Way Back When

[Wayne23]

4/3: #2 Kentucky is the national champion.

4/4: Awards: Art Post is Cionf. F Defensive Player of the Year. Kurt Grun makes the 1st team, Post and John Weal make the 2nd. I am Coach of the Year.

Another reason to leave is that while we have some very good recruits coming in we are losing Rich, Post, Malo, Weal, and Turn.

4/9: Our Team Prestige rises to 32.

I have a phone at home now and the calls are coming.

Big decision. UConn is interested. That is still close to Emma's home in Glocester so she might not have such serious objections. Also, it might well be a “destination school” so we might not ever need to move again.

4/11: I'm here in Storrs, CT, speaking with the Athletic Director.

4/12: I am back home and faced with a terribly difficult decision...

“So if we move to Connecticut it is possible that we may never need to move again?”

“It is possible. I cannot guarantee it, however but it seems likely that we could stay or at the most move only once more.”

“Connecticut is not far from Glocester by train.”

“Usually less than two hours on the Willimantic to Providence train.”

“Well, I prefer to remain here but you will do what you must, of course.”

4/14: I need to make a decision soon.

4/15: I'm staying here. My mission is to take Bryant as far as I can. We'll try Conference D next season.

I may regret this next year or the year after if we wind up moving far from Rhode Island. Emma clearly wouldn't be happy.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. I received another salary increase when I decided to stay. I am up to $30 per week. My assistants each make $20. The factory workers and many office workers make $11.

I get $10,500. Delighted!

27-7, round of 8. Overall, for 6 seasons, I am 165-30, .846

[Wayne23]

5/1: We skip Conference E and go to D.

Recruit class #14.

I buy the East Premium.

5/29: Only one player leaves. He didn't figure in our plans.

Round 1: I offer to a B. No.

Round 2: Offer to a PG, a B. No.

6/11: The wedding went off without a hitch. It was a beautiful sunny day, warm but not hot.

After the reception we went to Cape Cod for a few days.

We came home to a house we rented between Smithfield and Glocester. Just a little four room house on a lake.

Round 3: Offer to a B, a Center. No.

Round 4: Offer to a PF who's a C. No.

Round 5: Offer to a B, a Center. Got him. Practice player.

6/25: No camps this season.

6/26: 2 scholarships. We want one big, one guard.

Settling down to domestic life. Emma is a very good cook but her baking is still iffy.

7/11: This is a big adjustment for Emma, far bigger than for me, given that work occupies so much of my day. We followed tradition and had her quit her job when we got married, assuming that taking care of the house and cooking would be a full time job. I think it is, but I also think she may be lonely.
I tell her she should take the train to visit her mother one day a week but for some reason she is reluctant to do that. We try to go on Sundays, but often I am too busy and she must go alone.

I think she'll adjust in time, and of course when the first baby comes all of this will fade away.

7/24: Emma and I went to Providence to a music concert last evening. She really seemed to enjoy it.

8/21: We offer to a PG and a C. Both have us on their list.

[Wayne23]

8/28: I try to take Emma to a musical concert of some kind every week. She really enjoys it. I have also convinced her to visit her mother during the week now and then and to stay until Meg gets home from school so she can see her sister as well.

9/1: The union now has 46 states as Oklahoma is added.

9/15: “Jacob...”

“Yes?”

“I am with child.”

Wonderful news. The baby is expected in mid March. We will tell Emma's family on Sunday.

9/18: We get our #1, a PG, #33. We lose the C, offer to another.

We are still not invited to a tournament. The schedule is challenging.

Emma's mother is now coming here rather than Emma going there due to Emma's “delicate condition.” So many euphemisms. It isn't polite to discuss certain things which I believe should be discussed.

9/25: We get the C, #60. Two very good recruits and they are both very good students!

10/2: First day of practice. I think we have another very good team.

10/6: Emma continues to be less than happy. It is a difficult pregnancy and she misses her family even though her mother comes here one day a week and both of her parents and her sister visit on Sundays.

I don't know what to do. I try to be attentive and helpful. When I ask what's wrong she doesn't answer.

10/21: I finally managed to find out what's wrong. Emma is terrified of giving birth. She is convinced that either she or the baby will die.

“I will make arrangements for you to have the baby in the hospital in providence. They have the most up to date facilities for this sort of thing.”

“It doesn't matter.”

“It matters a great deal!”

11/4: I take the day off and accompany Emma to her visit with the doctor in Providence. I wait outside during the examination, of course. Then the doctor calls me in.

“Your wife has a great fear of childbirth. This will undoubtedly make the process more difficult. But it will not make it more dangerous. We have great success delivering healthy babies to healthy mothers. If your wife follows our advice regarding diet and self-care everything should be fine. Please help to see that this happens.”

11/12: Here's the lineup:

Senior Ike Wall is at PG.

Junior Ric Arch is at SG.

#3 guard is frosh Colt Reed who moves the ball really well. #4 is junior Jeb Moon, and finally there's frosh Brad Jona. I would have red shirted Brad but I
felt we needed to carry 5 guards. He won't play much.

Junior Dan Mass is at SF. He's looked very good in practice.

Senior Lang Robi is at PF

Junior Kurt Grun, probably our best player, is back at C.

#1 big off the bench is junior Carl Dori. #2 is frosh Mike Ross who could do good things and could move up the depth chart. #3 is frosh Fran Quar, who looks good. Finally there is soph Hui He, a transfer from Harvard. He won't play much.

[Wayne23]

11/13: We start tomorrow with Ohio here.

11/25: 3-1 start.

We won the opener easily over Ohio, 93-70 here. The guards and the bench won it for us, we got beat inside. 22, 3, 5, 3 for SG Ric Arch, 12, 1, 8 for PG Ike
Wall, 10, 11, 3 for 6th man Carl Dori, 12, 5 for Lang Robi, and 15 for sub F/C Mike Ross. So when you factor the bench in we didn't get beat so bad inside. Also, +13 RBs, +10 in the paint.

Then we lost 72-90 at #20 Purdue. Our D was non-existent. They shot 55.9% and we were -12 in the paint, losing it inside. Looks like our starting big men are not as good as I thought they were.

82-60 over a highly regarded Stanford team here. 25, 4, 4 for Ike Wall, 16 for Arch. Dori continues to play well from the bench and our inside game continues to under achieve point wise, but +14 RBs and +14 in the paint.

Costly win though, Dan Mass fell hard and did something to his head. He is seeing double and the docs say we need to keep him out for awhile. Carl Dori, who has been playing quite well, will start.

In the fourth game in this set we defeated Georgia 92-68 at home. Dori led us with 14, 8, 7, shutting down his man. +12 for the bench. +18 RBs, +18 down low, and the best game yet for our big men. Not sure if I'll start Dori or not but he will get more minutes when Mass comes back.

11/26: “So Emma, is it me, married life, or both that you hate?”

Stupid, Jake. She ran into the bedroom crying. In my defense I never see a smile, never hear anything positive. But still, that was not an intelligent or a kind thing to say. I waited an hour or so, went into the bedroom.

“Look, let me see if I can find us a place in Glocester, as near your family's house as possible.”

She cried again, but these were happy tears. When she was able to speak she thanked me.

The next day we had a much better talk. She told me that the issues were her fears around giving childbirth and her loneliness.

“I love you, Jacob, I really love you. But I'm so scared and so lonely.”

[Wayne23]

Mass will miss at least one more, maybe two, and that's a tough break for us since we're at #22 Ohio ST.

11/30: 82-67 over Ohio ST! 12, 6, 3 for Dori. 6 others made significant contributions on offense and we played very good defense.

Mass is healthy again but Dori will continue to start.

12/14: We're 6-2.

Memphis embarrassed us there, 56-76. No offense at all. We shot 31.7%. 22 turnovers was a large factor.

We bounced back with a home win against Georgia Tech, 79-64. 33 points for Arch. But our inside players are not scoring. This is happening consistently and I'm not certain why. Also, +11 RBs, but -10 inside.

We then defeated Auburn here in Smithfield, 74-52. Center Kurt Grun had his first good game of the season, 20 and 9. Arch had 18, 4, 4, 7. A very good +32 in the paint.

3 more games before conference play begins. The first two both appear to be challenging.

12/15: “Jacob, father says there is a duplex right next door to him that has an apartment available on January 1.”

“I'll go to Glocester tomorrow and make the arrangements.”

We went to a concert in town tonight and Emma actually seemed to enjoy it! She is mostly over the terrible digestive issues she suffered early in the pregnancy.

12/16: “Emma, I made the arrangements and we can move in on the 28th of this month.”

The economy has been very sour for several months now. President Roosevelt is trying, but without much success.

Earlier this year Rudyard Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. I very much enjoy his rousing works!

There is talk of a new thing called “radio.” Evidently music and speech are sent through the air and a receiver, called a “radio” can pick them up and they can be heard. Word is that eventually people will be able to have these “radios” in their homes. I'll believe it when I see it!

[Wayne23]

12/26: We crushed Wichita ST, 89-57, at home. 19, 9 for Grun, 11 each for Dori, Arch, and back up guard Colt Reed. +27 RBs.

Then we lost at Michigan, 64-70. Reed led us with 14, Arch had 13, 3, 3. No one else did much against Michigan's defense. They won it at the line, +10.

To make it worse, Point Guard Ike Wall hurt his knee and will miss two weeks. Reed will start.

12/29: We moved yesterday. I hired a wagon and two horses to pull it, as well as a driver, and the team moved us. It was an all day affair. This is an up and down apartment, small, but 2 bedrooms, and it is equipped with electricity. It even has hot water! The heat is a coal burning stove in the living room. Not much heat gets upstairs to the bedrooms so if the baby comes either early or on schedule we may need to rig up a bed for Emma downstairs, and we will put the crib down there.

1/3/1908: 82-60 over Kent ST here. 15, 5 for Robi, 5 others with 10 or more.

Ike Wall will be back for our next game.

We end pre-season play at 8-3, NET #9. +11.9 PPG, +10.6 RBs, -1.6 turnovers, but a horrid 15.8.

Ric Arch leads us with 15.5 per game but no one else gets more than 9.7. Our #7 scorer gets 7.5, and #8 5.5. Grun leads in rebounding with 8.1.

This is not a particularly impressive team, despite a rather decent record to date. It will be interesting to see how we fare in Conference D!

Emma is in much better spirits living next door to her family. The trolley trip adds about 75 minutes a day to my work schedule but it is well worth it. I am concerned that if a good opportunity leads me elsewhere it will cause huge family problems. Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we get to it!

[Wayne23]

1/22: 3-1 in the 1st 4 Conf. D games.

We defeated Arizona State 68-59 at home. We had LOTS of foul issues, especially inside. Lang Robi led us with 25 and 7. +12 RBs, +16 in the paint. Very sloppy game, 22 turnovers to their 23.

Our 2nd game was difficult in several ways. We lost 72-77 in overtime. We missed the front of a one-and-one with .3 seconds remaining in regulation so we should have won the game. We sort of fell apart in overtime. Some bad calls did not help! We shot only 35.4% for the game and were 4-22 on threes.

Also, starting SG Ric Arch hurt his shoulder and will miss our next two games. The injury happened at the very end of regulation and not having him for the overtime was yet another factor.

We won 75-66 at Boise ST. Colt Reed, filling in for Ric Arch, led us with 19, 4, 6, 3. Kurt Grun had 19 and 7. Sub F/C Dan Mass had 11 and 4.

Finally, in a big win, we defeated #24 Marquette, 80-67 in Smithfield. Reed led us again with 16, 3, 6. Dori had 13, 8. +24 for the bench. +20 in the paint.
Unfortunately, we had 21 turnovers. Awful!

Arch will be back for our next game. While Reed is a very good offensive player his defense is a real liability.

After 4 conference games only Texas Tech remains undefeated.

Emma is getting quite... large. The doctor thinks she is too large for this stage. She is very uncomfortable. However, she is much happier being next door to her family, and that makes my life much more pleasant. Our relationship is a great deal stronger these days.

There is a very cute song about a Glow Worm making the rounds. Then a cute little love song, “Cuddle Up a Little Closer,” is very popular.

[Wayne23]

2/3: 4-0 in this set. Given that 3 were away, that's a good result.

We won at Colorado, 65-58. 18, 2, 2, 5 for Arch, 10, 10 for Grun. +14 in the paint but 20 TOs- they had 26. A sloppy, low scoring game.

Then we beat TCU at home, 89-72. 26, 11 for Grun, 13, 8 for Dori, 15 for Wall. +24 RBs, +30 inside. (GAMES)

In our 3rd game in this set we won at VA Commonwealth, 65-51, but Ike Wall hurt his hand. He'll miss two games. Colt Reed will start.
12, 8, 4 for Dori, 13, 4, 2, 3 for Arch, 12, 8 for Robi. +20 RBs, but 21 TOs.

In our 4th game in the set we won at Buffalo, 72-59. 14, 3, 2, 4 for Arch, 11, 8, 6 for Reed, 11, 6 for Grun. Lang Robi strained a knee. He'll miss 3 games. The injuries are piling up. Dan Mass will start.

We'll be down 2 starters for our next game.

We're 15-4, 7-1, tied for first with Texas Tech. 3 teams are one back.

2/4: I have a son. I'm less than thrilled because Emma had a terrible time and both she and the boy are not doing well. Labor lasted just slightly less than 24 hours.

When the train arrived in Providence I left the team and went directly to the hospital.

“Dr. Jones, I just arrived back in town. What can you tell me?”

“Your wife is very weak. We're not sure she'll make it. She's resting and we're watching her and trying to make her drink fluids. It is touch and go.”

“And my son?”

“He was 5 ½ weeks premature. He is small and he is weak. The lungs are probably not fully developed. We are not certain that he will make it.”

I called the athletic office and managed to speak with Ted Baer:

“Ted. I need to take a leave of absence.”

I explained the situation. Ted was very supportive. Bench coach Jon Hart will coach the team in my absence.

2/5: No improvement in the condition of either my wife or my son. Emma seems to be holding her own. The boy is not.

[Wayne23]

2/6: My baby son is dying. Dr. Jones says it's a matter of time.

Jon Hart here: We destroyed Saint Mary here, 85-42.

19, 1, 4, 6 for Arch, 16, 3, 6 for Reed. +26 RBs, +26 inside. Only 10 turnovers.

Ike Wall is back. Lang Robi is out for 2 more games.

2/7: My son died during the night. We never even gave him a name.

“Mr. Last, your wife is, understandably, in terrible condition emotionally, but she is getting better physically. We'll keep her here for another week or so, and then she can go home.”

I'm staying out of work for now. I'm trying to support Emma but she doesn't say a word when I'm in her room. I don't know how to help her.

“Mr. Smithfield, what am I doing wrong?”

“I don't know, Jake. She isn't saying much to either of us. Maybe Meg knows more but she says she cannot violate Emma's confidence.”

“She was unhappy from the time we got married.”

“Yes, I know. It is strange. She was so looking forward to the marriage.”

“The marriage or the wedding?”

“... Ah. I see what you mean, yes. It may very well be that she was focusing so much on the wedding ceremony and reception that she did not think enough about married life and what it entailed.”

“More and more, that is my thought. When she realized what she had gotten herself into she became aware that she did not want it. She tells me she loves me, and I believe she does. I also believe she does not want to be married.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yes.”

I am not going to Nebraska with the team but I will very likely return to coaching upon their return.

2/9: Bench Coach Jon Hart: 80-67 at Nebraska. We led almost all the way and in the 2nd half by as much as 21. Ric Arch had 21 with 4 steals. 14, 11 for

Dori, 13, 7 for Grun. +24 down low, +12 rebounds. I believe Coach Last will be back when we return home. I will be sure to tell him that I am undefeated!

2/11: I returned to coaching today. Everyone at practice was very kind but clearly no one knew what to say.

2/12: “Emma, I wish you would speak to me.”

“I have nothing to say, Jacob. I am very, very sad and I would like to be alone.”

“I am your husband. I would like to help you to get through this terrible time.”

“I am told our son was buried.”

“Yes. This morning. It was terribly sad.”

2/17: We win our last 2, including an important win over Texas Tech, 86-60, here. I did not expect such a drubbing of them. 17, 4, 3 for Arch, who has been doing some very powerful scoring of late. 16, 5 for Dori, 15, 2, 3 for Wall in his return to the lineup. 12, 5 for sub C/F Mike Ross. +14 in the paint, but 20 turnovers.

We then beat South Carolina here by an 84-67 margin. 6 players had between 10 and 14. +32 in the paint and only 10 turnovers.

We enter the polls at #23. We are 19-4, 11-1, with a 2 game lead with 4 to be played.

“Emma?”

“Please leave me alone, Jacob.”

“You are scheduled to be released tomorrow.”

“Yes. I'm going to mother's.”

“Yes, you still have recuperating to do.”

“No, Jacob, I am going back to mother's house. I plan to stay there.”

“And what do your parents say about that?”

“They are very much against it but they will not turn me away.”

“So our marriage is over?”

“I... I don't know, Jacob. But if you want a divorce I will not stop you.”

“I don't want a divorce, I want my wife back.”

“I am sorry, Jacob. I do not think that will be possible. Now please go away.”

[Wayne23]

3/5: And the regular season ends. Here's the recap of our last four games, then some stats:

64-56 at St. Louis. Low scoring, sloppy game but we prevailed. 21, 2, 4 for our leading scorer, Ric Arch. We won this at the line, +15. Their coach was NOT happy with the officiating.

74-54 at Arizona ST. 22 for Arch, 13, 10, 3 for Grun. +18 inside but 20 turnovers. This will surely haunt us in the post season.

Our last two were at home and both were huge wins.

First came an 81-52 victory over Fresno State. Arch was in foul trouble all night and was held to 11 but Point Guard Ike Wall had 17, 1, 4, 4. 11, 2, 8 for sub guard Colt Reed. +12 down low, +11 RBs.

We ended the season defeating Boise State 80-47. 17, 11 for Grun, 14, 4, 4, 4 for Arch, 12, 5 for Robi. +21 RBs, +20 inside, only 9 turnovers.

We end the regular season at 23-4, 15-1, #15, NET #9. We win Conference D by 3 over Marquette, 4 over 2 teams.

+14.7 PPG, +11.6 RBs, -2.3 turnovers but a truly terrible 16.3. +4.3 assists.

Ric Arch leads us with 14.1 PPG. Our next 5 get between 10.4 and 8.1, then 6.9 and 5.7. We have many scorers. Kurt Grun leads with 8.2 rebounds.

I haven't seen my wife since she was released from the hospital. Last time I saw her was February 17. The Smithfields felt it would be better to give her some time. It has been more than two weeks. I go to see Mr. Smithfield at his work now and then. He says Emma is very sad. He thinks I would hurt my cause by visiting her. I don't know what to do so I do nothing. It is ridiculous to have her right next door and to not go over there.