Lightning struck twice in the sports world around Oneonta in the early 1970s.
“Time has run out for all the speculation for today’s soccer classic meeting between Hartwick College and Oneonta State on the Red Dragons familiar turf,” The Oneonta Star reported on Dec. 1, 1973.
It was still fairly fresh on local people’s minds how just a year earlier, these two powerhouse soccer squads clashed at Damaschke Field, to move on in the NCAA playoffs. SUNY Oneonta was the winner in the 1972 contest. It was time for what many called the “Dream Rematch.”
The weekend before, undefeated Oneonta State defeated Army in a three-overtime thriller, 2-1. Hartwick defeated Long Island University, and that set the stage for the New York state final of the NCAA Division I soccer tournament.
The Star continued, “Everyone aired their final feelings last night when Dr. Clifford Craven, President at Oneonta State, held a pre-game party at his home. Dignitaries from both campuses attended including Hartwick President Dr. Adolph Anderson.
“Word was at the party that Dr. Anderson and Dr. Craven will share a seat in the pressbox on Red Dragon Field today in the second confrontation in two years between the two national powers.
“The party, perhaps more than the game, marked a milestone in ‘town-gown’ relations and today’s game can do nothing but add to what may very well become a tremendous rivalry.”
There most certainly were wagers and bets on this game. One stood out, as The Star had reported on Nov. 30, “Oneonta State athletic director Ed Kassler and his Hartwick counterpart Dr. Leroy Chipman tried on one another’s school jackets yesterday. Both have said if their opposition wins they’ll wear their jacket around for a week.”
As one might also imagine, tickets became a valuable possession that week for admission to Red Dragon Field.
“It was announced Thursday by O-State public relations director Jim Georgeson that 500 additional tickets will go on sale today.
“Oneonta State will have 350 of them and they all will be sold to students with I.D. cards. None will be available to adults.
“Hartwick gets 150 tickets and who may buy them is not known. They’ll probably be sold on a first come first serve basis.
“Also Georgeson announced Thursday that closed circuit television has been secured for the O-State IRC building. The closed circuit telecast will accommodate 1,100 students only. Wick and State students will be admitted free with their I.D. cards.
“The students from Hartwick who have tickets plan a parade from Oyaron Hill to Red Dragon Hill just before game time.”
It finally was game on, and The Star reported on Dec. 3, “It’s the kind of a performance a coach dreams of from both himself and his players but when a team has got the knack of approaching perfection for every pressure-packed game you begin to wonder what they are made of.
“Except for a couple spurts there was never any doubt on this day of days in Our Town, Hartwick had the superior team.
“The margin could have been greater, but the Warriors regained supremacy in New York State and in Oneonta with a superb 2-0 defeat of the favored Red Dragons.
“Now it’s on to Providence, R.I. to meet the Brown University club, champions of New England via a 2-1 win over Yale University. The winner goes to the national finals in Miami, Fla., January 2 and 4.
Dreams of warmer climes upon a new year for Hartwick were short lived, however. Star readers of Dec. 10 learned, “The post-game dinner was just to satisfy hunger and the bus ride back to Oneonta seemed much longer than necessary. For coach Timo Liekoski and the returning Hartwick College soccer players, 1974 must seem ages away.
“It could have been a victory dinner and a joyous bus ride but the dream of a national soccer championship for the Wick and the City of Oneonta was once again shattered. The jinx of playing in New England continued as Brown University upset Hartwick, 1-0, in the second sudden-death overtime.” It would be three more years before Hartwick won a national championship.
This weekend, life around Oneonta in the late fall of 1928.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is oneontanyhistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.