1985 UCSB Black Tide
We struggled in '85, no doubt about it, but I'm proud to have been a part of that first purely collegiate Black Tide team, just as I'm proud of all the guys who've come after us. I remember making those first T-shirts in Pete Gately's living room. They were a darn sight simpler than the works of art he went on to create for later squads, but we were such a unit that we were all there and helped out and bar-b-qued and partied during their creation. The front of the shirts were similar to today's oil derrick-sunset idea, although they were printed by a simple homemade silk-screen. The back of the shirts had a silhouette of a guy laying it out [rumored to be Greggo though there is some dispute as to whether Greggo ever layed it out - sorry Greg] and said "Watch For It! Black Tide."
Regionals were held in Santa Barbara, and I can still remember the disappointment of losing an all-important game that would've allowed us to go to Nationals. We had the disc and needed only to score to win, but a drop in the end zone and fast break by the other guys knocked us out. Ouch.
Memory from Mark Alexander on missed point at end of Regionals:
It was at the end of the game, and we had marched up field against a strong team. We needed a score to win. One of our players made a cut to the right side of the endzone creating distance between him and his defender. The thrower fired a rather fast shot, he jumped up, tried a two handed pancake catch, only to have the disc bounce off his chest. I remember the dejected look on his face after the game. We did our best to cheer him up, all grateful it hadn't been us in his shoes; no one came down on him. We were a team of friends. It is a fine line between game star and game goat.