Hoops HD

With the 2020 NBA draft taking place later this month we will spend the next couple of weeks taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From the 1st player in NBA history to score 2000 PTS in a season (70th anniversary) through the 2000 Pac-10 POY (20th anniversary), these stars have all seen their dreams come true in past drafts. We continue our series with Ed Conlin. He was a 2-time All-American at Fordham, remains #4 in NCAA history with 1884 career REB, and averaged more than 10 PPG during his 7-year NBA career. Ed passed away in 2012 but HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with his longtime friend Jerry Breslin about the 65th anniversary of Ed getting drafted.

In December 1953 Ed set a Fordham record with 42 PTS in a 49-PT win over Adelphi (which remains the most PTS scored in Rose Hill Gym) and he is still the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1886 PTS: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot he put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”, and do you think that anyone will ever break his records? I was not present and did not see the game, and Ed never spoke to me about that particular game over the years so it is difficult for me to give you any verifiable information concerning what happened that night. You are correct that Ed is still the all-time scorer in Fordham’s history with 1886 PTS. Based upon my knowledge of the makeup of Ed’s teammates in the 1953-54 season, there were three or four really good scorers on the team, so for Ed to score that many points against Adelphi he must have been in a zone. We must keep in mind at that time in history Fordham coach Johnny Bach scheduled a lot of soft teams to play in December, of which Adelphi was one. I do think that someone will break his record at some point. In fact, a few years ago Fordham had a freshman named Eric Paschall who scored 31 points in his first varsity game: based upon that, if he stayed at Fordham for four years then he definitely had the potential to break Ed’s single-game scoring record. However, after his first year he transferred to Villanova and was a starter on their 2018 championship team. Therefore, if the right player is recruited to Fordham and stays in school for three to four years with the 3-point shot, which did not exist during Ed’s day, then that player would have a more than reasonable chance of surpassing the 42 points Ed scored against Adelphi.

In 1953 he led the nation with 23.5 RPG and his 1884 career REB remains #4 all-time in NCAA history: what made him such a great rebounder, and how was he able to dominate the boards while standing 6’5″? I knew that he led the nation with rebounds in 1953 but I did not realize that he had a 23.5 RPG average. When you reflect on that it seems off the charts, which it was. I also did not realize that his 1884 career REB was #4 in the history of the NCAA. Ed was a great rebounder for some of the following reasons: he had broad shoulders and (at that time) sufficient height to fight for rebounds with the best. He told me many times about a man in his neighborhood who had returned from WWII military service and advised him that he should jump rope to help make him a good player. Ed said that he followed this fellow’s advice and got up to doing 1,000 repetitions in each workout. Ed also had a very charming personality/disposition; however, when he was playing under the boards he did so with a ferocious intensity. Ed had those eyes, which many people involved in sports over the years would say were killer’s eyes. Whatever he was attempting to do, he was going to give it 100%, such as successfully grabbing a rebound. He was able to dominate because of the above-mentioned reasons, plus the fact that even though he only stood 6’5″ there were not too many players in college who stood much higher during those years except Bill Russell of San Francisco and Bob Pettit of LSU (whom Ed played against in college). Ed’s physical toughness was verified by one of Fordham’s football coaches at the time: he asked Ed to play football as a tackle, but Ed declined to do. Over the years, I became involved with Bill Bradley’s race for the U.S. Senate and met one of the great college rebounders of Ed’s day: Fletcher Johnson from Duquesne (who ultimately became a doctor studying in Bologna, Italy). At a fundraiser I told Dr. Johnson that I was a friend of Ed’s: he looked at me and said, “Ed Conlin: great rebounder”, so I think that says more than anything I can say about why he was such a dominant force on the boards. If Ed was the best, then Fletcher was probably at least the second or third best college rebounder during the years that Ed played at Fordham and Fletcher played at Duquesne.

In the 1954 NCAA tourney he scored 26 PTS in a 2-PT OT loss to La Salle (Tom Gola scored 28 PTS): how close did they come to beating the eventual champion? You hit the main vein in what Ed would talk to me about over the 40 or so years that we were friends. It was the most disappointing loss of his college/professional career. In those days the NIT was the most prominent college tournament in the nation. Because of the gambling situation in the 1940s and early-50s, then-Fordham president Father Gannon, S.J., would not allow Fordham to play basketball games in Madison Square Garden: this policy changed in later years under other presidents. They were selected to play in the NCAA tournament in 1953 and 1954. The 1954 game was played in Buffalo: as Ed reported to me, Fordham had a two-point lead with only seconds to go. La Salle had possession and was going to take the ball out of bounds at half-court. After a timeout, Ed told each of his teammates to stick with their man and not worry about Gola because I have him. Apparently Gola went to the top of the key with his back to the basket. A young forward on Ed’s team left his man and went to double-team Gola despite Ed’s instructions. La Salle got the ball to Gola at the top of the key, and he hit Charles Singley (who the aforementioned young forward was supposed to be guarding) under the basket for a layup to tie the game. As you know, Fordham ended up losing by two points in overtime. Ed was devastated by that loss: he told me that story about 100 times over the years. He said that La Salle went on to beat North Carolina State in the next round (who Fordham had beaten in the regular season) en route to winning the national championship. If the young forward (a sophomore) had done what Ed asked him to do, then perhaps Fordham would have had a chance to win the championship that year rather than La Salle.

He was a 2-time All-American: what did it mean to him to receive such outstanding honors? It meant a lot to Ed because like most All-Americans he was practicing his game every moment that he could throughout his four years at Fordham: jumping rope, taking foul shots, taking outside set shots, practicing dribbling drills, etc. I sincerely believe that what it meant to Ed was that practice makes perfect and if you put in the time/pain of repetition practicing basketball, at the end of the day you will receive such honors as being an All-American. Ed never even once said to me that he was an All-American one time, let alone two times. I do remember him playing in the college All-Star game during his senior year at Madison Square Garden with some great teammates/opponents.

In the summer of 1955 he was drafted 5th overall by Syracuse (3 spots ahead of future Hall of Famer Jack Twyman): did he see that as a validation of his college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? I believe Ed saw that as a validation of all the hard work and practice time and dedication that he had given to basketball during his college career. As to whether it was a lifelong dream to reach the NBA, I do not know: he never really expressed that thought to me. Over the years, I would have lunch/dinner with him and a few other fellows before college games at the Byrne Arena or Madison Square Garden. He was an excellent conversationalist when talking about his experiences in the NBA but at all times he talked about the other fellow and not about his own accomplishments. For example, he said one time that his team was playing against Elgin Baylor and his coach asked him to forget about offense and just concentrate on defense: to do nothing else in the first half but try and hold Baylor down. Ed told us at the table, “I sure did and played one of the best defenses in a game I could have played.” He then hesitated and said, “Baylor had 24 points at the half,” which led to laughter at the table. 1 year when Ed and Tom Gola were both on the Warriors, they were playing the Lakers in LA on back-to-back nights. As you probably know, Gola was a great defender and besides guarding his man he had a tendency to keep his eye on the ball so he could try to double-team an opponent who had the ball. That particular Friday night Jerry West had 20+ points and while walking off the court Ed cynically said to his friend Gola, “Some defensive job on Jerry West.” Gola responded, “Okay: tomorrow night you guys all guard your own man and I will just guard West.” Well, the following night the great Jerry West only had single-digit points with Gola concentrating on defense and stopping him from having a good night.

In Game 7 of the 1962 Eastern Division Finals with Philly, Sam Jones made the series-winning shot with 2 seconds left in a 2-PT win by Boston: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? Ed told me many times about this particular loss: obviously it was the most devastating loss of his NBA career. I believe I saw the game on television but I have very little memory of the game. I know that when Philadelphia had its last chance Coach Frank McGuire told Ed to take the ball out at half-court and try get it down low to Wilt Chamberlain or Paul Arizin…but it failed and as a result Boston won. He told me that story five or six times, which suggested to me that it was probably the worst loss that he suffered as an NBA player.

He averaged 10.1 PPG during his NBA career: how satisfied was he with his pro basketball tenure? When Ed played at Syracuse you have to remember that Dolph Schayes was the high scorer and Ed was the “other” forward. During his time at Syracuse Ed usually defended the other team’s top center/forward such as Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan, Tommy Heinsohn, and other future Hall of Famers. When he went to Philadelphia Paul Arizin was on the team as well as Wilt Chamberlain. Ed’s role was that of a role player. Also on that team was Tom Gola. Gola and Ed were great college players but in the pros they were “in-between” players. Both were about 6’5″ and could put the ball on the floor, pass, score from the outside, and rebound in college. However, in the NBA both were out of position. They were not fast enough to be guards and they were too small to be strong forwards in the NBA. My overall impression is that Ed was satisfied with his pro basketball tenure: he played 7 years at that level and gave it all he had.

He later served as an assistant coach to John Bach in 1968 before taking over as head coach for the next 2 years: how did he like working for Bach, and how did he like coaching at his alma mater? Ed was an excellent recruiter for Bach before taking over as head coach for two years. He recruited some of Fordham’s greatest players: Charlie Yelverton, Kenny Charles, Tom Sullivan, Bill Mainor, Bart Woytowicz, and many others. In Ed’s first year as coach he had a .500 record. However, freshmen Charles/Woytowicz were not eligible to play on the varsity at that time. Ed was fired after that year and then came Digger Phelps with all of Ed’s players, and in 1971 he probably had Fordham’s greatest team and lost to Villanova in the East Region Semifinals, but still finished ninth in the nation with the players that Ed had recruited. In regards to how Ed liked working for Bach, he did not comment one way or the other. Ed had a bitter taste in his mouth about how he was fired as coach: he read about it in the newspaper as opposed to having been personally contacted by someone from Fordham, such as the athletic director or someone else in the administration.

In the 1969 NIT Mike Grosso had 23 PTS/22 REB in a 3-PT win by Louisville: how hard did he take a close postseason loss as a coach compared to when he was a player? The 1969 Fordham loss to Louisville was mentioned many times over the years by Ed. He indicated that Fordham had a chance to win that game but a player or two missed a couple of foul shots at the end of the game, which would have either tied the game up and/or put Fordham ahead. That was the most memorable loss he spoke about as a coach at Fordham: he mentioned it more than one time, but did not mention it as often as the 1954 NCAA tourney loss to La Salle.

He passed away in 2012: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? Ed will be remembered most by people because at the moment his jersey is the only one that has been retired and is hanging in Fordham’s gym. Over the years Ed was active in alumni affairs and attended many basketball games and other social events held at Fordham. Ed had a great sense of humility and rarely spoke about his accomplishments unless he was urged to by myself or others who may have been in his company. However, he never mentioned rebounding statistics, scoring statistics, or anything to do with his individual accomplishments. His recollections and memories were always about the team and how the team won two big games on the road against nationally-ranked Dayton and Duquesne. More importantly, Ed had a presence so when he walked into a room, especially with his wife Michelle, people would turn and ask, “Who is that?” He had a physical presence and grace and was most comfortable in large crowds.