bonnie history

[honest1]

At legend time someone mused about who was the best team 1961 or 1970. Here on some thoughts on that.
All the teams that represented SBU in post season tourneys were great for their time. The 1961 team has 3 players names hanging up in the Reilly center. I Believe they are T. Stith, Fred crawford and Whitey Martin. the 1971 team has Lanier but they went farther than than the 1961 in the NCAA. you dont compare these teams. We should revel in the fact that a small school like Bonas made 17 or 18 post season appearances in the NIT and NCAA.
The first NIT teams were in 51 and 52. The NIT far eclipsed the NCAA having the top 16 teams in the country. They were rated as high as 3rd in the country and made the top 20. Four players were chosen in the 53 NBA draft in 53. Bill Kenville of that team is the only Bonnie who played and won the NBA championship at Syracuse in 1955 scoring 18 points in the final.
Then we have the Mc Cann,Wiese Newhook group who beat Elgin Baylors team in 57. Brendan was a number 1 draft choice of the NY KNICKS that year.
We continued through 1961 with Sam, Freddie, Tom and Whitey who were all drafted by the NBA. Tom still holds the single season scoring title of 937 pts, i think.
The 68 and 70 teams were both NCAA teams with Butler, Lanier, Satalin, Kalbaugh et al.
The 77 NIT Champions had Essie,Jimmie, Hagan and Sanders and went to Yugo slavia to represent the US in games there. I wont belabor the point any longer.

The one common thread of all the teams that won big was that SBU grads coached. Their names were Donovan, Wiese, Satalin and Baron.But i hope Solomon can be the first to change this thread.

GO BONNIES

[mangham]

If it weren't for Bones Mckinney and some horrific officiating, the 61 team would have made the final 4.

[Copenhagen]

Hey,

could you please expand on that story?

thanks!

[jim62]

What Mangham is referring to was a regional game we played at Wake Forest.

The officials allowed their coach, Bones McKinney, to grab our players as they ran the sidelines and throw towels at our players.

The backboards at that time were the one curved pole that went from the floor to the board. Whenever our guys were shooting free throws, the Wake fans were standing on the floor at the pole pushing and pulling the pole causing the backboard to move. No calls by the "officials" at all.

And also, at the time in North Carolina, there was still a lot of racism and it was very apparent at the game.

To sum it all up, in a fair game we would have won.

[Chuck]

CBS basketball announcer Billy Packer was the star guard for Wake Forest at the time.

[az63]

I was at the NCAA game in Charlotte in '61. It was on St. Patrick's Day - not a big deal in Charlotte!!!!!

Just to correct Jim62, the benches were not on the sidelines but rather behind the baseline. Bones McKinney(Wake coach) actually started a fast break for Wake when a ball that had gone through the hoop for a Bonnie basket came right to him as he stood in front of the Wake bench. He caught the ball & inbounded it to one of his players to start the break.

At one point during the game Tom Stith was on the line for 2 shots. He backed off, spoke to the ref about a photographer who was sitting on the basket support, shaking it "ever so slightly". The ref told Tom to get back on the line & shoot but never told the photographer to stop shaking the hoop!!!
Tom mised one & made one.

The Bonnies lost 78-73.

St. Joe's won that region,beating Wake 96-86, went to Kansas City for the Final Four, finished 3rd, but had their title vacated when one of their guys got caught in the big scandal that year.

The Bonnies finished third in the region, beating Princeton in the consolation game 85-69.

Yes, Billy Packer was on that team & I had a chance to speak to him at some length when he was doing the Final Four games in Denver in '90. Of course he denied everything.

You are correct about the South in '61 being racist. As a matter of fact it is my understanding that we had been invited to the NCAA tourney in '60 but Coach Donovan was told that our guys would have to have separate hotels - black & white - for games played in South. To his credit Coach Donovan decided to go to the NIT where we were involved in the still infamous "orange juice" game in the semis.

[FriendsofAN44]

Great stories, thanks for sharing !

You have to expand on the "orange juice" game though - that's one I don't think I ever heard of.

Looking forward to reading about it !

[az63]

Fox,
The "Orange Juice" game took place on March 17, 1960. Bonnies v Bradley in the NIT semifinal. Bradley had a great team as did Bona, but Bradley's Chet"the Jet" Walker & Mack Herndon were two great frontcourt players that Bona couldn't handle. Anyway back to the "OJ" part.

1960 & 1961 were 2 great years in college hoops but also are well known as being 2 big years for the 2nd worst game fixing scandals ever to hit college hoops.
On the morning of the Bona v Bradley game(Bona was a 5 pt favorite) someone that was believed to be connected with the fixers delivered orange juice to Chet Walker's hotel room. The oj was tainted, Chet drank it, got pretty sick and there was talk during the day that he might not be able to play that night. Remember this was the NIT which at the time was still bigger than the NCAA & it was in NYC which was the hotspot of college hoops so this kind of news spread pretty quickly in anticipation of the game.

Well Chet was sick but still managed to score 27 points in 23 minutes, in between dashes to the locker room john, vs our beloved Brown Indians & Bradley won 82-71. They also won the final (88-72) against a great Providence team that featured Lenny Wilkins(NIT MVP) and had a 2nd string center named John Thompson!!

If you want to read a great book about the scandals pick up a copy of The Wizard of Odds by Charley Rosen. It is about Jack Molinas, a great player at Columbia in the early '50's, a very good NBA player with the Fort Wayne Pistons, and an unbelievable crook. It's a great read.

Also, as a footnote, the loss to Bradley was on March 17, as was the loss the next year to Wake Forest. Maybe Bona teams should beware of that date. Although any post season date would be great based on the last couple of seasons!!!!