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Forty Years Ago Today

1/08/03
by John C. Thomas

Tuesday, January 8, 1963 vs. Marquette at Milwaukee

In the late fifties, Marquette basketball took permanent hold in Milwaukee. The Warriors had been ranked in the AP Top 20 in 1955, 1956, and 1959, reaching as high as fourth in the nation in an AP Poll near the end of the 1955 season. Popular demand dictated that they play their home games at the 12,000-seat Milwaukee Arena, built in 1950. Great players like Terry Rand, Don Kojis, Russ Wittberger, and Rube Schultz gave the Warriors fans a lot to cheer about in the mid and late 1950s, and led Marquette to postseason play in 1955, 1956, 1959, and 1961. This was also the era when the Milwaukee Braves were winning big. The Milwaukee major league baseball team won the championship in 1957, and lost their re-match with Casey Stengel's Yankees the next year.

The Loyola-Marquette rivalry had developed into the kind of passionate college basketball rivalry that promoters dream about. Apart from the competition on the court, the two closest Jesuit schools in the Midwest competed for some of the same students, particularly in Chicago's far northern suburbs. Very often, high school classmates between Chicago and Milwaukee would end up traveling in opposite directions for college. Interurban trains ran on a schedule so that Loyola students could practically walk across the street from campus to catch a train that would drop them six blocks from the game. The brand-new interstate highway to Milwaukee made the 90-mile trip even easier.

As Loyola basketball had receded from its superiority in the early fifties and Marquette came on strong, the games took on increased meaning for Marquette fans. Loyola didn't receive a single ranking throughout the 1950s. Now that Loyola was on the upswing again, there was a lot on the line for Warriors fans. In the previous year, Loyola and Marquette split their games with each other-- Marquette handed the Ramblers one of their four losses of the 1961-62 season, a 63-60 squeaker at ? In the rematch, Loyola prevailed handily, 98-84.

Marquette had a good squad in 1962-63. Coach Ed Hickey's team was led by Dave Erickson, Lee Borowski and Dick Nixon-[not in that order]. Wins, losses? NIT.

A near-capacity crowd of 10,125 filled the house to watch the Ramblers and Warriors exchange scoring runs in the first half. Loyola marched out to a 34-25 lead just a few minutes before halftime, but the Warriors came surging back to send the game to the break at halftime with a narrow 38-37 Loyola lead.

At the beginning of the second half, Marquette took the lead 41-40, but the Ramblers atoned for their anemic 34% first half shooting percentage with a 16-0 run over the ensuing six minutes. Vic Rouse scored six points in the run, as the Warriors tried just about everything-including a stall-to halt the Ramblers' barrage. The game was never close again, and Loyola won their 14th in a row, 87-68.

Jerry Harkness was the star of the game, scoring 23 points, pulling in 11 rebounds and holding Marquette's Dick Nixon to only five points on the night. Vic Rouse added 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Ramblers, while Les Hunter scored 14 points to go with 13 boards-three Loyola players had double-doubles. All five of Loyola's starters scored in double figures, and the Ramblers out-boarded the Warriors 57-46.