TicketsCINCINNATI – When the bus carrying the University of Cincinnati basketball team pulled up alongside Shoemaker Center on April 7, 1992, it was filled with players and coaches who had just accomplished something no UC team had since 1963.
Twenty-nine years had passed since the Bearcats' last trip to the Final Four in 1963. This one came seemingly out of nowhere. UC hadn't even been to the NCAA Tournament since 1977 and wasn't nationally ranked until February. They were a close-knit group, filled with engaging personalities and fierce competitors.
But they haven't all been together since that early April day 25 years ago.
That's expected to change on Aug. 11 when the entire team will reassemble at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason for a 25-year reunion dinner. The next day they'll meet again for an autograph session at the Original Montgomery Inn in Montgomery from 3-6 p.m. Both events are open to the public. The cost for the dinner is $150 per person. The cost for the autograph session is $20 with a two-item limit. The team is also scheduled to visit Children's Hospital from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 12. During their visit, they'll give the children backpacks provided by Nike.
Proceeds from the reunion events will benefit the Motivate to Graduate Scholarship Foundation, the Norma Mae Cancer Foundation and the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund.
"It was a special team," said Erik Martin, who averaged 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds as a junior on the '92 team. "And it's an amazing thing that the last time we were together was when we stepped off the bus on UC's campus after we got back from the Final Four that Tuesday. At our banquet Herb (Jones) wasn't there. He was doing something with an NBA team."
Many of those players would return the following season to lead the Bearcats to the Elite Eight. That team just missed a return trip to the Final Four, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina in overtime.
The players from the Final Four team have remained close over the years. UC fans see some of them frequently at UC games. There was a reunion last Feb. 4 at Fifth Third Arena before the UC-Connecticut game to commemorate the 25th anniversary. But not everyone could make it. Martin is now an assistant coach at West Virginia under Bob Huggins, the head coach of the '92 team. Neither he nor Huggins could make it. Neither could Nick Van Exel, the point guard on that team whose duties as an assistant coach with the NBA Memphis Grizzlies prevented him from attending.
Van Exel and Corie Blount both went on to long NBA careers. Others played in the Continental Basketball Association, then a minor league steppingstone to the NBA, and still others played professionally overseas.
This reunion, organized by the players, started with a phone call between Martin and Jones early last February shortly after the UC event.
"I was riding somewhere to see a kid play and I was talking with Herb about the event that had just happened," Martin said. "It just happened to be a long ride and I was talking on the phone with Herb and I said, 'Man, I wish I could have been at that. That made me think, what if we did something and tried to get everyone together again? And he said that could work. No matter what I said, just being Herb Jones he said, 'We can do that.'
"By the time the three-hour ride was over, I said, 'Herb, we're gonna make this happen. I don't know how we're gonna make this happen but we're gonna make this happen.' It all starts with getting a weekend that works for Bob Huggins and Nick Van Exel. Let's be honest, those are the guys that people want to see. I understand that it was a team, but those are the guys that haven't been back as much."
As the discussions continued, Martin told Jones, "If we do this, we're gonna do it right because we're not doing this again. Thank the good Lord, we're all still here and that's a blessing because you don't know when your time is up. But we're all still here. We're gonna do this."
Martin went on to play professionally for nine years in Spain, Japan, China, Korea, the Phillippines, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Taiwan. He also played for three years in the CBA and won a gold medal for Team USA in the 1997 Tournament of the Americas in Uruguay, but he said nothing compares with the trip to the Final Four.
"I won championships in the CBA," he said. "I won a junior college championship. I've even won a gold medal for USA Basketball, but it's not even close."
UC players who have committed to attend are: Blount, Martin, Jones, Van Exel, Curtis Bostic, Anthony Buford, Tarrice Gibson, A.D. Jackson, John Jacobs, Terry Nelson, Mike Reicheneker, Jeff Scott, and B.J. Ward. Huggins and his assistants Larry Harrison, Steve Moeller and Chuck Machock are also expected to attend.
Motivate to Graduate is a non-profit organzation created to assist the three or four players from the Final Four team who still hope to earn their degrees. The Norma Rae Cancer Foundation is in memory of Huggins' late mother. And the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund is in memory of Moeller's late wife.
For more information, go to 1992BearcatsReunion.com.
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.
Twenty-nine years had passed since the Bearcats' last trip to the Final Four in 1963. This one came seemingly out of nowhere. UC hadn't even been to the NCAA Tournament since 1977 and wasn't nationally ranked until February. They were a close-knit group, filled with engaging personalities and fierce competitors.
But they haven't all been together since that early April day 25 years ago.
That's expected to change on Aug. 11 when the entire team will reassemble at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason for a 25-year reunion dinner. The next day they'll meet again for an autograph session at the Original Montgomery Inn in Montgomery from 3-6 p.m. Both events are open to the public. The cost for the dinner is $150 per person. The cost for the autograph session is $20 with a two-item limit. The team is also scheduled to visit Children's Hospital from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 12. During their visit, they'll give the children backpacks provided by Nike.
Proceeds from the reunion events will benefit the Motivate to Graduate Scholarship Foundation, the Norma Mae Cancer Foundation and the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund.
"It was a special team," said Erik Martin, who averaged 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds as a junior on the '92 team. "And it's an amazing thing that the last time we were together was when we stepped off the bus on UC's campus after we got back from the Final Four that Tuesday. At our banquet Herb (Jones) wasn't there. He was doing something with an NBA team."
Many of those players would return the following season to lead the Bearcats to the Elite Eight. That team just missed a return trip to the Final Four, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina in overtime.
The players from the Final Four team have remained close over the years. UC fans see some of them frequently at UC games. There was a reunion last Feb. 4 at Fifth Third Arena before the UC-Connecticut game to commemorate the 25th anniversary. But not everyone could make it. Martin is now an assistant coach at West Virginia under Bob Huggins, the head coach of the '92 team. Neither he nor Huggins could make it. Neither could Nick Van Exel, the point guard on that team whose duties as an assistant coach with the NBA Memphis Grizzlies prevented him from attending.
Van Exel and Corie Blount both went on to long NBA careers. Others played in the Continental Basketball Association, then a minor league steppingstone to the NBA, and still others played professionally overseas.
This reunion, organized by the players, started with a phone call between Martin and Jones early last February shortly after the UC event.
"I was riding somewhere to see a kid play and I was talking with Herb about the event that had just happened," Martin said. "It just happened to be a long ride and I was talking on the phone with Herb and I said, 'Man, I wish I could have been at that. That made me think, what if we did something and tried to get everyone together again? And he said that could work. No matter what I said, just being Herb Jones he said, 'We can do that.'
"By the time the three-hour ride was over, I said, 'Herb, we're gonna make this happen. I don't know how we're gonna make this happen but we're gonna make this happen.' It all starts with getting a weekend that works for Bob Huggins and Nick Van Exel. Let's be honest, those are the guys that people want to see. I understand that it was a team, but those are the guys that haven't been back as much."
As the discussions continued, Martin told Jones, "If we do this, we're gonna do it right because we're not doing this again. Thank the good Lord, we're all still here and that's a blessing because you don't know when your time is up. But we're all still here. We're gonna do this."
Martin went on to play professionally for nine years in Spain, Japan, China, Korea, the Phillippines, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Taiwan. He also played for three years in the CBA and won a gold medal for Team USA in the 1997 Tournament of the Americas in Uruguay, but he said nothing compares with the trip to the Final Four.
"I won championships in the CBA," he said. "I won a junior college championship. I've even won a gold medal for USA Basketball, but it's not even close."
UC players who have committed to attend are: Blount, Martin, Jones, Van Exel, Curtis Bostic, Anthony Buford, Tarrice Gibson, A.D. Jackson, John Jacobs, Terry Nelson, Mike Reicheneker, Jeff Scott, and B.J. Ward. Huggins and his assistants Larry Harrison, Steve Moeller and Chuck Machock are also expected to attend.
Motivate to Graduate is a non-profit organzation created to assist the three or four players from the Final Four team who still hope to earn their degrees. The Norma Rae Cancer Foundation is in memory of Huggins' late mother. And the Karen Moeller Scholarship Fund is in memory of Moeller's late wife.
For more information, go to 1992BearcatsReunion.com.
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.