story by Lauri McLaughlin
Just about everyone who has any idea about athletic championships knows about the United States hockey team that took Olympic gold in 1980. But few remember the groundbreaking silver victory by the U.S. team in 1972: With a close relationship with the golden Russian team, the U.S. adopted the European style of play, and their unexpected runner-up accomplishment was an astonishing advancement in the sport for the nation. However, with the Games hosted in far-off Japan, less than 40 hours of total media coverage and the tumultuous political and social events taking place both at home and abroad, the team's accomplishment has been overlooked in American sports lore.
Jerry Caraccioli '90 (B.A. communications), director of communications for CBS sports, and his identical twin brother, Tom, who works in the NBC sports division, have chronicled the lives of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team members in "Striking Silver: The Untold Story of America's Forgotten Hockey Team." "Pete Sears was our hockey coach when we were growing up," says Jerry, who was raised in Oswego, N.Y. "He was the goalie for the '72 team, and we were intrigued by the silver medal in his living room." Ten years ago, the brothers started talking about writing a book about the team. By 2004 they had chronicled the lives of all of the players, and Sports Publishing released the book in February 2006.
"All of the players have great stories. In 1972, the Vietnam War was in full swing, and six of the players were in the service," says Jerry. Including Stu Irving, who had to relinquish his place on the national team when he was drafted. His dad shipped hockey gear to the Mekong Delta, and Irving practiced shots against sandbags in a foxhole. The Olympic coach remembered him, and he was assigned 'temporary duty' on the U.S. hockey team. If he didn't make the team, he was headed back to Vietnam.
Thirty-four years later, the '72 team is still a tight-knit group and reunites annually. In contrast to today's athletes vying for face time on the Wheaties box, these sportsmen remain mostly anonymous. Says Jerry: "They are all just regular guys who did something extraordinary."
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