My 100 favorite collectibles ... No. 99: Scrapbooks

Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record with his 715th on April 8, 1974.

I love history. And I love documenting history. So when I wasn't playing All-Star Baseball or Bas-ket when I was in high school, I was keeping crude scrapbooks from the sports pages of the Sun-Times. Just a bound book of construction paper, a pair of scissors and some double-sided tape and I was good to go. It's as much fun to look back on these 50 years later as it was to put them together in the first place.

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The 1976 White Sox opener — Wilbur Wood shuts out the Royals. Hank Aaron opened his second season with the Milwaukee Brewers with two hits and three RBIs against Catfish Hunter to beat the Yankees.

Rick Monday's memorable moment at Dodger Stadium — when he foiled two protesters from burning an American flag in the outfield during a Cubs-Dodgers game.

A fateful moment for former Bulls All-Star guard Jerry Sloan. A week after being being hired as the head coach at Evansville (his alma mater), he reconsidered and resigned. Four games into what would have been his first season, the Evansville team's plane crashed shortly after takeoff en route to Nashville, killing all 29 passengers, including coach Bobby Watson, who had been hired to replace Sloan.

The sad tale of Eldorado (Ill.) all-stater Mike Duff was another cruel twist of fate in the Evansville tragedy. A 6-8 all-state forward with shooting and rebounding skills and moxie that had Indiana State coach Bob King comparing him to then-sophomore star Larry Bird, Duff was Sloan's No. 1 recruiting target in his few days as head coach, but Duff was already being recruited by Kentucky, Kansas, Duke and other premier programs. Duff was pressured into signing a national letter-of-intent with Missouri during coach Norm Stewart's home visit. Duff was uneasy about his decision before he even went to bed that night, and ultimately reconsidered. But after having signed the letter-of-intent with Missouri, Duff would have to sit out his freshman season as a transfer student if he went to another Division I school. So he signed with Evansville, which had just moved from Division II to Division I and was not bound by the provisions of the NCAA letter-of-intent. Duff was an immediate hit at Evansville — scoring 26 points in his debut against Western Kentucky, 16 against De Paul (with Dave Corzine, Joe Ponsetto and Curtis Watkins) at Alumni Hall in. Chicago, 16 against Pitt and 23 against Larry Bird and Indiana State. Three days later, he died in the Evansville plane crash.

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Through friends who attended Ray Meyer's Basketball Camp in Three Lakes, Wis. — and an occasional trip to Alumni Hall to see the Harlem Globetrotters — I've been a De Paul basketball fan since 1973-74, when stars Bill Robinzine and Andy Pancratz were suspended for the first 10 games of the 1973-74 season for participating in an unsanctioned summer tournament in Gary. De Paul made the NCAA tournament in 1976 (and beat ACC champion Virginia in the first round), slumped in 1977 and reached the Elite Eight in 1978. Despite losing Dave Corzine and Joe Ponsetto, the addition of Westinghouse All-American Mark Aguirre set up De Paul for even better things in 1978-79.

The season started with Aguirre driving for a dunk over UCLA All-American David Greenwood and De Paul taking an early lead before getting blown out, 108-85.

This column on that opening game by my future Sun-Times colleague Ron Rapoport has always been a personal favorite.

In the days of the 40-team tournament, De Paul's participation in the NCAA tournament wasn't a lock until they were 20-4 after beating Marquette.

Six days after beating Marquette, De Paul established itself as a championship contender by beating Notre Dame at Alumni Hall.

De Paul's victory over UCLA in the rematch of the season opener to reach the Final Four was one of the great moments in Chicago sports. At that time, the Bears had not won a title since 1963. The Cubs since 1908. The Sox since 1917. And the Bulls had never won a title. Chicago was ripe for a winner and De Paul was the biggest story in town. Former Marquette coach Al McGuire (working the game for NBC with Dick Enberg and Billy Packer) beaming like a proud son in his postgame interview with his old friend Ray Meyer was a memorable highlight for me and many other De Paul fans.

You know it's a big story when I buy a Tribune for the scrapbook!

De Paul's loss to Indiana State and Larry Bird was a tough one because the Blue Demons had a chance to win late. Just like in the Elite Eight in 1978 when Dave Corzine was injured, defensive ace Curtis Watkins' bum knee didn't help matters. But against Larry Bird, it might not have mattered.

They played a third-place game in those days and De Paul, stinging from the loss to Indiana State, blitzed Penn at the outset, taking a 23-point lead. But De Paul, perhaps emotionally spent, faltered in the second half and needed Mark Aguirre heroics in overtime to win, 96-93. Great regular seasons followed, but the 1978-79 season was one to cherish — De Paul never made it back to the Final Four.