All-Time Hoya Week

Last week was a banner week for me. The headliner was the taping of the latest installment of the ESPN television series, Homecoming. The show featured Alonzo Mourning '92, one the greatest athletes in the long intercollegiate history of Georgetown University, in the sports version of the old TV show, This is Your Life. ESPN will air the one-hour show on Thursday, August 6 at 7 p.m. EDT and again at 11 p.m. on ESPN2.


Last week was a banner week for me. The headliner was the taping of the latest installment of the ESPN television series, Homecoming. The show featured Alonzo Mourning '92, one the greatest athletes in the long intercollegiate history of Georgetown University, in the sports version of the old TV show, This is Your Life. ESPN will air the one-hour show on Thursday, August 6 at 7 p.m. EDT and again at 11 p.m. on ESPN2.



All-time great Patrick Ewing with future star Trey MourningNow, I tend to refrain from rating the all-time greatest athlete on the Hilltop. I won't start now. Nevertheless, would Alonzo be one of the top contenders? Absolutely. The greatest ever? Won't go there. Not with all-time superstar Patrick Ewing sitting in the auditorium for the Homecoming show. And not with the two other visitors I entertained on campus the previous and following day.



LeGendre granddaughter Martha Tucker and cousin Jane MuszynskiAs the TV trucks were crowding Healy Circle last Wednesday in preparation for Thursday's taping of Homecoming, I hosted another homecoming in the Library archives with local resident Martha Payne Tucker and her Maine-reared cousin Jane LeGendre Muszynski. Martha is the daughter of the late Jean LeGendre Payne. That makes Martha the granddaughter of all-time Hoya great Bob LeGendre '22. I had just blogged about her grandfather several days earlier (link here). Bob was the dominant Hoya superstar of his era. Together, we poured through the old yearbooks and early editions of The Hoya for most of the day, discovering new tidbits about Georgetown's legendary pentathlete and one-time world-record holder.



Michael and Nicholas Libretto learn about their famous forebear
from their grandmother Barbara
After the last of the ESPN trucks had departed, I was paid a visit on Friday by New Yorker Barbara Blozis Libretto, her husband Mike, and her two grandsons. With her instantly recognizable maiden name, Barbara is the daughter of the late Joseph Blozis, which makes her the second cousin of all-time Hoya great Al Blozis '42. I blogged and wrote about her world-reknown relative several years ago (link here). Al was the dominant Hoya superstar of his era as well. We spent half a day in McDonough and in the archives looking at Blozis memorabilia, from his WWII purple heart, to his football Hall of Fame plaque, to his written correspondence with the Jesuits, to the special edition comic book created in his honor, to the 16 lb. ball of iron, the shot put with which he set one record after another.

What a week for the stars of yesteryear! I could feel the spirit of the Blue and Gray pulsing with the physical and ethereal presence on campus of four of Georgetown's finest: Bob, Al, Patrick and Alonzo. The confluence of these four names in the same week not only made me proud to be a Hoya, but reminded me of Georgetown's tradition of athletic excellence through the generations. The best of the best? Take your pick.























As we say on the Hilltop, "Utraque Unam." Have it both ways.