GEORGETOWN ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

When head coach Jack Magee reviewed his roster for the upcoming 1967-68 season, there was ample reason for concern. Only five lettermen returned from a 12-11 team, none taller than 6-4. The Hoyas' hopes that season rested with a 6-6 math major from Hillsdale, NJ named Charlie Adrion, who soon developed into one of the Classic Era's best all around players.

Adrion had performed well on the freshman team (21 points, 18 rebounds a game), but freshman performance was no guarantee for varsity success. Adrion was a capable rebounder, but would be undersized at 6-6 against most centers. By mid-December, Magee had moved sophomore Paul Favorite into the pivot, and Adrion's season took off.

A 49 percent shooter and a tenacious rebounder, Adrion was a force on both sides of the court and began to pick up the "double-double" (double figures in scoring and rebounding) with regularity. He led the team in scoring for the first time with 18 versus Syracuse, and opened the new year with a 24 point, 19 rebound effort versus Loyola. He scored 15 and collected 13 boards in a big win over Rutgers, and followed it up with 18 and 17 versus Xavier. Charlie Adrion's career night may well have been on Feb. 22, 1968 versus George Washington: his 30 point, 29 rebound effort is among the greatest single efforts by any Georgetown player, a game where only one other Hoya was even in double figures.

The 1967-68 Hoyas were an inconsistent group, never winning or losing more than two games at a time from January through March. But as to inconsistency, Adrion was anything but. He scored 20 or more in six of his last eight games and ended the season with a 17 point, 10 rebound average, leading the team in both categories.

Adrion's success continued in 1969. He opened with 21 points and 19 rebounds versus Loyola, scored the first 13 points of the game en route to a career high 40 against American, and proceeded to score a combined 91 points and 44 rebounds in his next three games. He led the team in rebounding in nine of its first ten games, all in double figures. The Hoyas were 11-6 with outside of hopes of an NIT bid when Adrion was held to seven points and the Hoyas lost to NYU by 20. Two days later, against Rutgers, Adrion was lost for the season with a knee injury, and the Hoyas stumbled to a 12-12 finish.

Off season knee surgery threatened to ground Adrion for his senior year, but he returned as the senior leader of the NIT-bound Hoyas of 1970. Second in scoring to Art White, Adrion contributed some memorable games for Georgetown to end its 17 year post-season jinx. A 20 point, 15 rebound effort against NYU helped the Hoyas rebound from last season's Violet loss, followed by 20 points in a losing effort against Boston College. He scored a season low six in the Hoyas' disheartening loss to Manhattan at Madison Square Garden, but returned to score 17 in a big win over Penn State that narrowly tipped the scales for the Hoyas to earn the NIT bid over a Manhattan club that lost to St. Peter's in its own regular season finale.

Adrion's Achilles heel was fouls--not afraid to battle under the boards, he averaged 3.96 fouls per game for his career, fouling out of more games (25) than anyone in school history. His lasting contribution, however, remains his performance on the court. An adept scorer from the field (49.6%) and the free throw line (78.6%), the 6-6 Adrion's combined scoring and rebounding averages place in him in select company among Georgetown's greats, as one of only two players ranked among the top 10 in each category.