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<\/div>\nThen and Now: Michael Coleman ’92<\/h3>\n
The tears were flowing for Michael Coleman.<\/p>\n
It was March 1992, and the Rochester men\u2019s basketball team had lost to Calvin College of Michigan in the NCAA Division III tournament championship.<\/p>\n
Never mind that Rochester had won the national title two years earlier during Coleman\u2019s sophomore year. This was his final collegiate game, and he was inconsolable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the most heart-wrenching thing that had happened to me,\u201d the 6-foot-7 forward says. \u201cIt felt worse than winning felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Coleman rarely thinks about that \u201992 loss. He swears he can\u2019t remember the names of some teammates.<\/p>\n
But ask him about the 1990 champions, and he\u2019s a walking encyclopedia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has completely changed in time,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t dwell on \u201992. I only think about how we won a national championship, and how close we were. We were brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coleman lives outside of Endicott, New York, with his wife, Kristie, and five daughters. As vice president of IOA Northeast, he represents construction companies and owners who purchase insurance and surety bonds for large projects throughout the United States. He also coaches AAU basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not just a sports coach but a life coach,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve made plenty of mistakes in my life. I believe it\u2019s how quickly you get up off the floor and hustle back on defense that defines the person you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coleman says the 1989\u201390 Yellowjackets hit it off immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleven of us lived on a top (dormitory) floor,\u201d says the Hornell, New York, native, who roomed with star center Chris Fite. \u201cWe played cards\u2014harmless games of spades and pitch. We partied together, went to concerts together, and even studied together. UR wasn\u2019t a walk in the park for any of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coleman graduated in 1992 with a degree in public health. He planned to play professionally in Ireland, but the day before he was set to leave, the coach called and told him they were keeping another player instead. Coleman worked at Strong Memorial Hospital and took classes toward his master\u2019s degree. He then worked for a small law firm in Rochester before moving into his current
\nfield in 2001.<\/p>\n
His greatest takeaway from 1990 was the lifelong friendships he made.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we played basketball,\u201d he says. \u201cBut more than that, we grew into adults together. And we created a memory of a lifetime that binds us together forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Palestra was their home court, but the Yellowjackets called it \u201cthe palace.\u201d After all, they went 16\u20131 at home that year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will never forget being the princes of our palace in 1990,\u201d Coleman says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\nThen and Now: Chris Fite ’92<\/h3>\n
It was 1988, and Chris Fite was adamant. The senior basketball star from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, would visit Rochester, but he would play at a Division I school.<\/p>\n
That was a slam dunk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was set on it,\u201d the 6-foot-8 center says. \u201cI wanted to play at the highest level and couldn\u2019t be told differently. My high school coach told me I should at least visit Rochester. I said \u2018I will, but I\u2019m still going D1.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Fite visited the River Campus and fell in love. \u201cI connected with the players, and the campus blew me away. From then on, Rochester was at the top of my list.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lanky kid with the soft touch chose Rochester over Division I schools Richmond, Lehigh, and Navy. In his sophomore year, he powered the Yellowjackets to a Division III national championship. He led the Yellowjackets in scoring (18.6 per game), rebounding (8.9), assists (87), and blocked shots (42) and was named Outstanding Player of the NCAA Division III tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018How could this tall, skinny kid really be as good as everyone said?\u2019 \u201d says former teammate Matt Parrinello \u201993, who\u2019s now a managing partner of the Parrinello Law Firm in Rochester. \u201cI quickly found out how good he really was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fite led Rochester back to the national championship game his senior year, but the Yellowjackets lost to Calvin College of Michigan. He was runner-up for NCAA Division III Player of the Year honors that year and remains the Yellowjackets\u2019 all-time scorer (2,066) and shot blocker (179).<\/p>\n
After graduating in 1992 with a degree in integrated sciences, Fite played professional basketball for 11 years in England, Australia, Germany, and Belgium. His wife, Susan, is a native of Liverpool, England, and they have a four-year-old daughter named Grace.<\/p>\n
Fite\u2019s mother was a teacher, and he expected to follow that path. \u201cI thought I\u2019d play professionally for a year or two before I got a real job,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n
He has a real job now as men\u2019s basketball coach at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, an NCAA Division II program. He took over the Raiders in 2010 after working as an assistant coach at
\nSaint Vincent of Pennsylvania, Rochester, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
During seven seasons at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he helped the team compile a 149\u201365 record and reach the NCAA tournament five straight seasons. Late in his third season at Shippensburg (2015\u201316), the Raiders were 19\u20138, tying the program\u2019s record for third-most wins in a season.<\/p>\n
Fite remains in contact with several Rochester teammates and is proud of their legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we left,\u201d he says, \u201crecruits were coming to Rochester to win national championships. It wasn\u2019t that way when guys like Mike Coleman and I got there.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/John-Kelly-Now.jpg\")
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<\/div>\nThen and Now: John Kelly ’92<\/h3>\n
John Kelly was destined for greatness on the court: in 1988, the point guard helped McQuaid Jesuit in Rochester win a state high school basketball championship. Two years later, he was part of a Yellowjacket squad that captured the NCAA Division III national title.<\/p>\n
His career record over five high school and college seasons was 125\u201318\u2014a phenomenal .874 winning percentage. \u201cI think it was in spite of me rather than because of me,\u201d he says modestly.<\/p>\n
For the past 20 years, Kelly has shined in another court. After a successful career as a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., he moved to the private sector seven years ago. In 2011, he was recruited to open, manage, and build the D.C. office of the Nashville-based law firm Bass, Berry & Sims, where he serves as managing partner and represents companies and executives in high-profile investigations and litigation with the Department of Justice and other enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
Kelly lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Sara, and their two daughters. \u201cI think I\u2019ve always realized how fortunate I\u2019ve been,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
His good luck took a break the summer before he enrolled at Rochester. While playing in an AAU basketball game, Kelly took a charge and felt his lower right leg snap. The injury was so devastating that his foot was torn from his ankle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the doctor telling me, \u2018There\u2019s more to life than basketball,\u2019 \u201d Kelly says. \u201cHe didn\u2019t think I\u2019d play again and said I might have a limp the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly underwent two surgeries, wore eight different casts, and was on crutches for six months. He spent his freshman season keeping statistics on the bench and working overtime in physical therapy.<\/p>\n
He was given the green light his sophomore year and played in 18 games that championship season and 15 his junior year. He started all 31 games his senior season and averaged 8.9 points for a squad that lost the NCAA final.<\/p>\n
After graduating in 1992, the political science major attended law school at the University at Buffalo, then spent a year working for a Rochester firm. He served as an assistant district attorney in his hometown from 1996\u201399, then joined the justice department as a federal prosecutor. Kelly was chief of staff and deputy director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, overseeing 94 offices nationwide.<\/p>\n
He left the justice department in 2008 to join a large international firm in Washington and moved to Bass, Berry & Sims four years ago.<\/p>\n
Kelly attributes much of his success to what he learned as a Yellowjacket.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was so much preparation in practice,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019d go over things again and again and again. But when I was in a game, I\u2019d know what all four teammates were supposed to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the same in the court of law.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to anticipate all the things that could go wrong during a trial,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause something always does.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\nRodney Morrison \u201991, \u201992W (MS)<\/h3>\n
Rodney Morrison says the euphoria of winning a national college basketball championship is indescribable, even more than a quarter century later.<\/p>\n
But his biggest reward at Rochester had nothing to do with a round ball and everything to do with a round diamond.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy highlight was marrying the love of my life, my college girlfriend, Albania Almanzar \u201992,\u201d the Philadelphia native says. \u201cI\u2019m not sure she attended a single basketball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
If true, Albania missed a great season. Morrison played in 16 games as a junior guard as Rochester won the 1990 NCAA Division III title. The 43\u201342 win over DePauw University of Indiana was Morrison\u2019s last collegiate game.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grades weren\u2019t where I wanted them to be, and I knew I wanted to go to graduate school,\u201d says Morrison, the first member of his family to attend college. He hit the books instead of the hardwood his senior year, then earned his master\u2019s degree from the Warner School of Education.<\/p>\n
Today, he\u2019s associate provost for enrollment and retention at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. His job entails making sure Stony Brook recruits and retains excellent students.<\/p>\n
The position follows admissions jobs at Rochester, the University of Pennsylvania, Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, New York, and Rutgers University\u2014with a stint as vice president at the now defunct financial services firm Lehman Brothers mixed in.<\/p>\n
Morrison credits his success to hard work, something he says was part of the daily routine during Rochester\u2019s championship season. \u201cWe battled and scrapped at practices,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was \u2018bring your lunch pail to practice and let\u2019s battle for two hours.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison wasn\u2019t a starter but says that didn\u2019t matter to head coach Mike Neer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis expectations were the same,\u201d Morrison says. \u201cHe was tough, no nonsense. The bar was high for everybody, whether you played one minute or a lot of minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison was recruited by then Rochester assistant coach (and now highly successful Villanova head coach) Jay Wright out of Germantown Academy in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to my school and said \u2018You should think about UR,\u2019 \u201d Morrison says. \u201cThe next day I went to the guidance office and looked it up. I didn\u2019t even know where it was on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n
He ended up attending the University with three classmates \u201cand had a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most special of all, he met Albania. The two stayed together as she pursued her law degree from Brooklyn Law School and married in 1997. They live on Long Island with son Elijah and daughters Rachael and Zippy.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to UR,\u201d Morrison says, \u201cwas the greatest thing to ever happen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And not just because he cut down the net on March 17, 1990.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Erik-Rausch-Now.jpg\")
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<\/div>\nThen and Now: Erik Rausch \u201990, \u201997W (MS)<\/h3>\n
As a leader in college advancement for 25 years, Erik Rausch has been part of some great teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur campaigns have raised valuable dollars to help support research on everything from cancer to stem cells,\u201d says Rausch, a senior director of development at Stanford University\u2019s medical center. \u201cThe impact of our donors has been transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rausch\u2019s first great team was the 1989\u201390 Yellowjacket basketball squad that won the NCAA Division III championship. \u201cIt was special then and it will always be special. It was the last game I ever played.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rausch was a 6-foot-4 forward out of Long Island Lutheran High. He averaged 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds that special season. \u201cThere were probably other UR teams with as good or better talent,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had talent and chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being able to play at all was a minor miracle: the summer before he enrolled at Rochester, Rausch was clearing trees at a summer camp and swung an axe so forcefully that it caromed off the tree and imbedded itself in his left shin. He was rushed to a hospital and spent the summer in a cast. But he was ready when his freshman season began and became an integral part of the team.<\/p>\n
Rausch played in 24 games his junior year\u2014but started none.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a point when he came to my office and said \u2018Coach, what can I do to earn more trust and get more time on the court?\u2019 \u201d says former Yellowjackets coach Mike Neer. \u201cInstead of saying \u2018I\u2019m unhappy,\u2019 he put a positive spin on it. I wanted to leave my desk and hug him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neer named Rausch the sole captain months before his senior season. \u201cI never did it before and never did it since,\u2019\u2019 Neer says. \u201cI wanted to reward his composure, and I needed his leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rausch started all 32 games. He graduated in 1990 with dual degrees in history and political science and landed a job in the University\u2019s alumni development office. That\u2019s where he met Maura McGinnity \u201987, \u201996S (MBA), who had won an NCAA soccer title with the Yellowjackets.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point, our colleagues started thinking we\u2019d be a good match,\u201d Rausch says. \u201cLittle did they know we\u2019d been dating for a few months already.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two married in 1997, the year Erik took a development job at UC San Francisco. They live in Palo Alto, California, with their son, Aidan, and daughter, McKenna. Rausch moved to Stanford in 2004 and has led several major fundraising initiatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe university is just a unique and exciting environment to work in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He may be 3,000 miles away, but part of Rausch always will be at Rochester. It\u2019s where he departed a national champion, where his career was launched, and where he met Maura (who also works in development at Stanford) and learned the skills that have made them successful today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way,\u201d Rausch said, \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve never left college.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Luke Flockerzi, the Yellowjackets\u2019 head coach the past six seasons, says the 1990 national title is a touchstone for the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to point to 10 Sweet 16 appearances, four Final Fours and a national championship gives validity to our program and motivates our team,\u201d Flockerzi says. \u201cEach player wants to have those experiences for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than a quarter-century after graduation, the special character of the 1989\u201390 season continues to offer many team members important lessons in teamwork, camaraderie, and friendship.<\/p>\n
\u201cBesides the birth of my children, winning the national championship with my amazing teammates has been the most memorable experience of my life,\u201d says former guard Lou Palkovics \u201991, a longtime history teacher and high school basketball coach in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just loved playing together,\u201d says starting guard Chris Johnson \u201990, a Seattle-based technology consultant for Microsoft. \u201cNo one ever complained about not getting the ball, not getting shots or not getting help on defense.\u201d<\/p>\n Going into the 1989\u201390 season, Rochester had not been in national contention for close to a decade. The Yellowjackets were coming off a 17-10 finish the year before. Four starters had graduated and only two seniors remained. But there was instant chemistry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had different personalities and skill sets,\u201d says John Kelly \u201992, a reserve guard and a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Washington, D.C . \u201cBut our coaches molded us into a close-knit group of friends.\u201d<\/p>\n The Yellowjackets continued to win, even after losing point guard Jimmy Jordan \u201993 to a knee injury in the sixth game. It was point-guard-by-committee after that.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t realize how good they were.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to be friendly with teams in our league because we\u2019d eat with them after games,\u201d says Michael Coleman \u201992, a sophomore forward then and now a vice president of a national insurance company. \u201cSo many of them would say, \u2018You guys don\u2019t get it. Nobody can get a shot off against you!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Yellowjackets were No. 1 in the country in field-goal percentage defense.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody shot 50 percent against us in a game,\u201d Neer says. \u201cNobody.\u201d<\/p>\n Rochester finished the season 21\u20135, then reeled off six wins in the NCAA tournament. That included a 62\u201357 second-round upset of Buffalo State, the fourth-ranked team in the nation but one that Rochester had beaten in a preseason scrimmage.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could be our destiny,\u201d Adam Petrosky \u201991 remembers thinking.<\/p>\n It was. The Yellowjackets won the lowest-scoring Division III final in history. Defense ruled, again.<\/p>\n They would knock on the championship door the next two years, losing a 1991 quarterfinal (in overtime) and the \u201992 final. There also would be appearances in the 2002 Final Four and 2005 national championship.<\/p>\n Neer retired in 2010 after 34 seasons and 563 wins. One year later, he took over at Hobart College in Geneva, New York, and went 66\u201320 in three seasons before retiring again.<\/p>\n The 1989\u201390 Yellowjackets left with rings, wristwatches\u2014and life lessons.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach Neer always stressed \u2018attention to detail,\u2019\u201d Coleman says. \u201cIt drove us nuts, and we\u2019d imitate him behind his back: \u2018Attention to detail! Attention to detail!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Coleman now cringes when he hears himself say that phrase to his daughters, employees, and the girls basketball teams he coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cI disliked it so much when Coach Neer said it,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it inspires me. It made me who I am today.<\/p>\n \u201dPetrosky\u2014who once called himself \u201cmost irresponsible person on the team in terms of being on time\u201d\u2014found a different inspiration. He\u2019s now a high school basketball coach, college counselor, and athletic director at an all-boys school in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n Petrosky\u2019s father was a constant at his son\u2019s games, home or road. He died in 2000, and the younger Petrosky sometimes watches the championship game just to see his dad celebrating on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the few video clips I have of him,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n After his father died, Petrosky moved from Northern California to Pittsburgh to care for his ailing mother. The 1990 championship kept his spirits from sinking.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring a period when I did not feel that great, the accomplishments reminded me that I was a national champion,\u201d he said. \u201cSomething only a relatively small group of people in this entire world can say.\u201d<\/p>\n During last October\u2019s Meliora Weekend, 10 members of that team reunited for a 25th anniversary dinner hosted by Neer. When the players walked into the restaurant, they saw the same blue banner that had hung for years in the Palestra. The one with all their names listed in white.<\/p>\n Only now it served as a tablecloth over a long wooden table.<\/p>\n Fite laughs at the memory and the irony.<\/p>\n \u201cAttention to detail,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament begins today, take a look back to the Yellowjackets’ 1990 Division III national championship and see where some of the players are today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":142432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9776],"class_list":["post-142372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-athletics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"historic](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/basketball-1990-1.jpg\")
![\"coach](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/basketball-1990-2.jpg\")