By Peter Fernandez
Northfield, VT, 1968 – During Jim Morrison’s “Strange Days,” the Vietnam War was teamed with television’s prime-time starting lineup of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Family Affair, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and Bonanza. Avuncular and bushy-browed CBS Host Walter Cronkite narrated “in living color” its unrestrained rock and rolling crescendo and surrealistic action inside millions of American living rooms.
That spring, Paul “Stu” Stukowski graduated with a BA in English from Norwich University, where he became an All-State and All-East selection in basketball. The 6’1” shooting guard from Worcester, Massachusetts, had just set the nation’s oldest private military college’s all-time scoring record at 1,366 points with a 26.7 ppg average.
While the Doors’ “Touch Me,” the Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” Simon and Garfunkel’s” Mrs. Robinson,” Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” and Otis Redding’s “Dock on the Bay” were amplifying the pop airwaves, Stukowski received a letter from the NY Knicks in- quiring of his availability for a tryout. The Celtics had also heard of his long-distance accuracy, perhaps from Stu’s Cadet coach, Bob “The Tank” Brannum, who played four seasons with Boston from 1951 to 55.
The Norwich sports schedule was highly competitive, with games against Division I Sacred Heart and UVM, D 2 Springfield College, and St. Michael’s during the Brannum/ Stukowski era. This contributed to some tough losses, but the Cadets were more successful against D3 peers Middlebury, Assumption, Tufts, Bowdoin, Clark University, and Hamilton. “Dr. George Turner, the Norwich Press Secretary, told me years later,” recalled Stukowski, “that our basketball schedule with real competition at 1-2-3 ended when coach Brannum left Norwich in 1968.”
Brannum, a burly, 6’5” center-forward “enforcer,” averaged seven ppg. and seven rpg. in his five seasons with the NBA Champion Celtics. One of his duties for legendary Coach Red Auerbach was to ensure nobody roughed up rising star Bob Cousy. “Bob Brannum was my bodyguard on the court,” remembers Cousy. “Teams learned pretty quickly not to pick on the 5’11” skinny kid from Holy Cross.”
Like his coach, Stukowski also had aspirations for the NBA Draft when one of the three Greek Mythological Fates, Clotho, “the Spinner who spins the thread of life,” seemed to cruelly interrupt Stukowski’s promising life arch. Typically, Division III cagers were long shots in the NBA, but not in Uncle Sam’s draft, where plenty of positions were still available. Unlike the NBA’s exclusive recruiting apparatus, the federal Selective Service System did not require polished hardcourt skills.
Stu enlisted in the Army, completing Basic Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Advanced Individual Training as a medic with the 373rd General Hospital Corp at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. His ambition of becoming an NBA player seemed to be “terminated with extreme prejudice.” After completing his tour of duty in Texas as an E-6 Medic in 1972, he spent six years in the Army Reserve.
In 1980, Stukowski earned his M.A. in Criminal Justice from Anna Maria College and worked as an Assistant Chief Probation Officer at the Worcester (MA.) District Court before retiring in 2002. “I loved my job, every day of it,” explained Stukowski. “It was like that TV show ‘Night Court’ all the time.”
Reflecting on scoring most of his points from beyond today’s three-point line, Stu Kowalski realized that his game was, sadly, not worth as much, at least numerically. After the NBA installed it in 1979, the three-point line was not placed in collegiate hoops until the 1986-87 season. The upstart ABA hustled to compete from 1967 to 1976, introducing the novel three-point basket.
Dunking was also banned in high school and collegiate hoops from 1967 until 1976. The NCAA cited that “it wasn’t a skillful shot, and there were concerns about player injuries around the backboard.” UCLA’s 7’2” All-American Lew Alcindor, who would become Kareem Abdul Jabbar, dominated the college game. Many critics believe this interdiction was in response to his height and uncanny athletic abilities as he led the Bruins from 1967 to 1969 to an 88-2 record and three NCAA Championships.
Jeff Plunkett, an All-State performer at Barre, Vermont’s Spaulding High School, was a 6’4” front-court standout for the Brannum/ Stukowski-led Cadets. “He was a great left-handed player who had a good shot for a big man and great jumping ability, which enabled him to rebound against bigger players,” remembered Stukowski. Sadly, Plunkett passed away at 75 in 2022.
Stukowski’s mentor, Bob Brannum, was a 1944 first-team All-American at Kentucky University. After his Norwich position, Brannum went to Kenyon College from 1968 to 1970. Coaching at Brandeis University from 1970 to 1986, he set a school record with 2004 wins. Brannum, also the varsity golf coach, died in 2005 at 79 and was buried in Kentucky, where he experienced most of his collegiate success under the legendary U. Kentucky Coach Adolph “the Baron” Rupp.
Thus, was the strange winter of The Beverly Hillbillies, The Vietnam War, D3 Norwich playing DI UVM, and a great 3-pt gunner whose long-distance baskets only counted for two.
The author is a children’s book author and Vermont resident.