HAMILTON – It's a tough call deciding who'll be happier this Saturday night: Colgate fans spotting former Raiders great Mark van Eeghen – or van Eeghen himself, back in his old stomping grounds.
 
"It's been too long," van Eeghen said Thursday night. "Coach Hunt asked me to briefly address the team and I'm looking forward to doing that.
 
"Oh, boy! Just driving down routes 20 and 12B into Hamilton is going to be awesome. To be at a Colgate football game again – it's been too long. But that doesn't mean I don't follow every weekend like every other alum."
 
Van Eeghen played in the early 1970s and set Colgate's rushing record for three years of competition (first-years weren't eligible back then) with 2,591 yards. He was one of the very first Colgate football players to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season, compiling 1,089 in 1973.
 

That consistency led to a place in the Shrine East-West All-Star Game after the 1973 season. But he recalls great moments from throughout his Colgate career.
 
"My sophomore season, I remember vividly beating Yale (28-21) in the Yale Bowl," van Eeghen said. "And I remember 1970, my freshman season, when we couldn't play with the varsity. So we played a five-game frosh schedule and went 5-0, with wins over Army, Rutgers, Syracuse, Manlius Prep and one other team I don't remember.
 
"But we were a good bunch of first-year players."
 
Raiders to Raiders
Upon graduation, van Eeghen was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and turned in a tremendous pro football career. He played eight seasons for the Raiders and was the first Oakland player to rush for more than 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons (1976-78). Van Eeghen led the AFC in rushing in 1977 with 1,273 yards and was second in the NFL.
 
He was Oakland's leading rusher during its Super Bowl-championship season of 1976 and left as the team's all-time leading rusher with 5,907 yards. For his 10 NFL seasons, van Eeghen compiled 6,651 rushing yards, 1,583 receiving yards and 41 touchdowns.
 

Still, it's the Colgate memories that keep flooding back, especially on a weekend like this one.
 
"The Colgate experience was outstanding, and that takes into account everything: academics, scheduling and the rich tradition of the school," he said. "Everything was in the right place for me and Colgate was exactly what I wanted."
 
Van Eeghen follows the team enough to know that last week's loss at Navy can be a building block.
 
"I watched the Navy game last week and it seems like the program has carried on the tradition of playing a tough schedule, which is pretty awesome when you consider the size of the school," he said.
 
Following in Footsteps
Van Eeghen was sadden to learn earlier this year of the death of Marv Hubbard, who preceded van Eeghen at Colgate and then with the Oakland Raiders.
 
"That was such sad news for me to hear," he said. "He was a '68 grad, I believe, so I didn't know him at Colgate. But when I was drafted by the Oakland Raiders, he went out of his way to help me with the things I needed to do on a professional basis.
 
"He said to me, 'Look, I know you'll be taking over my position fairly soon, so I want you to be prepared.' He was a wonderful guy and he really took me under his wing."
 
Marv Hubbard and Mark van Eeghen – from Colgate Raiders to Oakland Raiders.
 
"That he and I went to the same small school and then both of us who played the same position would be drafted by the same pro football team – it's quite a unique story," van Eeghen said. "He was an extraordinary man."