A SJU Fan’s Weekend
This past weekend was wonderful for St. John’s University alumni. On Friday night Chris Mullin was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA and golfer Keegan Bradley captured the PGA Championship.
Mullin was one of the most skilled and intense basketball players ever to come out of New York City. He was the leader of the very talented St. John’s Teams in the mid 1980’s. The Brooklyn native could do just about anything with a basketball. In 1985 he led St. John’s team which was coached by the legendary Lou Carnesecca to the final four.
During Mullin’s tenure playing at St. John’s you never wanted to miss any of the games against their arch rival Georgetown. The Hoyas were coached by John Thompson who was a wizard of coaching defense and his squad was anchored by Patrick Ewing who was no doubt one of the greatest college centers of all-time and went on to have a good career for the New York Knicks. Mullin after college would go on to play for the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers, Ewing and Mullin were teammates on the 1992 “Dream Team,” in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
Mullin’s induction speech on Friday night was very emotional. He dedicated the honor to his late parents, thanked all his past teammates and even a pair of elderly nuns who have been going to his games since he was in grade school. His presenter at the Hall of Fame Ceremonies was Carnesecca who he has known since he was 10 years old. Mullin said about Carnesecca in his speech, “What I cherish most is out relationship the past 36 years.” It was great to see such a touching moment between two first class people in the game of basketball.
While Mullin’s induction was a great honor for him and St. John’s University the moment that really stole the show this weekend was Bradley’s perseverance to win the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. A St. John’s golfer had won a major golf championship. That’s a sentence I never thought I would write as a sportswriter. In fact Bradley is just one of three golfers to win a major golf tournament in their first attempt.
Major golf championships are not usually won by golfers who went to college in the northeast part of the country. They’re usually won by golfers who went to college where they’re able to play and practice year round in nice weather.
At one point on Sunday it looked like Bradley had given away the tournament after making a triple bogey of the par three 15th hole. After he finished the 15th hole he trailed then leader of the tournament Jason Dufner by five shots. Having a five shot lead with four to play in golf is like having a 10-point lead in basketball game with under 30 seconds to play. It looked like the tournament was over but then something exciting happened.
Bradley showed great mental strength and skill by being able to birdie two of the last three holes and the pressure might have gotten to Dufner a little since he went on to make three straight bogeys. It turned out the two players were tied after regulation and a three-hole playoff would decide the championship. Bradley, who is the nephew of women’s hall of fame golfer Pat Bradley would birdied the first hole of the playoff and ended up winning the three-hole playoff over Dufner by one shot.
The lesson in this tournament goes back to the famous Yogi Berra quote “It’s ain’t over to its over.” All athletes professional or amateur must remember to not throw in the towel when things are going badly. One must always fight hard to the end of a competition.
Bradley’s victory is a breath of fresh air in a golf season that hasn’t been filled with many memorable moments.
St. John’s Alumni will be walking a little taller this week thanks to Mullin and Bradley.
Cheers,
Peter Gerken 8-17-11
Gerken is a Westchester County native and has published previously with The Patent Trader and the Bronxville Review Press. While attending Boston College he was the sports editor of the university’s newspaper, The Heights, and served as a staff writer for the Boston College sports publication Eagle Action. He can be reached at wpexaminersports@yahoo.com
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