"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell." Sound familiar?
To most, these words conjure an image of Christopher Walken encouraging a belly-baring Will Ferrell to explore the studio space in a Saturday Night Live skit. Yet to fans of the Vermont Frost Heaves, they invoke an image of announcer Carl Parton ordering a cowbell remedy for the new American Basketball Association team established by Alexander Wolff '79.
Cowbells were the giveaways doled out to fans at the Frost Heaves' inaugural home opener in November. Wolff, a longtime lover of basketball but a rookie owner and general manager, was hesitant to comply with this promotion.
"The funny thing about the cowbells," Wolff said, "is that the Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus, the local newspaper sponsor, wanted to make a splash on opening night. They ordered up these cowbells, and I thought to myself, 'We don't even have any fans yet, and we're going to have cowbells?' "
The risky promotion worked out better than Wolff could have imagined, as Frost Heaves fans have made themselves and their cowbells regular fixtures at the games.
A staff writer for Sports Illustrated for more than 20 years, Wolff dared to build the Frost Heaves franchise after discovering it would be a relatively cheap investment that could reap huge benefits in the future.
"I was interviewing the NBA scouting director a couple years ago, a guy named Marty Blake, and he was bellyaching to me about the ABA," Wolff said. "Teams would pop up and disappear, and he couldn't keep track of them all. He wanted to send scouts to check them out. And then he blurted out something about how it only costs $10,000 to buy a franchise."
Blake's revelation sparked Wolff's interest in establishing a team of his own. After conferring with his SI editors and meeting with the ABA commissioner, he decided that purchasing a team was a risk he was willing to take and that Vermont would a perfect location for his franchise. Wolff and his family moved to Cornwall, Vt., not long after the release of his 2002 book "Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure." The writing of this eventual New York Times Notable Book of the Year allowed Wolff to fly around the globe, exploring the relationship between basketball and the world. After such an extensive journey and years of traveling to cover events such as the Olympics, the World Cup and the Tour de France for SI, Wolff luckily found the tight-knit community he longed for in Vermont and deemed it the ideal home for the Frost Heaves.
"For me, it's been a really great way to get involved in the community," Wolff said. "Living out of suitcases, living in Manhattan, it was hard to find a sense of community."
The Frost Heaves, named for the aberrations in Vermont's winter roads caused by repeated freezing and thawing, are becoming the pride of Vermonters and have been more than just a bump in the road to teams this season. The team currently occupies the top spot in the ABA, boasting a record of 24-3.
Though Wolff's risk-taking and resolve have contributed to this success, the cowbell-ringing community that supports the team deserves most of the credit. The team plays at two intimate venues, the Barre Municipal Auditorium and the Burlington Memorial Auditorium, where Vermont basketball tradition has run deep for decades.
Night after night, the concession stands are filled with locally produced refreshments and are maintained by members of the community. In addition, a "Northfield Savings Bank 110% Community All-Star" is recognized at each game. Whether a homegrown celebrity or local hero, the chosen Vermonter suits up and plays alongside the Frost Heaves during the game.
Wolff's current goal is to make the Frost Heaves as successful and sustainable as his career at SI has been. Wolff's accomplishments as a journalist and as a businessman are due mostly to his adventurous, risk-taking nature, his ability to do independent work and his love of basketball, all of which he formed or developed during his time at Princeton.
After completing his sophomore year, Wolff spent a year abroad in Switzerland, where he played basketball for a club in Lucerne. The risky experience challenged him because he had to learn both a new language and a foreign culture. Wolff fondly remembers his senior thesis, claiming that it taught him discipline and how to work independently, skills that have enhanced his career in journalism. His love of basketball was also fueled at Princeton by witnessing the success of Pete Carril's Tigers in the late 1970s.
All of these experiences provided a perfect springboard for Wolff's later life and have catapulted him to where he is today.
"You're asked to do things [at Princeton]," Wolff said, "that make the rest of your life seem more possible."
Wolff's experiences highlight how an education at Old Nassau can make anything possible in Tiger alums' futures — even cowbells.
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