More Final Four

Reacting to my recent blog about the 1983 Final Four in Albuquerque, Dennis Latta, then sports editor of the Albuquerque Journal, emailed me with recollections not just of Final Four week but of that entire NCAA Tournament and how the Journal covered it.

Forthwith: 

Your note made me stop and think about that 1983 Final Four and I thought I would pass along some of the things I remembered.

When we were preparing, I went to a weekly Tuesday meeting with Frankie (McCarty, managing editor) and crew. I never went so she was surprised to see me there. I told her we should coordinate coverage, and she informed me that they didn't need anything for A1 on a sports event. But Susan (Stiger) and the woman who was head of that weekly women's magazine we printed (Pat Reed) stood up and told her it was a very big event.

So Frankie informed me that they would assign someone from the city desk, she didn't want anyone from sports writing for A1. That needed a real reporter. I had a phone put in at our courtside seats so we could send on the old portabubles. My phone rang during Saturday's early game and it was Frankie telling me that the guy they had sent over couldn't get in. I informed her that I couldn't help because we had gotten our credentials a month earlier. She couldn't understand, so we compromised. I would have Bart (Ripp) do the A1 features since he technically was city desk but I'd do it Monday night. She reluctantly accepted that.

Virginia was supposed to win it. Ralph Sampson was in his senior season and UVa had Ricky Carlisle and Oldham Polynice. It was the No. 1 seed in the West, which was held at little Weber State in Ogden, Utah. N.C. State upset UVa in the championship game of the ACC Tournament to get into the NCAA. And it beat Virginia again in the West.

Ironically, Virginia went to the Final Four the next year without Sampson. I was at both Final Fours with N.C. State won, including the David Thompson-Tommy Burleson-Tim Stoddard -Monte Towe team in Greensboro, N.C. in 1974. Every game it played in the NCAA tournament was in North Carolina.

Easy (Ed Johnson) covered the West and I considered it so pre-determined that he didn't go to the first round. He stayed in Abq. and worked the high school tournament. Frank (Maestas) did the Midwest, I did the Mideast and Bart did the East. While N.C. State was a surprise, Georgia was a stunner. North Carolina was a slight favorite to win. Georgia coach Hugh Durham had been to a Final Four when he had Dave Cowens at Florida State. 

I took the Mideast because the first round was at South Florida. After those games, I headed to Vero Beach and did some Dukes stories because they opened just after the Final Four and that was the only chance.

Then I headed up to Knoxville and there was virtually a final four there with Louisville, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Arkansas. That was Denny Crum, Digger Phelps, Eddie Sutton and I think it was Joe B. Hall, but I'm not sure.

We had planned a special section before the Final Four. In my infinite wisdom, I had paid for a Ralph Sampson story from a writer in Virginia and the cover photo was going to be him with a centerfold. OUCH, We scrambled and I think ended up with Olajuwon. It took some last-minute adjusting.

I was with the Journal for 24 years and the only thing that came close to that was the Tapia-Romero fight. But it was in Vegas. Oh, we had first- and second-round regionals, but they didn't hold a candle to the Final Four.

... Those were good times, but I think we were all smart enough to realize that and appreciate it while it was happening.