Tragedy, moving on

Hood also navigated some choppy psychological waters in the immediate wake of the Navy loss.

“I was so passionate about basketball and that team, so I was crushed,” Hood said.

A little more than one month later, Hood was still processing those feelings while making his way to Woodling Gym to, hopefully, catch the remaining moments of that day’s usual pickup game involving team members.

Hood was nearly to the gym when McFadden came up to him on the sidewalk.

“All he said was ‘Paul,’ and then he kept walking,” Hood said.

Moments later, another teammate, freshman forward Warren Bradley, did the same thing. Hood remembers making a beeline for the office of CSU sports information director Merle Levin.

It was Levin, now deceased, who told Hood that Paul Stewart, Hood’s childhood friend from Boston, had collapsed during the pickup game and had been rushed by paramedics to nearby St. Vincent Charity Hospital.

By the time Hood arrived at the hospital; Stewart, 19 and seemingly in robust, good health one hour previously, had passed away.

“That stopped me cold and put everything in perspective,” Hood said.

The players and coaches from that CSU team have remained in close touch. Some of them still live in Northeast Ohio. Others have moved away. There have been a number of reunions since, some planned and others spontaneous.

The last formal gathering was in 2016 at CSU, marking the 30th anniversary of the memorable NCAA run.

“We became family. We were brothers,” said Steve Corbin, a senior guard on the team who now is 56 and running a contracting business in New York.

“Me and Mouse had our battles in practice, but those battles brought us closer together,” Corbin said. “We may only see each other every couple of years, but when we get together or talk on the phone, it’s like we were never apart.

“If I have a problem, I can share it with them and not worry about them looking down on me. We’re blood.’’

That sense of brotherhood extended to Bradley, who missed all but four games that season after tearing a ligament in his thumb during practice. He would go on to be a solid player in his remaining four seasons at CSU.

“I grew so much as a player and as a person during my time at CSU, and I still live in Cleveland,” Bradley said.

Redshirt junior forward Hersey Strong, a Collinwood High School product and junior college transfer, also was part of the tightly knit group.

Another team member, junior center Elgin Womack, died in 2001 at the age of 36 from an aneurysm. He was a school teacher in Queens, N.Y.

Mackey and many of the surviving players from that team have had professional and personal setbacks.

In July 1990, Mackey was fired as head coach six days after he was arrested in Cleveland on a traffic stop and found through urinalysis to have alcohol and cocaine in his system.

After completing treatment for drug and alcohol abuse at a Texas rehabilitation clinic run by former NBA player John Lucas, Mackey resumed his coaching career in United States Basketball League, Continental Basketball Association and International Basketball League.

In 2003, Pacers general manager and former NBA great Larry Bird hired Mackey as a college scout, He remains in that job.

“The way he dealt with that set a powerful example for all of us,” said Pat Vuyancih, a junior forward on the team who now is 56 and working as an administrator at CSU.

“We all, as human beings, whether situations are handed to us or are of our own making, have to find ways to cope. Kevin’s personal recovery from addiction, more than the coaching and the fast times, is inspirational to us.”

Mudd still gets emotional when asked to reflect on the 1985-86 season and the NCAA Tournament run.

“We didn’t know we were making history at the time, but we did,” Mudd said. “Being with Mackey and those guys, I felt like the luckiest man in the world.”

Mackey cherishes memories of that dream season.

“”It was major. It changed everything,” he said.

“The program, the belief, the system and those kids. It was a special, special time.”