Editor's note: When the calendar turns to March, Madness cannot be too far behind for any college basketball fan. Fifty years ago this month, an upset-minded University of Dayton basketball team "marched" through the NCAA men's basketball tournament all the way to the championship game, where they fell to the first of the Lew Alcindor-led UCLA powerhouses. Members of that team, along with coach Donoher, will be recognized at tomorrow's Dayton-VCU game.
By Doug Harris
Dayton may have shocked the college basketball world with its improbable run to the 1967 NCAA tournament final, knocking off three teams ranked eighth or better along the way. But the players and coaches never wavered in their conviction that they could compete with those powerhouses.
As guard Bobby Joe Hooper put it: "Looking back, I don't think people realized how good we were — and I mean that humbly. … I think we were a little bit better than what people thought."
Hooper has a point. The Flyers went 21-5 in the regular season against a national schedule, were a lock to make the 23-team field and had a first-team All-American in forward Don May along with heady guards, quality depth and a coach in Don Donoher who could match X's and O's with anyone.
"We were probably looked at as the Cinderella team the farther we went," Hooper said. "But you've got Donnie May, who is averaging 22 points and 16 rebounds a game. That takes a lot of the pressure off.
"I just thought through that whole tournament run, we were so prepared with coach Donoher. And because of that, we just never believed we would lose."
UD is celebrating the 50th anniversary of that magical March, an achievement that has only grown sweeter with time. And while the Flyers proved they were on equal footing with their more renowned foes, their first three tourney games were so tight that they easily could have become season-enders.
They escaped with a 69-67 overtime victory against No. 6 Western Kentucky in the opener in Lexington, Ky., on a long-range bucket by Hooper, who asked to take the final shot.
"I did something out of character. I said, 'Get the ball to me,'" he said. "That's the way I played. If we were going to be fouled, I wanted to be fouled and go to the line. I'll handle it. Give me the pressure — because I didn't look at it as pressure. I looked at it as, 'We're going to finish this thing out and go home.' "
May had 26 points and 20 rebounds in the win, which propelled the Flyers to the regionals in Evanston, Ill., against No. 8 Tennessee.
A zone defense slowed May, who had nine points and 14 boards, but Hooper (14 points) and backcourt mate Gene Klaus (12) carved up the SEC champs from outside by going a combined 11-for-14 from the field in the 53-52 win.
The Flyers then faced unranked Virginia Tech, which had eliminated Big Ten champ Indiana, with a Final Four berth up for grabs. They rallied from a 10-point deficit to prevail, 71-66, in OT behind May's 28 points and 16 rebounds.
Forward Glinder Torain, a top sub along with guard Rudy Waterman, chipped in 13 points and nine boards. And forward Dan Sadlier, who cracked the starting lineup for good midway through the season, played stout defense on Hokies star Glen Combs, holding him to 16 points on 7-of-23 shooting.
Sadlier was the stopper on the team and relished his role.
"I was usually guarding one of the better players on the other team. Sometimes that worked out all right, but sometimes you'd get lit up pretty bad," he said.
"But that was an area where you could have an impact and make a contribution to the whole team. We already had some pretty good offensive players in Donnie and Hooper and Gene-O."
For May, who was carried off the floor by jubilant fans after the victory, that result may have been the highlight of the entire postseason.
"The best thing was the wonderful feeling that was generated when we went to the Final Four," he said. "And seeing Tom Frericks as we left the court, he was so happy. I'd never seen that face so happy.
The UD athletic director had good reason to beam. Though the Flyers had out-grown the Fieldhouse on campus, he was running into dead ends while trying to drum up support to build a 13,000-seat arena at a time when venues that size were rare.
But he had no trouble generating momentum after the third tourney win.
"When that game was over and we were going to the Final Four, we were in a hotel room having a party, and Tom Frericks was ecstatic," said Donoher, who was in his third year after taking over for the late Tom Blackburn. "He told everybody, 'Tonight, we just built UD Arena. This will put it over the top.' And we were playing in it three years later."
After three straight squeakers — two OT victories and a one-point triumph — Dayton exploded against No. 4 North Carolina in a 76-62 victory. The lefty May connected on 13 straight field goals in a remarkable display, finishing with 34 points and 15 rebounds, while Hooper and Klaus handled the Tar Heels' pressure defense with their usual aplomb.
"Our guards were really good," Donoher said. "(North Carolina coach) Dean Smith commented later that he was dependent on guards picking up their dribble where they could trap them, and our guards kept their dribble and attacked the basket."
May's teammates marveled at his play.
"Donnie was always there every night," said Klaus, the lone senior in the playing rotation and the team captain. "He didn't have a lot of ups and downs. He could do a lot on the boards. He was strong as an ox. He put his right arm out there to protect that left-handed shot of his, and you couldn't get close to it. He was that strong."
"He epitomizes a person with a great heart, great attitude and great work ethic," Hooper said. "He was a tremendous gamer, and he just had a desire. He was 6-4 or 6-4½ at the most, and he was a gorilla going after the ball. Rebounding to him was 'it's mine and nobody else is going to get it.'"
The Final Four didn't have near the fanfare it does now. It was held in Louisville's 19,000-seat Freedom Hall instead of a dome, was televised in individual markets rather than on a national network and was a Friday-Saturday affair instead of the Saturday-Monday format.
"It's altogether different today," Donoher said. "I do remember early in the week, there was a telephone hookup. That was about it for national media.
"In fact, I never heard of this before or after, but after the North Carolina win at the Final Four, they had a television camera outside our locker room at Freedom Hall. Players and coaches were interviewed, and the interviews went to a pool of writers who were located in another part of Freedom Hall. Can you imagine that?"
The short turnaround certainly didn't help the Flyers against undefeated and top-ranked UCLA, who were led by 7-2 sophomore center Lew Alcindor — not that it would have matter.
The late Dan Obrovac, UD's starting sophomore center, won the opening tap, but the Flyers had few highlights after that. The Bruins bolted to a 17-4 lead, had a 38-20 halftime edge and mercifully pulled their starters early in a 79-64 win for the first of seven straight titles for coach John Wooden's crew.
"It was so hectic," Donoher said of game day. "To get the players out of the hotel, we bused them up to Freedom Hall, and (assistant) Chuck Grigsby had them shoot for a while. I was never able to get out there. It was individual interviews and the phone ringing. It was just chaos.
"And we had a style of play that just didn't fit the way you'd want to go against Alcindor. We parked May on blocks and had our centers at the foul line. Alcindor isn't going to go out and play a center, and you're matching May right into the teeth of their defense. That isn't sound strategy."
Donoher still kicks himself over not seeing that sooner. Asked when the disappointment of the defeat changed to pride over what the Flyers accomplished, he replied: "We were so bad, I don't know if it ever did. That was just a wasted opportunity."
That's not how legions of UD fans see it. They revere that team from a half-century ago — especially May, who scored 118 points in the five games and had a tourney-high 82 rebounds.
And while outsiders may have been surprised by that memorable ride to a runner-up finish — beating what today would be two No. 2 tourney seeds and a No. 1 — those who had a hand in the achievement knew they had it in them.
"When you go through it at that age, you just think they're players like you are," Klaus said. "I don't think you get too much awestruck in regards to their reputation. Everybody feels they're pretty good players themselves.
"There wasn't television like there is now, where you get scared watching them 20 times on TV. We had our own stars like Donnie, who we put a lot of faith in, and we put a lot of faith in ourselves."
