By Mel Greenberg
A story in Philly.com from the printed edition of Wednesday's Inquirer on July 4th chronicles a visit to the film shoot of Our Lady of Victory at Immaculata University in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.
The film focuses on former coach Cathy Rush and her leading the Mighty Macs to the first women's national collegiate basketball title. Two more titles were to follow.
There are two reasons to post a little companion piece here off that story, keeping with the induction theme at this site.
One, the Guru would like to point out that the particular scene shot caused a feeling of full-circle nostalgia. As mentioned in the print story, basically the scene that leads to the one we watched, is that the Macs had lost to nearby rival West Chester in Towson, Md., and thought their season had ended.
But the national committee, off a season win against West Chester, picked Immaculata for the national tournament anyhow and gave the Macs the 15th seed in the 16-team field.
When the team returns late at night to the campus, a surprise, emotional, and energized pep rally breaks out, spurring Immaculata on to the first title.
Now, this is where the Guru factors. By winning the three titles, the era is set. Jay Searcy arrives as sports editor at The Inqiuirer, with knowledge of the Macs, and tries to convince the future Guru to start a poll.
Thus, on Wednesday night of last week, the Guru watched filming of a scene that was the start of a domino path that ultimately resulted in his recent induction to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.
The other was reason is the real Cathy Rush, already a women's hall of famer, was also at the shoot and Immaculata officials shot a picture of Rush, himself, and Mary McCormick of the Immaculata publications office back in the day. Rush is in the center.
Below is all the previous induction coverage. Remember to click several continuation links to see all the pictures and to also hit the archives link to see everything from the beginning.
Here's the picture. -- Mel
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