jerseyshorejohnny
Well-known member
Inducted into The NYC Basketball HOF this evening at The NYAC.
Congrats To SJU's: Dr. R. Lapchick & Willie Hall
- Thread starter jerseyshorejohnny
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I started at SJU along with Willie in Sept 58. Willie was a tremendous high school player at St. Ann's in Manhattan and Archbishop Molloy in Queens when St Ann's relocated. He played on the JV team at St Ann's in the beginning of his freshman year and moved up to the varsity at the end of the year . St Ann's and Molloy were always one of the top teams in the country during his stay.
He was a Charles Barkley type of player standing 6ft 4 in and was a beast around the basket. At SJU he was undersized playing power forward and gained some weight which slowed him down.
Coming out of Molloy he was probably a top 5 recruit.
He was a Charles Barkley type of player standing 6ft 4 in and was a beast around the basket. At SJU he was undersized playing power forward and gained some weight which slowed him down.
Coming out of Molloy he was probably a top 5 recruit.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong about these facts (I have no idea how to check them) I recall a Holiday Festival in 1960 or 61(?) We were playing Ohio State whose center was All-American Jerry Lucas. Willie kept getting the ball in the corner and, instead of shooting from there, would attack the basket and Lucas would drop back and stuff him. It happened so many times that it received mention in a Sports Illustrated issue with Jerry on the cover crediting the W to those blocks. Of course, the possibility that all these facts are mixed in my brain is also a possibility.It may have been the same game that we were winning at the half thanks to the shooting of Tony Jackson. Ohio came out at the half and put John Havelchick on Jackson who shut him down for the rest of the game. We lost..
You are correct on all counts except for the Havilchek shutting down Jackson. SJU had a ten point halftime lead but only Jackson was a scoring threath in the second half. I believe he scored fifteen in the first half and ten in the second.
For whatever reason Hall lost confidence in his fifteen ft jump shot he had in high school. Seven of the ten starters in this game made the pros. Jackson, Ellis, Loughery, Lucas, Havilchek, Siegfried and Nowell.
Bobby Knight was the fifth starter for Ohio State I believe or sixth man.
SJU could not control Lucas. The following year Ellis was a much better player and it might have been a different story but Ohio State was a great team and Lucas a fantastic college player.
For whatever reason Hall lost confidence in his fifteen ft jump shot he had in high school. Seven of the ten starters in this game made the pros. Jackson, Ellis, Loughery, Lucas, Havilchek, Siegfried and Nowell.
Bobby Knight was the fifth starter for Ohio State I believe or sixth man.
SJU could not control Lucas. The following year Ellis was a much better player and it might have been a different story but Ohio State was a great team and Lucas a fantastic college player.