ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — It’s annoyed me for years, though I’ve almost come to accept it as a generational disconnect.
Invariably, when the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team is playing at the Reilly Center and the students are on campus, the closing bars of the national anthem are drowned out by cheers of “Let’s go, Bonnies” or similar chants.
It doesn’t happen when the students are on break or at any women’s games, only when the “Wolfpack” is there in force for the men.
And on Tuesday night, those fans – one in particular – were called out by an opponent.
St. Joseph’s Phil Martelli, one of the most respected coaches in the Atlantic 10, had just endured his toughest loss of the season.
His Hawks, having lost their leading scorer for the season, came into the RC undermanned, but built an 18-point lead and were still up 13 with under six minutes to play, when it all fell apart en route to a numbing 67-63 defeat.
Martelli, who looks less like a college basketball coach than he does a thoughtful professor, tried to explain how it happened during his postgame press conference.
Then, at the end, he changed the subject.
About two-thirds of the way through the “Star Spangled Banner,” being sung by a Bona student, a peer bellowed some phrase even before the usual “Let’s go, Bonnies” was shouted out in unison interrupting the finish of the national anthem.
Martelli, already hurting from losing a game he had every reason to think was won, allowed, “I’ll just go out on a limb here … I’ll chance it. That yelling during the national anthem … that’s a disgrace, really a disgrace. That kid, whoever it is, that’s embarrassing. That poor girl is working her tail off to sing the national anthem and some dude is going to scream – to what – be noticed?”
He added, emphasizing he had no problem with fans yelling and screaming during the game, “I’ll deal with, ‘Oh, you’re a sore loser.’ No I’m not. I’m just telling it straight just like I did last spring about (Bona’s snub by the NCAA Tournament). I don’t need to win fans and friends. I’m straight up and that’s wrong.”
Out in the hall, after the media session ended, Martelli continued, “That poor girl … when that kid yelled, you could tell it threw her off. She’s busting her butt to sing the anthem (before 4,000 people) and to have somebody do that …”
Of course, he’s also endured even worse such interruptions.
Several years ago, during a heated point in St. Joe’s rivalry with crosstown Philadelphia rival, Temple, Owls fans began chanting “Bleep Martelli” as the Star Spangled Banner wound down.
He was furious, and not at the obscenities which are routinely directed at him by student fans, but rather the disrespect shown to the national anthem.
Martelli’s anger was further stoked when, after complaining to a Temple athletic official, he got a lame defense citing the students’ “First Amendment rights.”
Martelli, 62, and in his 22nd year at St. Joseph’s, is second only to Davidson’s Bob McKillop (66, 28 seasons) in both age and longevity with a program, but the Wildcats have been in the Atlantic 10 for only three years.
Thus, the Hawks boss is really the A-10’s elder statesman.
As Bona coach Mark Schmidt noted following Tuesday’s dramatic win, “Phil does a tremendous job; he’s got all my respect. He runs a great program, a clean program. When we can compete against St. Joe’s and beat them, it shows we’ve taken a step in the right direction.”
Martelli, during his time at Saint Joseph’s, has made 18 trips to the Reilly Center – winning 11 times — and I’ve covered every one of them. The most memorable, of course, came in the 2003-04 season when his usual class had a momentary lapse.
It was Martelli’s best-ever team. Led by star guards Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, the Hawks finished 30-2, won 27 straight games and were ranked as high as No. 3 in the country.
That night, the Hawks were 16-0 and the Bonnies, under first-year coach Anthony Solomon, were still reeling from the eligibility scandal and would finish 7-21. It was embarrassing from the start. St. Joseph’s winning 114-63, the most ever by a Bona foe in a home game, ditto the 51-point margin of loss.
Late in the game, fan Mary Palmer, a quiet librarian from Smethport, caught Martelli’s ear and complained about him continuing to press on defense. They had a brief, but pointed exchange, which was the subject of my column the next day.
There couldn’t have been a more unlikely pair to get squared up and within days, they made peace with each other, and emerged with mutual respect.
That’s how most basketball people react to Martelli, an old-school coach.
And he made that point to St. Bonaventure fans last March after the Bonnies were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament committee.
He told CBS Radio, “What they did to St. Bonaventure was a disgrace. They changed the criteria team-by-team. I’m a little bit down and despondent for the Atlantic 10 and for that terrific team at St. Bonaventure. They got mistreated by this committee.
“How you can look at this league and not recognize an RPI of 29? That team beat us twice. They tied for the regular-season championship in our league. They won at Dayton – an extraordinary win. And to have them on the outside looking in, it’s just wrong. You can give me all the explanations you want, and I’m not pigeonholing any team that they put in. But what they did to that group of kids is borderline criminal.”
And Martelli is right, so is what some Bona students did to Tuesday’s anthem singer.
(Chuck Pollock, the Times Herald sports editor, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
