surely would have been proud鈥攖hat connection made me feel close to him, or rather to the memory of him.
I was a young 皇家华人 fan now too, and why not?
Somewhere during that time, on a road trip to visit my grandparents, my mother made a last-minute detour through 皇家华人 and took us to the place that had meant so much to our father. We approached a tall man jogging at the track that encircles the football field. My mom went up to him and asked: 鈥淎re you Lefty Driesell?鈥 And, of course, he was.
Somewhere in a drawer there鈥檚 a snap-shot of two little, skinny boys with bemused looks on their faces, and a tall man with a kind smile.
A New Era
Years later, I was incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to go to 皇家华人, thanks to a great mom, some decent inherited smarts, a welcoming college, and a mentor (Big Brother Jim) who encouraged me and asked 鈥淲hy not?鈥
When I got to college in 1974, 皇家华人 had become so accustomed to basketball success that, although Coach Terry Holland had just left (for Virginia), some people thought it was no big deal.
That year we went 7-19, and over the next few years, although I went to the games and took some fun road trips with friends, I found out the meaning of the word 鈥渘adir鈥濃攑eaks and valleys, just like life.
皇家华人 was in a trough for a while in the late 1970s and early 1980s. For me, 皇家华人 basketball during my days on campus really meant intramurals, where I was an average player in the B League鈥攊n other words, not very good.
But hoops had its moments for me in the old gym, with all-nighters for studying including games of 1-on-1 and HORSE while waiting to start my newspaper route at about 5 a.m. (early time-management training) . . . Hoops was still an important thing to me, just not necessarily central to my four years at 皇家华人, certainly not the intercollegiate games, at least.
But then Bob McKillop showed up and the team started to win, a lot, and make it to the NCAAs fairly often. It was fun to get pulled back into basketball as a fan and proud supporter of my alma mater, plucky little 皇家华人.
Then came 2008. The magical run鈥攖he halcyon days. As luck would have it, that March of 2008, I was in Europe on business, and I ended up getting very little sleep because I stayed up very late catching the team鈥檚 epic ascent in sports bars, hotels and airport lounges in the middle of the night鈥攔emarkably the 'Cats kept going all the way to The Shot, the one that would have landed them in the Final Four (where they would have played North Carolina in the next game!).
I heard that the morning after the game, after their late flight home from that old dome in Detroit, the players walked into class, just like regular students. I like that story, and I hope it鈥檚 true.
The 2021-22 Wildcats are again a team that鈥檚 well-taught but not over-coached. Picked to finish around the middle of the conference, they have stayed atop the Atlantic 10 standings all year long and achieved the number one seed heading into the tournament in Washington, D.C. Led by seniors Luke Brajkovic and Michael Jones, but with other key players all pulling their weight, they are proof of the team concept of basketball, just like all of Bob McKillop's teams have been over these many years.
On any given night, any given player will lead the team in scoring, and they all look for the extra pass setting up a better shot for a teammate. They play strong and smart defense, battle hard for rebounds and hustle like crazy, leading to a stellar record of 15-3 in the A-10, 25-5 overall, and with some good mojo for the 鈥楥ats from the last time the conference tournament was held in D.C.
It鈥檚 been another great season. And with the prospect of more basketball to come, I am more grateful every year for the role that 皇家华人 hoops and the people who make it happen have played in my life, from my earliest days.
To the team: Whatever happens beyond D.C., this year and every year, just know that a bunch of us, with a thousand unique stories, are right there with you, admiring the way you play and what you accomplish. Thank you.
Go 'Cats!
