May 12, 2022
The writing on the wall
Kerry Rafanelli ’80 began saving ticket stubs, programs, and newspaper clippings from men’s basketball in 1976, his first year as a Providence College student and his inaugural year as a season-ticket holder.
When he bought a home in East Greenwich, R.I., a decade ago, he decided that his collection needed to get out of storage, so he transformed his heated garage into a game room with walls that are “a living scrapbook” of pennants, banners, cartoons, and photographs. His nieces, nephews, and friends gather there to play basketball, air hockey, pinball, and other arcade games, and sit in chairs that were formerly on the game floor at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
A lawyer whose office also is decked out in Friar memorabilia, and the owner of a black cockapoo named Friar, Rafanelli followed the team to the Final Four in New Orleans in 1987 and to the Sweet Sixteen in Chicago in March.
“I just moved something over and made room for a Sweet Sixteen article. I can always find space,” Rafanelli said.
