It took about 20 seconds for little Casper Ware—at 5-feet-10, he was between four and 10 inches littler than everybody else in the Long Beach State starting lineup—to score the first points of the season for the 49ers late Saturday afternoon. But as I sat in the bright-and-shininess of the The Pyramid, the roar that erupted from the 4,122 spectators seemed to go back 40 years.

Maybe it was the pent-up enthusiasm of Homecoming Week on campus—which turns 60 this year—and the revival atmosphere that churned beneath white tents in the parking lot, where speeches and old photos and music provided the context for lots and lots of reunions.

But perhaps it was also the stirring of an honest-to-goodness revival of the tradition that made Long Beach State basketball a national superpower in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The 49ers’ 86-65 victory certainly had the ring of those days, even if the opponent was the lower-division team from the University of Alaska at Anchorage.

Naturally, Long Beach State Coach Don Monson chose to emphasize all the room for improvement that remains for his players during a long season filled with pretty imposing opponents. The Press-Telegram’s superb basketball reporter, Frank Burlison, covers all of that in his account of the game.

The District Weekly did a Nov. 4 cover story about how the rehabilitation of Monson’s own career somewhat parallels the rescue work he’s trying to do at Long Beach State.

But as just as crucial to raising the 49er program from the deathbed of its recent NCAA sanctions under former coach Larry Reynolds will be the reaction of its fans. They may have gotten off to an even-better start than the team Saturday, but the challenges for their continued excellence are perhaps even more imposing—beginning with their month-long layoff until the next home game.

Beginning Tuesday against Pepperdine University in Malibu, the 49ers will play a series of road games that will take them to places like Notre Dame, Green Bay, West Virginia and Texas before returning to The Pyramid to play Cal State Monterey Bay on Dec. 12.

Tags: Casper Ware, Don Monson, Frank Burlison, Homecoming, Long Beach State basketball