Time running out for Ravens
After 57 years and four national titles, the program’s final home game is here
They’ve had more than a year to cope with the reality of their demise, but that doesn’t mean the end won’t be any less emotional.
After 57 seasons, 21 trips to the junior college national tournament, eight national championship appearances and four national titles, San Jacinto College’s men’s basketball team will play its final home game Wednesday.
The basketball program will cease in the coming weeks, either at the regional or national tournament. The women’s basketball, volleyball and men’s soccer programs are also ending.
“You get calls from all over the country. People don’t believe it; a lot of people still don’t,” former men’s coach Scott Gernander Sr. said of the school’s decision to cut basketball in November 2016. “By summer (of 2017), you knew it was for real.”
Gernander Sr. spent more than 30 years at the school, serving as an athletic director, assistant coach then head coach of the basketball program, winning 640 games before stepping down in 2011.
During a recent game, he paced the baby blue perimeter of the Anders Gymnasium court, yelling at players not to foul in the waning moments as if he were coaching again.
The Ravens knocked down enough free throws to put the game out of reach.
“There we go,” he said with a nod and a fist pump.
Gernander Sr. still comes to games, and not just because his son, Scott Gernander Jr., is the head coach.
“For me and my family personally, it’s been over half of my life lived on campus. All six of my kids went to San Jac,” he said. “I still get people calling to ask if (the board has) changed their minds and I have to say ‘No, it’s over.’ ”
Gernander Sr. and San Jacinto alumni spent last year coming to terms with the end, but last season’s 33-2 campaign, which ended in the national quarterfinals, softened the blow.
Still, reality was speeding toward them.
“It’s always been one of those things that you say, ‘I’ll go next game,’ but now it’s the end of the road,” Jack Mayer, the team’s public address announcer, said after a recent game.
‘Going to be like a funeral’
Mayer said the small but lively crowds the team draws to Anders Gymnasium have remained about the same in the last decade, even after the announcement. He’s hoping fans fill the gym for their last home game against Angelina College on Wednesday, although Gernander Jr. hardly sees the moment as anything worth rejoicing.
“Everybody asks me if we’re doing a ceremony or something special, and we’re really not,” he said. “I just want it to be another day. It’s not something to me to celebrate. It’s going to be like a funeral.”
Under his father, San Jacinto’s legacy was highlighted by former Rockets Steve Francis (199697) and Sam Cassell (1989-91).
Gernander Sr. has many fond memories of the players and games, but the one that sticks out most is a national championship game loss when Gernander Jr. was a sophomore on his team.
“That was really special for me personally because he had gone up with me all those years as a kid and now he got to go up as a player,” Gernander Sr. said. “There’s so many memories, it’s hard to pick them out.”
Those experiences helped shape Gernander Jr., although his father warned him against coaching.
“The whole landscape has changed,” Gernander Jr. said. “It seems like more people are qualifying (for four-year schools) so junior college isn’t quite what it was.”
Still, Gernander Jr., who is in his sixth year at San Jacinto (16-12, 8-9 in Region XIV), had dreams like his father.
In his third season, he led the school back to the national tournament for the first time since 2006. Last year, he earned district and regional honors in a season that started a week before the vote to shutter the program.
“That was probably the rougher year. What made it easier was the fact that we were winning games, so it made it a lot more fun. You could keep your mind off it,” Gernander Jr. said.
“To get off to the rough start that we did (this season) hurt a little bit because you want to go out with a bang. Now we’re just hoping for a strong finish, to take that momentum into the tournament and see where we go.”
‘Become like brothers’
Much of this year’s unit features newcomers. To let the players tell it, the team’s performance picked up as their relationships progressed off the court.
“The season is going OK. It started bad but we’re picking things up,” forward Aleksandar Zecevic said, adding that initially he knew little about San Jacinto’s basketball legacy but felt pressure to win in its final year.
“It feels different now,” said Jethro Tshisumpa, a forward heading to Mississippi State next year. “Everybody knows that we’re not going to be together and everyone will have to find their own way. At the beginning, it was just a couple of guys to play with, but as time goes by, they’ve become like brothers to me.”
Moving forward, Gernander Jr. will still be around.
“This year, I never intended for a second to leave. I wanted to go down with the program,” he said. “I was a little unsure coming into this academic year, but … I accepted a position to be the dean of administration here on central campus.”
Athletics not profitable
Gernander Jr. knows the end of San Jacinto basketball hurts former players, coaches and fans, as well as the four-year schools that could rely on them to produce academically eligible talent.
“I guess there’s enough of us junior colleges around the nation,” he said. “The school has resources and they’re doing a lot. They wanted to give their attention to the broader population of students and, let’s face it, athletics isn’t bringing in any money.”
Gernander Sr. still has plenty of basketball in his life. His son Marc coaches at Clear Lake High School, and he enjoys watching his oldest and youngest grandsons play.
“This is the last home game … it’s going to be a sad thing,” he said. “There will still be basketball, but those Wednesday and Saturday nights over at San Jac, that will be hard to replace.”