Mark WiedmerOnce upon a time, they roomed together, three University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball players from three different states, all of their hometowns at least five hours from the Scenic City.
Yet when Lance Fulse, Darryl Ivery and John McCloud decided to stage their own private reunion weekend this past Thursday evening through Sunday morning, the former Mocs post players hadn’t all been together in the same place at the same time since 1987.
“But we had such a good time, we’re going to try and do it every three years,” Fulse said upon arriving back home in Winter Haven, Fla., early Sunday evening. “It was a great experience.”
A lot changes in 29 years. Waistlines grow. Hairlines shrink. Marriage comes, sometimes followed by divorce. Kids arrive. And in Ivery’s case, grandkids, three in all.
Perspective also takes hold.
Hopefully.
“It grew me up,” said Ivery, the inside scoring machine from Cincinnati whose promising career was cut short by academic woes in early January 1987, just a few days after he’d been named MVP of the Coca-Cola Classic.
McCloud, who arrived here from Gary, Ind., agreed.
“This is where I grew up,” he said.
They’ve all grown up nicely. Ivery, now 49, lives in his hometown, where he works at a homeless shelter for veterans.
McCloud, 50, and his wife Jennifer reside in Indianapolis, where he works for Monarch Beverage, one of the nation’s largest beer distributors. Their 21-year-old son John is a senior forward at Davenport University. Their 17-year-old son James is a junior at Mount Vernon High School blessed with what his father terms “low major” potential as a college player.
As for the 49-year-old Fulse – who has returned to Chattanooga three or four times since graduating in 1988 – he’s now the human resources director at the Polk County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office. He and wife Cheryl have an 11-year-old daughter named Chelandra, who already stands 5-6.
Said Fulse with a grin: “I told her I could teach her how to rebound and make a layup.”
Not surprisingly, two nerveless free throws made by Fulse in the 1988 Southern Conference tournament semifinals to topple bitter rival Marshall – a win that led to an NCAA bid after UTC vanquished VMI in the next night’s title game – is the trio’s most indelible Mocs mark.
“Whenever I’m back, people still talk about those free throws,” Fulse said. “I was so nervous. We’d lost in the conference tournament every year I’d been there. And this was my last year. You’re thinking, ‘Not again.'”
The Mocs were down by a point at the time.
“I needed to make two, but I had to make one,” he said of the one-and-one opportunity.
The first foul shot was true, even as Marshall was calling timeouts to make the senior think about the enormity of the situation.
“The timeouts actually helped me,” he said. “After I made the first, I felt better. At least I’d tied it.”
Then he made the second, cementing his spot in UTC history, an event that surely helped him join the school’s Hall of Fame years later.
But Ivery and McCloud never had those moments. After academic struggles ended his time at UTC, Ivery played professionally in Europe for several years.
“Holland, Sweden, Finland and Spain,” he said. “A lot of cold places.”
McCloud transferred to Tennessee Wesleyan without ever playing in the NCAA tourney. Recalling his teams’ SoCon tournament failures, he said, “I always remember getting my heart broken in Asheville, N.C.”
McCloud also remembers his time guarding Ivery and Fulse in practice.
On Ivery: “He was crafty, spin moves, wide body. I was a natural shot blocker, but it was hard to get at him.”
On Fulse: “Such a big body. Once he got position, you couldn’t move him. And he could hit that outside shot from the foul line.”
Said Ivery of McCloud: “John was hard to go against because he had (pointy elbows).”
It has been hard keeping up with each other all these years, but their friendship is obvious.
“It’s great being back in the gym and seeing people, but I mainly came back for these two,” Ivery said as Fulse and McCloud nodded in agreement.
It’s what you hope all college athletic scholarships produce – a lasting bond between teammates and a lifetime connection with the school. It’s what causes Ivery to still laugh about his favorite memory regarding Fulse and McCloud, of when Fulse the Floridian first saw snow and “acted like a kid in a candy store.”
It also can force great introspection. McCloud, not always among former coach Mack McCarthy’s most praised players, has done some thinking.
“When you become an adult, and get a job and start a family,” McCloud said, “you realize that life is probably a lot more like playing for a (demanding) coach like Mack. It makes you a man.”
It would have been nice if they could have seen the current demanding coach Matt McCall’s Mocs win twice during their stay instead of once. And though Adidas’s well-done throwback uniforms for Saturday’s UNC-Greensboro loss actually paid homage to the program’s Division II days more than the trio’s time, Fulse was quick to note one flaw.
“We showed a lot more skin when we played,” Fulse said with a laugh, recalling the short shorts of a blessedly bygone era. “But maybe they should bring those back. It might help attendance.”
Yet after 29 years, what most brought a smile to big Fulse’s face was the love the three of them felt from Mocs Nation during their two evenings inside McKenzie.
“It’s just nice seeing people who remember us,” he said. “It means we’re not too old yet.”
To paraphrase the theme song from the sitcom “Cheers,” when you’re a former popular athlete, it never gets old returning to the place where everybody still knows your name.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.