Georgetown Basketball History: Historical Narrative
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A narrative of the season-by-season story of Georgetown University is part of this historical project. Below is a work in progress on this narrative.

The departure of Elmer Ripley in the fall of 1929 led the University to search within its own ranks for its new coach. The new coach was Bill Dudack, 32, a 1921 graduate of the University who was a star football and basketball star during his years at the Hilltop. Dudack starred alongside Fred Fees, Jack Flavin, and Andy Zazzali in his college years, as the Hilltoppers earned a record of 32-6 between 1918 and 1921. This season's team, however, fell victim to a number of misfortunes along the way that resulted in little more than a .500 season for Georgetown.

Stumbling to begin the season, GU dropped its opener to Gettysburg, 33-26, the first season opening loss in the history of the program. A leading cause for the setback was an injury to star guard Freddy Mesmer, who suffered a sprained wrist in the contest and left the game without his usual point totals. Mesmer also missed the next three contests, but theÜd able play of junior Walter Morris and second year law student Bill Shea helped the Hoyas get back into the winning spirit. Morris and Shea combined for 24 points in a 39-32 win over the University of Baltimore to inaugurate the new gym at Tech H.S., and led the Hoyas into a five game New York road trip with a 38-30 win over the Knights of Columbus in New York, before bowing to the powerful Crescent K of C, 38-24. Mesmer's return sparked Georgetown past Manhattan, 32-27, and his return was eagerly received as Georgetown traveled to New Haven to compete for the second consecutive year in the Yale Tournament.

Dudack's men opened the new decade on New Year's Day, 1930 with a tough assignment against NYU. The Hoyas had not defeated the Violet since 1919, but surged to a 18-11 halftime lead that grew to 23-11 before the NYU charge began. NYU outscored the Hoyas 14-2 in the final seven minutes to send the game into overtime, but the G-men rallied in the extra period to post a 31-27 upset win. Fred Mesmer led the team with 12 points, setting up a tournament final against the Hoyas' former coach Elmer Ripley and his Yale Bulldogs.

Any mixed emotions Ripley might have had about his former team disappeared after Yale fell behind 19-13 in the second half after six lead changes in the opening period. Yale followed with a rally of its own, pulling to a 26-21 lead late in the contest. Bill Shea caged a shot to narrow the count to 26-23, but the Georgetown men were unable to break a "freeze" by the well-trained Yale men that ran out the clock to give Yale the win.

A 35-20 win over Wake Forest was a brief stop at home before the Hoyas journeyed to West Virginia and Pitt. At Morgantown, Sleepy Glenn's 17 points rallied the Mountaineers to a 34-27 decision, while at Pittsburgh the Panthers shut down the entire GU attack, shutting out Hoya forwards Bill Shea and Walter Morris in a 43-26 win. The Panthers also profited from a 14 for 15 free throw performance as foul calling increased late in the game.

A January 15 win over tiny Washington College led to another pair of road losses, this time to Temple and NYU. The Owls won handily, 37-24, as Georgetown lost Walter Morris for the season with an injured leg. Two nights later, Charley Schuman's 10 points helped NYU avenge its tournament loss to the Blue and Gray, 35-27. Now at a disappointing 6-7, sporting as many losses (and injuries) as the previous Hoya teams had suffered in two years, a five game homestand seemed the best medicine. As the squad returned to Tech, a spark of the old offensive magic returned to the squad. Don Dutton scored a career-high 20 points in a 48-27 rout of Johns Hopkins, followed by 14 from Maurice McCarthy in a 35-20 win over Mount St. Mary's.

Returning from mid-year exams, the Hoyas surged past West Virginia, 34-31, holding all-America Sleepy Glenn to seven points behind 14 tallies from junior Paul Dillon, starting in place of the injured Morris. But just as itÜd appeared the Hoyas had turned the corner, it was learned that the team's leading scorer, Don Dutton, was lost for the year due to academics. Dutton was ruled ineligible by the College faculty, and in the process Georgetown lost its prize forward. Dutton's loss was NYU's gain, as the Violet arrived in Washington to earn a 26-20 win before 1,600 at Tech Gym. The key to the NYU win was the insertion of Jerry Nemecek, captain of the football team, to play forward against Don Dutton's replacement, junior John Scalzi. Nemecek shut down the inexperienced Scalzi and scored ten points for the victors.

Despite the team's ups and downs for the season, the largest crowd in Washington basketball since 1927 crowded Catholic University's gym on Feb.10, 1930 to see Georgetown square off against Loyola University of Chicago. Winners of 34 straight games dating back to 1927, the aptly-named "Ramblers" had lost two straight on its Eastern road trip but still was considered among the best teams in the nation. Despite the loss of Dutton, the Hoyas dominated the Loyolans with an exhibition of floor play and passing rarely seen in the Midwest at this time. While schools such as Loyola evolving the game into a faster-paced game, the Ramblers came face to face with a team schooled in "old style" basketball-a slow moving game featuring passing and positioning in lieu of shooting and fast breaks. Unaccustomed as they were to the style of play, the Ramblers fell behind at the half 20-6 and never challenged thereafter. 24 points from Paul Dillon and Fred Mesmer led theÜd Hoyas to a surprising 34-23 win over the Ramblers, earning the Hoyas renewed confidence as they prepared for an unprecedented third road trip of the season to upstate New York.

Facing Canisius in a Buffalo locale known as the Elmwood Music Hall, Fred Mesmer scored eight points in a well balanced scoring effort that netted Georgetown a 29-16 win. Despite winning five of their last six, the Hoyas walked into an ambush the next evening against Syracuse. Nearly ten years to the day that GU was demolished in the first half by an angry Yale quintet, the Hoyas found themselves down 21-5 at halftime. and 40-18 for the game. The contest was the first game ever played between what are now among the fiercest rivals in college basketball.

A season's worth of frustrations were felt as the Hoyas stopped in Annapolis en route home from Syracuse. Facing Navy, which had lost to Georgetown an unprecedented two years in a row, the Hoyas were assessed five technical fouls for arguing with the officials and struggled from the free throw line in an eight point loss to Navy, 37-29. Fred Mesmer became the first GU player in nine years to be thrown out of a game; he accumulated a record four technical fouls in the second half. Bad blood was obviously felt between the two teams, and the play was so rough that at one point when an official asked for the ball, he was hit in the face by the ball, breaking his whistle.

Despite the officiating troubles, Georgetown was very muchÜd in the game. Mesmer was disqualified with 8:00 to play, with Navy leading 31-18. Bill Shea took over Mesmer's leadership and scored eight points in a 11-2 rally that narrowed the score to 33-29 late in the game. Unfortunately, only 3 of 12 foul shots dropped for the Hoya marksmen, and Navy held on to the win with foul shots of its own as the game concluded.

Over the course of the season, starters Walter Morris and Don Dutton had been lost for the season, two of the main causes for the team's lack of offensive punch late in the season. A loss of much more serious proportions was felt on Feb. 21, 1930, as Maurice McCarthy was seriously injured in an auto accident outside Bowie, Md. According to reports of the accident, McCarthy hit a parked car on the roadway and was thrown clear of the car in the process. Charged with reckless driving and fined $6.45 by the attending officer, the former NCAA college golf champion and basketball star spent the rest of the season in the hospital, his college career thus ended.

Despite the loss of the team's third starter, the Hoyas won their final two home games in convinving style, routing a traveling five from Brooklyn's K of C chapter 45-32 and rallying to overcome Western Maryland, 35-32. The team's fourth and final road trip to New York saw two cancellations and two losses to complete the team's record at 13-12.

Despite the team's lackluster finish, the end of the 1929-1930 season marked the passing of the first great "recruiting class" in the University's history: the Class of 1930. TheÜd class featured Fred Mesmer, two-time scoring champ and floor leader; Maurice McCarthy, dependable shooting forward; Don Dutton, the team's sterling pivotman; Harold Meenan, 1928 scoring titleist, and Johnny Dunn, the Hoyas' reliable sixth man off the bench. Together, they helped return a winning spirit to Georgetown basketball, and their departure would be readily apparent in the years to come.

In the University's twenty-five years of basketball, no season matched the discouragement of the 1930-1931 campaign. Faced with a new coach, a new roster, and a schedule of epic proportions for the young team, it seemed inevitable that the Hoyas would suffer a losing campaign. But few expected how ineffective that campaign would be.

The major change was in the coaching ranks. After Bill Dudack left the Hilltop in 1930, the University hired Johnny Colrick, 25, to lead the collegians. A recent graduate of Notre Dame, Colrick was expected to instill some of the high-flying "western style" of play seen in South Bend by legendary Irish coach George Keogan. In retrospect, Colrick had little to work with on the 1930-31 squad. Gone was the Class of 1930, among the most talented group ever to play intercollegiate basketball to date for the University. Fred Mesmer, Don Dutton, Hal Meenan, Maurice McCarthy, and Johnny Dunn had turned in three great years for the University, and their departure left team captain Walter Morris and the Hoyas in deep, deep trouble.

The opening of the season was an encouraging sign, though--winning against Baltimore (35-27) and Gettysburg (37-29), behind seniors Bill Shea and Emil Bozek. But a five game road trip was a harbinger of bad things to come.

The first game matched GU against the Brooklyn Knights of Columbus, where the Knights earned a 26-21 victory in the final three minutes of the play. A similar verdict was rendered by the Crescent Athletic Club of New York, which pulled away from a 18-all halftime count to rout the young Hoyas, 41-26. More misfortune followed in a 23-22 loss at Manhattan and a 26-19 loss to St. John's, as New York continued to be an unwelcome place for the Hilltop hoopsters.

Wins were hard to come by this season, with two over Johns Hopkins (30-16 and 30-29) providing some consolation, as did a 34-22 win versus Mt.St. Mary's at Ryan Gym, becoming the last college game played in the building. But even with the fine play of third year veteran Bill Shea and junior Dick King (practically the only experienced players on the roster), each successive game was an exercise in frustration.

After the 30-16 win over Johns Hopkins, the Hoyas fell to Duquesne and Washington and Lee. A win versus Mt.St. Mary's preceded narrow road defeats to NYU (34-31) and Army (31-30), though a 45-32 loss to Navy wasn't even close, to be frank. The final win past Hopkins led to a bitter and disappointing finish for the team, dropping seven straight. All but one were played away from Tech Gym, where the Hoyas ended their home slate via a 35-29 setback to West Virginia. But as for the other encounters, well, the less said, the better.

The results, even in retrospect, aren't pretty. At Temple, losing by four, 42-38.At West Virginia, losing by sixteen, 38-22. And by the season's end, a 54-28 rout by Loyola College--the Baltimore school's first ever victory over Georgetown--was too much to bear. The team's bad fortunes were evident in a 28-27 loss at Duquesne where ever-steady Dick King, fouled as time ran out, had two chances to win the game, and missed both to the glee of the Duquesne crowd. It seemed as 1931-32 was just "one of those years" in the worst way.

For Johnny Colrick, it was one year too many. Colrick was relieved of his coaching duties at season's end, moving on to Seton Hall, where he later became head coach of the Pirates in 1935. Colrick's replacement was a familiar name in Georgetown basketball, Fred Mesmer, but even Mesmer would have a tough time in turning around the fortunes of a 5-16 team overnight.

The arrival of Fred Mesmer in 1931 was hoped to provide Georgetown with some of the faster-paced style of play known as "pro style" basketball. Mesmer's lineup of guards Dick King and Tom Carolan, center Vernon Murphy, and forwards Joe Connors and Jim Murphy were schooled primarily in the slower style of the game, so any metamorphosis of the team would be a gradual one.

The Hoyas opened the season with three decisive victories, including a win over Southern Conference power Duke. The opener saw Georgetown dominate Mount St. Mary's, 32-23, behind 11 from newcomer Jim Murphy. Murphy sparked GU against Duke, with three quick field goals in the second half to pace the Hoyas to a 36-23 win, and performed well in a win over Baltimore, 31-23.

With exams playing an important role in how Georgetown could schedule opponents, the University athletic department scheduled seven of the team's eight away games over a three week period prior to January exams. Over the past two seasons, the Hoyas had only won 5 of 29 road games, and the results for the winter of 1932 would prove no less fruitful.

Opening the road trip at the New York's Crescent Athletic Club, the Hoyas led by as many as 13 points before falling by eleven, 39-28. Losses to NYU (26-18), St. John's (27-26) and an upset at the hands of Duquesne (29-27) sent the Hoya record under .500, with no relief in sight. A cross-Pennsylvania train ride led to a 39-28 loss to undefeated Temple; two games in New York led to losses versus the Brooklyn Knights of Columbus (29-27) and Army (24-20). The final game of the pre-exam trip led to the University of Baltimore, where the GU was dealt its eighth straight loss, 31-30.

The news clippings and box scores of these games indicate that Georgetown was better than its embarrassing 0-8 road record. Of the eight losses, four were decided by less than a field goal, with the twenty point loss to a mighty Temple team as the only legitimate rout. Had the team's schedule been better balanced between home and road encounters, allowing for the team to recover from extensive travel, perhaps the Hoyas might have been better able to play competitively with their opponents. However, the theory of circa-1932 basketball scheduling was simply to get the most games played in the most cost-efficient way. Basketball was, at this time, a struggling sport at the Hilltop with average attendance of less than 1,000 at Tech Gym), leaving Mesmer little opportunity to regroup the team and its sagging fortunes, much less bolster it with an active recruiting budget.

The final half of the 1931-1932 season confirmed that this was a better team than its record indicated. The Hoyas ended its slide with a 25-14 win over Western Maryland, and three days later upset a powerful squad from West Virginia, 45-31. In his final road performance in Washington, ace Mountaineer Sleepy Glenn was held to nine points while Hoyas Joe Murphy and Tom Carolan combined for career high performances with 13 and 16 points, respectively. Then, in the finale of the three game homestand, the Hoyas upset Pitt in one of the great upsets of the decade, 33-30.

The Panthers arrived in Washington with a 20-3 record, with thoughts of a third national championship for coach Doc Carlson. The Panthers owned a 17-13 halftime margin before the Hoyas took control in the second half. Tom Carolan put Georgetown ahead for good at 18-17, and the Hoyas never trailed. Carolan led the victorious Hoyas with 14 points.

The chances at a winning season for the Hoyas disappeared in three straight losses to end the season. After losing to the Hoyas by 14 in Washington, West Virginia crushed the Mesmermen in Morgantown, 50-28. A two game home finale saw Duquesne win by thirteen, 37-24, and Carnegie Tech by ten, 36-26. Tom Carolan scored 15 points between the two games to win the 1931-1932 scoring title, but titles seemed the least of GU's worries. In fact, so weak was the Georgetown offense in the Carnegie game that the Hoyas failed to score for the first fifteen minutes of the game against the Skiboes, who entered the game with a weaker record (5-12) than the Hoyas.

Despite the Hoyas' losing ways, a decision on February 7, 1932 would hope to change the course of basketball at the University. It was announced on that day the formation of the nation's newest basketball conference, the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball Conference (EIBC). Officials from Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Temple, Carnegie Institute of Technology, and Georgetown agreed to begin home-and-home league play in the 1932-1933 season, with a possible sixth league affiliate in either Lafayette or New York University (though neither school eventually joined the conference). The successes of conferences such as the Eastern (Ivy) League, the Western (Big Ten) Conference, and the Southern Conference, proved that conference play could bring a new level of excitement and talent to the college game. And for Georgetown's basketball in 1932, the sooner the better.

The 1932-1933 season was hoped to be a fresh start for the Georgetown basketball fortunes in the new Eastern Conference, the school's first athletic conference affiliation since the loosely grouped South Atlantic Association of 1908-1912. Trying to build a conference depends on natural -rivalries, crowd attendance, and talent. Georgetown especially lacked the latter, and the arrival of Ed Hargaden from the freshmen squad of 1932 was just what the star-less Hoyas needed.

The Mesmermen opened the season at Pitt, part of another brutal schedule that saw the Hoyas play five of their first six games on the road. On that December afternoon, Pitt rolled past the Hoyas, 32-18. Hargaden led the Hoyas with 12 of the team's 18 point total.

The team's lone home game for the month of December was against Duke, and the Blue Devils used some of their Washington recruiting in a 35-30 upset. Jim Thompson, a product of Washington's Western H.S. (located just a few blocks from the Hilltop), scored 17 while Ed Hargaden could only cage eight points for the Hoyas. Duke had been quite successful of late in recruiting Washington prep stars, while the Hoyas had concentrated primarily on prospects in upstate New York. While the GU recruiting strategy would soon attempt to reemphasize local talent, it failed to help the Hoyas suffer their second loss in the season before six game road trip after the Christmas break.

Despite two unexpected road wins in upstate New York, the series was an overall split for the Blue and Gray: a 28-26 upset of Canisius and a narrow win over Colgate, 29-26, but followed by losses to NYU (31-28), and the Brooklyn K of C (29-27).

The Hoyas returned home to a temporary home court. Before 500 at the Central Coliseum (moved downtown due to a scheduling conflict at Tech Gym), St. John's overcame a stingy Georgetown defense to prevail, 27-26. A rare back to back series with Temple in conference play earned Temple the sweep, by scores of 31-19 at Philadelphia and 44-41 in Washington, dropping Georgetown to an 0-3 mark in conference play. Temple shot 72% from the floor, according to an unofficial count of field goals, and the Owls' 6-4 center Len Gudd dominated the tip off after each basket. The sixth loss in as many games came at the expense of Loyola, upsetting the Hoyas 31-30 at its Evergreen Gymnasium.

The return trip to Morgantown was no sure thing, either. So elusive was a road win at this time for Fred Mesmer's squad that on the way to Morgantown, the Georgetown bus broke down outside Winchester, Virginia. The Hoyas arrived four hours late for the game, forfeiting what was one of the team's rare opportunities as a favorite for a road game. The final road game saw Carnegie Tech hand the Hoyas their 11th loss on 14 games, 32-27.

A three game homestand to end the season brought a touch of optimism for the team. Hargaden took charge in an upset of conference leading Pitt, 28-27, followed with sterling efforts in a 45-15 rout of Baltimore and a 43-41 win over Carnegie Tech. Hargaden finished as the second leading scorer in the Eastern Conference as only a sophomore, and was awarded All-Conference honors for his efforts. Georgetown's late flurry earned the school a 3-5 conference record and fourth placeoverall in the league's inaugural season.

Despite a two year record of 12-22, end of season accounts failed to infer any pressure on coach Mesmer for the team's losing ways. While consecutive losing seasons today would be cause for ill feelings at many schools, there seemed no heat on Mesmer to win other than the pursuit of competing honorably. In an era where college sports were much more recreational than financial, schools like Georgetown could afford to "wait till next year".

Ed Hargaden was now the undisputed star of the Hoyas, and a renewed sense of optimism surrounded the program. Whereas crowds of 1,000 were considered large in this era, the Hoyas opened with a crowd of 2,500 to meet neither a Pitt nor an NYU, but tiny Western Maryland. The crowds came to see Hargaden, this emerging star, as he began a quest towards an honor no Georgetown basketball player had ever been awarded, that of being an All American in college basketball.

Unfortunately, the 2,500 who crowded Tech Gym saw perhaps the dullest first half imaginable, as neither team scored a field goal for the entire twenty minutes, with Georgetown holding an 11-5 lead solely on free throws. The second half saw the offensive strategy of Fred Mesmer come to life, as the Hoyas outscored the Green Terrors 21-4 in a 32-9 victory.

Once again, the mistakes of scheduling saw the Mesmermen play nine of its next ten games on the road. The road swing began with the EIBC's newest member, Bucknell University, where the Hoyas routed the Bison in a 49-24 finish at Lewiston, Pa. The next evening, Georgetown battled Pitt to the last few minutes before surrendering by three, 34-31. Georgetown's and Ed Hargaden and Pitt's Russ Ocksenshirt each led their teams with 12 points. However, the tactics the squad used against Pitt were ineffective in the rest of the road trip, as Princeton (48-22), Manhattan (26-17), and NYU (43-23) had no problems in posting victories at the hands of the Hoya five.

Following a home court win over William and Mary, 40-29, GU was back on the road once again, dropping two of three. Georgetown upset Carnegie Tech at the Skiboes' home court, 24-23, but failed to steer past West Virginia and Navy. Facing West Virginia, Ed Hargaden was shut down by WVU's Joe Stydahar, holding the Hoya junior to six points in WVU's 37 32 overtime win. Facing Navy for the first time since he was ejected from Dahlgren Hall as a player in 1930, coach Mesmer saw his team shoot 2 for 17 from the free throw line in a 33-18 Navy win, a roughhouse affair which saw GU's Tom Carolan and two Midshipmen cagers thrown out of the gamefor fighting.

For the first time in four years, Georgetown now had a winning record going into February. Undefeated at home, with seven of its last eight games scheduled in Washington, fans began to realize that Georgetown was in a position to post a winning season for the first time in four years.

A winning season took palce, but it wasn't easy. After a 63-36 trouncing of Bucknell, the the Hoyas proceeded to drop two straight games at home. St. John's held Hargaden in check in a 42-39 win at Tech Gym, while West Virginia used the same strategy to contaion Hargaden in a 34-31 win. Any hopes for a share of the EIBC crown were dashed the following week, with a narrow 34-29 loss at Temple.

It was at this point in the season that Hargaden turned around his slump and guided the Hoyas over the .500 mark. Hargaden scored 18 of the team's 30 points in rallying Georgetown past Canisius, and 15 in a loss at Pitt, 38-27, Hargaden added 20 in 53-32 rout of Loyola to reach .500, and scored 16 of the team's 32 in a 32-28 win over Carnegie Tech at season's end.

Averaging 17 points a game down the stretch, Hargaden received honorable mention All-America awards from a number of sources. And with all the celebration due such an honor, Fred Mesmer knew the best news of all: Ed was only a junior.

Though the previous season's record was the first winning mark in his four seasons as coach, Fred Mesmer has much to worry about entering the 1934-35 season. While the team returned the ever-steady Ed Hargaden, the team's leading scorer and All-America honoree, the Georgetown varsity would face an even tougher set of opponents in the year to come. The key question before the Hoyas was not Hargaden, clearly the star of the team, but the other starters and reserves, many of whom were otherwise new to college ball. Their ability to contribute to the team would be of supreme importance if the Hoyas could construct another winning record this season.

Two early victories over small college opponents bolstered the Georgetown cause, as the Hoyas overcame Western Maryland and Bucknell by scores of 38-34 and 26-15, respectively. Whether these early wins invited a premature optimism to the young club is uncertain, however it is certain that as the team continued through a seven game road swing few were aware just how good (or not so good) they really were.

Carnegie Tech gave the Hoyas their first jolt of the season, helping to foul out Ed Hargaden in the first half en route to a 43-31 victory. Traveling to powerful NYU, winners of twenty-three straight games, Georgetown could do no better than a 37-21 decision, though in the game a sophomore named Don Gibeau rose to the forefront of the team's offensive strategy.

Gibeau was a product of Georgetown's "Syracuse Pipeline", following in the footsteps of Ed Hargaden, Don Dutton, and Mesmer himself from (Syracuse) Christian Brothers H.S. In his first start as a Hoya, Gibeau netted six points, second only to Ed Hargaden's nine, and established himself as a dependable weapon in Mesmer's arsenal. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, even two great weapons does not a well-rounded arsenal make.

Manhattan College were Georgetown's next victor this season, 33-27, followed by Temple, laying the Hoyas to rest by a 40-26. Facing Navy, which led GU 20-7 at the end of the first half, a 12-2 Georgetown run to open the second half was not even enough to halt the Midshipmen from another victory at the hands of the Blue and Gray, as the Annapolis five prevailed, 36-25.

Once again, the road trip spelled doom and gloom for the Hoya courtmen. But Tech Gymnasium was another matter, and it was at Tech that a rejuvenated Hoya five vanquished Bucknell, 37-22, improving its conference record to 2-1. Hargaden and Gibeau combined for 24 of the team's 37 points, both an indication of their abilities and the general lack of support from the rest of the team. An injury to Hargaden's leg at the conclusion of the Bucknell game offered little hope against Carnegie Tech later that week at Tech, but before an enthusiastic home crowd the Hoyas upset the Skiboes, 34-30, behind a season-high 17 from Gibeau.

A 29-22 loss at Army and an unexpectedly close 32-29 victory over Yale were just preliminary events to the showdown game of the season, Georgetown's home court battle with the nation's leading team, New York University.

The Violet, 11-1 this season and 28-1 over the past two seasons, boasted a skein of victories over Kentucky, Notre Dame, Columbia, and St. Francis, to name but a few. On this evening, despite a 23 point performance by the combined talents of Ed Hargaden and Don Gibeau, the New Yorkers made it 12-1 with a easy 50-36 win. NYU's Mort Schulman led with twelve points in a game where seven of the eight Violet attackers scored, versus only four scorers for the Hoyas. The loss came at a rather inopportune time for the Hoyas, who were within distance of conference-leading Pitt in the Eastern Conference race. But the NYU loss began a feverish tailspin for the team, one which turned a season of promise and enthusiasm into one of despair.

West Virginia, Temple, and Pittsburgh promptly ended Georgetown's Eastern Conference title hopes with three consecutive defeats. Even more distressing for title hopes was the withdrawal of Bucknell from the EIBC, causing all results between EIBC schools and Bucknell to be erased from league records. The result was Georgetown's drop from third place to the cellar, and Ed Hargaden's drop from conference scoring leader to fifth place scorer. To add insult to injury, tiny Mt. St. Mary's College upset the fading Hoyas at Tech, 30-27, followed by losses to conference leaders Pitt and Temple once again.

What little solace that could be derived from this season may have came in the season finale, versus a team Georgetown had not met since 1913--the University of Maryland. In Ed Hargaden's finale for the Blue and Gray, he kept the Hoyas tooth-and-nail with the Old Liners, tying the score with two minutes to play. An errant Maryland shot offered Don Gibeau the chance to drive to the bucket, whereupon he was fouled with only a few seconds remaining. Gibeau connected on one of two free throws before the anxious Ritchie Coliseum crowd, which was good enough for a 25-24 upset of the local rivals.

A 6-13 record offers little for history to remember about this season, but the departure of Ed Hargaden is another matter entirely. The school's first All-America selection, Hargaden was not re-selected to the All-America list, but did add a third straight All-Eastern Conference selection and narrowly missing a third consecutive EIBC scoring title. Finishing the 1934-1935 season with 168 points, Hargaden wound up his Georgetown career with 554 points, third behind Fred Fees (804 points) and Frank Schlosser (565) on the then all-time list.

The loss of the great Ed Hargaden to graduation posed a difficult hurdle for the 1935-1936 Hoyas to meet in their attempts to earn a winning season. For the last six seasons, no one class of students had brought together more than one legitimate "star" to the varsity lineup. It was no wonder that a single 12-11 season was the only winning season the entire decade at Georgetown. However, the Class of 1938 was a different breed altogether.

As a freshmen five, these Georgetown men earned an impressive 14-1 record, the best since the freshman program was initiated in 1928. It was little wonder, then, when Mesmer brought a record nine men from the freshman ranks to the 1935-1936 varsity: Carroll Shore, Tom Nolan, Harry Bassin, Ed Kurtyka, Mario Gregorio, Ed Keating, Johnny Franks, Mike Petrosky, and Karl Nau. It was the largest single group from one class year in Georgetown history, and each of these men would hope to become key role players in the future fortunes of the team.

But experience comes with time, and such experience was not to be found during the 1935-1936 campaign. Still, the chance for experience proved fruitful to these young men. In the season opener, a 46-13 whitewash of Western Maryland's Green Terrors, sophomores Tommy Nolan and Mike Petrosky starred in their opening night performances, with 26 of the team's 46 scores.

Consecutive losses to Temple, St. John's, and Manhattan brought the team's spirits back to earth, but not their growing sense of teamwork and playing ability. Facing Pittsburgh, a team Georgetown had yet to conquer in two seasons of Eastern Conference play, the Hoyas stunned the conference leaders, 43-42, in overtime, before a season-high 3,000 onlookers at Tech Gym. While Don Gibeau led the floor attack, the efforts of sophomores Harry Bassin, Tommy Nolan, and center (Big) Mike Petrosky stymied the potent Pitt attack to the point of utter frustration. Petrosky scored the winning basket with under a minute to play and successfully defended Pitt's last chance attempt at a second overtime.

A tired Hoya five then had to meet Carnegie Tech the next evening, offering them a competitive first half before succumbing to a 37-31 loss at Tech. A four game road trip brought their usual bad tidings, though a 43-31 win at West Point provided some solace during the overall 1-3 trip. Returning home, Georgetown once again would entertain the nation's hottest basketball team, New York University. Last year, at 11-1 and 28-1 overall, NYU handled Georgetown rather easily, 50-36. Eighteen games later, they would meet again--with NYU having won eighteen straight and Georgetown sporting a woeful 4-13 mark since that last encounter.

The Violet five were already known nationwide for their relentless defense and skilled offensive style. Milt Schulman, Willie Rubenstein, Len Maidman, Irving Terjensen, and stalking center Mort (King Kong) Klein were the most respected and feared quintet in the college game. A record crowd of 4,000 ignored the seating requirements of Tech Gym to see the spectacle. To everyone's surprise, the crisp Georgetown running game swept pass the Violet early, allowing Mesmer's men a 24-14 halftime lead. Rather than performing their usual letdown at the beginning of the second period, the Hoyas continued to maintain an astonishing ten point lead over the Violet.

Justifiably upset at the course of developments, NYU began to rough up the Hoyas with what was tactfully called "body blocks" upon Georgetown players. These continuing roughhouse maneuvers cost King Kong Klein an early trip to the showers midway through the half, allowing Mike Petrosky a better chance to patrol the middle.

NYU coach Howard Cann instructed Rubenstein to shoot from the outside, which the Violet guard did, narrowing the count to 36-32. With fifteen seconds to play, Harry Bassin was fouled by a NYU reserve. Missing his foul shot, NYU raced down the court to narrow the count to 36-34. But not another dribble would be heard by the final whistle, earning Georgetown its most momentous victory of the decade, breaking NYU's 28 game streak.

Harry Bassin won scoring honors for Georgetown with 11 points, followed by Don Gibeau with eight tallies. Lee Maidman added 11 in the upset loss for the Violet.

Fresh from the NYU thriller, the Hoyas made it two in a row, taking West Virginia 42-36 in overtime. And a third upset by the Hoyas was narrowly averted by conference foe Carnegie Tech, escaping the Hoyas 42-36. Georgetown's 7 for 16 foul shooting was the difference in this game, a game which would have vaulted GU into the thick of the Eastern Conference race.

The sophomores continued to impress fan and non-fan alike, dumping Penn State 51-44 on the Rec Hall floor at State College. Harry Bassin and Tom Nolan combined for 28 points to lead all scorers. The season ended on a more disappointing note, however, as the team dropped three of its final four games, turning a 6-7 record into a 7-11 mark at the end. A home court win over Penn State was the only bright spot alongside losses to Maryland (37-29), Pitt (43-36) and West Virginia (41-26).

Sophomores dominated the final season's statistics, with four of the five leading scorers belonging to the Class of 1938. Only Don Gibeau's 101 points broke the sophomores' hold on the scoring records. Harry Bassin led the team with 162 points in 18 games, averaging nine points per game.

A losing season notwithstanding, the University now looked upon this wealth of talent from the Class of 1938 to lead them away from the misfortunes that had bedeviled GU basketball for most of the decade.

The 1936-1937 Hoyas were practically the same squad as the previous year's club, adding only sophomore Joe Murphy as a key reserve. But, given the schedule of foes awaiting the team, it appeared as if the Hoyas were in for another long, long season.

The first signs were most encouraging, however. After the obligatory dumping of Western Maryland, 46-16, the Hoyas earned two impressive wins on the road: overcoming Princeton 25-22 at Nassau and upsetting NYU for the second straight time, 46-40, Georgetown's first-ever appearance at a Ned Irish-sponsored Madison Square Garden doubleheader. Joe Murphy and Mike Petrosky each contributed ten points in the NYU win.

After the best start for the Hoyas since 1932, three losses quickly evened the slate. Unfortunately for Georgetown, they came at the hands of three Eastern Conference rivals. Carnegie Tech held the Hoyas to a season-low point output in a 25-17 decision, rapidly followed by road losses to West Virginia (41-32) and Temple (29-27). In each of the contests, the Hoyas had the ability but just couldn't put it together--a criticism of much of their Conference play over the past three years. Returning home to meet Pitt, the Hoyas found that on-again, off-again intangible that helped it beat teams like Army and NYU, upsetting the league-leading Panthers 30-27. Still more success followed, avenging recent road setbacks by comfortably passing Temple, 49-44, and West Virginia, 51-23, to bring GU within two games of the league lead.

A tough three game road slate now awaited Mesmer's men, meeting Army, Yale, and Syracusec. Facing Army, ten Hoyas scored in a total team effort to upend the Cadets for the second time in three years at West Point, 40-37. New Haven would not be so kind, however, as Yale coasted past the Hoyas by twenty-two, 48-26. Of particular note in the game was the loss of Carroll Shore, a junior whose defensive skills had become an important part of the Georgetown strategy as of late. Shore suffered a broken leg early in the game, losing his services for the season and allowing Yale to walk away with the victory. Shore did not return to Georgetown for his senior year.

More injury problems plagued the team at Syracuse, where Tommy Nolan was removed from play after a fight broke out between Nolan and a pair of Orangemen. Joe Murphy and Mike Petrosky followed Nolan to the bench, though for disciplinary rather than medical reasons. Handicapped by the loss of these three starters, Georgetown looked to its remaining veterans, Harry Bassin and Don Gibeau for strength and support. Bassin and Gibeau combined for 23 points to upset the Orangemen, 45-36--the first home court loss for a Syracuse team in nearly six seasons.

Inconsistency once again returned to the Hoyas in the season's waning moments. Favored against Carnegie Tech, the Hoya attack was lifeless in a 32-25 loss at Tech. Conversely, entering a hostile Ritchie Coliseum to meet a favored Maryland squad, the duo of Petrosky and Murphy dazzled the College Park audience in a 39-27 upset, improving the Hoyas' mark to a respectable 9-5, the best record for a Mesmer-coached team to this date.

But a one week schedule layoff effectively cooled the Hoya fires, as the team lost three in convincing fashion to conference rivals Pitt (39-22) and Penn State (34-24 and 34-23, respectively). Whatever good thoughts a winning season provided the Hoya faithful was tempered with the realization that this was a team that could have done much, much better--and failed to do so.

After two years of inspired but inconsistent play, the Class of 1938 embarked upon its senior season with some of the highest expectations placed upon a Georgetown basketball team in a decade. Seniors Mike Petrosky, Tom Nolan, and Harry Bassin were joined by juniors Hank Bertrand and Joe Murphy to improve upon last season's 9-8 club, a club which performed below the talent and expectations allowed them. This year, they said, would be different, and for once the claim that Georgetown would be a "dark horse" in the Eastern Conference race was within sight.

The 1937-1938 season opened with the traditional win over small college Western Maryland, 55-31. Even in poorer years, a victory over the Green Terrors did not indicate the strength of Georgetown teams. But when Mesmer's squad went into Madison Square Garden and led by eight in the second half, perhaps the team was for real, after all. This momentary hope that the Hoyas had finally turned the corner ran into the proverbial brick wall in the NYU encounter, however. True, the Hoyas did lead 41-33 with ten minutes to play, a notable accomplishment for any team against one of the decade's finest teams. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, however, the 41 points scored in the first thirty minutes was all the points the team could muster, as the Violet outscored the Blue and Gray 16-0 in the final ten minutes to win, 49-41. One win for New York, one trip "back to the drawing board" for Georgetown.

The Hoyas returned home for two games which proved, if nothing else, very encouraging to the team's early season aspirations. Georgetown won its first EIBC game of the year at College Park's Ritchie Coliseum, downing Temple 39-22. Harry Bassin and Mike Petrosky combined for 19 points in a game the Hoyas never trailed, vaulting to a twelve point halftime lead and the aforementioned seventeen point finish. Returning to its "home" at Tech Gym in lieu of Ritchie Coliseum, the Hoyas walloped Ritchie's own Maryland Terrapins, 57-39, as senior Stars Petrosky and Bassin led the Hoyas in a balanced scoring effort.

As was the scheduling pattern of this era, the squad embarked on a grueling five game, six day road trip that would test the strength of the 3-1 Hoyas. In previous road trips through his tenure, coach Mesmer enjoyed a less than respectable 7-25 mark in road games. This season's sojourn added one win and four losses to that total, setting the tone for a decade where "road" was truly a four letter word.

The lone win of the trip came in the opener against Pitt, a true upset in every sense of the word. The defending conference champions had been upset by Notre Dame the night before, and as a disciplinary measure coach Doc Carlson benched his usually potent starting lineup. This measure came at the most opportune of times for Georgetown, as sophomore Johnny Schmitt scored ten points in a 50-47 win. The win was the biggest for Georgetown on the road in three years--and sadly, the only win away from Washington all season for the club.

This suggests, of course, that the team fared none too well on the remaining games of the trip. Traveling to State College, Pa., the Nittany Lions held their guests to only nine points in the first twenty minutes in a 42-23 GU loss. Syracuse followed Penn State's cue in a 43-26 Orange win, followed by an embarrassing (and ultimately avoidable) 38-36 overtime loss to Fordham. Facing the Rams, Mesmer saw the Hoyas leading 34-31 with less than a minute to play. Perhaps feeling that the game was "in the bag", the coach brought four starters to the bench, replaced by four reserves. These newcomers were utterly unprepared as to their court duties, and before Mesmer could signal for a time out he watched four Fordham men racing down the court unopposed. In an act of desperation, senior starter Harry Bassin fouled Bob Hassmiller near the basket, but Hassmiller hit the shot and connected on the three point play, sending the game into overtime, whereupon the Rams prevailed by two.

A 50-30 drubbing by Army ended the road trip, but the Hoyas' composure in the late moments of the game continued to bedevil the team and its coach. Leading Penn State 33-32 with under twenty seconds to play, and with the ball, GU's Ed Kurtyka threw the ball away, then proceeded to foul a Penn State guard with no time on the clock. The Lions cashed in on the free throw, sending the game into overtime, whereupon PSU prevailed, 34-33.

Lightning can't strike twice, or can it? One would have liked to ask Kurtyka just that, when on Feb. 8, 1938 he fouled a West Virginia guard with under two minutes to play and Georgetown holding the lead! The foul shot tied the score (again), and it appeared as if a third straight overtime was in order. However, reserve Johnny Franks ended this streak of bad luck by hitting two late jumpers to give GU a 40-36 win over the Mountaineers, winless in five EIBC games this season.

Back on the road, two painful losses awaited the Hoya five, further dimming the "great expectations" of the 1937-1938 campaign. The Hoyas were routed in Pittsburgh by Carnegie Tech, 54-31, and fell to winless West Virginia at Morgantown, 47-39. In an attempt to shake up the roster, Mesmer followed this loss by benching Harry Bassin for 5'9" reserve Mario Gregorio, a senior who had not started a college or high school basketball game in his career. Yet, in an improbable season, this reserve turned in an improbably strong performance against conference leading Pitt, helping Georgetown to its second upset in as many tries against the Panthers, 34-22. Tommy Nolan scored a career high 15 points, including the first ten points of the game.

After a 33-27 loss to NYU, the Class of 1938 ended their home court careers with a strong finish, perhaps a glimpse of the potential that the group possesses but failed to deliver in their three years at the Hilltop. Trailing Carnegie Tech 33-21 in the second half, seniors Mike Petrosky and Tommy Nolan keyed a 18-6 run to tie the game with three minutes left, and junior Joe Murphy scored the winning goal to give GU a 45-41 valedictory. The final games of the season were on the road, where losses to Temple (51-34) and Yale (39-38, in overtime) were registered. The Class of 1938 had won 16 of 21 games at home in their career, but only 6 of 32 on the road.

Mike Petrosky ended his Georgetown career with a second straight nomination as first team All-EIBC center, joined by Harry Bassin on the first team and honorable mention awards for Joe Murphy and Johnny Schmitt. The season is memorable, however, in the departure of Fred Mesmer as coach. Despite being enormously popular among the students and faculty of the school, Mesmer realized his 53-75 record fell short of the goals he had set for his coaching, and stepped aside for a newcomer to bring a winning record back to the Hilltop, the kind of winning record Mesmer enjoyed during his three years as lead guard from 1927 to 1930. As much as anyone, Mesmer bade farewell to coaching the Hoyas in wishing his successor the best of luck in turning the program around for the better.

Narrative © 1987, 2003. All rights reserved.
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