#First October 15

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For many small colleges that play NCAA Division II and III Basketball today it the FIRST day of practice.

Reflecting on 26 seasons of coaching college basketball I have quite a number of memories from the FIRST Day of practice. Over the past five years the NCAA has loosened the start date for NCAA Division I teams. In 2021 most teams were able to begin full scale practices in late September if they followed the rule below.

I had a twenty-five year stretch from 1972 to 1997 where October 15th meant the FIRST DAY of basketball practice. For decades that was the day when college basketball teams could officially begin practice. As a coach I looked forward to that FIRST DAY.

I am sure that the same is true for many others including John Haskins, Rob Burke, Drew Richards, Ben Miller, Bob McEvoy, Billy Lee, Bart Lundy, Kelvin Sampson, Russ Bergman, Knocky Thorndyke, Mel Gibson, John Thurston, Greg Domecq, Rick Walrond, Ken Spencer, Ricky Williams, and Mark Peeler. Like each of them I would spend months and weeks planning all of the details of that FIRST DAY.

Memories of First Day of Practice

Not all of my memories are connected to what I had planned for practice.

I remember the somber news I received in 1994 after our first practice at Winthrop University that Mike Randall had died. I did a post on Mike and his friend David Angel several years ago. There is ball field named after Mike at Hargett Park in Rock Hill SC

People that know me might classify me as organized. That was true when it came to planning a basketball practice. One of my flaws is I don’t take in to consideration unexpected events.

It may be hard to phantom but my first three years as a Head Basketball Coach in college we did not have a full-time athletic trainer. If an injury happened at a 6:30 AM practice it was up to the coaches. Kelly Lampkin a 6’6″ forward from Kenly NC was an example of that tearing his patella tendon on the first drill on the first practice for one of my first UNC Pembroke teams. I ended practice and drove him from campus to Southeastern Health in Lumberton.

Then there was Dwayne “Sup” Watson from Fairmont NC dunking minutes before the FIRST PRACTICE was to begin at UNC Pembroke and shattering the backboard. That pre-practice dunk caused us to cancel practice and added to his UNCP Hall of Fame mystique.

The FIRST practice for any team is the beginning of a journey be ready for some unexpected twists and turns.