Billy Lawrence

[danfog]

Are there any Redmen who remember Billy Lawrence the Molloy sharp shooter who helped us beat the ranked Loyola Of Chicago?
 

 

[Las Vegan]

Are there any Redmen who remember Billy Lawrence the Molloy sharp shooter who helped us beat the ranked Loyola Of Chicago?

I watched his Molloy team, also with Rudy Bogad, play a league game at Holy Cross. My friends and I were in the fifth or sixth grade, but we lived near Cross and were admitted for free. The gym was packed and it was a very close game. Cross had Bobby McIntyre and Mike Riordan. Molloy won and Lawrence lived up to his reputation.

 

 

[newsman13]

He was a stud who lived up to his hype...then he flunked out before his junior year..
 

 

[GardenCity62]

My recollection of Billy Lawrence is he was a top rated recruit coming out of Malloy and because of Looies connection and the fact that Molloy had sent Willie Hall and Donnie Burks to SJU it was disappointing when he announced he was going to North Carolina.
What happened next I am not clear on but it doesn’t work out at Carolina and he comes back to SJU for a year or two but never reaches where scouts thought he would be when he left Malloy.

 

[matt105]

Saw Billy Lawrence play vs St. Johns Prep in 1960 & 61 . This is Tom Konchalski's description of Billy Lawrence "As offensively efficient and productive as he was physically unprepossessing at 5'10 and 150 lbs , this willow netstripper boasted probably the leagues purest stroke of the last three decades . Extremely quick and able to manufacture his shot in a millisecond , he scored over 1200 points in just two varsity seasons , converted 97 of 102 free throws in his junior year and  was selected All City in 1960 and 1961





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































ffensively efficient as he was physically unprepossessing at 5'10 and 150 lbs . this willow netstripper boasted probably the leagues purest stroke of the last three decades . Extremely  quick and able to manufacture his shot in a millisecond , he scored over 1200 points in just two varsity seasons , converted 97 of 102 free throws as a junior and was selected All City in both 1960 and 61  

 

[redken]

For the record, Billy Lawrence's only collegiate year was 1963-64, when he played in 17 games for St. John's. Also, we did not play Loyola of Chicago that year; however, in the previous year the eventual-NCAA champion Ramblers crushed us. (My first game ever at Alumni Hall.) Needless to say, Lawrence did not participate. In 1964-65, when I was a frosh, there was a constant buzz on campus that Billy would be returning to the team for that season ... and in doing so, a mystique of just how good he'd be took root. We never did find out how good he'd be, but based on his one season here, I don't think he would've been the super player (at least on the collegiate level) that some thought he'd be. 

 

[jsk68/73]

I was there also at the time. My recollection was that Billy left basketball completely due to some personal issues. I was very disappointed because I felt he was an excellent player who unfortunately wasted his career.