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Forty Years Ago Today
1/26/03
by John C. ThomasThursday, January 31, 1963 vs. Washington (MO) at Alumni Gym
The Loyola campus was quiet in the days following the big doubleheader at the Stadium. The students were on mid-semester break, and snow cover muffled the sounds of what limited activity there was between Sheridan Road and the lake. The players-- many of them from several hundred miles away-- were obligated to stay in town for practice and a schedule-filler against Washington University of St. Louis. They had Loyola Hall mostly to themselves, as most of the other students in the dorm returned home for a visit with their families. Adding to the quiet was the fact that Coach Ireland had been scarce on campus that week, nursing a mid-winter flu with a fever of almost 103.
Trudging across Loyola Avenue to face Washington at Alumni Gym was a far cry from the excitement of a standing-room only doubleheader at the Stadium. The weeknight meeting between the #2 Ramblers and Washington, who had dropped to 5-9 the night before in a 19-point loss to Valparaiso, was expected to be a cakewalk. What a recipe for an upset.
The 2,750 that showed up for the game may have included some folks that couldn't get a ticket for the big doubleheader five nights earlier. In the opening minutes, they must have wondered if another team was borrowing the Ramblers' uniforms. At tip-off, it was assistant coach Jerry Lyne leading the Ramblers from the sideline-- Coach Ireland was still in the locker room nursing his flu. The unmotivated Ramblers got off to a horrible start, and with 10 minutes left to play in the first half, tiny Washington University led Loyola 22-18.
But the Ramblers took their first lead of the game with 9:40 left to play after Les Hunter made three unanswered baskets to put Loyola up 24-22. From there, the rout was on. Over the final 10 minutes of the first half, the Ramblers decimated Washington 39-5 to take a 57-29 halftime lead.
By the time Coach Ireland was able to make it out of the locker room to join the team on the sidelines midway through the second half it was 81-43 Loyola, as if the bad start had never happened. Loyola cruised to a 118-58 win behind 22 points from Les Hunter and double-digit scoring by Jerry Harkness, John Egan, Billy Smith, Vic Rouse and Ron Miller. It was the ninth triple-digit scoring effort of the year for the Ramblers, and their 19th victory. Loyola-the nation's #1 rebounding team-- also set their season-high for boards with 84, compared to Washington's 40. Four Loyola players had double-digits in rebounds.