On New Year’s Eve the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2024 including 2-time NCAA champ Dave Meyers, #1 overall pick in the 1956 NBA Draft Sihugo Green, and 1957 NCAA champ Lennie Rosenbluth. Lennie set an ACC career scoring record with 2045 PTS, his 26.9 career PPG remains #1 in Tar Heel history, and in 1957 he was named Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year as the most outstanding player in the nation. Lennie passed away in 2022 but earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with his former teammate Tom Kearns about their magical 1957 undefeated season.
Lennie was born/raised in the Bronx and attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia: what made him choose North Carolina for college? He went to a public high school in the Bronx (James Monroe High School) and did not get much playing time, but UNC coach Frank McGuire knew about Lennie for a long time thanks to a scout named Harry Gotkin. Harry’s nephew Dave later played basketball at NC State for Coach Everett Case.
He only played a handful of games in high school due to not making the cut as a freshman/sophomore/junior and a coach’s strike during his senior year: how was he able to make such a smooth transition to the college game despite his relative lack of experience? He was a prolific scorer who just got it done. He had a great touch and knew how to get in position to get his shot up. Staunton was well known at the time so I am sure that he did wonderful things during his 1 year there, which is how he became a well-known entity.
In 1957 he led the nation with 285 FTM: how crucial to his success was his ability to get to the FT line and then make them once he got there? He had the whole package and was extraordinary. He hated to practice but he turned it on as soon as the game tipped off: it was an interesting contrast.
In the 1957 NCAA tourney your team had a 4-PT 3-OT win over Michigan State in the semifinals and a 1-PT 3-OT win over Kansas in the title game the very next day to finish the season 32-0: what did it mean to him/you to win the title in such dramatic fashion? Johnny Green was at the foul line for Michigan State in the final seconds of double-OT in our semifinal game when 1 of their guards walked up to me and said, “30 and 1”. Johnny missed the FT, then Pete Brennan drove down the court and made a jump shot for us to send it to triple-OT! I remember in the 2nd OT against Kansas neither team scored a single point, but our forte was to control the game. You also must be lucky: there were several games early on that we could have lost but never did, and both games in the Final 4 could have gone either way. After we won the title there were no showers at the Municipal Auditorium, so we had to go back to the hotel to shower, then put on our jackets/ties before meeting North Carolina governor Luther Hodges.
His 26.9 career PPG remains the highest all-time scoring average in UNC history: what was his secret for being such a great scorer? He just had the magic touch: the ball loved him and wanted to go in each time that he put it up. He knew how to maneuver around the basket: some guys are good defensive players but when they are on offense they cannot put it in the ocean. Everybody on our team knew where to go if we got in trouble: our #1 man!
He was a 2-time All-American and 1957 national POY/ACC Male Athlete of the Year: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? Those were great tributes to him and what he had done: he was a special guy.
In the 1957 NBA Draft he was selected 6th overall by Philadelphia (2 spots ahead of Hall of Famer Sam Jones): what did it mean to him to get drafted? #6 was probably a lot higher than he expected.
After a 2-year NBA career he ended up working as a high school American History teacher/basketball coach in Florida and later moved back to Chapel Hill: why did he have such a short pro career, and how much did he enjoy his post-NBA life? He was just not physically built for the pros because it was too much of a running game: he was a step or 2 below that and did not have any interest in building up his upper-body strength. He married a great woman named Pat and I thought they made a mistake by leaving North Carolina because he was such a big name there, but they later came back from Florida, and all is well that ends well.
His #10 jersey was the 1st ever retired by the Tar Heels, in 2002 he was named 1 of the 50 greatest players in ACC history, and last week he was elected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame: what was your reaction when you heard the good news? My reaction was, “What the hell took them so long?!” He is 1 of the greatest of all time in the ACC and should have been elected to the Hall of Fame a lot sooner. Thank God he is finally in there because that is what counts.
He passed away in 2022: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As 1 of the all-time greatest players in UNC history.