| Huron Hardwood History: On the heels of Eastern Michigan University's first-ever Mid-American Conference championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament in 1987-88, I authored a series of articles recapping 14 of the greatest games in EMU's basketball history. |
| February 22, 1917 EMU Grand Rapids YMCA February 23, 1970 EMU Kentucky State January 11, 1972 EMU Duquesne December 8, 1984 EMU Cleveland State March 18, 1988 Pittsburgh EMU Feburary 24, 1962 EMU Southern Illinois March 11, 1972 EMU Evansville |
| 25 13 116 98 70 69 109 105 108 90 86 69 93 88 |
| December 19, 1979 DePaul EMU February 14, 1946 EMU Wayne December 20, 1952 EMU Illinois State December 17, 1987 EMU Michigan State March 11, 1971 EMU Eau Claire State January 6, 1988 EMU Central Michigan March 10, 1984 EMU Bowling Green |
| 57 55 47 45 102 99 84 80 87 80 72 65 64 58 |
| NICKNAME NOTE AND HUMOROUS ANECDOTE (no extra charge): Bowing to Politically Correct goon squads, Eastern Michigan University changed its athletic nickname to "Eagles" in 1991. Could there be a more bland, non-indigenous nickname than this? Well, I suppose "Wildcats" or "Rockets" (or "Wolverines"). Worse yet, it ruined my clever and alliterative series title. As an old radio sports reporter, I'm miffed that we can no longer title post-game reports "The Huronalysis." And I'm miffed my job no longer permits me to use the word "miffed." The school gave us a taste of what was to come when it unveiled the new athletics mascot during the 1984-85 season: for several games, school officials wheeled out an enormous cloth "egg" at halftime of home games. They were "whipping up" fan anticipation of what the mascot--hiding inside--would look like. Finally one night, music blaring throughout cavernous Bowen Field House, the crack in the egg burst open and out jumped a...duck. Well, we thought it was a duck. A cartoon duck. It looked precisely like the Oregon University Duck...but was actually supposed to be an "Emu" bird. The crowd was stunned momentarily, trying to figure this out. Let's see: E-M-U. Emu. Bird. Duck? After a minute, someone booed. Then, almost the entire crowd booed. I would have booed from the press table if I hadn't been laughing so hard. Of course, my radio commentary to this effect the next day nearly got me fired (since the university owned the radio station, WEMU). Anyways, to support efforts to restore the honored Huron nickname, check this out. Comments may be sent to me at david_h_snyder@hotmail.com |
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| Eagle Hardwood History. Biggest Wins Since '88: 3/17/91 EMU 71 OT Penn St 68 The team without a nickname loses the lead, Kennedy, and Thomas in OT...yet wins to go to the Sweet 16 12/10/94 EMU 92 Wisconsin 76 Payback win over nationally-ranked Badgers, who had blown out Eagles by 26 the previous year 12/27/95 EMU 93 Texas Tech 77 Red Raiders' only loss in the '95-'96 regular season 2/28/96 EMU 81 2OT Ohio 77 Eagles had dropped 3-of-4; win launched MAC and NCAA tourney runs 3/14/96 EMU 75 Duke 60 Blue Devils' 1st First Round NCAA loss in 40 years 12/14/96 EMU 68 Syracuse 65 First ever loss in Carrier Classic for Orangemen. Nearly the last ray of light for EMU hoops ever since. Thank God we beat Cal in late 2005, otherwise an entire DECADE would have been wasted. |
| The articles were published in "Huron Basketball Magazine," the game program sold at Bowen Field House during the 1988-89 season. Since that time I would have to add 1991 and '96 NCAA tourney victories and possibly regular-season wins over Syracuse, Wisconsin, and/or Texas Tech during that era (see below). |
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| But for those die-hard Huron fans, the links below will take you to the articles that appeared back in the heyday of Ben Braun, Grant Long, and Lorenzo Neeley. |
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| The Annals of Eastern Michigan basketball |
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| Kennedy McIntosh and Earle Higgins crash the boards |
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| All Huron Hardwood History content copyright, D. Snyder 1988-2008 |
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| Honors Huron Great Kennedy McIntosh has his #54 retired on January 14, 2006 |
| Eastern Echo |