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Forty Years Ago Today

2/12/03
by John C. Thomas

Tuesday, February 12, 1963 vs. Marquette at Chicago Stadium

The weeknight doubleheader that started at 7:45 p.m. drew 8,113 fans to the Chicago Stadium to see Loyola vs. Marquette in the opener and Tennessee State vs. Paul Silas' Creighton team in the nightcap. The Marquette fan attendance might have been hurt a bit by the fact that the North Shore Line, with its hourly trains that departed on the hour between downtown Chicago and Milwaukee, had shut down for good three weeks earlier on January 21, 1963.

The Marquette Warriors were 12-6 coming into the contest, and led by savvy seniors under Coach Ed Hickey. Loyola had beaten Marquette in Milwaukee just six weeks earlier with relative ease, 87-68. But that was when Marquette was struggling without injured starting senior forward Bob Hornak, and the Ramblers had a full complement of bench players. The Warriors were coming off a 101-54 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee just three nights before their second meeting with the Ramblers. In the UW-Milwaukee game, injured forward Hornak had finally regained his early season form with 17 points. Meanwhile, the Ramblers were coming off a 10-day rest-the longest break of the entire season.

Whether it was rust or a lack of confidence from losing their two best bench players, the Ramblers struggled mightily against the Warriors. Loyola center Les Hunter picked up three quick fouls in the first half, but Coach Ireland refused to replace him with an untested bench player. Marquette took full advantage, and led the Ramblers in rebounding at the half. Marquette's Ron Glasser exploded for 16 points in the opening 20 minutes while Dick Erickson commanded the boards and kept Hunter in check. Somehow, Loyola managed to reach the locker room at the break with the score deadlocked at 44.

The two teams exchanged the lead throughout the second half, with Dick Nixon and Erickson doing the heavy lifting on offense for the Warriors. Ron Miller took up the scoring burden from Hunter-- walking on eggshells with four fouls-- and Vic Rouse, who was scoreless for the Ramblers in the second half. Miller put Loyola ahead with less than a minute, 81-79, but Erickson tied it at the other end. At the buzzer, John Egan's shot for the win curled around the inside of the rim a few times before popping out.

Loyola, a team that hadn't won by fewer than five points all year and averaged 29.1 points per game more than their opponents, was headed for overtime for the first time in the season-- at home.

The bonus time didn't start well for Loyola as Hornak put the Warriors on top quickly. The Ramblers finally took the lead 86-85 with a basket by Rouse with 2:30 left, and Erickson made a basket seconds later to put the Warriors on back in front, 87-86. But Jerry Harkness made two free throws, a steal resulting in a breakaway basket, and a conversion off a feed from John Egan to score the final six points for Loyola. The Ramblers survived the overtime challenge for their 21st win on the season, 92-90, and Harkness was carried off the court on his teammates' shoulders.

When the dust settled and the stomach acid stopped churning, the box score revealed that Ron Miller led all scorers in the game with 28 points to help Loyola reach overtime, and Harkness was right behind with 26-the last six in crunch time. Nixon led the Warriors with 23, followed by Erickson with 20. And importantly, the Ramblers overcame their halftime rebounding deficit to out-board the Warriors 53-51. In spite of his foul trouble, Hunter was the game-leader in rebounds with 17.

But maybe the most frightening statistic was this: Loyola was only able to play two bench players in the game, Earl Johnson and Chuck Wood, and they combined for zero points. Right off the bat, it was obvious that Billy Smith and Pablo Robertson would be sorely missed off the bench. Foul trouble, particularly against center Les Hunter, would be devastating. Rich Rochelle, the 6'9" sub at center and the least-used player on the team, was the only player on the bench over 6'4".

For its part, Marquette-- with a record of 12-7 after the narrow overtime road loss to Loyola-- won six of their next seven games to finish the regular season 18-8. They beat St. Louis in the first round of the NIT, and lost to Providence College in the second round. They finished the season 20-9 after an NIT consolation win against Villanova.