The Bradsher Beat Wednesday, September 11, 2013 By Bethany Bradsher

Building on history one year at a time

By Bethany Bradsher
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

Nostalgia has been king in the Pirate Nation in recent weeks, and mostly I have chosen to be a listener — a collector of the memories of those who have cheered for East Carolina over multiple decades.

The 50th anniversary of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium has unleashed a river of recollections. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing several fans who have been watching football games for that entire half century for an upcoming “Pirate’s Chest” article.

I am mildly obsessed with collecting and chronicling sports history. If I could make an entire career out of writing about topics that unfolded before 1960, I would do it. As it is, I am writing my second historical book and I probe the memories of more seasoned sports fans any chance I get.

But I have hit upon a realization, as this Pirate football season has allowed the past to march on conspicuously alongside the present. I’m not as much of a newbie as I thought. I might have only arrived in Greenville 14 years ago, but in that short time I’ve managed to assemble a little nostalgia collection of my own.

It’s a little bit like watching your kids grow. People from out of town exclaim over how big the children are getting, but it’s easy to miss the impact when day-to-day routine brings only miniscule, incremental change. But as I step back a little and gaze on the mental and physical growth of the Pirate Nation, I realize that I’m looking at something very different than the ECU I became acquainted with just before Hurricane Floyd roared through in 1999.

On November 20 of that year, I stood on the field as a reporter after the No. 21 Pirates dominated the Wolfpack 23-6 before a crazed throng of 50,092, and I thought I was seeing the pinnacle of what ECU athletics had to offer. Since that time two crowds have surpassed that day’s number — in 2010 against N.C. State again and in 2011 against North Carolina, and as the stadium keeps expanding so will the crowds.

The history of ECU gridiron triumphs — John Christenbury’s undefeated 1941 season, the 1978 Independence Bowl and 1991 Peach Bowl victories, the 1999 Miami game in Raleigh — is a sturdy foundation on which Ruffin McNeill and his staff fully intend to keep building. Even if the elevation to a major conference has still eluded ECU, all indications are that the program is still making slow upward progress toward national prominence.

Football is far from the only area where I am tempted to exclaim, “My, how you’ve grown!” I specialize in covering the Olympic sports, and across the board I have seen programs advance in recruiting and competitiveness. The new attitude is reflected in the still-shiny coaches’ building — a drastic improvement from their Scales Fieldhouse digs — that reflects ECU’s belief that teams like golf, softball and tennis are worthy of investment.

The new basketball practice facility benefits volleyball, too. Improvements to the Minges Natatorium were long overdue, even though swimming and diving will eventually need to completely upgrade its historic facility. But at least Rick Kobe, the coach with the longest and winningest history at ECU, can now show recruits a pool with a state-of-the-art filtration system. The softball, soccer and track facilities, all unveiled in recent years, now outshine those of Pirate opponents in both the old and new conferences.

Inertia, of course, isn’t an option for ECU. Every sport on campus will keep needing dreamers of big dreams and generous fans willing to give the money that keeps progress from derailing.

I am a bit biased toward those lower visibility sports because I count the coaches as friends, but I hope that their needs will continue to get a hearing, especially when they prove that they can turn new stadiums, scholarships or staff positions into new milestones of success.

I know my measly decade-and-a-half pales in comparison to those who remember football in Guy Smith Stadium and Bill Carson sneaking his little track team to meets across the country, but I’m grateful for the changes I have seen on the ECU landscape. I have never lived in a place as long as I’ve lived here, and so you’ll excuse me my lapse into reminiscence. Give me 14 or 15 more years, and then my credentials as a Pirate historian will be solid.

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PAGE UPDATED 09/11/13 03:06 AM.