The 128-page keepsake book to commemorate the madness of
March at St. Bonaventure is now on sale in area stores.
“A Legacy Defined” — a collection of 139 photos and
11 stories on the NCAA Tournament seasons of the men’s and women’s basketball
teams at the university — has been available for advance sale since April.
The book will be available locally at area Park ’N’ Shops,
Sports Locker, Vic Vena Pharmacy, Season’s Greetings in the Olean Center Mall,
Ried’s Food Barn, Linger Longer, Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce, Tops,
and the St. Bonaventure University Bookstore. (Other area retailers interested
in carrying the book can contact Jim Knapp at 716-375-2162.)
“Quantities are limited, so we really encourage fans not
to wait too long to get one,” said Tom Missel, director of media relations and
marketing at St. Bonaventure. Missel, a former sports writer and editor at the
Times Herald, was the book’s designer and lead contributor.
The book’s title is based on the teams’ joint preseason
marketing slogan of “Defining Our Legacy.” The soft-cover, full-color book is similar
to those produced after teams win the Super Bowl.
Proceeds from the book, which costs $19.95, benefit the
Bonaventure Athletic Fund.
The book includes season recaps and a feature on Andrew
Nicholson by Missel; a feature by Dan McCarthy on the barely recruited members
of the women’s Sweet 16 team; behind-the-scenes perspectives from sports
information directors Jason MacBain and Dallas Miller; a reprinted Times Herald
article after the men’s A-10 title game by Mike Vaccaro, columnist for the New
York Post; a community impact feature by J.P. Butler, men’s basketball writer
for the Times Herald; a student perspective by senior Shannon Shepherd, SBU-TV
reporter who followed the teams on their journeys to the tourneys; the foreword
by longtime Times Herald sports editor Chuck Pollock; and the afterword by
Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski on what the season meant to alumni.
“There really is a lot of great copy in the book, but even
as a former sports writer, I can’t lie — it’s really about the pictures,”
Missel said. “Craig Melvin’s work is just remarkable.”
Olean’s Melvin, team photographer for the Buffalo Bills,
shoots the majority of the men’s and women’s games at St. Bonaventure. The book
includes several full-page spread photos (11x17 inches) of high points during
the seasons.
“It would have been a crime to use them any smaller,”
Missel said. “Early in the book, there are consecutive page spreads of Matthew
Wright’s shot at the end of regulation in the Saint Joe’s game at the RC
— one with the ball in the air, and one after the ball went through the
net. The amazing thing about the photos is that you can clearly pick out as
many as 200 to 300 faces in the crowd behind the Bonaventure bench, many with
these anxious expressions on their faces as the ball is in the air, and then
going crazy after it went through.
“If nothing else, for those people, it will serve as proof
that they were actually at what might have been the craziest game in that
building’s history. There are just so many great photos like that. The moment
ESPN announced the women’s seed in the NCAA Tournament? Unreal. As dimly lit as
the RC was so fans in the bleachers and reds could see the big TV screen, Craig
just got this amazing photo. You can see the expressions of sheer joy on the
faces of all 11 players.”
Melvin was unable to work the men’s Atlantic 10
Tournament, but “we purchased a lot of great photos” from photographers who
were there, Missel said. “The game shots are great, but it’s really the images
from the aftermath in Atlantic City, the celebration photos, that are
priceless,” he said.
The book can still be ordered online. Shipping
and handling is free.
The St. Bonaventure men (20-12) qualified for the NCAA
Tournament by winning three games in three days at the Atlantic 10 Tournament
in Atlantic City, eventually losing to third-seeded Florida State, 66-63, in
their NCAA opener in a game that went down to the final seconds.
The St. Bonaventure women (31-4) won 18 games in a row
before losing to Dayton in the Atlantic 10 title game, but earned a No. 5 seed
with an at-large bid and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with
wins over Florida Gulf Coast and Marist in Tallahassee before losing to Notre
Dame in the next round.