For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a great one out of the MAC between Buffalo and Bowling Green – CLICK HERE
With the 2019 NCAA tourney tipping off next month, we will spend this month taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players/coaches who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From a comeback win to clinch the 1954 tourney title (65th anniversary) through a last-second loss in the 2014 Final 4 (5th anniversary), these legends have all carved out a little piece of history in past Marches. We begin our series with Frank Blatcher, who played for Hall of Fame coach Ken Loeffler at La Salle. Loeffler only spent 6 season as a coach for the Explorers in the 1950s but he certainly made the most of it: 1952 NIT champ, 1954 NCAA champ, and 1955 NCAA runner-up. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Frank about the 65th anniversary of winning the 1954 NCAA title and playing for a Hall of Fame coach.
In the 1952 NIT future Hall of Famer Tom Gola scored 30 PTS in a 4-PT win over Seton Hall en route to winning the title: did people realize at the time how prolific a player Gola was? They were just starting to get the sense that he was special. Your ears perk up a bit when a freshman wins co-MVP!
In the 1953 NIT La Salle had a 1-PT loss to eventual national runner-up St. John’s: do you think they could have won back-to-back titles if Gola had not gotten injured toward the end of the season? They were favored to win and probably would have. In addition to Tommy’s injury, the team had to deal with some personal tragedy as Jackie Moore’s parents had passed away. That was a great team who I played against as a freshman.
Take me through the magical 1954 NCAA tourney:
Frank O’Malley scored 13 PTS including a basket at the end of regulation en route to a 2-PT OT win over Fordham: where does that rank among the most clutch baskets that you have ever seen? I remember vividly what happened. Fordham took the lead with about 5 seconds left and Coach Loeffler called timeout. We had the ball under their basket so we inbounded it and called another timeout in order to move the ball up to mid-court. The play was designed to go to Gola so that he would score or get fouled. I do not know how the hell Tommy did it but as he caught the ball he spotted O’Malley breaking towards the basket and found him for a layup.
Despite trailing Bradley at halftime in the title game they were able to come all the way back to win the title, as Gola was named tourney MOP for averaging 22.8 PPG/20.4 RPG in 5 games: what did it mean to win a title? If you do not mind me taking a little credit: my dad had passed away after the Fordham game so I had not practiced in a week but my entire family said that I had to play. I went from the funeral home to the game and scored 10 PTS coming off the bench. My dad got buried the next day and we were able to beat Navy, which was big for me because I had been recruited by their Hall of Fame coach Ben Carnevale. Loeffler was brilliant because he decided to keep bringing me off the bench because it had worked so well against Navy. I had a good 1st half against Bradley even though we were losing. Tom and I combined for 17 PTS in the 3rd quarter against Bradley, which really helped us break the game open to handle their press even after Tommy fouled out. I had dedicated the game to my dad so it was a special win for me. That 92-76 title game was the highest scoring game in tourney history at that time and was the 1st tourney game to ever be televised. Loeffler pissed me off to no end because he would sometimes keep me on the bench until the 2nd quarter, and when I would take off my warm-up jacket I would tell him, “Well, I guess it is time for Superman to come win the game!” We ran a 5-man weave so after a quarter of doing that the defense would expect us all to weave…which is when I would pop out to the side I would make a wide-open set shot. He used me so well as a 6th man. Loeffler was 1 shrewd son of a gun because he knew which guys to tick off and which guys to lay off of. He was the 1st coach to use his 6th man as an offensive weapon: there was a pattern of several games where he did not play me in the 1st half but I still finished the year as our team’s leading scorer.
Take me through the 1955 Final 4:
Gola had 23 PTS/13 REB in a 3-PT win over Iowa: did it reach a point where you just expected to win every single tourney game you played? We were beating the hell out of teams and rolling pretty good until the Iowa game. They were a big surprise: Bill Logan (20 PTS/16 REB)/Carl Cain (17 PTS/14 REB) were a tremendous pair of players. I came off the bench and scored 5 PTS. Gola could have scored a lot more points than he did but Loeffler’s philosophy was to avoid getting him double or triple-teamed. They could not do that with Tommy because we moved around and shared the ball all the time. Gola was quicker than any big man I knew.
After winning each of his 1st 9 career NCAA tourney games, Loeffler lost to San Francisco in the title game (tourney MOP Bill Russell had 23 PTS/25 REB): where does Russell rank among the greatest players that you ever faced? I played against Wilt Chamberlain and Russell and they were both special. I do not remember a single scouting report on him. KC Jones (24 PTS) was the guy who killed us in that game but Russell was also unbelievable. They did something very smart: everyone expected Russell to guard Gola but they decided to put Jones on him instead, which disrupted our offense. Russell would just suck back and eat up rebounds like crazy. I did not get into that game until the final quarter: if things are going really well then coaches do not like to make a change. That is the only time I felt that Loeffler did not do the right thing: he just kept thinking we would have other players step up.
In Loeffler’s 6 seasons at La Salle his Figure-8 motion offense resulted in six 20-win seasons and six postseason appearances: what made his offense so effective, and how was he able to remain so consistent during his entire tenure there? We had a lot of great outside shooters so teams could not just clog the middle against us. We also had guys who could drive to the basket, which gave us tremendous balance. I have seen a lot of basketball but I maintain that Gola was the best all-around college player of all time. Before he passed away, my friend/Hall of Famer Paul Arizin said that Gola was the best of all-time: he was a magnificent offensive player and a great defender as well. The weave allowed Gola to play to the best of his ability. It was invaluable to have confidence in your teammate and know that he was there when we needed something big. Loeffler gained some controversy for speaking the truth, which people did not always like. 1 time some refs tried to steal a game from us and he said, “It was the biggest steal since the Louisiana Purchase!” The next time we played down there I was the only starter left by the end because the rest of our starters had fouled out…but we won a close game at the end.
In 1964 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As 1 of the best coaches of all-time. We always had an uphill battle because we did not even have a home gym. I think he stacks up with any of the other coaching legends like Adolph Rupp/Everett Case. You can probably count on 1 hand the # of coaches who are 2-0 all-time vs. the great John Wooden, and he is 1 of them. He won 1 NIT and should have won another, he won 1 NCAA tourney and won 9 tourney games in a row before losing to 1 of the greatest teams of all-time. 1 of my fondest memories was coming back after Loeffler left and Gola graduated. Russell walked over to me and introduced me to Jones by telling him about every single move that I would make on the court. I only took 3 shots against San Francisco because Jones would keep stealing the ball and Russell would keep denying me shots inside.