National championship events touch entire Acadia community


Steve Pound ('72, fourth from the left, front row) and other basketball alumni at this year's Final Eight. (Peter Oleskevich photo)

By John DeCoste ('77)

The USPORTS men's basketball nationals hosted by Acadia in March of this year had a special feel. The on-court action was exciting and inspiring, with the host Axemen right in the thick of things. Simultaneously, equally exciting things were happening court-side and off the court, and alumni had a pivotal role.

Steve Pound (’72), who served as honorary chair of the event, was impressed with the Final Eight as a showcase of Acadia community spirit.

“The many alumni in attendance were all very proud of their team,” Pound says. “The depth of the spirit of the Acadia family, and the congregation of all aspects of that family, was very evident. The schedule of events gives you an overview, but it was much more than that. An event like this tells people everybody at Acadia is on the same page, working together.”

Several Axemen teams with players in attendance held mini-reunions as part of the nationals. “Some of (former coach) Dave Nutbrown's players took him and his wife Martha out to dinner. Duncan (’74) and Margo Beveridge (’75) hosted our 1971 team and a lot of our friends at their home.”

On Friday, March 9, an off day in terms of game action, many of the former Axemen players in attendance took part in a 'shoot-around' at Scotiabank Centre.

Pound also hosted a hospitality suite in his hotel room that lasted into the early hours of most mornings. “An awful lot of alumni dropped by,” he says. At one point, Acadia President Dr. Peter Ricketts and his wife Maryann stopped by to pay a visit.

Great time was had by all

The alumni gathering place before and after games was the Auction House on Grafton Street in Halifax. Pound termed the spontaneous outpouring of school spirit “great to see, and even better to be part of.

“A great time was had by all. For those who weren't able to be there, we missed you. You would have been very proud, both of the Axemen and how they played, and of the display of Acadia spirit.”

Pound recalls that during his time as Acadia Alumni executive director, “I always felt the advantage we had was that we were like one big family.” During the Final Eight, “that kind of family spirit was re-energized.”

Kevin Dickie, Acadia's Executive Director of Athletics and Community Events, noted that men's basketball at Acadia has had a storied history, including three national championships and several runner-up finishes. “In national terms, our competitiveness goes back to the 1960s.”

For that reason, Dickie says, men's basketball was the ideal sport to showcase at this national event. “It allowed us to connect the past to the present, which was pretty special.”

This year's Axemen team “went 15-5 in the regular season. For us to be able to play on all three days (of the Final Eight) was huge,” both for the team and in terms of the alumni connection.

Hosting nationals part of the plan

Dickie says Acadia applying for, and hosting, national championships in a variety of varsity sports “is part of the plan,” and has been since he became Acadia's athletic director seven years ago.

“When I came back here, I wanted to see us become more of a national program. A big part of that is competing nationally and hosting national events, starting with women's soccer in the fall of 2016.”

Acadia will host the women's rugby nationals this fall in Wolfville, and is slated to host the men's hockey nationals in Halifax in March 2020. “That will make four consecutive academic years for us hosting a national championship,” Dickie says. “For a school our size, that's pretty special too.”

There are definite advantages, Dickie adds, to hosting national championships. “One of the key things is to ignite and bring together our alumni, which was certainly evident this past March. It took a huge effort by a great number of people, but in Acadia's 'magic way' what pulled it all together was people working together.”

He anticipated a similar outpouring of spirit for the women's rugby nationals this fall. Though women's rugby has only been a varsity program for a relatively short period of time compared to men's basketball, given its recent successes, “it still has the ability to bring people together in the same way.”

Ten years ago, Dickie notes, Acadia varsity athletics “was off the map. We hadn't hosted a national championship in any of our sports since 2000.” This past season, “seven of our varsity teams competed at nationals in their respective sports.”

A national championship, he says, “is an event that touches the entire community. We're trying to do the same thing with our program as a whole. We want to connect with our alumni, and through events like these, that's exactly what we're doing.”

To view a photo gallery of the alumni shoot-around at Scotiabank Centre, please click here.

 


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