There were somethings that Inky, XL and I gave up when we chose to go to a DIII school, and being big time in athletics was one of them. In the 90's at least. We had a few teams that made a ripple, but for the the most part we were unknown. Fast forward to the fall of 2004 when a 6-7 freshman forward came to our little campus and some of that began to change.
We went to the final four with that freshman that year as he helped a group of upperclassmen come together as a great team. Together they made it back to the NCAA tournament the next year and put together a 53-8 record over the two years. We were ranked all year long, and people who knew DIII knew York College. Then the soccer team stepped up to national prominence, at one point ranked number one in the country and we had a wrestler win back to back national titles.
We were getting put on the map, but it wasn't like big time college sports. That is, not till last August when that young freshman forward -now a senior captain- was arrested for assault in an off campus beating of another student. Next thing you know he was suspended for two games, a penalty that seemed small at the time, but which ultimately lead to him missing out on setting the school and conference all time scoring record. Not to mention the fact that with him alone, the team went 34-18 and didn't make the NCAA's, even though he was scoring 20 points a night.
The jury in his trial is now deadlocked, trying to decide if they should find him guilty or believe his younger brother who said he did it, and was convicted in juvenile court. Headlines at last! I think I'd like to go back to the good old days of a low profile 8-18, thank you.
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