This year’s men’s and women’s alumni basketball games had a better turnout than ever before. The Dixon Center was filled with alumni from classes as far back as 1996 all the way through last year’s graduating class. The men and women who proudly wore the white and blue uniforms in their own college career were back on the court representing their alma mater’s colors once again with and against their former teammates.
On Saturday, Jan. 31, the alumni women took over the Dixon gym at 11 a.m. White vs. blue, women of various ages played the sport they loved together with their prior teammates.
“It’s really nice to come back here number one to the school, but it’s also really fun to play with people you got to play with in college,” Nikki Duggan, graduate of Cabrini’s 2009 class, said. “The athletic department is awesome; they’re good with all their alumni events, but this one in particular is really neat because it turns into a whole-day thing adding the guys’ game, and then having the reception afterwards. You’re not just coming back for a game.”
Amy Richetti, class of 2006, said it felt good to be back. “It feels good seeing everybody, reconnecting with friends and everything,” Richetti said. “They do a wonderful job every year, trying to reach out and connect to alumni.”
Laura Caron, who graduated in 2013 and is now a fifth-grade teacher, came out for her second time this year.
“We all look forward to it every year. We all live far away now so we all get together,” Caron said. “There’s definitely a bigger turn out than years past.”
Caron was a part of the 2013 CSAC championship team as well.
“It’s great; it’s a really fun day where we’re able to see some of the players who have been a part of the program and the legacy here,” Kate Pearson, the women’s head basketball coach, said. As a coach, the event proves very important to Pearson for her current team.
“I think it just helps build the family aspect that we try to create here at Cabrini,” she said. “When they’re able to come back and see the kids who enjoyed their time here enough to come back to the alumni event and have the opportunity to speak with them afterwards, I think it definitely drives that home.”
Later that same day, following the men’s varsity basketball game, the men’s alumni played at 6 p.m. Head coach Tim McDonald expressed the importance of this event as well.
“It’s really important to have everyone come back, not only to see us play, but they get to meet our current players, which is really important more for our current players than our previous players,” McDonald said. “They get to know them, they can network with them and that way when they graduate here they can look to them as a resource trying to find a job or internship. It’s good to have them, like a family atmosphere.”
AJ Williams, former player of the class of 2013, spent a year after graduation as an assistant coach for Wesley College. He is now the education director of the Boys’ and Girls’ Club.
“I’m out of shape, but it was fun being back on the court with these guys. It brings back good memories,” Williams said. “Playing in the National Championship game was an experience not a lot of people are going to get. We made a run that year and it was unbelievable; that team was my best friends.”
A recent graduate from just last year, Fran Rafferty laced up for the game Saturday night as well. “It’s weird, I mean I’m not playing basketball as much, so I’m a little rusty,” Rafferty said. “But it’s cool to come back here and see guys you don’t always get to see.”
Rafferty was a part of the 2012 National Championship team. “There’s nothing ever really going to compare to that,” he said.
One of the longest-reigning alumni at the event, and a member of Cabrini’s Athletic Hall of Fame, Eric Tidwell, was involved in assisting Brian Beacham with the game and reaching out to other alumni in a timelier manner.
“It’s not about me, it’s about getting everyone together, the guys you haven’t seen for a whole year,” Tidwell said. “It’s not just the players anymore; it’s now their wives, their girlfriends, their kids. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what Coach John Dzik always taught me and that’s what I think he always wanted.”
