Remembering Rob Sanders
The unfortunate news broke on Saturday that Rob Sanders, who played at Providence from 2001-2004, passed away in a car accident.
If only Youtube had been around a few years earlier.
There are certain Friars — the likes of Ernie D, Marvin Barnes, Joe Hassett, and Jimmy Walker — that you wish more video existed of simply due to their greatness. The limited footage of games from the 1960s and ‘70s have kept more recent generations of Providence fans from truly understanding the wizardry of Ernie, the lethal jumper of Hassett, or the before-his-time nature of Walker’s game.
For other Friars, it is less about capturing the greatness of their careers, but reliving certain incredible moments.
One of those instances came in the second round of the 2003 National Invitational Tournament when PC hosted Charleston. I don’t quite remember the score or situation 20 years later, but I do recall being completely floored when sophomore forward Rob Sanders tossed the ball off the backcourt in transition and threw down a ridiculous dunk in what was still a competitive game late in the second half.
That was Sanders. The 6’6 forward from New London, CT was as athletic as any Friar I’d seen at the time — and probably since. He came to Providence via famed St. Thomas More in Connecticut as part of a huge recruiting class that also included Providence’s all-time leading scorer, Ryan Gomes.
The dunk came way before videos went viral, prior to when social media existed. There were message boards back then and at Providence’s Scout site someone named it “The Mother of All Dunks.” For years later the “MOAD” would consistently find its way back into the conversation on Scout.
When the “MOAD” happened Sanders was in the midst of turning himself into more of a basketball player than an athlete.
Sanders worked his way back into Providence’s lineup late in his sophomore year in 2003, a change that helped turn that Friar season around and paved the way for a 2003-04 campaign in which PC reached #12 in the AP Poll.
It was during that junior season that we saw Sanders’ game start to take off. After shooting 6-26 from three as a freshman, and not making a single shot from beyond the arc his sophomore year, Sanders turned himself into a shooter his junior year, making threes at a 40% clip.
He started that year by making 9-11 from beyond the arc, and showed off his full arsenal by going for 18 points, six rebounds, and four steals in an early season win over Alabama.
Sanders made 6-11 shots from the field and scored 15 points in a 70-51 upset of #14 Illinois at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic. He capped the statement win by throwing down a one-handed alley oop in the closing minutes.
A few weeks later, Sanders broke his fingers in an 84-69 victory over Virginia that improved Providence to 8-1 on the season. Sanders would miss a few weeks, and never quite returned to his form from earlier in the season.
Just last year, Billy Ricci and I hosted our first podcast series on a Friar team and chose to focus on the 2003-04 group. When reflecting on him, Sanders’ teammates marveled at his athletic ability and the incredible displays they saw both on the court, and in practice.
He did a little bit of everything for that club, averaging 10.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.
Sanders added a physical presence that helped turned the program around in his final two seasons in a Friar uniform. He opted not to return for his senior year, but will long be remembered by those who saw him as an athletic marvel who was an important piece to a very good Providence team.
Sadly, he is also the second member of the 2003-04 Friars and the second player from his recruiting class to die far too young. Gerald Brown passed away in 2019 at the age of 34, and Donnell Allick passed away at age 31 in 2011.