Kelly Tripucka And The 'Banner Age' Of Notre Dame Basketball
There has been a conspicuous absence in the Notre Dame Basketball Ring of Honor since its inception in 2010.
That void will be filled Saturday afternoon (Feb. 1) at Purcell Pavilion when three-time All-American Kelly Tripucka (1977-81) will see his No. 44 unfurled in the rafters at halftime of the game versus Georgia Tech.
Along with four classmates (more on them later), they were the final chapter of the Golden Age of the basketball program since the end of World War II.
From 1968, the year the Athletics & Convocation Center opened its doors by introducing sophomore phenom Austin Carr, to the heartbreaking loss to BYU in the 1981 NCAA Tournament, the Fighting Irish became a top-10 fixture in NCAA men's basketball for the most part, reaching the crescendo with the program’s lone Final Four appearance in 1978.
That was the season the freshman Tripucka cracked the starting lineup of a team that would feature eight players who competed in the NBA — plus four-year starting point guard Rich Branning, a fourth-round pick.
No one from that juggernaut has yet been represented in the Ring of Honor, until now.
Fittingly, it now will be Tripucka, one of the most intense, clutch and charismatic figures in the program’s annals.
He will be the ninth member of the men’s program in the Ring of Honor, joining his head coach Digger Phelps and, chronologically, Tom Hawkins, Bob Whitmore, Austin Carr, Adrian Dantley, David Rivers, Troy Murphy and Luke Harangody.
MAGIC IN THE NAME
The Tripucka name instantly evokes memories of a Golden Age at Notre Dame.
As the starting quarterback for head coach Frank Leahy’s unbeaten 1948 team, Frank Tripucka — who went on to a 15-year pro career — was part of the school’s Golden Years in football (1946-49) when the Fighting Irish were 36-0-2 with three national titles.
Three decades later, Tripucka’s second-youngest son became the centerpiece of a Notre Dame basketball Golden Age.
Kelly Tripucka’s interest in basketball was piqued by watching his boyhood hero, Carr, and his competitive streak was honed by four older brothers who were star athletes.
From 1970-76, Tracy and Todd Tripucka were among the nation’s scoring leaders at Lafayette University, with Tracy averaging 25.0 points per game in his career and Todd 26.1 as a senior
Later, T.K. Tripucka suited up at Fordham University, and Mark Tripucka played quarterback at the University of Massachusetts. They imbued a toughness, resilience and fearlessness in Kelly that followed him throughout his career.
“That had everything to do with me developing as a player,” he said. “I was always getting knocked around, pushed down, kicked out and told I was too young to play.
“I was stubborn to the point where no matter how many times my brothers kicked my ball the other way, I always came back.”
While growing up in Essex Fells, N.J., Kelly was “the fifth guy” among his brothers in five-on-five pickup games against top college athletes.
Building on a biblical theme, the last soon became the first in those fierce contests.
“My older brothers finally began to say, ‘Hey, Kelly’s pretty good!’ ” Tripucka said.
Good enough to be named the New Jersey High School Player of the 20th Century by a panel of experts in 1999 for the Newark Star Ledger.
Beyond the hardwood, Tripucka’s athletic prowess was showcased on other stages.
• Twice he reached the semifinals in his age group of the once famous Punt, Pass and Kick competition.
• He earned all-state honors in soccer, where he also received college scholarship offers.
• At Bloomfield High, he set school records in the javelin toss, shot put and high jump.
The Notre Dame program already was upper echelon in the four seasons before Tripucka enrolled in 1977. The Irish were ranked No. 3, No. 9, No. 7 and No. 10 by the AP when they were eliminated in the NCAA Tournament in the four respective years from 1974-77.
When Tripucka’s five-man freshman class enrolled in August 1977, the enthusiasm for the program reached a fever pitch.
It was an era where national televised college basketball games appeared only a couple of times on weekends, and as an independent Notre Dame scheduled marquee contests specifically tailored for television.
Among all the Notre Dame stars in the late 1970s, it was Tripucka who became a form of a matinee idol.
Also enrolling with Tripucka at Notre Dame in 1977 were two other high school All-Americans — Tracy Jackson and Gil Salinas – plus future NBA first-rounder Orlando Woolridge and Stan Wilcox, a former athletics director at Florida State and now the NCAA executive vice president of regulatory affairs.
That 1977-78 team was replete with veteran NBA talent: seniors Don “Duck” Williams and Dave Batton, juniors Bill Laimbeer and Bruce Flowers, and sophomores Branning and Bill Hanzlik..
Yet as a freshman, Tripucka was named the NCAA Midwest Regional MVP en route to the Final Four. It was the highlight of a sensational four-year run that included:
• A 92-26 (.780) record, the best winning percentage by one Irish class.
• A Top 10 ranking in 58 of the 64 regular-season weeks from 1977-81. The Irish never fell below 14th.
• Nineteen victories against ranked foes, four of them versus No. 1.
BRIGHT-LIGHTS PLAYER
The bigger the stage and the brighter the lights, the better Tripucka performed.
It began as a freshman when his 15 second-half points helped rally the Irish from a 17-point deficit against No. 1 Marquette in 1978 — a couple weeks before his MVP honor in the Midwest Regional.
Notre Dame returned to the Elite Eight his sophomore year while ranked No. 1 a full four weeks.
His 28-point effort spearheaded a two-point, double-overtime triumph versus No. 1 DePaul (25-0) in 1980, and he also had a 30-point performance as a senior to upset No. 1 Kentucky.
In his final game, the second-round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament, a well-covered Tripucka drilled a long jumper with eight seconds remaining to put Notre Dame ahead 51-50 versus BYU with eight seconds left … before an epic coast-to-coast drive by the Cougars Danny Ainge ended a Camelot era for the Irish, who would drop to 10-17 a year later.
Woolridge was taken with the sixth pick of the 1981 NBA Draft, Tripucka 12th and Jackson 25th. That will never happen again at Notre Dame with the way the college basketball and pro basketball landscapes are structured.
During his Irish career, Tripucka shot .548 from the field and .798 from the foul line. Among the 62 all-time 1,000-point scorers at the school, only Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Dantley surpassed Tripucka in both categories (.562 from the field and .800 from the foul line).
A two-time NBA All-Star, Tripucka averaged 17.2 points during a 10-year career in the league, and averaged 26.5 points per contest in his second season
In 2001, Kelly joined his father in the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame, making them the first father/son duo to achieve the distinction.
To this day, Tripucka laments the inability of the Irish to raise a national title banner in men's basketball during his time.
Still, the banner that will now represent him and a Golden Age was well earned.
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