Opposites attracted a lot of attention

Although Tuesday at Carver Arena will mark the 110th Bradley-Illinois State men’s basketball game spread over 105 years, the rivalry didn’t begin to become the spectacle it is today until just a generation ago.

The Braves and Redbirds were members of the Little 19 Conference in the teens and 1920s, then went different directions for the next half century until Illinois State became a Division I program in 1970.

The series was reborn in the ’70s and really began to heat up in a matchup at Normal in 1979, when rookie head coaches named Bob Donewald and Dick Versace met on the court for the first time.

The stark contrast in the coaches’ personalities — Versace’s flamboyance vs. Donewald’s sternness — and their apparent public dislike for one another gave the rivalry a life of its own during the 1980s. Fans of both teams still talk about it.

Both coaches, now pushing 70 and still active as college hoops broadcasters, sat down for interviews in the past few days to reminisce about those glory days.

“I’ve run into Bob over the years and we get a big chuckle out of the rivalry,” Versace said. “Bob was an excellent coach. I don’t know whether I got under his skin or not, but I certainly tried. It made it more interesting.” 

ISU won that first meeting between the coaches, 74-61, and Versace was not happy at the end.

“There was a little altercation right after the game, and Dick grabbed one of our players,” Donewald said. “He didn’t hurt him or anything and it never got out of control. But the administrations from both institutions about had a coronary. So we had to have a meeting the next day, because they didn’t want the situation to get out of hand.”

It didn’t, at least on the court. But when ISU joined the Missouri Valley Conference three years later, one of the nation’s most intense college basketball rivalries was launched in earnest.

That 1981-82 season, Bradley was on its way to an MVC title and an NIT championship. But the Braves didn’t win the Valley tournament (then played at campus sites) because the fifth-place Redbirds came to Robertson Field House and pulled off a 55-50 upset in double overtime.

“Up until then, Bradley had all the tradition and we were the new kid on the block,” Donewald said. “That win took our program to the next level. We took off and went to three straight NCAAs.”

The Braves, of course, were off and running themselves toward some great seasons, which only enhanced the central Illinois matchup that became known as “The War on 74,” later amended to “The I-74 rivalry.”

“What made the rivalry so special was how the communities got involved,” Donewald said. “The Bradley people always had me speak at their pregame luncheons, and those were some great times.

“The time I really developed an understanding of the relationship between Bloomington-Normal and Peoria was after that big win in Peoria. It was late at night when we got back to Normal, but the parking lot at Horton (Field House) was mobbed with people.”

Each coach spoke of how they tried to use ISU-BU pregame chatter to motivate their teams.

“I was all about getting the edge,” Versace said. “If I could upset you and get you thinking about something else, that’s what I’d do. I used to make fun of Bob being a Bobby Knight clone, right down to the gestures and the postures.’’

Donewald was a Knight assistant at Indiana before coming to ISU.

“One time they were selling ‘Dick Versace Sucks’ T-shirts,’’ Versace said. “I remember being a little mad about it because my daughter was there. So I tried to make that be the cause and motivate my guys. For me, it was all about getting the edge. ”

Did it work?

“Dick definitely entertained us,” said BU coach Jim Les, the Braves’ point guard at the time. “It was great fun.”

A memorable moment came one night at Horton when Versace sat at the courtside table to scout the Redbirds, back when doing so in person was allowed.

Illinois State’s mascot, Reggie Redbird, stopped by to visit during a timeout and departed with a frisky mussing of Versace’s trademark curly silver hair. The BU coach did not appear amused. He pushed away the big bird and called over ISU athletics director Bob Frederick to complain.

“I still run into Illinois State people who talk about the time I punched the mascot,” Versace said. “It was kind of playful and you could spin it any way you want. He was messing with my hair and I don’t know if I pushed him or punched him. I think he got fired for that. To me, that was a fun, laughable thing that happened there. It was good theater.”

Donewald laughed about the incident and said he used Versace’s words and antics to inspire his own team.

“Dick would always have a press conference prior to playing us, and I would tape it,” Donewald said. “Inevitably, he would say something (inflammatory) about my team or one of my players. Then we’d have a team meeting and I’d play it over and over and over again. I would never say anything because I didn’t want anything that was going to end up in their locker room. Dick would always help my team.”

Then there was the ISU news conference when Donewald spotted a cameraman from WEEK-TV who was wearing a Bradley sweatshirt. In his acerbic way, Donewald called out the young man, who was asked to leave.

Fittingly, the coaches went 8-8 against each other in their ISU-BU matchups before Versace went on to an NBA career of coaching, broadcasting and administration.

Versace, 69, left the Memphis Grizzlies’ front office a few years ago, staged a brief run for Congress and now does color commentary for Bradley games on Comcast cable and lends a hand to former players turned coaches.

After 11 years at ISU, Donewald moved on in 1989 to Western Michigan, where he coached for 11 more years before he retired to the Grand Rapids, Mich., area with his wife, Cathy. Now a freelance television analyst, the 67-year-old is working with the Mountain West Conference and ESPN.

The ISU-BU rivalry continued unabated upon their departures and has sold out routinely at Carver and Redbird arenas. But it’s never been quite as captivating as those days of yore, when two disparate coaches and two very good teams took the stage amid a sea of red.

“It wasn’t the national rivalry of Duke-North Carolina or Indiana-Purdue,” Donewald said. “But there wasn’t a rivalry as intense in college basketball as Bradley-Illinois State. It was very, very special.”

And still is.

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com.