By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Editor
One championship may mean very little to other schools, but the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball 1977 NIT Championship team was something that, to this day, the Bonaventure community holds close to it.
The Bonnies got past Oregon and Rutgers in the first two rounds of the tournament. Then-junior guard, Glenn Hagan, class of 1978, knocked the game-winning shot against Rutgers to give the Bonnies a 79-77 win.
The Bonnies were in another dog fight with Villanova, who had lost to the Bonnies earlier that season in the Reilly Center. The Bonnies would pull out a four-point victory to move onto the finals against Houston.
The momentum was with the Bonnies, who came out victorious in a 94-91 win over Houston. Then-junior forward, Greg Sanders, scored 40 points in the championship game and took home the Most Valuable Player award of the tournament.
Leading the Bonnies that year in scoring was captain senior forward Essie Hollis, averaging 21.7 points per game. Right behind Hollis was Sanders, averaging 21.2 points per game. Hagan averaged 13.7 points per game.
Saturday, Dec. 3, the Bonnies took on Big rival the Buffalo Bulls. The Bonnies honored the 1977 NIT Championship team at half time of the game also retiring Sanders’ number 53 jersey.
Sanders said “it’s an honor,” to have his jersey hung in the rafters and that he is “a Bonnie for life.”
Head coach Jim Satalin of the 1977 Bonnies said, “ [It] feels great; I come back every year for a game or two but not with everybody back like this.”
Satalin said he remembers all the great times, good players and good friends they had.
“The excitement with Bonaventure basketball was so high, but more than anything, I look back and think these are the people from 40 years [ago] — I’m still great friends with all of them,” Satalin said.
Senior captain Jim Baron of the 1977 Bonnies, reflects on being at Bonaventure not only as a coach but a player too.
“This has been a great way to experience coaching here, playing here and living around the community and being around the Franciscan, the teachers, the faculty and the community,” Baron said. “This is really really special. We had a special bond with our team and we were like family, and nobody can take that away.”
This is an incredible opportunity to just see all the guys and just be around people who supported us back then.
One memory that will always stick with Hollis about the 1977 team is, “39:59,” when the Bonnies were officially NIT Champs.
“Everybody exploded because we had won the NIT, and we had people coming out of the stands like ants. It was so incredible,” Hollis said.
Hagan stressed the personal significance of seeing Sanders’ number go up in the rafters.
“We started together, and to come back here and be apart of this it is a great feeling. It’s an honor,” Hagan said.
The Bonnies shot 51.9 percent from the field that year and held their opponents to 47 percent. They would out rebound opposing teams by five rebounds a game. The Bonnies would grab 39.1 rebounds per game and the opposing team only 34.1. Hollis had the highest rebounding totals for one game with 21 against DePaul on Jan. 5, 1977.
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
