Ed. Note: “Bluejay Rewind” is our popular summer series that looks back at games from years past, including highlight packages. Not all of these games are classics in the traditional sense, but all of them feature terrific performances from Bluejay greats, and we think you’ll enjoy watching them as much as we did.
During a recent visit to the Creighton Athletics offices to look through the game film archives of the Altman Era, we were thrilled to find coaches’ film for many all-time classics that have heretofore existed only in the collective memories of those who were there. Most of the games from that era were not televised, leaving the footage that was shot by the staff for use in the film room as the only visual record of those games. This footage consists of one stationary camera, with only ambient arena sounds, but it’s still incredibly engrossing. We’re talking about games like the Creighton/Xavier game on New Years Eve of 2002, the double-overtime clash with #17 Western Kentucky in 2001, and Oklahoma State’s visit to the Civic in 1998. We’ve obtained footage of all three, along with about a dozen others, and will feature them in coming weeks on Bluejay Rewind.
It’s what else we found that really excited us, though. While looking through these archives, we discovered a series of season highlight videos from the late-1990s and early-2000s. These videos were produced by Godfather’s Pizza, and shown at the annual Bluejay Bash each summer; while a few copies have circulated “underground” over the years, we’re excited to present them officially for the first time since those golf outings nearly two decades ago. Clocking in at 10-15 minutes each, they’re pretty spectacular time capsules of seasons’ past.
The first one features the 1998-99 season, and showcases the high points of Dana Altman’s first NCAA Tournament team — the high-flying acrobatics of Rodney Buford, the passing prowess of Ryan Sears, the bulldog mentality of Ben Walker, the Euro-moves of Nerijus Karlikanovas, the shot-blocking of Doug Swenson — they’re all here, in a video titled “Accept the Challenge.” Enjoy!
