1978: It took a community effort to pull off the first Shootout

Originally published on Nov. 26, 1987.

In August of 1978, with seven NCAA Division I basketball teams having already agreed to compete in what was being called the Sea Wolf Classic, Emmitt Wilson got a phone call he'll never forget.

The call was from Lew Haines, acting athletic director at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Haines was on the verge of calling the whole thing off, a move that might have doomed Alaska's most widely acclaimed sporting event forever.

"He said that (UAA athletic director and basketball coach Bob) Rachal had been terminated," said Wilson. "He said that left him with seven signed contracts for $8,000 (each) to bring these teams up here."

Rachal had been the driving force in putting together the event that would become the Great Alaska Shootout. When he was fired, it left a lot of people scratching their heads.

"Lew said 'We have a commitment here, but I don't think we can pull this thing off,' " said Wilson.

The Shootout might have ended with that phone call. These were big-name teams with big-name coaches coming to Alaska. Denny Crum's Louisville was ranked fourth in the country. Bobby Knight's Indiana was ranked ninth, and North Carolina State was ranked 12th. Lamar, Texas A&M, Pepperdine and Penn State rounded out the field.

A cancellation of the tournament at such a late date would have been expensive for UAA, and embarrassing.

"I don't think we'd see it today if the university had called it off and paid the $56,000 to the teams," said Wilson. "I just don't think anyone could ever convince the administration to go forward with it again if they had paid off the guarantees and not generated a dollar."

In 1978, Wilson told Haines the obvious.

"I said, well, you're going to have to pay the contracts anyway. What do you have to lose?"

Haines agreed, on the condition Wilson act as chairman. And the scrambling to host a major college basketball tournament was under way.

Two months before the Nov. 24-26 tournament, UAA public information director Mel Kalkowski and new basketball coach Gary Bliss approached the only organization in town with experience in playing host to a major event: the Fur Rendezvous committee.

"Their tale was that they were putting on a major basketball tournament in two months," said Tom Soper, who was on the executive committee for Alaska's winter carnival. "So we asked them what they needed. Gary's comment was that they needed everything. He was right. They did."

About the only detail that had been worked out was finding an arena large enough to host the event. There was no Sullivan Arena in those days, and organizers went to the military.

The Army offered the use of Buckner Fieldhouse at Fort Richardson, a 3,500-seat sweatbox that was the only hope for the tournament. The military also provided security and opened the officers club to the public.

In the weeks that followed, Fur Rendezvous volunteers and dozens of others in the community fanned out to arrange tournament schedules, hotel accommodations, practice facilities, dinners, press accommodations and everything else it took to put on a major college tournament.

"Believe me," said Soper. "We used everyone we could get."

The effort even extended into the homes of the volunteers. On Thanksgiving Day, players were sent out in twos and threes to share dinner at the homes of volunteers. Soper's family hosted the entire Lamar basketball team for breakfast.

"You've got no idea how small your living room furniture is until you've had a college basketball team over for breakfast," said Soper.

Though skepticism was widespread, the tournament went off smoothly. Nearly 2,000 spectators showed up for the opening day. Another 6,000 tickets were sold for the semifinal and final rounds.

And the action on the court did not disappoint.

On opening day, Pepperdine, a school coming off a 7-19 season, upset Indiana 59-58. On the final day, North Carolina State won the championship trophy by upsetting tournament favorite Louisville 72-66 in front of nearly 3,000 screaming fans. The game was the first nationally televised live sporting event from Alaska.

UAA fans even got a treat when the Division II Seawolves upset Penn State, 79-60, in the second round.

The only major problem Soper remembers involved transportation. Volunteers were supposed to drive each team to its hotel and to the airport following final games.

"The problem was, everybody wanted to hang around and watch the championship game," said Soper. "We hadn't counted on that."

With all the teams trying to leave the tournament at the same time, there was bedlam. The transportation crew fell one van short when a key to one of the vans was misplaced. The van had been tabbed to carry Bobby Knight's Indiana.

"He was not very pleased," said Soper. "There was chaos. I think Bobby was finally able to convince the MPs to take Indiana to the airport."

Copy desk chief Mike Lewis covered sports for the ADN from 1985-89. This story was first published on Nov. 26, 1987.