Nine years ago almost to the day, self-described St. Bonaventure basketball super fan John Firkel still recalls having tears in his eyes, sitting in the stands of the Reilly Center overlooking an empty basketball court.
The home finale he was supposed to be watching against Dayton - and Firkel still has the ticket stub hanging next to his computer at home - was canceled after Bonnies players boycotted their final two games of the 2002-03 season as a result of a player-eligibility scandal that eventually led to NCAA sanctions.
This past week has provided Firkel an altogether different reason to tear up. He grew emotional in watching his beloved Bonnies win their first Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, to clinch their sixth NCAA tournament berth and first since 2000. It also put closure on what had been one of the program's darkest eras.
''Yeah, I had a tear in my eye,'' Firkel said. ''We're back on top of the world again. Who would've thought they'd ever turn it around like they did? It took nine long years, but we did it.''
The Bonnies are, indeed, back. The school famed for producing NBA star Bob Lanier in the late 1960s, has re-emerged on the national basketball map in resounding fashion.
From out of nowhere, the Mark Schmidt-coached and A-10 Player of the Year Andrew Nicholson-led Bonnies closed a better-than-expected season with a flourish. St. Bonaventure (20-11) won eight of final 10, including three straight in the A-10 tournament, capped by a 67-56 win over Xavier in the championship game on Sunday.
That earned them a 14th seed in the East Region, and a matchup against Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion Florida State at Nashville, Tenn., on Friday.
''What's happened here has been miraculous,'' Schmidt said. ''For what we've been through, and what they've been through, it's really a feel-good story.''
And that's only Part I of the story, because don't forget the Bonnies women, who have made this season's success doubly special.
The Jim Crowley-coached 21st-ranked Bonnies (29-3) earned their first NCAA tournament berth. Despite losing the conference tournament championship game to Dayton last week, the Bona women earned a fifth seed in the Raleigh Region and will open against Atlantic Sun Conference-champion Florida Gulf Coast University on Sunday at Tallahassee, Fla.
How's that for a school with a little more than 2,000 students, based in a rust-belt town of 14,000, and who's status as an Atlantic 10 member was once questioned.
The men's team had endured a stretch of going a combined 24-88 over four seasons before Schmidt was hired in April 2007. And the women's team was a relative afterthought, having enjoyed 13 winning seasons in its first 36 years.
''We achieved something that I think very few people thought we could achieve,'' Schmidt said. ''It's a proud moment from where we were five years ago, where the school was in 2003. It's hard to explain, but it's really gratifying.''
Added women's coach Crowley, sitting in his office Tuesday morning: ''We've come a long way.''
Crowley was not only referring to his women's team. In his 16th year at St. Bonaventure, Crowley can fully appreciate how meaningful this year's success has been for the school and community in rebounding from 2003.
''There's almost no words big enough for it. It's really like for the last I don't know how long, it's been just like a fog,'' Crowley said. ''It's a big story. People don't how big it is for what the school's been through, the size of it, the location, all those things. ... Right now, it's as good as can be.''
In February 2003, the Bonnies couldn't have sunk much lower.
That's when it was revealed that the school broke junior college transfer guidelines by allowing forward Jamil Terrell to play despite earning only a welding certificate at a Georgia community college. The players quit. Coach Jan van Breda Kolff was fired. And school president Robert Wickenheiser resigned.
Things then took a tragic turn that summer, when William Swan, chairman of the school's trustees, committed suicide, in part because of a belief he had let down his alma mater.
This week, the signs of basketball's re-emergence around town are apparent.
Early Monday, the men's team rolled into town by bus to be greeted by a police escort and about 250 fans on campus. And there are placards paying tribute to the Bonnies in many storefront windows lining East Main Street not far from campus.
Firkel has witnessed the turnaround, firsthand, this week while doing his job, delivering mail around town.
''There were some businesses I had difficulty leaving because that's all anybody in Olean is talking about,'' he said.
Hired in January 2007, athletic director Steve Watson arrived in Olean as part of the rebuilding process. Watson couldn't fully appreciate how difficult the past nine years were on Bonnies fans until he looked around the stands in Atlantic City, N.J., shortly after the men captured the tournament title.
''You've got men balling like babies,'' Watson said. ''It means so much. For a lot of people I understand. I understand the closure. They're the ones who stuck with us. And they've been with us as we've built this thing back up.''
Pausing to take a breath, Watson added with a smile: ''Yeah, you're allowed to cry. It's emotional for all of us.''
