Nov. 12, 2003
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Big Five season officially gets under way at one minute past midnight on Friday, November 21 when John Chaney's Owls tangle with Villanova at the Liacouras Center. However, the fun begins a few hours earlier for fans as the two schools will take part in a "Turn Back The Clock" alumni game sponsored by Mitchell & Ness at 9:30 p.m, on Thursday, November 20. In that contest, members of the 1985 NCAA Champion Villanova Wildcat will face members of Temple's 1988 team that finished the regular season ranked #1 in the nation.
Ed Pinckney, a current assistant for Villanova, leads four members of the school's National Championship squad into the Liacouras Center. Pinckney is joined by fellow 1985 teammates Dwayne McClain, Harold Jensen and Chuck Everson. Villanova has a mixture of young and old alums on its roster. Longtime radio color analyst Whitey Rigsby ('78) leads six Wildcats who played most of their careers in the '70s. They are Mike Stack ('76), Larry ('77) and Keith ('78) Herron, Joe Rogers ('77), Marty Caron ('80) and Tom Sienkiewicz ('81). Younger alums, Doug West ('89), Gary Massey ('89), and Jonathan Haynes ('95), Ron Wilson ('95) and Eric Eberz ('96) will also be on the VU roster.
Representing the 1988 Temple squad will be current Owl assistant coach Mark Macon, Duane Causwell, Mike Vreeswyk, Derrick Brantley, Lamont Ferrell and Darrin Pearsall and Ernest Pollard. The Owls team will also feature two players from its historic 1969 NIT Championship squad, John Baum and Tom Wieczerak and two other players, Ollie Johnson and Drew Nolan, who competed in the early '70s. Seymour Kilstein, who played for Temple in the late '50s, is the oldest member of either squad while younger alums on the team include Chris Laws ('98) and Quincy Wadley ('01). The 'Owl Without a Vowel' Bill Mlkvy will coach the Temple squad.
The teams will play two 20-minute halves with the participants signing autographs following the exhibition. Fans will be able to register to win a Mitchell & Ness throwback jersey from each team at the Liacouras Center that night.
