knee the first week of practice and was
out, which meant that their tallest player
was six foot five. Their starting forward
—and forwards are typically almost as
tall as centers—was Charlie Yelverton,
who was only six foot two. But from the
opening buzzer, the Rams launched a
full-court press, and they never let up.
“We jumped out to a thirteen-to-six lead,
and it was a war the rest of the way,”
Digger Phelps, the Fordham coach at the
time, recalls. “These were tough city
kids. We played you ninety-four feet. We
knew that sooner or later we were going
to make you crack.” Phelps sent in one
indefatigable Irish or Italian kid from the
Bronx after another to guard Erving, and,
one by one, the indefatigable Irish and
darren dugan
(Darren Dugan)
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