COLUMN: Alumni game gives everyone a chance

From Eric Moskowitz's, "An Obstructed View," Fall '99 But Saturday, the 6'7" forward started for the Quakers at the Palestra. In fact, the unheralded Melcher, Penn '98, even played a role -- albeit a minor one -- in the varsity's 83-81 nail-biting victory over Cornell to clinch at least a share of the Ivy title. "Just watching Mike play I get motivated to go out and play tonight [against Cornell]," Penn senior forward Jed Ryan joked after watching Melcher's Red squad take an 85-56 drubbing at the hands of the Blue in the annual Penn basketball alumni game. Hours after the alumni game drew to a close, Ryan nailed three three-pointers in 75 seconds as the Quakers closed the gap on Cornell to pull out the victory. Melcher, meanwhile, did not enjoy the same sharpshooting success in the alumni game, throwing up more than his share of bricks. Melcher's lackluster shooting performance brought more than a few catcalls and hollers from Ryan and junior tri-captain Michael Jordan. "One-for-10, Mike Melcher, 1-for-10, you're no good!" Jordan hollered. "Garret [Kreitz]'s not 1-for-10," Ryan said. "Yeah, he's 1-for-13," Jordan replied. "He can't even hit the open ones," Ryan yelled after Kreitz missed one for the Blue squad. While the 23-year-old Kreitz might have lost a step, this was hardly senior citizens' day at the Palestra. In fact, it was Ted Flick, a member of Penn's 1979 Final Four squad, who shined the brightest, leading all scorers with 22. "Flick was definitely the MVP," Ryan said. "He was ballin'." But that's the beauty of the alumni game. It is the great equalizer, allowing former Penn basketball players of all abilities to compete on a level playing field, all with an opportunity to shine at the Palestra. Kreitz, second all-time at Penn with 199 threes, and Melcher, who hit just two treys all of last season, were equals. And Flick, a former bench player, outplayed them all. Just moments after tipoff, Flick drained a 16-footer from the left side to start the scoring for the Blue squad. With his team trailing 47-28, Red team point guard and '92 Penn grad Paul Chambers -- Penn's career assist leader with 396 until a guy named Jerome Allen came along -- lofted a pass to power forward Cedric Laster, who slammed it home with authority to finish the alley oop. "That was just a statement so that everybody could know that even though we were down 20 we were about to turn the corner and fight back into it," Laster said. "Then we proceeded to go down 10 more points and close out the game nicely." But it was Blue big man Flick who kept the pressure on the Red with jumper after jumper. "[I] was just doing it all," said Flick, whose sons served as water boys for the Blue squad. "Taking pictures of the kids, just having a good time." While Flick -- who scored 27 points all season during the Final Four run -- was lighting up the scoreboard, much heralded teammate Tim Krug, first team All-Ivy in '96, was visibly sucking wind. "You suck, Krug!" Jordan yelled after Krug was rejected by a gray-haired Red squadder. But the long-armed Krug answered the hostile crowd, barely leaving the ground for a two-handed jam to make it 77-50, Blue, with 3:40 left. "I don't send any messages, I don't have anything to say," said Krug, whose brother Chris turned down Penn last year to play at Princeton. "My career is over, my game is lost, but I'm just glad you didn't ask me about my brother going to Princeton." While Krug was rusty just three years after averaging 14 points per game for the Quakers, Melcher is finished just one year after graduating. "I never played 25 minutes in my career total -- you can't put me on the court and expect me to produce," Melcher said. "I think this might be my last game, I kind of made a quiet exit. You might not ever see me again on a basketball court." But while Melcher is hanging up his jersey, some guys just keep coming back. "As long as my legs will hold me up, as long as [my sons] will still come and watch me [I'll keep playing]," Flick said. Stan Greene, a 1977-78 tri-captain and one of the game's two elder statesmen -- along with classmate Phil Eckman -- hit 4-of-6 free throws in a losing effort for the Red squad. He even elicited a handful of "Go Stan Greene!" cheers from the crowd. An intense defender, the 6'3" Greene was a fan favorite in the late '70s, when the band would start a beat that would finish with thousands of Palestra faithful chanting "Go Stan Greene!" The cheer had grown to mythic proportions by the time Greene left Penn. "[Hearing that] sure does bring back memories," Greene said. "It's hard to believe that we used to have an entire stadium chanting that, not only at basketball games but at football and hockey games." "Someone told me on campus one day that they attended a movie? and the projector broke. The kids started getting a little rowdy and they said, 'Hey let's go, get this thing going, go! Go Stan Greene!' and they told me everyone broke out into the 'Go Stan Greene' chant. I'm really blessed that we had something like that going." While the game brings back memories for Greene, and aches and pains for Melcher & Co. -- Laster said "20 years from now if I'm just walking smoothly I'll be happy" -- the lure of playing on the Palestra has them returning year after year. "I probably don't have many years left to do this -- I'm long overdue," Greene said. "I say this every year, 'I don't know if I'm gonna play,' but I wind up taking off the sweats and jumping out there."