The Hawaii sports scene involves a lot more than surfing. The Rainbow Warriors won 22 games this year before a 2-PT OT loss to Fullerton in the Big West tourney. Almost 50 years ago Hawaii made the 1974 NIT and even won a game before losing to eventual champion Purdue. 1 of the stars of that team was Melton Werts, who averaged 13 PPG/13 RPG. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Melton’s teammate Artie Wilson about that postseason run. Today marks the 49th anniversary of Hawaii’s win over Fairfield in the NIT on March 16, 1974, so we take this time to remember their amazing accomplishment.
Melton grew up in Pennsylvania: what made him choose Hawaii? We had a great coach at the time in Bruce O’Neil who was also a great recruiter. He had an incredible knack for plucking people off the East Coast and bringing them to Hawaii.
He was the 1st freshman to play for the Rainbow Warriors when the NCAA eliminated its ban on freshman in 1972: did fans/coaches feel that freshmen were ready for the varsity at the time? I was a freshman here a couple of years before Mel. He had gone to prep school and was ready to play as a freshman. He was big/strong and ready to be a big-time player even as a freshman.
In January of 1973 he had 22 PTS/21 REB vs. South Alabama: where does that rank among the most dominating performances that you have ever seen? I think he had many great games. The beauty is that he had a veteran backcourt in Tom Henderson/myself who had spent 2 years playing together. We guided him and helped him quite a bit.
In February of 1973 he tied a school record with 8 BLK vs. UCSD and his 163 career BLK is #2 in school history: what made him such a great shot-blocker? For his size/weight he was a pretty quick jumper. He enjoyed being an intimidator and wanted to claim the rim/paint as his own. He had extremely long arms and flailed them around quite a bit.
In the 1974 NIT the team had a 1-PT win over Fairfield before losing to Purdue: what are your memories of that postseason run? We had beaten Purdue in the Rainbow Classic earlier that season but our starting SF was declared ineligible from his days before arriving in Hawaii, which was really a negative for us.
In 1976 he played a few games for interim coach Rick Pitino: what was Pitino like back in the day, and could you have ever imagined at the time that he would win a pair of NCAA titles? I would not have imagined that. I met him while working out after being released by the Portland Trailblazers: he came in and wanted to throw me out of the gym that I had been playing in for 4 years. He was brash/aggressive and pretty sure of himself but he loved the game and thought that he was pretty special. He was well-connected on the East Coast.
His 1098 career REB remains the most in school history: what was his secret for being a great rebounder? He wanted to rebound and had the passion/desire for it. He took a lot of pride in wanting to claim every rebound as his.
He averaged a double-double for his career with 12.5 PPG/10.5 RPG: how did he balance his scoring with his rebounding? His 1st couple of years he did not have to score as much because we had a pretty good team that got up and down the floor. In his final 2 seasons he had younger guards who were trying to establish themselves. If he had played after the dunking rule was changed then he would have averaged another 6-7 PTS during his career. He was unstoppable and would try to break our hands in practice if we tried to block his shot! Mel wanted to throw it down on people hard.
He played pro basketball in the US as well as overseas: how proud are you of all his success? I am very happy that he had a long career. I wish that I could have played with him for 2 more years in college but I was happy that he took it to another level. I think he played around 15 years of pro basketball.
When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As probably 1 of the all-time great big men in Hawaii history. He was a difference-maker on both offense/defense. He had a strong motor and became the player that he wanted to be.