51 Years Since I Wore the Friar Uniform - Theodore Josiha Haig

51 Years Since I Wore the Friar Uniform - Theodore Josiha Haig

I didn’t think Friends of Friars Basketball, Inc. could have warmed my heart any more than they did during the FOFB 10th Anniversary Reunion Weekend.  But they did! Thank you, Coach Cooley, staff and Providence College for helping me re-connect with my roots and with former Providence College basketball players and coaches, as well as all those connected to an outstanding Providence College Basketball Program.

 

Fifty-two years since I graduated from Providence College and fifty-one years since I wore the Friars basketball uniform. “No doubt Harkins Hall is still there. Even Meagher Hall, my first student residency.” But other than that, it was very different. The Grotto as we knew it has disappeared and Father Brian Morris is resting peacefully. There are new dorms and athletic facilities. Student enrollment increased and it's co-ed. They say western civilization is a result of merging the mandatory philosophy and theology we took. ’Get down’…Providence College.

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Even found myself in awe of our history as I mingled with the former players and was proud of all those that have made a contribution to the success of our program. But through every comment ran one common theme. Reunion attendees frequently point out how special they feel returning to campus after all these years.

 

Although most, but certainly not all, were there I could feel the power of their presence.  At one point on the Boston cruise, I even felt like John Thompson, Johnny Egan, Jimmy Walker, and even Marvin Barnes were on the same deck I occupied most of the evening. But then I “woke up” and looked around and came to the realization I was seeing their images in the likes of Simpkins, Thorpe, Ernie D, Donovan, Clary, Hayes, Callen, Collucci, Larranaga, McNair and Hassett. That feeling of their presence made me feel like those from the past were near me and lifting me up in typical Friar spirit. It is attributed to those of us who proudly stand on our shoulders.   

 

The highlights of the former players' reunion varied for each alum, that’s for sure. For me…I even got the opportunity to shake Billy Donovan’s hand after waiting twenty-five years. I had attended law school at the University of Florida, College of Law. Classes were held within a 10-minute walk of Stephen C. O'Connell Center, home of the two times NCAA National Champion Gators.  I waited in hope that Coach Donovan would show up just so that I could shake his hand as a former PC Friar. He never showed and I had to return to classes. But on this day, at the former players' reunion, his handshake meant that much more. And he greeted me like the champion he is…we are Friars.

 

Oh, the stories they were telling and sharing (stretching in some cases) bringing back those wonderful memories but no less crossing the proverbial generational lines of players I never got the privilege of knowing, kind of help filling the gap for me.  Thank you, former players for reuniting that Providence College fire in me.

 

Theodore Josiha Haig, PC ’70 – a former superintendent of schools in both Hartford, Ct. and East Orange, New Jersey, and currently functioning as an international educational consultant. Ted lived in the state of Qatar, the Middle East, for eleven years and holds both a doctorate from Boston College and a law degree from the University of Florida, College of Law.

 

A native New Yorker and former PC basketball player, Ted served as the first president of the Afro-American Society at PC and the college’s first director of the Martin Luther King Scholarship program. Among all his accomplishments, Ted is a five-time published mystery-suspense novelist, and currently publishing a 6th novel, “Baldwin Village.”