"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."
--Michael Jordan
--Michael Jordan
The humble beginnings of the Wright State basketball program included an initial try-out of 80-some students at Spinning Hills Jr High in the fall of 1969. It was there that the program architect John Ross selected his first team, which went on to play a JV/freshman schedule in that first 1969/1970 season.
Just as WSU had made its debut in the 1993 NCAA tournament, Gary Nuhn (Dayton Daily News) interviewed Mark about the start of the now midwest powerhouse: "It was in the fall of 1969, It was posted on a bulletin board..Wright State was starting a basketball program and asked for volunteers from the student body."
Nuhn also asked him to recount a prediction he had made during his MVP acceptance speech in 1971:
""This program is going to take off...and eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen." Text of full article below.
Nuhn also asked him to recount a prediction he had made during his MVP acceptance speech in 1971:
""This program is going to take off...and eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen." Text of full article below.
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Wright State first sponsored men's basketball in 1970 under the direction of Coach John Ross. First year varsity letter winners included: Mark Beilinski, Jerry Butcher, Mark Donahue, Jerry Hecht, John Hildebrand, Chuck Horton, Jim Schellhase, Doug Taylor, Jim Thacker. Mike Zink. Paul Brown, and Gary Webb. Jim Thacker was named the MVP and Chuck Horton, Mark Donahue and John Hildebrand took the foul shooting honors.
R1: Mike Zink, Jerry Butcher, Mark Billinski, Steve Eades, Jerry Hecht, Chuck Horton, Larry Rentschler
R2: Head coach John Ross, Paul Brown, Doug Taylor, Jim Swaney, John Hildebrand, Jim Thacker, Jim Shellhose,
Mark Donahue, Gary Webb, AD Don Mohr
R2: Head coach John Ross, Paul Brown, Doug Taylor, Jim Swaney, John Hildebrand, Jim Thacker, Jim Shellhose,
Mark Donahue, Gary Webb, AD Don Mohr
After playing for three years in high school, and collegiate ball for two years in Nebraska, Mark transferred in his junior year to WSU, where he played Guard for Coach John Ross from 1969 until graduation.
While with the Raiders, he lettered, was named MVP, became team captain and as of the latest published records, still ranks #6 for all-time Steals.
During his ball playing days, numerous articles were written about Mark, and in the March 2015, was remembered by Tom Archdeacon as a “stand out player” in an article about the then recently deceased Coach Ross.
On February 6, 2016, The teams' photograph is displayed in the McLin wing of the Nutter Center hangs in the WSU Recreation Center, and in 201___ he, along with others of the 1969/1970 team were honored by the basketball program as the founding fathers of Raider basketball.
Mark started as a Junior playing Guard on the original 1969/1970 Wright State Raiders team. He went on to be named team captain and MVP in his senior year during the 1970/1971 season. Out-scoring most opponents and teammates alike, his photograph is still displayed at WSU's Athletic Center, adjacent to the Nutter Center. Mark and three others from that inagural team were honored on February 6, 2016 in a pre-game ceremony.
While with the Raiders, he lettered, was named MVP, became team captain and as of the latest published records, still ranks #6 for all-time Steals.
During his ball playing days, numerous articles were written about Mark, and in the March 2015, was remembered by Tom Archdeacon as a “stand out player” in an article about the then recently deceased Coach Ross.
On February 6, 2016, The teams' photograph is displayed in the McLin wing of the Nutter Center hangs in the WSU Recreation Center, and in 201___ he, along with others of the 1969/1970 team were honored by the basketball program as the founding fathers of Raider basketball.
Mark started as a Junior playing Guard on the original 1969/1970 Wright State Raiders team. He went on to be named team captain and MVP in his senior year during the 1970/1971 season. Out-scoring most opponents and teammates alike, his photograph is still displayed at WSU's Athletic Center, adjacent to the Nutter Center. Mark and three others from that inagural team were honored on February 6, 2016 in a pre-game ceremony.
1964--1965 Fairmont West Dragons Third from right, Mark is #14
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wright state men's basketball
Record book 2009/2010
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After playing for three years in high school, and collegiate ball for two years in Nebraska, Mark transferred in his junior year to WSU, where he played Guard for Coach John Ross from 1969 until graduation. While with the Raiders, he lettered, was named MVP, became team captain and as of the latest published data, still ranks #6 for all-time Steals.
During his ball playing days, numerous articles were written about the team, often recounting Mark's contributions, and in the March 11, 2015, edition of the Dayton Daily News, a tribute to the recently deceased Coach Ross, he was remembered by Tom Archdeacon as a “stand out player”.
Mark’s photograph still hangs in the WSU Athletic Center, and on February 6, 2016 he, along with others of the 1969/1970 team were honored by the basketball program as the founding fathers of Raider basketball.
During his ball playing days, numerous articles were written about the team, often recounting Mark's contributions, and in the March 11, 2015, edition of the Dayton Daily News, a tribute to the recently deceased Coach Ross, he was remembered by Tom Archdeacon as a “stand out player”.
Mark’s photograph still hangs in the WSU Athletic Center, and on February 6, 2016 he, along with others of the 1969/1970 team were honored by the basketball program as the founding fathers of Raider basketball.
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Dayton Daily News Archives
WSU'S Rag-Tag beginning leads to NCAA
Gary Nuhn
DATE: March 19, 1993
WSU'S Rag-Tag beginning leads to NCAA
Gary Nuhn
DATE: March 19, 1993
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Mark Donahue remembers the original notice.
"It was in the fall of 1969," he said. "It was posted on a bulletin board. It said Wright State was starting a basketball program and asked for volunteers from the student body." Mark Donahue remembers the first practice. "There must have been 100 of us," he said. "You couldn't believe what showed up. There were kids there that couldn't shoot, couldn't run, couldn't pass, couldn't dribble. We suspected a lot of them weren't even attending Wright State. We figured they just walked in off the street because they heard there was some basketball being played." Mark Donahue remembers a speech he gave at the postseason banquet two years later after then-Coach John Ross handed him the Most Valuable Player award. "This program is going to take off," he told his fellow pioneers and their families. "Some day we're going to play Dayton. Some day we're going to beat them. And eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen." And so it has come to pass. Mark Donahue, prophet. Having previously realized the first two of Donahue's 22-year-old predictions, Wright State reaches the third tonight at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Raiders play Indiana in a first-round NCAA Tournament game. It may not be pretty, but then again neither were the origins of the program. Remember, we're talking about the real origins here. Not the 1970-71 team, which included the first scholarship players and is listed in the Wright State media guide as the first team. This is the 1969-70 bunch, a team without a nickname, with little skill and most nights horribly overmatched. You can't even call them the Bad News Raiders because they weren't known as Raiders. But you can call them bad. "We knew we were bad," said Donahue, |
"And a lot of it was like being in high school. We practiced in a junior high school; the bus rides and all that. But no matter what the environment, no matter who you are, you hate to lose. A lot of nights, all we were trying to do was keep it respectable."
That team finished 4-14, with seven losses by more than 20 points, the worst of them a 100-55 mutilation by a University of Cincinnati freshmen team led by Derrick Dickey. The highlight of the season, besides the opening victory against the Cedarville JVs, was leading the Ohio State freshmen team at halftime. "They had Luke Witte and Allan Hornyak," Donahue said. "They had just beaten the OSU varsity three straight scrimmages. We led at the half and on the way to the locker room, Coach Ross put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'Let's hope the lights go out.' They didn't. Final: OSU 81, WSU 51. Donahue, a Fairmont West grad who had transferred from Hiram Scott in Nebraska, became eligible after four games and led the team in scoring over the last 14. After five road games, the team's first home game - at Stebbins High School - was Jan. 9, 1970, with Wittenberg's JVs. "We had a good turnout," Donahue said. "And the crowd was real enthusiastic." He still has a copy of a mimeographed sheet of cheers handed out to the fans. The first cheer: "H-E-L-L-O. Hellooooo . . . "Wright State says: "Hello and good luck." Wittenberg won, 80-66. It was a season of spills, like a 1-year-old taking its first steps. After the first semester, the team lost six players to grades. Ross looked around, studied his options, and promoted his statistician, Mike Zink, to point guard. |
"Everybody saw it as a lark," Donahue said. "I look back at it now and I just shake my head."
Donahue claims credit for the nickname Raiders. Just before the end of the season, the school newspaper began calling the team the Tiglons, an amalgam of Tigers and Lions. "The administration didn't like it," Donahue said. "They set up a committee to suggest names." Donahue was on the five-person committee. "Each of us submitted one name," he said. "One of them was the Aardvarks. One was Tiglons. Crazy names. I suggested Raiders. I was a big Oakland Raider fan. "The student body voted and Aardvarks won. It was a landslide. But the three of us counting ballots didn't like it. We went to (athletic director) Don Mohr and told him Raiders won." God Bless America. Donahue is an adamant John Ross supporter. "It's great what Wright State has done this year," Donahue said. "But I don't think Coach Ross is getting enough credit. We called him 'The Marine.' He was stern, but he had to be. He was doing it by himself. He didn't have an assistant. I don't know how he did it." The myth is, a team like that, a team of rag-tags and pick-me-ups, would be drawn close by the experience. The reality is, Donahue can't remember the last time he saw or heard from most of them. "There was a Wright State alumni game about 10 years ago and I was the only player from that team to show up," Mark Donahue said. "I wish I knew where they all were. I'd love to have a reunion." Reunion or not, their legacy is assured. It was they who laid the first stone on the road to Indianapolis. |
Dayton Daily News Archives
WSU'S Rag-Tag beginning leads to NCAA
Gary Nuhn
DATE: March 19, 1993
Mark Donahue remembers the original notice.
"It was in the fall of 1969," he said. "It was posted on a bulletin board. It said Wright State was starting a basketball program and asked for volunteers from the student body."
Mark Donahue remembers the first practice.
"There must have been 100 of us," he said. "You couldn't believe what showed up. There were kids there that couldn't shoot, couldn't run, couldn't pass, couldn't dribble. We suspected a lot of them weren't even attending Wright State. We figured they just walked in off the street because they heard there was some basketball being played."
Mark Donahue remembers a speech he gave at the postseason banquet two years later after then-Coach John Ross handed him the Most Valuable Player award.
"This program is going to take off," he told his fellow pioneers and their families. "Some day we're going to play Dayton. Some day we're going to beat them. And eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen."
And so it has come to pass.
Mark Donahue, prophet.
Having previously realized the first two of Donahue's 22-year-old predictions, Wright State reaches the third tonight at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Raiders play Indiana in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
It may not be pretty, but then again neither were the origins of the program.
Remember, we're talking about the real origins here. Not the 1970-71 team, which included the first scholarship players and is listed in the Wright State media guide as the first team. This is the 1969-70 bunch, a team without a nickname, with little skill and most nights horribly overmatched.
You can't even call them the Bad News Raiders because they weren't known as Raiders. But you can call them bad.
"We knew we were bad," said Donahue, who is founder and president of Commercial Real Estate Training, Inc. "And a lot of it was like being in high school. We practiced in a junior high school; the bus rides and all that. But no matter what the environment, no matter who you are, you hate to lose. A lot of nights, all we were trying to do was keep it respectable."
That team finished 4-14, with seven losses by more than 20 points, the worst of them a 100-55 mutilation by a University of Cincinnati freshmen team led by Derrick Dickey.
The highlight of the season, besides the opening victory against the Cedarville JVs, was leading the Ohio State freshmen team at halftime.
"They had Luke Witte and Allan Hornyak," Donahue said. "They had just beaten the OSU varsity three straight scrimmages. We led at the half and on the way to the locker room, Coach Ross put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'Let's hope the lights go out.'
They didn't.
Final: OSU 81, WSU 51.
Donahue, a Fairmont West grad who had transferred from Hiram Scott in Nebraska, became eligible after four games and led the team in scoring over the last 14.
After five road games, the team's first home game - at Stebbins High School - was Jan. 9, 1970, with Wittenberg's JVs.
"We had a good turnout," Donahue said. "And the crowd was real enthusiastic."
He still has a copy of a mimeographed sheet of cheers handed out to the fans. The first cheer:
"H-E-L-L-O. Hellooooo . . .
"Wright State says:
"Hello and good luck."
Wittenberg won, 80-66.
It was a season of spills, like a 1-year-old taking its first steps. After the first semester, the team lost six players to grades. Ross looked around, studied his options and promoted his statistician, Mike Zink, to point guard.
"Everybody saw it as a lark," Donahue said. "I look back at it now and I just shake my head."
Donahue claims credit for the nickname Raiders.
Just before the end of the season, the school newspaper began calling the team the Tiglons, an amalgam of Tigers and Lions.
"The administration didn't like it," Donahue said. "They set up a committee to suggest names."
Donahue was on the five-person committee.
"Each of us submitted one name," he said. "One of them was the Aardvarks. One was Tiglons. Crazy names. I suggested Raiders. I was a big Oakland Raider fan.
"The student body voted and Aardvarks won. It was a landslide. But the three of us counting ballots didn't like it. We went to (athletic director) Don Mohr and told him Raiders won."
God Bless America.
Donahue is an adamant John Ross supporter.
"It's great what Wright State has done this year," Donahue said. "But I don't think Coach Ross is getting enough credit. We called him 'The Marine.' He was stern, but he had to be. He was doing it by himself. He didn't have an assistant. I don't know how he did it."
The myth is, a team like that, a team of rag-tags and pick-me-ups, would be drawn close by the experience.
The reality is, Donahue can't remember the last time he saw or heard from most of them.
"There was a Wright State alumni game about 10 years ago and I was the only player from that team to show up," Mark Donahue said. "I wish I knew where they all were. I'd love to have a reunion."
Reunion or not, their legacy is assured. It was they who laid the first stone on the road to Indianapolis.
WSU'S Rag-Tag beginning leads to NCAA
Gary Nuhn
DATE: March 19, 1993
Mark Donahue remembers the original notice.
"It was in the fall of 1969," he said. "It was posted on a bulletin board. It said Wright State was starting a basketball program and asked for volunteers from the student body."
Mark Donahue remembers the first practice.
"There must have been 100 of us," he said. "You couldn't believe what showed up. There were kids there that couldn't shoot, couldn't run, couldn't pass, couldn't dribble. We suspected a lot of them weren't even attending Wright State. We figured they just walked in off the street because they heard there was some basketball being played."
Mark Donahue remembers a speech he gave at the postseason banquet two years later after then-Coach John Ross handed him the Most Valuable Player award.
"This program is going to take off," he told his fellow pioneers and their families. "Some day we're going to play Dayton. Some day we're going to beat them. And eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen."
And so it has come to pass.
Mark Donahue, prophet.
Having previously realized the first two of Donahue's 22-year-old predictions, Wright State reaches the third tonight at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Raiders play Indiana in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
It may not be pretty, but then again neither were the origins of the program.
Remember, we're talking about the real origins here. Not the 1970-71 team, which included the first scholarship players and is listed in the Wright State media guide as the first team. This is the 1969-70 bunch, a team without a nickname, with little skill and most nights horribly overmatched.
You can't even call them the Bad News Raiders because they weren't known as Raiders. But you can call them bad.
"We knew we were bad," said Donahue, who is founder and president of Commercial Real Estate Training, Inc. "And a lot of it was like being in high school. We practiced in a junior high school; the bus rides and all that. But no matter what the environment, no matter who you are, you hate to lose. A lot of nights, all we were trying to do was keep it respectable."
That team finished 4-14, with seven losses by more than 20 points, the worst of them a 100-55 mutilation by a University of Cincinnati freshmen team led by Derrick Dickey.
The highlight of the season, besides the opening victory against the Cedarville JVs, was leading the Ohio State freshmen team at halftime.
"They had Luke Witte and Allan Hornyak," Donahue said. "They had just beaten the OSU varsity three straight scrimmages. We led at the half and on the way to the locker room, Coach Ross put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'Let's hope the lights go out.'
They didn't.
Final: OSU 81, WSU 51.
Donahue, a Fairmont West grad who had transferred from Hiram Scott in Nebraska, became eligible after four games and led the team in scoring over the last 14.
After five road games, the team's first home game - at Stebbins High School - was Jan. 9, 1970, with Wittenberg's JVs.
"We had a good turnout," Donahue said. "And the crowd was real enthusiastic."
He still has a copy of a mimeographed sheet of cheers handed out to the fans. The first cheer:
"H-E-L-L-O. Hellooooo . . .
"Wright State says:
"Hello and good luck."
Wittenberg won, 80-66.
It was a season of spills, like a 1-year-old taking its first steps. After the first semester, the team lost six players to grades. Ross looked around, studied his options and promoted his statistician, Mike Zink, to point guard.
"Everybody saw it as a lark," Donahue said. "I look back at it now and I just shake my head."
Donahue claims credit for the nickname Raiders.
Just before the end of the season, the school newspaper began calling the team the Tiglons, an amalgam of Tigers and Lions.
"The administration didn't like it," Donahue said. "They set up a committee to suggest names."
Donahue was on the five-person committee.
"Each of us submitted one name," he said. "One of them was the Aardvarks. One was Tiglons. Crazy names. I suggested Raiders. I was a big Oakland Raider fan.
"The student body voted and Aardvarks won. It was a landslide. But the three of us counting ballots didn't like it. We went to (athletic director) Don Mohr and told him Raiders won."
God Bless America.
Donahue is an adamant John Ross supporter.
"It's great what Wright State has done this year," Donahue said. "But I don't think Coach Ross is getting enough credit. We called him 'The Marine.' He was stern, but he had to be. He was doing it by himself. He didn't have an assistant. I don't know how he did it."
The myth is, a team like that, a team of rag-tags and pick-me-ups, would be drawn close by the experience.
The reality is, Donahue can't remember the last time he saw or heard from most of them.
"There was a Wright State alumni game about 10 years ago and I was the only player from that team to show up," Mark Donahue said. "I wish I knew where they all were. I'd love to have a reunion."
Reunion or not, their legacy is assured. It was they who laid the first stone on the road to Indianapolis.
Dayton Daily News Archives
WSU'S Rag-Tag beginning leads to NCAA
Gary Nuhn
DATE: March 19, 1993
Mark Donahue remembers the original notice.
"It was in the fall of 1969," he said. "It was posted on a bulletin board. It said Wright State was starting a basketball program and asked for volunteers from the student body."
Mark Donahue remembers the first practice.
"There must have been 100 of us," he said. "You couldn't believe what showed up. There were kids there that couldn't shoot, couldn't run, couldn't pass, couldn't dribble. We suspected a lot of them weren't even attending Wright State. We figured they just walked in off the street because they heard there was some basketball being played."
Mark Donahue remembers a speech he gave at the postseason banquet two years later after then-Coach John Ross handed him the Most Valuable Player award.
"This program is going to take off," he told his fellow pioneers and their families. "Some day we're going to play Dayton. Some day we're going to beat them. And eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen."
And so it has come to pass.
Mark Donahue, prophet.
Having previously realized the first two of Donahue's 22-year-old predictions, Wright State reaches the third tonight at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Raiders play Indiana in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
It may not be pretty, but then again neither were the origins of the program.
Remember, we're talking about the real origins here. Not the 1970-71 team, which included the first scholarship players and is listed in the Wright State media guide as the first team. This is the 1969-70 bunch, a team without a nickname, with little skill and most nights horribly overmatched.
You can't even call them the Bad News Raiders because they weren't known as Raiders. But you can call them bad.
"We knew we were bad," said Donahue, who is founder and president of Commercial Real Estate Training, Inc. "And a lot of it was like being in high school. We practiced in a junior high school; the bus rides and all that. But no matter what the environment, no matter who you are, you hate to lose. A lot of nights, all we were trying to do was keep it respectable."
That team finished 4-14, with seven losses by more than 20 points, the worst of them a 100-55 mutilation by a University of Cincinnati freshmen team led by Derrick Dickey.
The highlight of the season, besides the opening victory against the Cedarville JVs, was leading the Ohio State freshmen team at halftime.
"They had Luke Witte and Allan Hornyak," Donahue said. "They had just beaten the OSU varsity three straight scrimmages. We led at the half and on the way to the locker room, Coach Ross put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'Let's hope the lights go out.'
They didn't.
Final: OSU 81, WSU 51.
Donahue, a Fairmont West grad who had transferred from Hiram Scott in Nebraska, became eligible after four games and led the team in scoring over the last 14.
After five road games, the team's first home game - at Stebbins High School - was Jan. 9, 1970, with Wittenberg's JVs.
"We had a good turnout," Donahue said. "And the crowd was real enthusiastic."
He still has a copy of a mimeographed sheet of cheers handed out to the fans. The first cheer:
"H-E-L-L-O. Hellooooo . . .
"Wright State says:
"Hello and good luck."
Wittenberg won, 80-66.
It was a season of spills, like a 1-year-old taking its first steps. After the first semester, the team lost six players to grades. Ross looked around, studied his options and promoted his statistician, Mike Zink, to point guard.
"Everybody saw it as a lark," Donahue said. "I look back at it now and I just shake my head."
Donahue claims credit for the nickname Raiders.
Just before the end of the season, the school newspaper began calling the team the Tiglons, an amalgam of Tigers and Lions.
"The administration didn't like it," Donahue said. "They set up a committee to suggest names."
Donahue was on the five-person committee.
"Each of us submitted one name," he said. "One of them was the Aardvarks. One was Tiglons. Crazy names. I suggested Raiders. I was a big Oakland Raider fan.
"The student body voted and Aardvarks won. It was a landslide. But the three of us counting ballots didn't like it. We went to (athletic director) Don Mohr and told him Raiders won."
God Bless America.
Donahue is an adamant John Ross supporter.
"It's great what Wright State has done this year," Donahue said. "But I don't think Coach Ross is getting enough credit. We called him 'The Marine.' He was stern, but he had to be. He was doing it by himself. He didn't have an assistant. I don't know how he did it."
The myth is, a team like that, a team of rag-tags and pick-me-ups, would be drawn close by the experience.
The reality is, Donahue can't remember the last time he saw or heard from most of them.
"There was a Wright State alumni game about 10 years ago and I was the only player from that team to show up," Mark Donahue said. "I wish I knew where they all were. I'd love to have a reunion."
Reunion or not, their legacy is assured. It was they who laid the first stone on the road to Indianapolis.
WSU'S Rag-Tag beginning leads to NCAA
Gary Nuhn
DATE: March 19, 1993
Mark Donahue remembers the original notice.
"It was in the fall of 1969," he said. "It was posted on a bulletin board. It said Wright State was starting a basketball program and asked for volunteers from the student body."
Mark Donahue remembers the first practice.
"There must have been 100 of us," he said. "You couldn't believe what showed up. There were kids there that couldn't shoot, couldn't run, couldn't pass, couldn't dribble. We suspected a lot of them weren't even attending Wright State. We figured they just walked in off the street because they heard there was some basketball being played."
Mark Donahue remembers a speech he gave at the postseason banquet two years later after then-Coach John Ross handed him the Most Valuable Player award.
"This program is going to take off," he told his fellow pioneers and their families. "Some day we're going to play Dayton. Some day we're going to beat them. And eventually we're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's five years or 10 or 100, eventually it's going to happen."
And so it has come to pass.
Mark Donahue, prophet.
Having previously realized the first two of Donahue's 22-year-old predictions, Wright State reaches the third tonight at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Raiders play Indiana in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
It may not be pretty, but then again neither were the origins of the program.
Remember, we're talking about the real origins here. Not the 1970-71 team, which included the first scholarship players and is listed in the Wright State media guide as the first team. This is the 1969-70 bunch, a team without a nickname, with little skill and most nights horribly overmatched.
You can't even call them the Bad News Raiders because they weren't known as Raiders. But you can call them bad.
"We knew we were bad," said Donahue, who is founder and president of Commercial Real Estate Training, Inc. "And a lot of it was like being in high school. We practiced in a junior high school; the bus rides and all that. But no matter what the environment, no matter who you are, you hate to lose. A lot of nights, all we were trying to do was keep it respectable."
That team finished 4-14, with seven losses by more than 20 points, the worst of them a 100-55 mutilation by a University of Cincinnati freshmen team led by Derrick Dickey.
The highlight of the season, besides the opening victory against the Cedarville JVs, was leading the Ohio State freshmen team at halftime.
"They had Luke Witte and Allan Hornyak," Donahue said. "They had just beaten the OSU varsity three straight scrimmages. We led at the half and on the way to the locker room, Coach Ross put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'Let's hope the lights go out.'
They didn't.
Final: OSU 81, WSU 51.
Donahue, a Fairmont West grad who had transferred from Hiram Scott in Nebraska, became eligible after four games and led the team in scoring over the last 14.
After five road games, the team's first home game - at Stebbins High School - was Jan. 9, 1970, with Wittenberg's JVs.
"We had a good turnout," Donahue said. "And the crowd was real enthusiastic."
He still has a copy of a mimeographed sheet of cheers handed out to the fans. The first cheer:
"H-E-L-L-O. Hellooooo . . .
"Wright State says:
"Hello and good luck."
Wittenberg won, 80-66.
It was a season of spills, like a 1-year-old taking its first steps. After the first semester, the team lost six players to grades. Ross looked around, studied his options and promoted his statistician, Mike Zink, to point guard.
"Everybody saw it as a lark," Donahue said. "I look back at it now and I just shake my head."
Donahue claims credit for the nickname Raiders.
Just before the end of the season, the school newspaper began calling the team the Tiglons, an amalgam of Tigers and Lions.
"The administration didn't like it," Donahue said. "They set up a committee to suggest names."
Donahue was on the five-person committee.
"Each of us submitted one name," he said. "One of them was the Aardvarks. One was Tiglons. Crazy names. I suggested Raiders. I was a big Oakland Raider fan.
"The student body voted and Aardvarks won. It was a landslide. But the three of us counting ballots didn't like it. We went to (athletic director) Don Mohr and told him Raiders won."
God Bless America.
Donahue is an adamant John Ross supporter.
"It's great what Wright State has done this year," Donahue said. "But I don't think Coach Ross is getting enough credit. We called him 'The Marine.' He was stern, but he had to be. He was doing it by himself. He didn't have an assistant. I don't know how he did it."
The myth is, a team like that, a team of rag-tags and pick-me-ups, would be drawn close by the experience.
The reality is, Donahue can't remember the last time he saw or heard from most of them.
"There was a Wright State alumni game about 10 years ago and I was the only player from that team to show up," Mark Donahue said. "I wish I knew where they all were. I'd love to have a reunion."
Reunion or not, their legacy is assured. It was they who laid the first stone on the road to Indianapolis.
basketball highlights
Basketball Highlights
wright state men's basketball
Record book
The humble beginnings of the Wright State basketball program included an initial try-out of 80-some students at Spinning Hills Junior High in the fall of 1969. It was there that the program architect John Ross selected his first team, which went on to play a JV/freshman schedule in that first season.
R1: Mike Zink, Jerry Butcher, Mark Billinski, Steve Eades, Jerry Hecht, Chuck Horton, Larry Rentschler
R2: Head coach John Ross, Paul Brown, Doug Taylor, Jim Swaney, John Hildebrand, Jim Thacker,
Jim Shellhose, Mark Donahue, Gary Webb, AD Don Mohr
R2: Head coach John Ross, Paul Brown, Doug Taylor, Jim Swaney, John Hildebrand, Jim Thacker,
Jim Shellhose, Mark Donahue, Gary Webb, AD Don Mohr
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