On this day in 1968. Hou- 71 UCLA- 69.
Trying to see how many on forum really did go(not the 2.5 million who claimed they went)or watched or listened. My older brother went(UH student at time), I was 8 and listened on radio. He had just taken me to my first gm few weeks earlier that month against Centenary
I listened to every gm possible from there…I was hooked.
I did not go, I wasn’t born yet, but I do read everything about it I can.
I did go to the 25th anniversary game in 1993 when they played UCLA in Hofheinz. That wasn’t as fun a game, but I did get a cool poster and a reprinted game program.
I was there, sitting in Section 434. Still my #1 sporting event attended, and none other even close.
As a 9 year old living in Charleston, SC at the time, I was absent.
This was my second Cougar basketball game in person. I was at the West Texas State game on Jan. 13, 1968 at Delmar Fieldhouse…
I was in the gold level 3 or 4 rows from the top. I was about even with the free throw line at the east end of the Astrodome. I remember that when I saw the basketball bounce on the court, I would hear it about a half second later. It was a very educational experience since I learned about the speed of sound. And the basketball game wasn’t bad either.
I kind like this bec also gives a chance to see age demographics of some of us. I so respect the fans, Alumni that have always stayed w the Athletic program through the tough years. #GoCoogs
I was not there but was watching on my little black and white tv in far west Houston… when nothing was there and Memorial Drive was painted off for racing. It was telecast by TVS, it helped become one of the first nationally televised games for college basketball.
Televised by TBS I think.
No, it was on TVS with Dick Enberg and Bob Pettit calling the action.
Since that game through teenage, young adult, old adult, call me what you want adult now; I could always rattle off Coog starting lineup from that gm at moments notice. Stays with you forever!! Only 2 living today…Chaney, Hayes!
Ok. I knew Enberg did the game. He was actually UCLA announcer at the time I do believe.
I was only 12 so I watched it on TV. I had kept the Houston Post sports sections for that game until they disintegrated.
Actually, George Reynolds is also still alive. Last I heard he was working at a clothing store in New Jersey.
Hmmm. I thought George had passed also. Wasn’t Spain like in his late 40s or early 50s when he passed?
Really went, a freshman at the time. Somehow ended up with great seats in the center field pavilion…second row. End court view but close to the action.
To get an account of the Game of the Century and also the integration of athletics at UH, you may want to read a copy of “Houston Cougars in the 1960s: Death Threats, the Veer Offense, and the Game of the Century.”
I was there with my father. We had seats ($3 each) in the front row of the yellow section behind what was home plate in the Dome, looking straight across at the scoreboard. We had watched the Coogs play them in the semi-finals the previous spring while still living in Jersey. My father mentioned that they were scheduled to play in the Dome and since he was moving us there in the summer (he was transfering to the then-new Shell Building) that we could go. And so we did. It was literally life changing for me.
I decided that night that I wanted to go to college at UH. I was in 10th grade and just beginning to think about schools. We knew were going to move back north once my father’s assignment was up and I had always assumed I’d go to Rutgers or GW (my father’s school). But that game changed that . LOL I did go here, obviously, got my degrees, and met my wife. Who knows where I’d be now if I hadn’t gone that night. I’m like Chester07 in a previous post, I can’t always remember what I did this morning but I can rattle off the two teams’ lineups from that game in a heartbeat.
Nothing I’ve been to since has topped that game for excitement. I remember that they were selling special newpaper editions in the parking lot afterwards. We had parked nose-in at the AstroHall and it took forever to get out.
I have my ticket and program put away. This is a replica program cover I had signed by Guy V and Elvin years later.
I was there. Have to get out my ticket to see where I sat. I know the dome was not meant for BB as the ball looked like a pea .
Still, glad I was there.
Wife and I were there had to leave my month old son (my oldest) with my mother. Still we weren’t going to miss what we knew would be a historical event. It lived up to the billing.
I was there, of course; aren’t I always? Simply the greatest sporting event of all times; that’s all! When the game was over and I was able to leave the parking lot - finally, I drove around downtown Houston, and people were driving all around the city honking their horns. The excitement in the city was simply overwhelming! Never seen anything like it since.
The only thing that even came close was the day we beat Michigan State in Michigan, in football. I was unable to attend that game, but I listened on the radio. As the game drew to a close, they told us when the plane with the team onboard would arrive at Hobby Airport - near midnight. People were invited to go to Hobby to meet the team.
I did that, and you would not believe the crowd! They filled the entire concourse leading out to the gate, and the roof was covered with Cougar fans too. When the plane arrived, they did not even bring the plane to the gate; they parked it out in the field. When the crowd realized what was happening, they broke through the police lines at the gate, and rushed out to surround the plane. Never seen anything like that either!