Tom Gola Met Bill Russell

Tom Gola met Bill Russell 60 years ago tonight. That’s when LaSalle College played the University of San Francisco in the NCAA finals. The game was played in Kansas City and I watched it on TV with my dad.

The date was March 19, 1955 – a Saturday.

To me, as a wide-eyed 11-year-old, it was a foregone conclusion that the LaSalle Explorers – ranked #3 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll – were going to easily prevail over these San Francisco Dons – even though USF was ranked #1 in both polls.

After all, LaSalle was the defending NCAA champs – having beaten Bradley 92-76 in the 1954 Finals. Charley Singley and Frank Blatcher scored 23 points each in that game and All-American Tom Gola added 19 points. All three stars were back as seniors to face San Francisco – and Gola had repeated as an All-American.

Joining him as 1955 All-Americans were Dick Garmaker from Minnesota, Dick Ricketts and Sihugo Green, both from Duquesne, and junior center Bill Russell from the San Francisco Dons.

I’d never heard of Bill Russell before that night – in fact I’d never heard of the University of San Francisco. Remember, television was still a relatively new communications medium back then and games played on the West Coast were rarely telecast back to the East Coast.

But I clearly remember the announcers giving the pregame breakdown on San Francisco and saying that Dons guard K.C. Jones was the key to the game for USF. They described Bill Russell as a player who sometimes “liked to clown around.”

The “experts” gave Tom Gola and LaSalle the edge over the Dons.

The NCAA tournament was radically different in 1955. To begin with, there was a field of just 24 teams – with 16 teams playing in the first round and eight teams getting byes into the second round.

EAST REGION – Two games were played in Lexington, Kentucky: the Miami (Ohio) Red Hawks (14-8) versus the Marquette Golden Eagles (22-2); and the Penn State Nittany Lions (18-9) versus the Memphis Tigers (17-4). And three game were played in New York City: the LaSalle Explorers (22-4) versus the West Virginia Mountaineers (19-10); the Williams Ephs (17-1) versus the Canisius Golden Griffins (17-6); and the Duke Blue Devils (20-7) versus the Villanova Wildcats (17-9).

WEST REGION – One game was played in El Reno, Oklahoma: the Oklahoma City Star (9-17) versus the Bradley Braves (8-19). And two games were played in San Francisco: the Idaho State Bengals (18-7) versus the Seattle Cheiftans (26-1); and the West Texas A & M Buffaloes versus the San Francisco Dons (23-1).

The eight teams getting first-round byes were the Colorado Buffaloes (16-5), the Iowa Hawkeyes (17-5), the Kentucky Wildcats (22-2), the Oregon State Beavers (21-7), the Princeton Tigers (16-8), the SMU Mustangs (13-8), the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (20-6), and the Utah Utes (23-3).

Four teams of note excluded from the Big Dance were the NC State Wolfpack (28-4) – ranked #4 and #6 in the polls; the Duquesne Dukes (19-4) – ranked #6 and #7 and with the two aforementioned All-Americans Dick Rickttes and Sihugo Green; and the Dayton Flyers (23-3) – ranked #9 and #10.

From here, we’ll follow the paths of the Explorers and Dons as they work toward their showdown in the Finals.

FiRST ROUND

EAST – Tom Gola and Alonzo Lewis scored 22 points each as the Explores crushed West Virginia 95-61. The Wildcats held the Mountaineers star Hot Rod Hundley to 17.

WEST – The Dons cruised past West Texas A & M by an 89-66 count. Four Dons hit double figures – Bill Russell 29, Jerry Mullen 20, Stan Buchanan 13, and K.C. Jones 12. The defensive-minded Dons held Texas A & M to 33 points in each half.

REGIONAL SEMI-FINALS

EAST – Tthe Explorers won in another romp – this one a 73-46 win over the Princeton Tigers. Tom Gola led LaSalle with 24 points and Harold Haaberstad led the Tigers with 15.

WEST – The Dons had another easy game with a 78-59 route Utah. The Dons again put four players in double figures – Jerry Mullen 24, Hal Perry 14, and Bill Russell and K.C. Jones with 13 each – and played even better on defense, holding Utah to 20 and 39 points in each half.

REGIONAL FINALS

EAST – It was the third straight romp for LaSalle – this time beating Canisius 99-64. Four players hit double figures for LaSalle – Tom Gola 30, Alonzo Lewis 18, Charley Singley 16, and Chuck Greenberg 14.

Canisius put three players in double figures in the losing effort – John McCarty 17, Dave Markey 15, and Henry Nowak 10.

WEST – Oregon State put the Dons to the test in a 57-56 defensive showdown by both teams. Bill Russell scored 29 points and K.C. Jones added 11 for USF – while future NBA-er Swede Holbrook tallied 18 for the Utes.

NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS

EAST – The Explorers led throughout the game with the Iowa Hawkeyes, but were put to the test down the stretch before holding onto a 76-73 win to advance to the finals.

Tom Gola led LaSalle with 23 points. Charley Singley added 16 and Alonzo Lewis 14.

WEST – Bill Russell again led the Dons in scoring with 24 points in another strong defensive effort by both teams – a 62-50 victory over Colorado. Hal Perry added 10 for the winners. Meanwhile, the Dons set the tone by holding the Buffs to 19 points in the first half and didn’t allow anyone to hit double figures.

And the showdown was thus set.

NATIONAL FINALS

Defense and rebounding turned the tables for the Dons in their 77-63 victory over LaSalle.

It was never a compelling contest as Bill Russell dominated the game in both departments and on both ends of the floor. He wasn’t clowning around in the least as he scored 23 points and pulled down 25 boards.

K.C. Jones topped all scorers with 24.

Charley Singley led the Explorers in scoring with 20 points. Tom Gola was held to 16.

In the following season, 1956, Bill Russell led San Francisco to a 29-0 record in making it two straight NCAA championships for the Dons. His teammate K.C. Jones was also on the team – and both Russell and Jones were All-Americans.

USF beat Iowa 83-71 in the finals.

Of local interest, Temple advanced to the Final Four with close victories over Holy Cross 74-72, Connecticut 65-59, and Canisius 60-58 – before getting knocked out 83-76 by the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Semi-Finals.

Temple was coached by Harry Litwack and led by legendary back-court stars Guy Rodgers and Hal Lear.

The NCAA tournament featured a Consolation Game back then and Temple outscored SMU 90-81 to earn Third Place in the tourney. Hal Lear led the Owls that night with 48 points.

Guy Rodgers would go on to become an NBA star and play in the league for 13 years – eight seasons with the Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors, two seasons each with the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls, and one season with the Cincinnati Royals.

Guy Rodgers was a four-time NBA All-Star, averaged 11.7 ppg over his career, and twice led the league in assists.

One of Rodgers’ teammates with the Warriors was LaSalle’s Tom Gola – who spent 11 seasons in the NBA. Gola played for the Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors for seven seasons before spending his final four seasons with the New York Knicks. Gola was a seven-time All-Star and averaged 11.3 ppg over his career.

LaSalle honored Tom Gola by naming its basketball facility the Tom Gola Arena.

K.C. Jones and Bill Russell went on to be teammates with the Boston Celtics.

K.C. spent nine seasons with the Celtics and won eight NBA Championships. After his playing career ended, he coached at both the collegiate and the NBA levels – racking up NBA Championships in 1984 and 1986 with stars Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish.

And Bill Russell’s NBA career was even more spectacular than teammate K.C. Jones.

Russell played for the Celtics for 13 seasons. He was a 12-time All-Star, won 11 NBA Championships as a player, and was voted league MVP five times.

In 1966, he became the player/coach of the Celtics – making him the first black head coach in NBA history. He won two NBA Championships while coaching.

Both Bill Russell and K.C Jones played on the U.S Olympic team that won the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.