By Bill Nichols

 
CLEVELAND, O. -- Bill Fitch, coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, spent a recent afternoon in Portland doing some shopping.

The Cavaliers just had lost their 15th straight game, tying a 20 year-old mark for futility at the start of a National Basketball Association season.

Fitch shopped around the Oregon city looking for some kind of a gimmick or good-luck charm, anything to help his team end the dreadful drought.

The coach spotted a skeleton's skull with a rat on top in an antique shop. He knew that's what he wanted.

Later that night the Cavaliers walked off the Coliseum floor in Portland as 105-103 victors over the Trail Blazers. It was Cleveland's first victory ever in the NBA.

The skull, which sat courtside throughout the game, was officially labeled "The Game Skull."

Cleveland's first 16 defeats put the Cavaliers in the NBA record book alongside the 1949-50 Denver Nuggets for futility at the season's outset. Just one more defeat and the Cavaliers would have had the honor alone.

The Cavaliers' initial triumph was a long time coming, after several trouncings and an equal amount of near-misses.

 Cleveland opened its season with a 7,200-mile, seven-game trip, a task almost unheard of in the NBA.

"No one can measure in words what our players went through during those 16 games," said Fitch after the Portland victory.

"It was really hard on them. They had trouble sleeping and eating and they were crucifying themselves.

"As for me, when I slept, which wasn't often, I dreamed I was awake."

In 16 years of college coaching, Fitch never had lost four straight games, but the likeable leader did retain his sanity during the 16 straight losses.

"I should have gotten the idea of what was ahead when we had to pen our season in Buffalo," mused Fitch, "and we had parts of two uniforms stolen.

"We then went to Portland for our second game and Commissioner (J. Walter) Kennedy gave a speech before their opener.

"He said, 'Let there be no doubt the home team always win when I see the game.'

"He forgot to say that at our opener, which we lost to San Diego," continued Fitch.

After the Portland defeat came consecutive losses at San Francisco, Portland again, San Diego, Phoenix and Los Angeles before coming home to drop the home opener to Elvin Hayes and the Rockets.

"After that trip, I felt like I had lockjaw and seasickness at the same time," said Fitch.
 

 
"When we played our first game at home, we had 9000 fans dressed as empty seats.

"That trip took all the luster away from our first game at home."

 Actually, more than 6000 fans turned out for the Cavaliers home inaugural and they gave their new heroes several standing ovations during the game.

Fitch recalls one time during the first tip when he really had doubts about his future.  "Our owner, Nick Mileti, met us in San Diego.  The morning after the game, we all drove to the airport to catch the plane to Phoenix for the next game.

"When we arrived at the airport, Mileti decided he wanted to drive to Phoenix and he cashed in his ticket.

"Right then, I thought he knew something I didn't.

"That night I called my wife in Cleveland and found out how bad things really were. She wanted to know if my insurance was paid," he said with a wink.

 Looking at the brighter side, Fitch alluded to baseball's New York Mets, who became a household word for losing in their early years of existence.

"I think we'll be the best thing that ever happened to Cleveland," Fitch said.

"We're a city with a tradition for not supporting anything but winners like the Browns. But if they start supporting us, it will destroy the reputation and change the charter of the town."

Fitch is a man with a keen sense of humor, probably the most important quality for a coach of an expansion team, but underneath he dies a little more with every defeat.

"The easiest thing in the world to do is quit," he declared. "Anybody can do that.

"But one thing for sure, I'll be around when we start beating some of these teams."