Column One

PHILADELPHIA--Remember the name Perry Bromwell?

Harvard basketball fans certainly should. They also remember the date February 22, 1985--when one Perry Bromwell nailed an 18-ft. Jump shot with just four second remaining to lift the Penn Quakers to a 53-51 victory over the Crimson.

Saturday night here at the Palestra, Bromwell saved his best for Harvard once again, pouring in a career-high 32 points before exiting to a rousing standing ovation from the hometown crowd with 2:26 to go and the Quakers comfortably ahead by 20 points.

At the time of Bromwell's heroics two years ago, Harvard was as close as it had ever come to winning an Ivy League title.

The cagers had entered the contest at 6-2 in the Ivies and had achieved their first-ever weekend road sweep of Penn and Princeton earlier in the season. A second win over the 6-1 Quakers would have put the Crimson in the driver's seat the rest of the way.

Ironically, Bromwell had missed his first six shots of the second half; all it took was his seventh, however, to send the Crimson reeling down the Ancient Eight ladder.

After Penn, Harvard managed but one win in its five remaining games and finished tied for fourth place in the Ivies.

This year, the status of the Harvard men's basketball team is quite different from what it was in 1985.

After opening its Ivy campaign with a weekend sweep of Penn and Princeton at Briggs Athletic Center, the Crimson has struggled to six losses in its last seven league outings, dropping the squad into a sixth-place tie in the standings.

Two years ago, Bromwell was the most unlikely of heroes. The 6-ft. 2-in sophomore transfer from Manhattan College (where he collected Metro Conference Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman) did not start the game because of disciplinary reasons.

And then he missed those first six shots of the second half. Why did Penn go to its coldest shooter with the game--and control of the Ivy League--on the line?

Bromwell's college numbers provide the answer. This year, the Philadelphia native looks to become only the 12th player in Ivy League history to garner first-team All-Ivy honors three years in a row.

The slick guard's 22 points per Ivy contest lead the league, and his performance Saturday night was the finest Harvard has seen all year long.

Others--such as Duke's Danny Ferry and Martin Nessley and Penn's Bruce Lefkowitz--have impressed because they were bigger, but Bromwell impressed because he was better.

Every one of Bromwell's 14 field goals Saturday night was unique: a pull-up, foul-line jumper here, a thunderous fast-break slam dunk there, a 24-ft. three-pointer there.

Each one different, each so seemingly effortless.

Afterwards, Bromwell didn't think much of his 14-for-19 shooting night--said something about getting good are on his jumper, that it was just falling.

Bromwell's picturesque jumper, combined with his speed and superb leaping ability, all led Harvard Coach Peter Roby to call him the best individual talent in the Ivy League this year.

The senior guard spearheaded a 75 percent second-half field goal spree by the Quakers that turned a two-point Harvard halftime advantage into a 20 point Penn rout midway through the second frame.

Scoring 20 of his 32 points in that second half, Bromwell--who appropriately registered his 1000th collegiate point against the Crimson last season--repeatedly could be found right in the middle of every Quaker rally, every Quaker surge Saturday night.

Don't be surprised if you see his name surface in the mid-to-later rounds of this summer's professional draft. Playing in the Big Five Conference (which features Villanova and Temple among others) as well as in the Ivies, Bromwell has received a good deal of exposure over the past three years.

But realistically, Bromwell's enduring legacy likely will not be on the courts of the NBA but in the history books of the Ivy League.

As one of the best of an era.