RE: MBB Poll
1963, Madison Square Garden, UT vs Nationally No. 1 Ranked NYU. I wasn't there but I can remember listening to the game on WTOL radio like it was yesterday. I have been to a lot of games in my time and seen even more on tv but none thrilled me more than listening to this game on the radio as a 12 year old Rocket fanatic. That night Rocket forward Jim Cox was an All American. And much thanks to Fred Janiszewski for writing this story about my favorite Rocket basketball memory.
A Game In The "Garden" contributed by Fred Janiszewski 01/20/2004
The word was out that the 1963-64 Toledo basketball team was going to be special, possibly a national top-10 team. Coach Eddie Melvin had brought together a talented group of veterans, led by an All-American candidate, two all-conference players and three special sophomores who had just spent a year together on the freshman team.
Heading the roster was Larry Jones, a 6-2 guard from Columbus, OH. Jones, an All-MAC selection who also ran track and played baseball, was being touted as a legitimate All-American in the pre-season talk. Jones had broken a wrist in the first game of the 1962-63 season, a game in which he had scored 35 points, and he was forced to sit out the entire year. The NCAA granted him another year of eligibility and he was primed to lead TU (as it was called back then) to the basketball promised land.
Teaming with Jones would be 6-6 senior center Ray Wolford, a first team All-MAC selection the previous season and 6-5 junior Jim Cox, who had earned second team conference honors as a sophomore. Other returning veterans were seniors Jay Bail, Ralph Kreidel, and Joe Brocksecker, along with juniors, Bill Drenser, Doug Duncan, Ken Miller, and Carl Utz.
Expected to make an immediate impact on the depth and quality of the squad were three sophomores who had signed with Toledo the previous year. As freshmen, they were ineligible for varsity competition but now they were ready compete for playing time with the others.
“Real blue-chippers” is how Street and Smith magazine described the trio in its annual college basketball magazine for the up and coming season. Bob Astin, a 6-8 center from Pennsylvania, and two local kids, John Ayling (Devilbiss High School) and Bobby Williams (Macomber High School) were poised to make their mark on the Toledo campus. Ayling, a scoring machine and Williams, a silky smooth guard, were looked on as future stars.
Toledo started the season 4-0, with blowout wins against the likes of Tulane, UC-Davis, Ohio Wesleyan, and Southern Illinois in the friendly confines of the old Field House.
But it was the next game that the team and its fans had circled on the calendar as being the one that would determine just how good these young men could be.
The Rockets were scheduled to travel to New York City for a December 12th meeting with the New York University Violets, rated #2 in the country (#1 in some polls). The contest would be the second game of a double-header that would be played in the famed Madison Square Garden. The first game on the card had Manhattan College going against Georgetown.
NYU featured two All-American candidates in Barry Kramer, a 6-4 forward who was a prolific scorer, and 6-7 forward Harold “Happy” Hairston, a strong rebounder who could also score. Guard Stan McKenzie was also a quality player. Kramer, Hairston, and McKenzie would all go on to careers in the NBA and ABA.
The 1962-63 season had been a big one for Kramer. After averaging 29.3 points throughout the regular season, he was named first team All-America by Helms, AP, NEA, U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Basketball News. Kramer had also taken the Violets (ranked #9 by the AP) into the NCAA East Regional Tournament where he scored 37, 24, and 29 points respectively. Only an 81-76 loss to #2 Duke kept NYU from advancing to further competition.
So it was into the Big Apple that the team from Bancroft Street would travel, in an attempt to slay the 1963 version of the “Beast of the East.”
Prior to leaving for New York, Rocket mentor Melvin was confident as to the team’s chances in the game. He even predicted a win at the Downtown Coaches Luncheon saying that he’d bring film of the victory for everyone to view the next week.
Football coach Frank Lauterbur had also recently become the Toledo Athletic Director, having taken over from the “overly thrifty” Jim Long, and he made it a point that the team’s stay would be first class in every respect.
Also traveling with the Rocket squad were the Dancing Rock-ets, a dance troupe of note back then that performed at half-time of the Toledo home games. The Rock-ets were going to perform their routine in front the Garden audience, and there was a great deal of excitement among the members.
As game time approached, Coach Melvin surprisingly announced that, little used reserve forward, Jail Bail would start the game for Toledo. Bail, a 6-5, senior, was part of a group of players loosely known as the “Blue Angels,” a term given to the last five players on the depth chart that provided the opposition for the starters during practice. It would be Bail’s responsibility to guard Kramer.
The game would be broadcast back to the Toledo area by WTOL (1230) and WOHO (1470). Back then TU had two stations covering the games and if you didn’t like the way things were progressing on one of them, you could always switch to the other, in hopes of better results.
The evening started well as the Dancing Rock-ets darn near brought down the house of 11,968 with their performance; now it was the basketball team’s turn to see if it was up to the challenge.
Toledo came out and played well from the opening tip. Jim Cox was having a great game close to the basket, and with Melvin’s offense, a structured patterned scheme, giving NYU all kinds of problems, Toledo was able to fashion a 43-33 lead by half time.
It was more of the same in the second half, as the Rockets extended the lead to 20 points several times.
Time after time Cox would take Kramer inside for easy baskets and if Kramer contested a shot, more often then not, he’d foul Cox who would convert the old-fashioned three point play.
A frustrated Kramer would eventually foul out of the game. Kramer would so lose his composure that twice he went after the Rocket’s Bobby Williams with clenched fists in response to William’s verbal jabs aimed at Kramer’s performance on the court.
When the final buzzer sounded on this one, Toledo had an 87-74 win over the fading Violets and Eddie Melvin was carried off the floor by the jubilant Rockets.
In the post-game locker room, Cox, who would total 33 points for the night, said of NYU’s defense, “They were fish, real fish underneath.” Also scoring in double figures for the Rockets were Ray Wolford (16 points), Williams (14 points), and Larry Jones (10 points). Wolford also led the Rockets in rebounding with 12.
For NYU it was Happy Hairston who had the big night. Hairston scored 25 points and brought down an eye-popping 21 rebounds, but he would get very little help from his teammates on the glass.
Kramer recorded 23 points before fouling out but was a non-factor in the rebounding department and nine of his points came at the foul line. Bail, the little used sub who was charged with guarding Kramer in the game, was given accolades for his defensive performance by his teammates.
There was one notable downside to this great victory however. Jones, Toledo’s marquee player, would score just one field goal in 11 attempts and was benched for most of the second half. His chance to shine in front of the influential New York sports writers just wasn’t to be.
Commenting after the game, Melvin said, If Jones would have been right, they (NYU) wouldn’t have come within 30 points of us.
Toledo returned home and received a long, standing ovation from a packed Field House crowd on Dec.14, before routing San Francisco State, 95-58. The team’s record now stood at 6-0.
But Eddie Melvin’s teams were not necessarily known for strong play on the road, and when Toledo lost a tough game to Villanova, 63-59, at Philadelphia’s Palestra, the Rockets became just another basketball team.
Toledo’s record at the end of the season would be just 13-11 with the team losing seven of it’s last eight games.
Yes, the season was a disappointment, but for a few days in December of 1963, the Rockets, the school, and the fans were sitting on top of the basketball world. And I’ll tell you what, it felt awfully damn good.
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