Special Collections - Anteater Antics

Basketball

The First UCI Men’s Basketball Game: December 1, 1965

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It’s basketball season! The very first UCI basketball game was held over 47 years ago in December, 1965. The Anteaters played the Highlanders of UC Riverside in Campus Hall (now Crawford Hall), where Chancellor Dan Aldrich and UCR Chancellor Ivan Hinderaker tipped off to begin the game.  The ‘Eaters went on to win the game with a score of 85 to 71! ZOT ZOT!

Good luck to the men as they play Cal Poly this Wednesday January 30th, and to the women as they play Pacific on Thursday January 31st!

UCI Basketball All-Americans

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As March Madness reaches a fevered pitch and the NCAA Division I championship games approach, a review of UCI Men’s and Women’s basketball accomplishments seems appropriate. Although neither program has ever won a national championship, there is a tradition of strong teams and players. Below is a list of UCI basketball players who have achieved All-American status while playing at UCI:

MEN’S BASKETBALL
Phil Rhyne 1972
Kevin Magee 1981-82
Ben McDonald 1984
Tod Murphy 1985
Scott Brooks 1987
Wayne Engelstad 1988
Jerry Green 2001-02

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Cheri Graham 1984
Allah-mi Basheer 1996

One of the greatest UCI players ever was forward Kevin Magee, pictured in early 1981 with legendary Men’s Head Coach Bill Mulligan. Magee played at UCI in 1980-81 and 1981-82.  A two-time All-American and Big West Conference (then PCAA) Player of the Year, he was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the 1982 NBA Draft. He played in Italy, France, Israel and Spain  throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the greatest European players of that (or any) era. Kevin Magee averaged 26.3 points and 12.3 rebounds for the Anteaters. He still holds school records for points, with 46 against Loyola Marymount, and rebounds, with 25 against Long Beach State. Bill Mulligan said that Kevin Magee was “the best basketball player I ever coached.”  Kevin Magee died in a car accident in Louisiana in 2003.

AS-061. University Communication Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, the U.C. Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

UCI’s First Cheerleaders

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Tryouts for the first UCI cheerleading squad (aka songleaders) occurred at Gateway Plaza in November 1965. The first UCI varsity basketball game took place on December 1, 1965, at Campus Hall. Wearing their ZOT pins, the new songleaders helped cheer the team on to a 85-71 victory over UC Riverside.

AS-061.  University Communications Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

UCI’s First Basketball Game

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The UC Irvine basketball team won their first game against UC Riverside on December 1, 1965 after two “ex-officio” players – Chancellor Dan Aldrich and UC Riverside’s Chancellor Ivan Hinderaker – competed for the ball during the opening tip off of the season.

Souvenir program, 1965. AS-073. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

Photographs, 1965.  AS-061. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California