Robert Morris University Athletics

The first team to be honored with a spot in the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame, the 1981-82 men's basketball squad joins former head football coach Joe Walton (1994-2013) in making up the 23rd annual class into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame. 

In just its sixth season of existence as a Division I program in 1981-82, Robert Morris was a charter member of the ECAC Metro Conference, which changed its name to the Northeast Conference in 1988. The Colonials finished with an overall record of 17-13 (.567), earning the South Division regular-season championship with a mark of 9-5 (.643).

In the 1982 ECAC Metro Tournament, Robert Morris earned a 78-69 victory over Loyola (Md.) in the quarterfinals, followed by an 80-70 win over Baltimore in the semifinals. The championship game, held at the famed Brooklyn Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn, N.Y., witnessed RMU earn an 85-84 victory over LIU Brooklyn when former Colonial Phil Coles (1981-84) grabbed a rebound off a missed free throw by teammate Greg Junk (1981-84) and scored with a second remaining to lift the Colonials to the win.

Robert Morris was led by a pair of guards during the season in sophomores Chipper Harris (1980-84) and Forest Grant (1980-84), who combined to score 943 points while adding totals of 316 assists and 201 steals. Harris averaged 17.6 points, 4.3 assists and 4.0 steals per game, while Grant supplied RMU with averages of 13.8 points, 6.3 assists and 2.7 steals per contest.

Forward Tom Parks (1979-83) was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 1982 ECAC Metro Tournament after providing Robert Morris with 21 points off the bench on 9-of-12 shooting from the field in the championship game against LIU Brooklyn. In that game the Colonials were led by Grant, who scored 26 points and added two assists, two blocks and a pair of steals.

Robert Morris advanced to its first NCAA Tournament after its win over LIU Brooklyn, squaring off with defending national champion Indiana in the first round in Nashville, Tenn., at Memorial Gym. The Hoosiers advanced with a 94-62 victory, with Grant leading the Colonials with 25 points, four assists and two steals, while Harris added 11 points.

A total of six individuals associated with the 1981-82 RMU men's basketball team have already been inducted into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame, including four former student-athletes and two coaches. Former forward Tom Underman (1981-85) was enshrined in 1992, and he was followed by Parks in 1993. Harris was selected to the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995, while Grant was inducted in 1996.

Head Coach Matt Furjanic, currently the head coach at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., was inducted into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007, while Jarrett Durham, an assistant coach with the program in 1981-82 who eventually went on to serve 12 years as head coach at Robert Morris, was enshrined in 2009.