March 26, 2018
One of the most popular and successful trios of Vanderbilt basketball players was Butch Feher (1973-76), Jeff Fosnes (1973-76) and Joe Ford (1973-76). They came in and left together and became the famous F-Troop along the way. F-Troop was a popular television comedy program that ran from 1965-67.
“I don’t know who gets credit for that,” Feher said recently from his Signal Mountain, Tenn. home. “Jimmy Davy and Waxo Green were sports writers. One was with the Tennessean and one was with the Banner and they were the one’s that covered us. They both took credit for it. I will say it was a joint venture. Had it not been for that moniker I don’t know if anybody would have hardly remembered us.
“It was one of those things that stuck. I once told Davy that F-Troop was the most inept group of people ever assembled. Are you trying to tell us something? But in defense of that they always pulled it out in the end. It was a catchy name or phrase that stuck. It worked. There are still a lot of players that remember that. It makes a good trivia question.”
Feher was from Alpena, Mich., and in his recruiting process he visited Michigan, Duke, Notre Dame, Davidson and Vanderbilt. He choose the Commodores after meeting freshmen Vandy players Jan van Breda Kolff and Lee Fowler at a summer basketball camp.
Vanderbilt was 20-6 (13-5 SEC) in Feher’s freshman season. He became a starter after 16 games and played in 21 games that season scoring 3.6 points and averaging 5.6 rebounds per game. Big wins that season were against Kentucky (twice), Louisville, LSU, Tennessee and Florida. The Wildcats were SEC champions that season under Joe B. Hall.
When Feher first walked into Memorial Gym he immediately took notice to one of his new teammates–fifth year senior Steve Turner who stood 7-foot-4.
“The first time I saw Steve he was down on the other end touching the rim while standing on his tiptoes,” said Feher. “I thought ‘that boy is tall.’ You don’t run into a lot of 7-4 guys. He was a really good and quiet guy. If we had been able to dunk in those days Steve would have been a much better player.
“When Adolph Rupp and the boys saw Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] or Lew Alcindor in those days; they took out the dunk. It turned out to be a blessing for Kareem since he developed the ‘sky hook’ that he made famous since he couldn’t dunk the ball.”
The next season was historical for Vanderbilt basketball as the Commodores won only their second SEC championship. Another season of beating Kentucky twice with a 23-5 (15-3 SEC) record. They were actually tied with Alabama, who was coached by future Vandy coach C. M. Newton. Since Vandy beat the Tide twice during the regular season, they represented the SEC in the NCAA National Tournament.
“After our freshman year we knew we would have a good team,” said Feher. “We had everybody back, but Steve Turner, Ray Maddux and Rod Freeman. There were a lot of good players competing for playing time. We had some practices that were knockdown, drag out fights for playing time. That makes you better when you have that many players competing.”
One memorable game for Feher that season was the contest in Baton Rouge against Dale Brown’s Tigers. Vanderbilt was ranked sixth in the nation with a 10-0 mark, but lost 84-81. One of Brown’s assistant coaches at LSU at that time was Homer Drew, the father of current Vanderbilt head coach Bryce Drew.
“We had a big brawl at LSU,” said Feher. “Jan [van Breda Kolff] was knocked to the floor and kicked by Collis Temple and Jan got a partially collapsed lung. A former Vanderbilt player [Bob Dudley Smith 1950-52] was arrested and actually went to jail for running onto the floor from press row and jumping on Temple.
“[Smith was arrested for two counts of simple battery and resisting arrest. Skinner bailed him out of jail the next morning]. I was on the bench when that happened. We all stood up and were told not to go onto the court. It was an interesting scene to say the least. They had to come to Nashville for the second game where there was a lot of tension before the game.”
Feher can be given a great deal of credit for helping his team to a championship. His presence of mind in the first Alabama game in Nashville helped defeat the Tide. Vanderbilt won that game 73-72 at the buzzer. Entering the game Vanderbilt was ranked fifth while Alabama was ranked 14th.
“Sports Illustrated had interviewed some people before the game since it was thought it could be for the SEC championship,” Feher said. “The article was about how Alabama was the better team. We came into the game as an underdog. That was probably so. They were pretty good too. At the end of the game I got fouled when we were down by two points. I had a one-and-one and made the first one.
“I missed the second free throw and there was a mad scramble for the ball and somehow Terry Compton ended up with it. I was under the basket and he threw the ball to me. There wasn’t anybody around so I had an easy shot that slipped out of my hand, hit towards the top of the backboard and went in. I can’t say it was a thing of beauty.”
Vanderbilt lost to Marquette in the first round of the Mideast Regional 69-61 in Tuscaloosa. A consolation game was played against Notre Dame that resulted in a 118-88 Irish victory. Feher had 10 points and four rebounds against coach Al McGuire’s Marquette club and four points with five rebounds against Digger Phelps’ Irish team.
“That first game against Marquette was a very good game,” said Feher. “It was neck and neck with them. Late in the game Bo Ellis got a steal and was running down the other end for a lay-up and I was trailing him.
“I went up to block the shot when he dunked the ball. At that time dunking the ball was a technical foul. They didn’t call it. I know coach [assistant Wayne] Dobbs went crazy so they charged us with a technical foul on the bench. They made the free throws and got the ball back.
“There wasn’t enough time to catch up. It was a great experience. We lost the second game to Notre Dame in a consolation that nobody really cared. The other team in that regional was Michigan. There were about eight to 10 guys from those four teams that played in the NBA.”
For the season, Feher averaged 8.5 points per game with 5.7 boards. The Commodores were ranked No. 13 in the final poll. Jan van Breda Kolff was named first-team All-SEC and the SEC Player of the Year. The son of basketball coach Butch van Breda Kolff coached Vanderbilt to a 104-81 record from 1994-99.
“If you just look at his statistics they don’t tell the story,” Feher said. “Jan was the leader of the team without any question. He played a lot of different roles. If we needed a center he played center, or small forward or if we needed a guard he played that position.
“He wasn’t a great shooter or a great scorer. He was a very good defender, but his basketball IQ was off the charts. He knew how to play the game, which is sometimes something you cannot teach. In a lot of ways he was a coach on the court. Everybody looked to him as the leader. He deserved that recognition [SEC Player of the Year].”
In Feher’s junior season the Commodores slipped to 15-11 (10-8 SEC). He averaged 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Fosnes led the team in scoring at a 22.1 clip. The Commodores lost too much offense from the previous year despite Feher stepping up his game. Gone were All-SEC players Compton and van Breda Kolff.
“Not to knock the guys that took their place, but that was two All-SEC players tough to replace,” Feher said. “We weren’t real big when Jan was there. When he left we got swallowed. We were playing Alabama who had [Leon] Douglas at 6-10 and Rickey Brown at 6-10.
“We didn’t have anybody that size. Mike Moore was our starting center and he was 6-7, Jeff [Fosnes] was 6-6 and I was 6-4. Joe [Ford] was 6-foot-3. In terms of basketball we were undersized. We also didn’t have much of a bench in those days. I know the three of us played the majority of every game.
“I was the second leading rebounder and at 6-4 that is not suppose to happen. Everybody had to pitch in and do some things other guys were doing the previous year. Not to make excuses, but there were times we didn’t have enough gas in the tank to keep it going for the entire year.”
Vanderbilt’s record was 16-11 (12-6 SEC) in the F-Troop’s final season as Commodores. Feher averaged 16.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game and was selected third-team All-SEC. Feher tallied a career-high 36 points in an overtime victory against Georgia. There was another split with Kentucky with the victory recorded in Memorial Gym.
“We played Kentucky eight times and we were 5-3,” said Feher. “I like to remind a couple of buddies I know that are from Kentucky. We should have been 6-2. We lost a game up there in overtime up by three points when we had the game won. The thing I remember about Kentucky, they were the team in the SEC with the history.
“With Rupp and Joe B. Hall beating those guys more than they beat us was a pretty big deal. Not a lot of teams could say that especially back then. For me being from Michigan and playing against UK and UT was special, but probably not as much as my teammates from this part of the country.
“Joe Ford was from Kentucky and they had recruited him heavily. Playing Kentucky was a special game for him. I grew up in Big Ten territory. Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana were teams I knew more about than the teams in the Southeastern Conference.”
Feher said that the toughest player he faced in the SEC was Alabama’s T. R. Dunn, who played several years in the NBA. Dunn was quick, strong and a great defensive player. On the Tennessee side, Feher had to work hard against Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld on the floor.
A major surprise swept the Nashville and Vanderbilt community when Skinner announced his retirement from coaching basketball. Skinner was Vanderbilt’s head coach for 16 years and an assistant before that for Bob Polk, whom he replaced. He retired as Vanderbilt’s all-time winningest coach (278-135) but was late passed by Kevin Stallings (322-220).
“That was a well-kept secret,” Feher said. “The last game we played was against Alabama. We lost because the guy who was keeping the clock forgot to start it while we were ahead by two points. It was their ball and they had to go the full length of the court. There were only four seconds left in the game.
“They threw it in, dribbled down the court, missed a shot, got a long rebound and put it back up all in four seconds. We lost in overtime. We obviously wanted to win our last game since we were at home, but Alabama was a good team.
“Coach Skinner did not tell us in the locker room that it was his last game. We found out later that night when coach [Ron] Bargatze telephoned to tell us. He said coach Dobbs was his replacement. I think coach Skinner felt a lot of pressure in that job. He was the dean of coaches in the SEC.”
What did Feher think of his college coach?
“All coaches have a system they want to play,” Feher said. “Coach Skinner had a system and he recruited players to that system. He wasn’t one of those coaches on the sidelines micromanaging everything. You knew your job and knew what you were supposed to do.
“You went out there and did it. I appreciated that. Some coaches would tell players do this and that or you will be sitting on the bench. Coach Skinner was laidback, mild mannered, and yet he knew what was expected from us. He wasn’t a screamer, a yeller or cussed. It was not about him.
“If we lost he took the blame for it. If we won he’d let us take the credit for it. I think that is good coaching. That’s not the way it was, if we lost it was our fault. I can’t say enough about coach Skinner. He was for his players and stood up for us. He didn’t have a lot of rules and regulations. He recruited players that would take responsibilities for themselves. It all worked out quite well.”
Feher was invited to play in the Aloha Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii a college all-star game. His roommate was Mitch Kupchak (North Carolina). Feher averaged 7.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in his three games. Quinn Buckner (Indiana) was the MVP of the tournament. Also participating in the event was Scott May (Indiana) the National Player of the Year. Feher’s South team was 1-2 in the event.
Feher was selected in the second round of the 1976 NBA Draft by Phoenix. John MacLeod was the Suns head coach while Paul Westphal was their top player (21.3 ppg). The team finished fifth in the Pacific Division with a 34-48 record.
“When I got drafted I talked to Jerry Colangelo the Suns general manager at the time,” Feher said. “When I met with him he asked if I had an agent. I said no. He told me I should probably not get one. When I asked why he said he had a figure in an envelope that he was going to pay me. And if I got an agent, he was not going to get me any more money and the agent would get 10 percent of what was in the envelope. He had the negotiating power to tell me to take his offer or see you later.”
Feher did play in 48 games averaging 5.2 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. He said his playing time was mostly to “mop up” at the end of games and averaged 10 minutes playing time per game. Feher did have experiences being on the floor with Pete Maravich, John Havilcek, Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Julius Erving, George Gervin, Walt Frazier, Phil Jackson and [Senator] Bill Bradley.
“We were at Golden State playing the Warriors when they were beating us,” said Feher. “It was a time when I went in and it wasn’t mop up time. I scored 18 points in that quarter. I was feeling pretty good about myself thinking maybe I earned more playing time. I didn’t see any action for the next three games. I got cut the second year. Portland called me in December when a player got hurt.
“They told me how much they’d pay me for a 10-day contract. I asked about any guarantees after 10 days. They said none. I asked about camp the next year. They said no. I told them I had a job and if I took off for 10 days I’d probably lose my job. With no guarantees I told them no thank you. I didn’t pursue it after that.”
Today, Feher is semi-retired after working decades with his two brothers who are in business together (Ray Feher & Associates) as manufacturing representatives. The company sells component parts mostly to the appliance and automotive industry. He also has help coached the Signal Mountain High School team as a volunteer coach.
All three F-Troopers are members of the Vanderbilt 1,000 point club. Fosnes is ranked No. 11 with 1,579 points; Feher is ranked 22nd with 1,345 points and Ford ranks No. 35 with 1,193 points. Joe Ford died in an automobile accident last year in Kentucky, but the F-Troop legacy will continue well into the future.
Traughber’s Tidbit: The next trio of Vanderbilt teammates to leave together that became members of the 1,000-point club are Riley LaChance, Jeff Roberson and Matthew Fisher-Davis who were seniors on the 2017-18 team. LaChance is 15th with 1,476 points; Roberson is 19th with 1,373 and Fisher-Davis ranks 29th recording 1,219 career points. There are 48 Commodores that have totaled over 1,000 career points.
If you have any comments or suggestions contact Bill Traughber via email WLTraughber@aol.com.
