1982 was a good year.  Jay and I had been married only six months when it started.  He was the graduate assistant to Jim Dutcher, head coach of the Minnesota Gophers Men's basketball team.  The Gopher's won the Big Ten Championship that year.

So this weekend, the Golden Dunker's Booster Club hosted a reunion party for Dutch and everyone associated with that team.

In 1982, I was 21 years old, newly wed and dumber than a pun.  A really bad pun, like "Hello Ladies and Germs."  That dumb.  The Dutcher's did everything they could to make all of us feel like part of the program, but I was too green and intimidated to get anything.  I spent most of that year just keeping quiet, hoping no one noticed I was there, as I clearly had no business at all being in gatherings with grown ups. 

The coaching staff included veteran Coach Stu Starner, who's lovely wife, Barb is also an artist.  When I first met her, I said I wanted to be a commercial artist, not "the kind who starves."  She laughed and said she was the kind who starves.  That's what I turned out to be too.   Once I figured out Jay wasn't going to let me starve, I got to do fun stuff, like Barb does.  It's a darn good thing, too.  I would have been fired after two weeks in an office, any office, for refusing to wear shoes while at work.

"Shoes?  I don't wear no stinkin' shoes!  What do I care if my feet fit in your bourgeoise mouth?"

Things do tend to work out for the best.

Also on staff in '82 was Jimmy "Jet" Williams.  I never knew him well, but he and Jay have always stayed in touch and have a great relationship.  Jimmy and Stu were the assistant coaches.  Further down the food chain was the part time assistant, a young up and comer named Phil "Flip" Saunders. 

Both Jay and Flip were well known around coaching circles but had never met.  They hit it off immediately and in fact, Flip is the one who first called Jay "Piv", the nickname everyone knows him by now.  After a few weeks of working together, Flip and Jay admitted to each other that they'd both had reservations about each other because both of them had been told by others that they were too much alike to work together.  Turns out everyone was wrong.  Flip's wife, Debbie, had been on the Gopher Dance Line while in college and by the time I met her, was a Jazzercize instructor.  Debbie is blonde, perky, gorgeous, flirty and the life of the party.  In short, everything I hate.  We shouldn't have liked each other at all, but we did and still do.  At least I like her.  Whether or not she likes me goes in the "questions I dare not ask" file.

1982 was my first experience as a coach's wife.  The year before, I had been merely a coach's fiance.  Jay had been an assistant at a private college here in town that year.  That team won 32 games and made it to the second round of their national tournament.  Then, in '82, the Gophers won the Big Ten.

I thought "well, there's not much to this, is there?  Winning is easy!"

Eight years in Jamestown, Nodak and Havre, Montana were a lesson in reality.  Jay's teams always won alot, but it wasn't easy.

Last night, there was a reception over at the U for all the coaches and players from that Big Ten Championship team.  It was really fun.  I had a great time which was a relief because it's always a close thing with me when I go out; either tons of fun or bored to death. Then both Stu Starner and Cookie Holmes told me I looked exactly the same as I did when I was 22.  This was turning out to be a great party.

Two glasses of wine later, I was chatting with Marilyn Dutcher about how we women can hold grudges much longer and better than men.  I got animated and knocked my glass of wine into Coach Dutcher's lap.  Fortunately he has great reflexes and managed to avoid the wine and in fact had mopped most of it up before I had figured out what I'd hit.  Then he said something gracious and funny and I decided I'd better get some food in me before I started singing. 

The Golden Dunkers had presents for everyone.  In addition to a plaque commemorating the Championship of '82,  everyone got a highlight dvd of the season.  The coolest thing of all, though is that all the players and coaches are getting replicas of their championship rings!  A lot of guys had lost their rings, Jay's was actually stolen while he was at the Olympics in LA in 1984, and a lot of guys old rings just didn't fit any more, so everyone was fitted for a new one.

Shortly after that, Flip managed to sneak into the party, almost unseen.  He had been at the convention center watching two of his daughters compete in the state high school dance line competition.  Their team won, and Debbie was off celebrating with the girls. 

About a half hour later, everyone had moved to the bar next door and Flip, Jay and I were left to ourselves in the empty party room.  We sat at a table full of dinner detritus while a busboy, who was trying very hard to be cool and not scream "OMIGOD, YOU'RE FLIP SAUNDERS" cleaned up around us. 

Did we talk about how everyone at the U is hoping that Flip will dump his NBA gig and come coach at his alma mater?

No.  We talked about his prospects for winning a world championship and how much fun it is to shop at Banks.  He and Jay are both clothes horses and back in the old days they loved nothing better than to read about a fire or flood in a department store or warehouse.  Sure, half their wardrobes smelled of ash, but they always looked good!

After awhile we joined the folks in the bar for a few more drinks and lots of photos.

Then today, we were all invited to the Arena Club before the Gopher/Ohio State game for brunch.  We were some of the first people there and I'm really glad.  For awhile it was just us and Barry Wohler (yes Dad, that  Barry Wohler; the hero of Bird Island/Lake Lillian) and his wife, Lana.  So we got to hang out and talk for about a half hour before everyone else showed up.  It was really fun.  Then everybody else showed up and it was even more fun.

Randy Breuer arrived with one of his sons.  The youngster, who came up to his Dad's elbow, had on a letter jacket.  Lana Wohler and I were trying to figure out how old the kid was.  We guessed maybe eighth grade.  Cus you know, he came up to his Dad's elbow. 

We forgot to consider that his Dad is 7'3".  The young man in question is 6'3", a sophomore in highschool and already has a sleeve full of football bars on his letter jacket.  Among mortals he looked quite tall.

By tip off, we had all been ushered down to the floor where they had reserved a section for all of us right next to the band.  Then, during the second half, the '82 Champions were brought onto the court, and everyone was introduced to the crowd.   Watching them all parade out to center court, I felt like I was in a made for tv movie.  The cast of characters was too perfect; the patriarchal Head Coach, who had been unjustly fired years ago and was now being given the respect he deserved; the head assistant who is doing brilliant things with his own sports program in the great state of Texas; the grad assistant who has become a statewide legend who doesn't seem to know how to lose and the part time assistant, now NBA Head Coach who was run out of town on a rail two years ago, now being given the hero's welcome. Then there were the players!  Not an unsuccessful one in the bunch. Lawyers, businessmen, Coaches...the few who couldn't make it back for the reunion were in Las Vegas, working for the NBA at the All Star Game.  Everyone got wild applause but the loudest was for Flip and Trent Tucker.  When Randy Breuer was introduced, the barn rang with the chant "Brooooooo!" just like it did 25 years ago.  I can't believe they haven't retired his number yet.  You know in 25 years only three players have out scored Breuer?  And that's even with the advent of the three point shot, which had yet to be introduced in '82.  Of course, with the three point shot, I think Trent Tucker may have outscored Randy Breuer. 

Shortly after the mid court ceremony, the crowd began chanting "We want Flip!"

Well, after he wins a World title, Flip may have time to consider whether or not he wants to go back to school. 

In the meantime, it was a great weekend and a nice breather right before the onset of March Madness.  Jay's team won their last regular season game on Saturday and our State Tournament opens at MCTC on Friday.  It should be a blast.

Oh, the Gophers got crushed by Ohio State.   

 

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