GCU is having a season for the ages with a 23-2 start so far this year. However, this is not their 1st time in the national spotlight. Almost a half-century ago the Lopes won a pair of NAIA D-1 titles in 1975 & 1978 under Coach Ben Lindsey. Lindsey became the 1st head coach at an Arizona college/university to win a national basketball championship and remains the only coach in Arizona to win more than 1. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with former GCU athletic director Keith Baker about Lindsey’s great career as both a player and coach. Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the 2nd-highest scoring game in Lopes history when Lindsey had 44 PTS on February 17, 1962, so we take this time to reflect on his amazing accomplishments.
Lindsey was born in Glendale and began his college career at Pasadena Nazarene College: why did he decide to transfer, and what made him choose Grand Canyon? I know that he was involved with Phoenix Christian High School so he returned to Arizona after his time in California.
As a player at Grand Canyon he broke 5 school scoring records and had the 2nd-highest scoring game in school history with 44 PTS vs. La Verne on February 17, 1962: what was his secret to being such a sensational scorer? The records that he broke were actually my dad’s, who graduated in 1959! That 1959 Grand Canyon team was the only undefeated team in school history with a bunch of guys who had been together for 3-4 years: perhaps that is why Ben decided to begin his career in Pasadena instead. Ben was a mid-range guy at 6’3”, which was good size for that era.
He also remains in the top-5 in school history with 827 career REB: how did he balance his scoring with his rebounding? In that era a player his size could do very well on the boards. They were good in their environment and he was a hard worker, which is what you need to be a good rebounder.
When he was hired as head coach in 1965 the program’s total budget was $2000, he had no assistant coaches, his wife Jerri washed the team uniforms, and he had to teach 12 hours of classes each semester while also coaching the tennis team: how on earth did he survive (much less thrive)?! It was a different era in college athletics. He majored in physical education and went into coaching/teaching at Phoenix Christian. I showed up at Grand Canyon as a student in the late-1970s and got to travel with Ben a bit as the team’s radio announcer. It is a lost era that you pine for a little bit: people were educators 1st and coaches 2nd. They were involved in their players’ lives both on and off the court. You drove the van and washed the gear and sometimes used your own money to supplement the small budget. 1 of the biggest changes is that it was a very mission-minded institution as a Southern Baptist school and the coaches bought into what the school was doing in general. Ben built it into a prominent NAIA program.
In 1974 as coach at his alma mater he won his 1st 24 games in a row: did it reach a point where the fans expected to see a win every time the Lopes stepped onto the court? I was not there at that time and did not get to go to many games since I was still in high school. I did get to see them the following year when Grand Canyon came up to Flagstaff to play NAU: Grand Canyon worked them pretty good! We had a tiny gym with 500 seats so if you did not arrive 20 minutes early then you would just have to stand in the corner. They had a streak of 64 straight home-court wins.
Take me through his 2 NAIA title teams:
In the 1975 title game the Lopes beat Midwestern to finish 30-3 and become the smallest college to ever win the NAIA title (with an enrollment of approximately 500): how big a deal was it to win the 1st national title in any sport in school history? It was absolutely huge! You did not get a big ring back then but the players would later joke that all they got was a t-shirt! Bay Forrest was the biggest “get” in terms of a prominent student-athlete who changed the environment of the institution. It really launched Grand Canyon on a path where they had the intent of D-1 membership and building a new gym because the NCAA was a very different organization back then.
3 years later he beat Kearney State to win another title with an identical 30-3 record: how did the 2nd title compare to the 1st? I know more folks who played on the 1978 team. The NAIA had a regional format back then but there was an expectation that they would reach the national tourney every year, which helped with recruiting. There was a feeling of reaching the pinnacle again. I still run into players from those teams and they still talk about it and compare their team to the ones of today.
He was hired by Arizona in 1982, went 4-24 before being fired after 1 year, then filed a $3 million wrongful termination lawsuit against the school (claiming that he received a verbal contract promising a minimum of 4 years to improve the program), then was awarded $695,000 in damages but only ended up collecting $215,000: was it as ugly as it sounds, and does he at least get credit for recruiting Steve Kerr? As an outside observer, I think it was highly suspect how that whole decision came down. He took a leave of absence from Grand Canyon to coach in the Philippines, then came back to the US and had accepted a position at Fort Hays State with the idea that he could get out of that contract if he was hired at UofA. I heard that Lute Olson was the eventual target of the boosters in Tucson but that is just hearsay. There were a lot of people who really felt that Ben got a raw deal.
The Lopes qualified for postseason play in 11 of his 16 seasons and his 317 wins remains #1 in school history: what made him such a great coach, and do you think that anyone will ever break his record? If Bryce Drew hangs around for a while then he might break it but I think that Ben’s record will stand. He was adaptable: there was no shot clock/3-PT line back then. When I did radio I recall him expressing that he valued possession of the ball a la Dean Smith: it was a methodical offense that controlled the pace of the game. They did not become a full NAIA member who could participate in the postseason until the late-1960s so his 11-of-16 record is closer to 11-of-12. Ben said that 1 of the big reasons for his success was Bay Forrest: he got a Pac-8-caliber player to come to an NAIA school. He was an unbelievable player who had a great supporting cast around him. All his former players talk lovingly about how he supported them and put them in a system where they could succeed.
In 2010 he was inducted into GCU’s Athletics Hall of Fame as both an athlete/coach: where does that rank among the highlights of his career? I was the AD at the time and he was always very gracious when he returned to campus. He was genuinely appreciative of the love that the school showed to him. I had many relatives who went here so I tried to recognize those who laid the foundation. He was very soft-spoken and always enjoyed seeing the growth of the school.
Lindsey turned 84 this year: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? My personal opinion is that he was the type of individual who was deeply rooted in what the school’s mission was all about: educating/equipping students for the future in a Christian-centered environment. He had success on the court, which helped the institution get recognized, but it was all about the little things. He was the last of the full-time educators who was a successful coach as well.