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Forty Years Ago Today

2/04/03
by John C. Thomas

Monday, February 4, 1963
Robertson and Smith Flunk Out

When Coach George Ireland returned to his office in Alumni Gym on Monday, February 4, 1963, he received some devastating news. His two top reserve players, 5'9" guard Pablo Robertson and 6'5" forward Billy Smith had not passed their mid-term exams and were therefore academically ineligible for the rest of the season. The two sophomores had played in almost every game in the season thus far, providing some great performances off the bench and spelling the starters whenever foul trouble hit.

Robertson was recruited out of Jerry Harkness' alma mater, DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, and although he was listed at 5'9" he was probably closer to 5'7". He was a masterful ball handler, putting on dribbling clinics whenever he was on the floor to relieve John Egan or Ron Miller. The tiny, speedy guard had quickness that could elude just about any opposing player, and when he came into the game with fresh legs against a tired opponent, he could hold the ball or dribble off time in half-minute blocks if he wanted to. He had played in 17 of the Ramblers' 20 games on the season, averaging 5.1 points and an incredible 2.9 rebounds coming off the bench-often as the shortest player on either team.

Smith was tabbed to be a star, and actually started a couple of games in place of Miller to give the Ramblers a little more size against big teams. Also recruited out of New York City, he was incredibly athletic, with a nice shooting touch and a voracious appetite for the ball off the glass. In 20 games, he averaged 7.7 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 47% from the field-the third highest shooting percentage on the team. When Vic Rouse fouled out against Indiana, Smith came in to score 14 points (12 in the second half) and pull down 10 rebounds-on the road, in only his sixth game on the varsity squad.

The loss of Smith and Robertson to academics was a bit puzzling. In most cases, players that survived their freshman year were able to continue their studies through graduation. The hard part was the adjustment from high school to college. Both Robertson and Smith seemed to do all right academically in their freshman year playing a limited slate of frosh games, where no classes were missed due to travel. As varsity players, missed lectures due to extended road trips couldn't always be compensated for through notes and textbooks.

Although the players weren't eligible to play, they could stay in school and try to improve their grades to qualify to play in 1963-64. Smith briefly dropped out of school, then attended a junior college in New York. He returned to Loyola in 1964-65 and played for two more years. Robertson left school immediately-after playing only 17 games at the collegiate level-- to begin a lucrative ten-year career with Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal, and the Harlem Globetrotters. Later, Robertson was one of the main characters on the Globetrotters' Saturday morning cartoon show in the early 1970s.

The Chicago media-for the most part skeptical about the Ramblers all year long-descended on the Lake Shore campus to sniff out some panic or self-doubt. Ireland tried to remain upbeat about the setback, and instead focused on his five starters. The Chicago Tribune's "In The Wake of the News" column by David Condon on February 6, 1963 quoted him as saying that his team was "different because we can keep going. We play the entire game with the same speed, the same pace. We never let up, even with some of the squad out because of injury or ineligibility."

"Harkness leads us, like the leader of a hungry pack of wolves," he said. "We have a fabulous bunch of kids, and we've made basketball simple for 'em. We don't over coach them. We go out and run, shoot, and press. I don't think there's an ounce of pressure on this bunch."

When Condon asked the coach about the national championship fever that was spreading across Loyola, the coach told him: "I'm not thinking about championships. I'm thinking about the six regular season games we still have to play, beginning with Marquette in the Stadium on February 12. But, of course, everyone is talking about this team, and there's a reason. We're different. Sure, we're different. Maybe we're fabulous, because we have a group of kids who are thoroughbreds. They don't fold up. They respond when they're asked, just like thoroughbreds."

But there was pressure. The Ramblers had fought hard for their 20-0 record and #2 ranking. There was only one other undefeated team in all of major college basketball-#1 Cincinnati-and they had been involved in some close calls over the past few games. Without his top two reserves, Ireland would have to re-invent his substitution rotations with a group that hadn't played a single minute in a close game. And there was incredible pressure on the starters to stay out of foul trouble.

There were only six regular season games left, but a lot of questions, and a lot of pressure.