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.

From the moment that the Bill Bolger-led Hoyas were beaten by Louisville in the first round of the 1953 NIT, Georgetown basketball began a seventeen year odyssey in search of post-season laurels, while many of their traditional rivals were enjoying some of their finest seasons on the hardwood.

During that decade, it might have seemed as if every Catholic college was producing championship-caliber basketball squads. Between 1953 and 1958, 20 out of a possible 28 NIT semifinalist and finalist positions were owned by Catholic schools. The NCAA tourney during this era was dominated by the likes of LaSalle, San Francisco, Seattle, and Dayton, Catholic schools all. But as any follower of the Blue and Gray can tell you, the 1950's were no glory years for basketball at Georgetown University.

The 1953-1954 season began this unfortunate era, despite talent, promise, and the vestiges of a winning tradition in their favor. Twenty-nine games later, and after the loss of six varsity men during the season, Georgetown began its wandering through the desert of mediocrity and lost opportunities.

Despite the loss of the talented Class of 1953, second year mentor Buddy Jeannette returned three starters and a talented crop of sophomores, led by 6-4 forward Bill Cowley. Averaging over twenty points per game as a freshman, Cowley joined fellow yearling Warren Buehler in the starting lineup opposite veterans Joe Carroll, Jack Vail, and Lou Gigante.

With this lineup, Jeannette saw the Hoyas roar through the month of December, winning five of its first six. The Hoyas opened the season with a fifty-one point rout of Baltimore, 110-59. Wins over St. Peter's (69-60) and Mt. St. Mary's (93-B3) followed,despite bench-clearing brawls near the conclusion of each contest. A knockout punch of a different kind was rendered upon St. Joe's, via an incredible 75-71 win at McDonough Gym. Trailing 71-61 with fifty-five seconds to play, Georgetown scored 14 points to the Hawks' four. Warren Buehler hit on a three point play to narrow the count to 71-64. The Hawks' inbound pass was then stolen by Lou Gigante and converted to an easy basket. A second inbounds pass was stolen, this time by Buehler, and the lead was down to three, 71-68. After a Hawk field goal, Buehler was sent to the foul line, making the first throw, missing the second--but grabbing the rebound en route to the tying basket. an astounding third inbounds steal was swept up by Gigante, putting the Hoyas ahead to stay. (Now that's a comeback.)

Returning to form, however, a 20 for 79 shooting performance by the Hoyas failed to stop Xavier, 74-54, but the Hoyas returned to form in a 92-79 win over Loyola. Cowley and Buehler, averaging nearly 34 points per game between them, combined for 36 points in the 92-79 win.

Unfortunately, the newcomers couldn't keep it together in a three game road trip which saw erratic shooting by both men. High-flying Buehler was shut out in a 58-49 loss at LaSalle, but when he returned with a 30 point effort versus the University of Detroit in the first round of the 1953 Motor City tournament, Cowley went cold in a 72-66 setback. And to make matters worse, both slumped to a combined 14 points between them in a 62-48 consolation round loss to Wayne State.

The team returned home to rebuild the team's record, with three of the next four contests against local foes. This was not as easy as it might seem, however. The Hoyas' first opponent, George Washington, was enjoying its finest season to date. The Colonials (7-0) breezed past the Hoyas at Uline Arena, 88-64, before 5,200 in attendance. A similar fate seemed likely against Maryland (11-2) later that week at McDonough Gym. But to the surprise of a record 4,289 standing-room-only fans, Georgetown turned the tables on the Terps in an overtime thriller, 58-56.

College Park's All-American playmaker, Gene Shue, was held in check by the play of Georgetown forward Joe Carroll, who held Shue to a 5 for 24 performance. Deadlocked at 54-all at regulation, forward Joe Cowley sank two crowd-pleasers from the floor while Carroll shut down Shue's shooting with an 0 for 5 effort in the extra period. Shue managed 20 points for the evening, but an uncharacteristic nineteen errant shots allowed Georgetown to come away the winner.

A sign of things to come was seen in a 75-67 win over NYU at Madison Square Garden. During the game, senior floorleader Lou Gigante broke a bone in his right foot, ending his college career. Within a month, five more varsity men would be lost for the season, paralyzing the team's chances for a winning season.

By mid-January, 1954, the Hoyas were 8-5, after a 59-46 win over American. But the team was about to begin a stretch of ten of its next 13 games on the road, claiming but two wins to show for their efforts. A four game road trip through New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, buried GU's winning record. St. Francis College rolled past the Hoyas, 77-52, thanks to a 3 for 16 first half shooting effort by the Blue and Gray. Successive losses were dealt at the hands of #2-ranked Duquesne, 69-56; Youngstown State, 78-74, and sister school John Carroll, 97-88.

Bill Cowley scored 20 points each in the Youngstown and John Carroll contests, but on February 3,1954 those became the last points in an all-too-brief Georgetown career. On that day Georgetown officials announced that Cowley, three backup guards (Tom Heyman, Bob Scott, Tom Doyle), and three track athletes were dismissed from school for poor grades. The four basketball men, all members of Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, were reported to have fared poorly on at least two final exams given just as the team had completed its road games in Ohio.

While it was well known that Georgetown faculty were demanding, the news still came as a shock to many. No Georgetown basketballer had been publicly dismissed from the team for grades since 1925, and no one could recall a dismissal midway through the season. During this era, final exams for the fall term were given during the last week of January, not prior to the holidays as they are today. In an attempt to schedule as many games as they could prior to this mid-season break, student-athletes who were not keeping their studies up while on the road faced a potentially difficult exam period.

Reduced to eight men on the varsity, Jeannette was forced to rely on intramural talent. The team already had one walk-on in guard Jim Frisby, who replaced the injured Lou Gigante, and Frisby would be joined in practice by names such as Dan Grohoski, Bob Egan, Jay McVey, Charlie Craig, Jose Casillas, Bob Doherty, Don Maio, and Bill Doran. (Only Frisby and Grohoski ever contributed points in a varsity game.)

The loss of the five players was well in evidence in an 80-73 loss to a inferior Pitt team. Catching their breath, the struggling Hoyas headed north, losing to Fordham, 68-51; followed by Navy, 110-75. Warren Buehler's strong twenty-one point performance was matched by two Midshipmen by the names of Don Lange (33 points) and Don Clune (30 points).

In an even more prolific shooting performance, Buehler set a new scoring mark with 36 points against Virginia, on February 9th, the first appearance by the Wahoos on a Georgetown home court since 1913. Buehler's efforts largely went for nought, though, as the Cavaliers won going away, 85-78. During the game, Virginia forward Dick (Buzzy) Wilkinson rewrote the GU opponent record book, scoring an unprecedented 28 points in the first half en route to a 45 point performance. Even on the best of nights, the 1953-1954 Hoyas couldn't shake its losing ways.

A record eight game losing streak was broken in a 65-54 win in Emmitsburg, Md., home of the Mountaineers of Mt.St.Mary's. Warren Buehler scored 20 to lead the Hoyas, followed by 13 from sophomore Joe Bolger (younger brother of the recently graduated Bill Bolger), and 14 from Jack Walsh, now starting in place of Cowley.

Still more losses haunted the Blue and Gray. Reserve guard Don Furth was forced to the sidelines after a knee injury suffered in the Fordham game was found to be a season-ending one. These personnel losses could not have helped to have led Hoya fans to ask "What if...", especially after losing to Maryland, 53-50, then squeaking by Temple, 61-59, on a last second lay-up by Jack Walsh. Student interest in the failing club waned throughout the month of February, as only 750 fans showed up for the Temple clash, and an unusually dispirited crowd saw GWU, now 19-2, rally past the weary Blue and Gray, 79-67.

Two final road losses ended this miserable month for the Hoyas, a 61-54 loss to Penn State and a stinging 109-80 loss to St. Francis.

A shining light among the countless clouds of the 1953-1954 campaign was the play of sophomore Warren Buehler. Almost single-handedly shouldering the scoring burden in the wake of the Cowley dismissal, Buehler set a new single season scoring mark with 511 points, 76 points better than Bill Bolger's record-setting pace in 1952. Encouraging late season performances were turned in by Jack Walsh (6.5 ppg), senior center Jack Vail (10.1 ppg) and Joe Bolger (6.0 ppg), including a career-high 23 points versus American on the night Buehler broke brother Bill's scoring record. Scoring laurels aside, there can be no hiding of the facts: an 11-18 season was the most losses suffered in one campaign to this time in all of GU's many basketball seasons. The Hoyas, after a 5-1 start, lost 13 of their final 16 games, many by scores that might have been otherwise with the aid of Bill Cowley, Lou Gigante, or the other fallen Hoya teammates.

Ironically, 1953-1954's season finale meant the end of an different era. The Class of 1954 was the last class at the University to have been a part of major college football, the 1950 season during their freshman year. Near the end of the basketball season, rumors were rampant that GU might consider a return to football on a reduced scale. In March of that year, University put these rumors to rest, declaring that football would not return to Georgetown, due to the belief that football was incompatible with the school's educational mission.

As the Class of '54 left the Hilltop, so did talk of bringing back intercollegiate football to Georgetown University. The reappearance of football would come about at the same time as a reappearance of a winning spirit to the school's basketball team--nearly a decade later.

Imagine the following scenario: A young Georgetown team, led largely by sophomores, roars out to an early winning record. Following a prolonged losing streak on the road, it is learned that the team has lost some of its brightest young talent, along with a handful of key reserves. The team ends this fateful season with a losing record after high expectations and considerable interest.

If it sounds familiar, it should. This scenario sounds remarkably like the story of the 1954 Hoya varsity. Unfortunately, this is the story of their successors, the 1954-1955 squad.

Following the dismal 11-18 mark of the 1953-1954 season, head coach Buddy Jeannette cleaned the varsity's house, returning only four me from the previous season: Joe Bolger, Jack Walsh, Don Morchower, and Warren Buehler. These four veterans were joined by an unprecedented ten members from the Class of 1957, whose freshman team earned a 17-3 mark the previous season. Buehler and Walsh were joined by a pair of 6-2 guards in Hank Morano and Matt White, in addition to 6-6 center Joe Missett.

The 1954-1955 Hoyas began on the road with a two game stretch that was too brief to develop any of the losing ways of last season's excursions. Georgetown earned a split of the openers in a 74-63 win over Loyola and a 60-43 setback to Maryland. From this point, the Hoyas began their December climb, winning eight of the next ten games.

Sophomore Hank Morano began the winning ways, scoring 22 to lead the Hoyas past American, 65-61. Victories over St. Peter's (77-68) and Mt. St. Mary's (76-74) followed the Hoyas into a four game road trip. Despite recent history which would indicate otherwise, Georgetown not only survived on the road, but prevailed in three of four showings. Traveling to Philadelphia, GU spoiled St. Joseph's twelve game home court win streak, 61-53. Continuing to Buffalo's Queen City Tournament, the B1ue and Gray took 3rd place, with upset wins over Fordham (71-70) and Georgia Tech (68-62) sandwiching a semifinal loss to St. Bonaventure, 66-59.

The 7-2 Hoyas were then dealt a crushing 74-55 loss at the hands of rival Washington power George Washington University. The Colonials, the first local team since the 1943 Hoyas to qualify for the NCAA tournament last spring, scored on their first nine attempts and never looked back. Nonetheless, wins over American (79-65) and NYU (71-67) raised the Hoyas' record to 9-3 before beginning a Southern road swing.

As stated above, things didn't go as planned for the Blue and Gray. A planned Southern road trip to pick up some needed wins backfired on the team, dropping a number of games where it was the clear favorite.

Opening the trip versus the University of Miami, the Hoyas were upset 84-81, the first win in eleven tries on Miami's home court. Another upset followed, as Southern Mississippi slipped past the Hoyas, 67-65. A third embarrassment was narrowly averted in a quadruple-overtime marathon in Mobile, Alabama to tiny Spring Hill College, an 82-75 win in four overtimes. This win failed to make the trip a success, after another disastrous upset at the hands of New Orleans' Loyola University. The heavily favored Hoyas led by as many as nine points with under three minutes to play when the Loyola quint staged a rapid comeback and sent the game into overtime at 64-all. Four and one-half minutes later, the Wolves had gone ahead, 69-68. On GU's last possession, Hank Morano was fouled and sent to the free throw line with two free throws. One to tie, two to win...but Morano missed on both.

Three upsets and a quadruple-overtime escape versus a "small college"-division team were too much for coach Jeannette to take. It was more than the University could take, too, and at the conclusion of the trip the school suspended four players for disciplinary problems during the trip.

Contemporary reports indicated that Hank Morano, Matt White, Dick Percudani, and reservist Ed Farrell violated practice and curfew rules during the trip. While it was understood that each player could have the opportunity to return to the team next year, Morano chose to transfer to St. Peter's instead. Averaging 14.2 points per game through seventeen contests, Morano was the second potential star lost in the last two years.

From this point, well, you know the story. The Hoyas lost seven of their last nine, including three tough home court defeats. After back-to-back losses to LaSalle by counts of 85-58 and 74-46, the Hoyas upset #19-ranked Villanova, 84-79. Inconsistency returned soon afterward, as Georgetown missed sixteen free throws in a 62-58 loss to Fordham. The final four games were disappointments as well, with losses at the hands of local schools. Navy r olled past the slumping five, 77-54; Maryland followed likewise, 57-49. Even Mt. St. Mary's, which had not defeated the Blue and Gray since 1933, got in on the act, too in a 75-67 decision.

By the time Georgetown traveled to Uline Arena for the annual finale with George Washington, all the Hoyas had left was a chance for a .500 record. The Colonials put an end to those hopes in an 80-67 romp. Joe Bolger and Warren Buehler scored twenty points apiece while GWU's dynamic duo of Joe Holup and Corky Devlin combined for 31 points between them.

The 1954-1955 season ended at 12-13, dropping seven of its final ten. While the team lost no seniors to graduation, there was hope for the future. An additional source of optimism was the passing of three nemeses from GU's rival schools. Fordham's Ed Conlin, GWU's Joe Holup, and LaSalle's Tom Gola, All-Americans to a man, were three of the greatest players of the decade in Eastern basketball. Their departure was a welcome sight to opponents everywhere.

After an infusion of new talent the previous season, the 1955-1956 Georgetown Hoyas evolved into a veteran club, determined to avoid the late season pratfalls of the previous two seasons. Seven of last season's eight returning letterman joined the 1955-1956 squad, but the missing man was conspicuous by his absence.

Senior Warren Buehler was granted a leave of absence and an extension of his eligibility due to family needs at home. But even without Buehler, Buddy Jeannette returned three starters as well as three key contributors suspended midway through last season, In all, ten players with varsity experience made the team, joined by three sophomore newcomers. Chief among the rookies was Ken Pichette, a 6-3 forward who overcame a bout with polio in the summer of between his freshman and sophomore years, 6-1 guard John Clark, and 6-6 center Joe Titus. With ten players lost over the past two seasons to injuries or University-related matters, Jeannette could use all the help he could get.

Rapid starts were nothing new to Georgetown teams, especially when it meant playing smaller colleges on the McDonough hardwood. Winning four of its first five games earned the Hoyas an admirable 43-7 (.860) record since 1946 amongst its first five opponents, though the record for the rest of the past ten seasons was only 82-115 (.416). Though the first five games proved favorable for the team's record, each was a hard-fought affair. Wins over American (60-58) and Roanoke (74-63) were closer than expected, and NYU's first win over the Hoyas since 1948 by the count of 74-69 was considered only a slight upset. Mount St. Mary's and tiny Morris Harvey College were next on the list, by scores of 85-78 and 74-66, respectively. Missett's 21.4 point scoring average paced the Blue and Gray into a three game road stretch in upstate New York.

Once again, it was as if crossing the Mason-Dixon line took the air out of the basketball for Georgetown. The Hoyas fell in rapid succession to Siena (63-50), St. Bonaventure (79-52), and Niagara (68-53), the latter two games played in Buffalo. Joe Missett led the Hoyas in scoring in all three encounters, but he was practically all the offense GU could muster. Small forward Matt White, for example, averaged 12.2 points per game entering the road trip but scored a combined three points in the two tournament games. Guard Dale Smith, scoring 13.8 ppg in the opening series of games, averaged only 5.5 points for the Queen City tournament.

Wins over American and Loyola bolstered the team's spirits heading into the new year. Sophomore Ken Pichette scored 21 in the 78-66 win in Baltimore; Joe Missett followed with a game-high 20 in the 82-66 triumph over the hometown Eagles. These two encouraging performances led however to a pair of discouraging losses in which the Hoyas blew second half leads that could have won the games.

At Walsh Gym on the campus of Seton Hall University, Jeannette's men owned a commanding 19 point second half lead, but succumbed to foul trouble. As three GU starters were sent to the bench, the Pirates pulled out an 87-85 win. Another faltering performance allowed Maryland to send its game with the Hoyas into overtime, to which the Terrapins claimed a 62-57 victory before the McDonough audience.

Now at 6-6, facing six of the next seven games on the road, there seemed little doubt that Georgetown was beginning its annual slide. The losses to Seton Hall and Maryland belied an improving GU team whose major flaw was getting into to foul trouble and allowing opponents to win games at the foul line. If the boys could keep their confidence up and avoid the injuries and suspensions of previous seasons, perhaps Buddy Jeannette could bring back some of the winning ways when players like Bill Bolger and Hugh Beins led the coach's inaugural quint in 1953 to the NIT.

Jeannette didn't get the 1955-1956 Hoyas into the NIT, but he accomplished the next best thing-a winning season.

To do this, Jeannette used his bench wisely. The starting five of White, Pichette, Missett, Smith, and Percudani were supported ably by sixth man Joe Bolger, backup big men Don Morchower and Joe Titus, and guards Jack Walsh and John Clark. With talented play, skillful coaching, and a touch of good luck on the road, the 1955-1956 won four important road games in January and early February, winning seven of the next nine games on their schedule.

An 82-69 win at St. Peter's led to a pair of difficult games with New England's two best college teams. In the first of the pair, Missett scored 19 in an unexpected 77-51 romp of Providence College. Ken Pichette and Dale Smith each added 11 points in the first ever meeting between the two schools. The next fray was anything but unexpected, as the powerful Crusaders of Holy Cross did what they were expected to--a 88-68 rout of the visiting Hoyas.

Traveling to Philadelphia, two more close encounters awaited the team. Facing a strong St. Joseph's club, Matt White ended a three game slump with 17 points in an 84-72 win. The next day, Ken Pichette's 21 point attack gave Georgetown something it had been unable to achieve in the last three seasons--a win over LaSalle. LaSalle, missing the graduated Tom Gola, fell in an overtime thriller, 67-63.

After splitting with Mt.St. Mary's (86-83, Georgetown) and Fordham (69-68, Fordham), the resurgent Hoyas added two more wins to raise their record to 13-8 with three games remaining. Disposing of Spring Hill College in the rematch, 75-57, the Hoyas outpointed upset Morehead State, 84-79. Matt White scored 24 and Joe Missett added 17 more in defeating the nation's highest scoring college team of that season.

With three games remaining, extending a 13-8 a 16-8 record might, just might offer the Hoyas consideration for the NIT. But in the first of many "bridesmaid" finishes, the 1955-1956 Hoyas were left at the altar of the NIT.

The opener of the three game local series saw the Blue and Gray meet a strong George Washington quint. Joe Missett was held to 16 points and foul trouble as the game went into overtime. An anxious McDonough Gym crowd saw the Colonials head back to Foggy Bottom with a 70-67 win. Tournament hopes were finally extinguished in a 72-61 loss to Maryland at Ritchie Coliseum, as Missett was held to a season-low of seven points. The season finale at Uline Arena was no less painful as George Washington ran right past the Hoyas, 93-77.

The 1955-1956 Georgetown five closed its season at 13-11, the lone winning season between 1953 and 1961. Despite a pair of overtime losses, GU's home record stood at 8-2, its best mark in four years. One record gave Georgetown fans no comfort at all--since 1953, the school's record versus GW and Maryland was a lowly 1-11.

The 1955-1956 season saw GU fans bid adieu to coach Jeannette. After eighteen years as a professional basketball player and coach, Jeannette left the game to enter a business career. Georgetown University's basketball coach was not a full-time employee, and his salary of only a few thousand a year would not attract any college coaches to the school's search. Still, at least three candidates applied from local high school coaching ranks, from which the school selected a new coach--and welcomed an old friend-back to Georgetown basketball.

Eighteen years after his final collegiate performance versus Yale, former Georgetown basketball star Tommy Nolan returned as the school's twelfth head coach since 1906.

After receiving his BSS from Georgetown in 1938, Nolan worked in the U.S. government before assuming a coaching position at Washington's Gonzaga College H.S. In selecting the 40 year old alumnus, Georgetown not only received a wealth of coaching experience in basketball, but also in baseball, allowing GU to fill two part time coaching vacancies with one man.

Even with the arrival of a new mentor, expectations for the 1956-1957 squad were the highest for a Georgetown team in years. The return of Warren Buehler, who in two years of play had already become the school's second all-time leading scorer, was cause for renewed optimism. Joined by ten returning veterans, including the entire starting five of the 1955-1956 team, Buehler would rejoin a talented and experienced group. With this collection of able-bodied players, and the addition of three highly regarded sophomores, all the elements for a rewarding season awaited Nolan and his new team.

The new year opened with a bang, punctuated by two small college routs. The Hoyas marched past Gettysburg, 85-44, followed by a 94-77 runaway from American. Ken Pichette led Georgetown with 20 in the contest, which set an all-time record with 111 field goal attempts for the game. The Hoyas-Eagles clash also witnessed the first varsity game for towering 6'9" center Randolph (Max) Schmeling, one of Nolan's sophomore newcomers. However, Schmeling was far from a knockout in his debut. Schmeling was what is called today a "project" player, needing time to accustom himself to the college game. And according to the box score of the game in the December 9, 1956 Washington Post, the sophomore center got an extra helping of work by playing in both the varsity and the freshman games that afternoon! (It does not seem that his work with the younger Hoyas paid off in the big game-Schmeling scored four points in the opener but went 0 for 4 with one free throw in the varsity clash.)

Georgetown's first serious threat of the season came on December 12th at Madison Square Garden, facing NYU. The Violet led throughout much of the game, including a 69-63 lead with 1:50 to play. But the able play of senior Matt White erased the lead, sent the game into overtime, and led Georgetown to a 76-73 upset victory. White, battling back after a 4 for 21 shooting slump versus American, was benched midway through the first half of the NYU game for similar misfortunes, but returned to play to score on seven of eight shots, getting Georgetown back into the game and setting up a 25 foot shot by Dick Percudani at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. Joe Missett led the Blue and Gray with 20 points, with White's 18 and Percudani's 14 points playing a big part in a big win.

Consecutive victories over Baltimore (80-71) and Catholic (91-66) led the Hoyas into the All-American City tournament in Owensboro, Kentucky. For the first time in tournament play, Georgetown was seeded first in the eight team pairings, among a group that included Kentucky Wesleyan, Virginia, and Maryland, among others.

Undefeated at 5-0, with a chance to gain national attention at the tournament, the Hoyas promptly dropped both tourney games. Facing heretofore unknown New Mexico A&M, the fourth seeded Aggies upset the Hoyas 80-74, followed a 75-71 upset win by Montana State. Following this ignominy, Georgetown returned to its regular schedule and lost to St. Peter's for the first time ever, 73-70. Back to the drawing board.

Georgetown's unpredictability returned in January as the Hoyas uncharacteristically upset George Washington, 85-61, for GU's first conquest of the Colonials in three years. Then, as luck would have it, GU dropped its next four. Maryland squeaked past its rival at College Park, 62-59, followed by a 86-82 upset at the hands of Jack Sullivan (44 points) and the Mt. St. Mary's Mountaineers. By this point, the formerly 5-0 Hoyas were struggling at 7-5, and "team spirit" gave way to short tempers. During the Mountaineer game, Nolan benched Joe Missett and Dick Percudani for arguing with each other. Percudani spent much of the next three weeks on the bench in Nolan's doghouse, and Missett spent a week on the bench.

The move was great for team discipline, but terrible for the team's record. As Missett went, so went the Hoyas, so as Missett sat and watched, so did his team. Navy and Richmond copped two easy victories from GU by scores of 77-66 and 97-81, respectively, before the two playmakers returned to form in a 75-65 win over LaSalle. Ken Pichette's 20 points led the squad, followed by sophomore Jack Nies with 19 points. Nies, averaging over eight points a game as a backup guard, was subsequently suspended from the team for poor grades, yet another addition to a string of mid-season losses for the Blue and Gray.

A 74-69 home court loss to Fordham evened the team's record at 8-8, and from this point, the Hoya record would split its next six games for an undistinguished 11-11 final mark. An 80-75 win over Loyola was matched by a 99-91 loss to Seton Hall, a win over GWU (83-75) and then Iona (88-70) was tempered by ending losses to Maryland (82-69) and St. Joseph's (77-58).

The team's lackluster 6-11 finish tarnished the fine contributions to Georgetown basketball made by the Class of 1957. Led by 1000+ point men Warren Buehler and Joe Missett, this group of basketball talent produced some of the decade's finest for the Blue and Gray. Of the decade's ten leading scorers, five were from the Class of '57: Buehler, Missett, Matt White, Dale Smith, and Dick Percudani. Joe Missett's career rebounds still ranks him in the top ten on GU's all-time rebounding list; his 10.6 rebounds per game places him ahead of Patrick Ewing and just behind Merlin Wilson on the school's leaders in that category.

Still, the Class of '57 managed to finish only one game above .500 in their three year run, leaving to next year's varsity the task of getting Georgetown basketball away from a measure of mediocrity to which the school had grown accustomed to.

Whether with rookie or veteran clubs, home or away, in a runaway or in an overtime thriller, the story of Georgetown's basketball fortunes seemed caught between the grooves of a broken record: the same tune, but never getting anywhere.

The 1957-1958 Hoyas returned three senior veterans in Ken Pichette, John Clark, and Joe Titus. Coupled with the emerging talent of Jack Nies and 6-9 "Max" Schmeling, there seemed (once again) new hope for Hoya hoop fortunes.

The Blue and Gray opened the season on the road, where the team lost its first season opener since 1952 in a 87-68 loss to Princeton. But sooner than one could write off the new season, Nolan's men won their next five games, four of which were runaway victories. Newcomer Tom McCloskey scored a season-high 24 points to lead GU past Loyola, 76-51, then joined John Clark in combining for 34 in a 73-69 win over Mt. St. Mary's. A 103-65 rout of Baltimore led to an 84-58 runaway from Catholic, coached by former Georgetown guard Miggs Reilly. Ken Pichette's 22 point performance led the Hoyas to their fourth win of the season and the 11th straight over Catholic in the series.

An 81-66 win over St. Peter's continued the Hoyas' winning ways, and had Jack Nies' shot at the buzzer at Uline Arena been a second earlier, perhaps the streak might have continued against George Washington, which ended two points short at 80-78 win before only 500 in attendance at the downtown arena.

On-court troubles followed the Hoyas, too. Near the conclusion of Georgetown's 89-78 win over American at McDonough Gym, a push and a shove led to a bench and bleacher-clearing brawl. As AU's Dick Wells and Georgetown's Ken Pichette socked it to each other, after a "no-call" under the basket, players and fans soon covered the court. Tempers were soon calmed, and the game concluded with the Hoya victory. The altercation took attention away from a sterling 25 point performance by American sophomore Wil Jones, and saw AU's Frank Weiss fall three points short of that school's all-time scoring mark.

Following the Eagle win, the Hoyas failed to upend nationally ranked Maryland, 55-45. Despite trailing by one with 4:00 to play, the i8-ranked Terrapins outscored the home court Hoyas 9-0 in the final stretch. Ken Pichette's 24 point effort was GU's only double-digit scoring this evening, as the 9-2 Terps added GU to a list of Maryland wins over such schools as Kentucky, Navy, Duke, and defending national champion North Carolina.

Before the midterm exam period, the gremlins in Georgetown's scheduling department served up another devil of a road trip. Four road games within a week awaited the 6-3 Georgetown five. Traveling to Philadelphia, Nolan's men surprised LaSalle's Explorers with a late rally to earn a 75-65 upset over the 9-3 home team. Since shooting accuracy was more a luxury than a necessity in this era, the Hoyas' 23 of 52 field goals and 18 of 37 free throws earned GU its third straight win over LaSalle. Following LaSalle, the surprising Hoyas beat Muhlenberg, 76-60, behind a season-high 23 points from junior Jack Nies.

But as fate would have it, the Georgetown engines ran out of gas by week's end, as Syracuse and Scranton both earned big wins over the Hoyas. Despite a 43-all tie midway through the game with the Orangemen, upstate New York alumni John Clark and Ken Pichette saw their Hoyas out scored 19-3 in the final quarter of the game to fall 62-46. At Scranton, the Royals scored exactly half of its 96 point total at the foul line via a brilliant 48 of 56 foul shooting exhibition. Georgetown's reserves, called in as fouls mounted, wilted in a 96-68 rout.

In three of the past four seasons when lengthy road trips preceded midterm exams, trouble followed for the Hoyas. And now, for the fourth year out of five years, University action suspended more varsity players for the club. As a result of poor grades on exams, the school flunked starters Jack Nies and Tom McCloskey, joined by reserves Jack Rafferty and Henry Rojas. Nies, averaging 11.7 points per game, had now been dropped from the team two consecutive years, and the junior guard ended his GU career upon this latest announcement.

Rafferty and Rojas had scored only three points all season between them, but the loss of Tom McCloskey, averaging 12.4 points per game, was an especially disappointing result. Coach Nolan returned 6'6" senior Joe Titus to center, hoping the veteran big man could fill the gaps left by the McCloskey. Titus averaged over nine points a game in the remaining games of this season, but even his spirited efforts failed to forestall a season-ending slump.

Despite playing with an injured ankle, co-captain Ken Pichette could not avert a 67-65 upset at home versus Richmond, followed by road losses to Fordham (82-45) and Navy (98-73). Now at 8-8, the Georgetown five earned back some respect by defeating the New York Athletic Club in overtime, 80-76; unfortunately, the win over a club team was not counted as a win for NCAA scheduling purposes. The Hoyas did win one that counted on the road, upsetting Seton Hall 66-65, as four Hoyas scored in double figures.

Pichette and Jim Oravec appeared to have saved their best for last this season, combining for 50 of Georgetown's 91 points as NYU was knocked out of NIT consideration, 91-72. From this point, Georgetown lost its last three games despite being in each contest, as they say, until the bitter end. Traveling to College Park, the Hoyas held close to the 15-6 Maryland Terrapins, only to falter at the end en route to a 56-46 loss to the NCAA-bound Terps. Returning home to meet St. Joseph's, Ed Hargaden pulled one out of his father's bag of tricks in sending the Hoyas-Hawks game into overtime despite being down by three with :10 left. Hargaden, the namesake of the former GU great, connected on the first free throw but deliberately missed the second, allowing substitute center Max Schmeling to grab the rebound and tie the score. In the extra stanza, however, the previous loss of high-scoring Ken Pichette allowed the Hawks to prevail, 70-67.

The season finale saw Georgetown miss 15 of its first 18 shots as the Colonials of GWU, sporting an identical 10-10 mark with their cross-town rivals, held off a late Hoya comeback to sweep the annual series, 77-64.

Senior Ken Pichette led all Georgetown scorers in Nolan's second season of coaching, averaging 16.6 points and capturing 147 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. A strong late-season performance was rendered by Max Schmeling, who fought off a season of injuries to score 35 points in his final two games. It would later be determined that a kidney injury suffered early in the season to the 6-9 junior would contribute to the end of his college career by forcing him to retire from the Hoya varsity a year early.

Pichette's 826 point career, at that time the fifth best in school history, would be missed by coach Nolan in the coming year. But as every great athlete moves on, a new star takes center stage, and the 1958-1959 season was the premiere season for just such a star.

Graduations, dismissals, and injuries combined to offer little chance of anything beyond a "rebuilding" year for Georgetown in 1958-1959. Ken Pichette, John Clark, and Joe Titus had graduated, while Jack Nies, Jack Rafferty, and Henry Rojas had left school after last year's suspension. And continuing injuries offered no chance at a potentially rewarding senior season for 6'9" center Max Schmeling.

Coach Nolan minced no words about the upcoming season. "Our team does not have the depth we desire," he wrote. Practically every time we take the court, we will be the shorter squad...Our young team also lacks game experience."

So, as the season began in early December, 1958, coach Tommy Nolan was left with two returnees and a host of newcomers. Soon after the season opener against a small college team in Kentucky Wesleyan; Hoya fans knew where the future of the team would be headed.

Without a recruiting budget, and tied to coaching duties to his baseball season in the spring when other coaches could recruit on the road, Nolan had looked to players at local schools to consider playing across town. Sophomores Tom Matan and Tom Coleman joined fellow Gonzaga grad Tom McCloskey on Nolan's varsity, and began to click, combining for 28 points in a 93-73 win. The real hero of the evening, however, was a 5-9 newcomer from St. John's College H.S. and Washington-area Co-Player of the Year, Brian Sheehan.

Sheehan, nicknamed "Puddy" well before his arrival at the Hilltop in 1957, was GU's first legitimate high school star from the Washington area in twenty years. In his first collegiate game, Sheehan scored 30 points over Wesleyan and received a standing ovation in the win, and a great Georgetown career was underway.

The obligatory small college victories followed, this season's victims being Mt. St. Mary's (85-76) and Loyola (83-73). Stiffer competition returned to the Hoyas' slate, as George Washington beat GU at McDonough Gym, 82-75. The game was a harbinger of things to come, as GW adjusted its defensive sets to hold Sheehan to 13 points and push the ball inside. Any why not-- the Georgetown five averaged 6-1 and fielded no player taller than 6-4.

Similar problems faced the Hoyas versus St. Peter's in a road game leading into the Christmas holiday. Leading 59-50 with under six minutes to play, the Blue and Gray failed to cover the St. Peter's rebounds, allowing the Peacocks to get back into the game. Scoring only one point in those final minutes, the Hoyas saw their lead vanish en route to a 66-63 overtime loss. A 78-66 loss at Connecticut led the traveling Hoyas into the Richmond Invitational.

With three starters over 6'5", Penn State breezed to a 78-66 opening victory. Georgetown's consolation round opponent, Columbia, failed to provide such height problems, allowing Puddy Sheehan to score 21 second-half points en route to a 101-77 win. The tourney convinced many that when Sheehan could not be stopped, neither could Georgetown. When he could be held in check, the short (three) and weak (averaging 4.8 ppg) Georgetown bench could not make up the difference.

An air of unusual anticipation greeted Nolan's team on January 7, 1959, the day GU would meet local foe American University. AU, still playing a small-college schedule filled with the likes of Juniata, Bridgewater, and New Haven, had never beaten Georgetown in a basketball game dating back to the beginning of the series in 1938. The Eagles had come as close as two points three season ago and as far as sixty-six points on another occasion (1942-1943), but had never conquered the Blue and Gray. On January 7th, led by the high-flying Wil Jones, the Eagles broke a twenty year losing streak in convincing style, 92-67.

The game was played at Ft. Myer Gymnasium, located across the Potomac River in Arlington-to accommodate fans who could not be accommodated in 1,000 seat Clendenen Gym on the AU campus. A record 2,500 showed up that night to see Jones, averaging 27.9 points per game for the Eagles, battle Sheehan and the Hoyas. Jones was on fire for the evening, hitting 10 of 18 field goals and a perfect 10 of 10 free throws for 30 points. Sheehan, bothered by the flu, was only 4 of 11 shooting field goals and scored only 10 points overall. Yeoman duty was performed by senior Jim Oravec, with a season-high 18 points to lead the Hoyas in a losing effort.

Sheehan returned to form two nights later at McDonough gym, scoring 23 points to lead GU past Boston College, 73-69. Eagles Kevin Loughery and Jack Magee combined for 27 for the Eagles, only its third loss in eleven games.

When GU met local rival Maryland, Terrapin coach Bud Millikan knew who to stop. Before 5,200 at Cole Field House Millikan and his defending ACC champs held Sheehan to a season-low nine points in a 61-53 win. Bill Reinhart's GWU Colonials followed Maryland's example--GW's tall trees held the 5-9 Hoya scoring machine to 13 points in an 85-72 sweep of the season series.

Midterm exams were held in late January, and to Nolan's delight, everyone on the team performed admirably. Following exams, a two game Midwest road trip yielded a split. Xavier University held their Jesuit brethren at bay in a 70-62 decision, while GU rebounded to upset Loyola of Chicago, 103-93. Sophomores Tom (Bo) Matan and Tom (The Bear) Coleman combined for 52 points, their most impressive showings to date.

Fielding a 6-8 record, the Hoyas returned home to even its record. Puddy Sheehan's 22 points paced GU past Syracuse, 85-70, and a controversial finish gave the Hoyas a 71-70 triumph over Fordham. The Fordham game was significant in that it brought to the forefront a part of the game now common in today's arenas: the home court advantage, or more specifically, energized fans.

Spectator etiquette as advised by the Eastern College Athletic Association (ECAC) frowned on anything but polite applause during games, and harassing officials or arm-waving during free throws was out of the question--this was the 1950's after all. So when Jim Oravec connected on two key baskets with less than 2:00 to play, some unusual things began to happen. Fordham had led by as many as eight points when the Georgetown rally began. Disgusted at the turn of events, Fordham called time, whereupon guard Ed DeGroat heaved the ball at the ceiling and was assessed a technical foul. Some Georgetown fans behind the Fordham bench roared their approval, and questioned the intelligence of a team who would commit such a needless foul late in the game. Taking matters into his own hands, Fordham forward Pat O'Donnell grabbed the ball and threw it at the student section, leading to his ejection. This really stirred the student crowd, who began motioning at the Fordham fans, many topped with straw hats.

"We want the hats!" chanted the GU crowd at the visitors. "We want the hats!"

By the time Georgetown had connected on the technical foul shots and scored on the inbounds play, the game was over and the straw-hatted Fordhamites were soon nowhere to be found. What was found, however, was the beginnings of the McDonough Gym spirit that would come alive in a few short years.

The Fordham fracas was the last true highlight of the 1958-1959 season, as Georgetown dropped its last seven. LaSalle thumped the Hoyas, 102-72, followed by road losses to Muhlenberg (85-81), Lafayette (109-94), and Navy (72-47). The slumping team returned and narrowly missed upsetting Seton Hall in an 89-83 overtime decision, followed by a 67-56 loss to Maryland to end the home court season. A trip to St. Joseph's ended the grim numbers, 98-80.

A seven game losing streak notwithstanding, Brian Sheehan's remarkable sophomore season provided new. hope for the future. The team would only lose one starter, senior Jim Oravec, and welcome an eager crop of rising sophomores ready to add height and depth to the team's bench.

By the first week of March, basketball memories were fading fast. In fact, a Sunday afternoon crowd at McDonough Gym on March 3 arrived not for a basketball game, but for a televised performance of the GE College Bowl show at Georgetown.

"March Madness" was more than a few years away.

After a year of hard times, Georgetown continued with a "youth movement" designed to return the Hoyas to a competitive level. Last year's sophomores, the Class of 1961, accounted for 71% of team scoring in their inaugural varsity year, and similar feats of scoring prowess were expected by Puddy Sheehan, Tom Coleman, Ray Ohlmuller, and Tommy Matan, among others.

The new crop of recruits offered coach Tom Nolan plenty of optimism as well. In an attempt to alleviate the Hoyas' continuing rebounding woes, Nolan promoted freshmen standouts Bob Sharpenter and Paul Tagliabue to the squad. Sharpenter stood 6-6 and proved to be an improving player under the tutelage of freshman coach Tom O'Keefe. Tagliabue, at 6-4, led the freshman team in scoring and rebounding the year before. Jim Carrino, a 6'2" guard, and Vince Wolfington, a 6-4 walk-on, provided additional support to Nolan's team.

Graduation, attrition, and lean recruiting classes of the late 1950's had pruned the 1958-59 team to eight by the end of that season. Bolstered by sophomore newcomers and an experienced junior group, the 1959-1960 Hoyas carried a roster of 14 men, a definite improvement over the battle-weary roster of years past. Still, no one was accusing Georgetown of being a threat for post-season honors, so the hope and optimism engendered by the younger members of the squad was tempered by the reality that the club had reached the .500 plateau once in the past six years. A winning record took precedent over any dreams of NIT or NCAA competition.

Georgetown's seventh consecutive rebuilding year began with an 81-73 win over Mt. St. Mary's, followed by four losses in the next five games. NYU became GU's first conquerors of the campaign, crushing the Hoyas 70-48 at McDonough Gym. Brian Sheehan led the Hoyas with 19 points but he was the only member of the team to score more than seven points. A similar lack of support found Sheehan scoring 21 versus American at McDonough, only to see no other double-digit scoring follow from the team.

For the second time in as many years, American upset the Blue and Gray, 65-60. Sheehan and Tom Coleman led Georgetown past St. Peter's in another home court appearance, 95-80, but stumbled through road losses to Maryland and Niagara. Once again, the green Georgetown roster relied almost exclusively on Sheehan and Coleman to carry the scoring load. However, if Coleman got into foul trouble, or if the 5-9 Sheehan was covered by a taller guard, Georgetown's newcomers could not come in and score when needed.

In the Maryland game, Sheehan and Coleman scored 30 of the team's 48 points in a nine point loss at Cole Field House. At Niagara, the two juniors scored a combined 54 only to fall to the Purple Eagles, 81-80. The rest of the team began to come to life near the end of December, as evidenced in a road game at Duquesne. Led by the adept shooting of newcomers Dan Slattery and Jim Carrino, Georgetown surprised the home court Dukes with a last minute win, 64-63. Slattery, averaging four points per game, scored in the stretch when it counted, as did Carrino, who added ten. Brian Sheehan, scored 18 points to lead all scorers.

Georgetown traveled to Providence for the Providence Invitational tournament. The opener saw the Hoyas rout Brown, 82-65. Brown, the only Ivy League School that had not met the Hoyas in college competition, fell under the weight of Tom Coleman's 18 point total, supplemented by a season-high from Vince Wolfington (14 points) and 13 from Puddy Sheehan. In the finale of the tournament, Lenny Wilkens and his Providence Friars ran away with the title, cruising past a stumbling Hoya offense, 83-56. Once again, Sheehan was the only Hoya in double figures against the high-flying Friars---his 23 points gave him a scoring average of 20.1 points per game heading into the new decade.

Opening the 1960 half of the schedule, Dan Slattery's career high 23 points led all Georgetown scorers in a 86-82 upset of George Washington, the first win over the Colonials in three years. Jim Carrino's 17 points and 15 more from Brian Sheehan helped GU survive the Colonials' All-America candidate, Jon Feldman. Feldman was nominated for the "Little All-America" team in 1960, which was a designation at the time for players under six feet tall. Feldman earned this honor all three seasons at GW.

In early January, the Hoyas were an even 5-5, but it was too soon to tell how the team would fare for the rest of the season. In fact, an even record would follow the team for the rest of the season. The splits did little to bolster a winning spirit among the players, but it was an improvement over the team's disastrous showing at the close of the 1958-1959 season.

An eight point loss at Manhattan, 90-82, next found GU upsetting Maryland at McDonough Gym, 66-51. A heartbreaking one point loss spoiled.an upset bid for the Hoyas over LaSalle, 80-79, but the team returned the "flip-flop" by thumping Fairfield, 91-74, behind Tom Matan's 21 point performance. A 93-77 loss at Boston College preceded wins over Muhlenberg (93-72) and Fordham (82-72). In the finale with GWU, Feldman and his Colonials evened the season series, 73-67.

The mid-February win over Lafayette was overshadowed by a melee at the close of the game. Lafayette, led by 6~5 center Chip Lundy and 6'3" guard Pete Pavia, played the Hoyas tough but still found themselves down late in the game. Other Lafayette players began to rough-house it with Hoya players Carrino and Sheehan, and with under a minute to play some 200 fans flooded the McDonough court as a fight broke out on the court. The fight was broken up and order was restored, as the game ended with GU leading 69-60. The event received widespread attention and continued to build the reputation of McDonough Gym as a "tough" place for opponents to win in.

As the season wound down, so did the Hoyas. An afternoon game at Annapolis saw the Hoyas fall by 11 to the NCAA-bound Midshipmen, 79-68, then fall to Seton Hall, 80-77. GU managed a split in the season finales, routing Scranton 105-80 then falling to Rhode Island, 97-95 behind a 38 point performance by URI's Dave Ricereto.

At the conclusion, the up-and-coming Hoyas still had some coming yet to do, as the school suffered its sixth losing season in seven years at 11-12. Despite another losing season, Georgetown's young team could look back on some fine individual performances. Puddy Sheehan's 19 point effort against Satch Sanders and the Final Four-bound NYU Violet and his 23 points against NIT finalist Providence were notable, as were Tom Coleman's 26 points against Boston College, Dan Slattery's 23 versus GW, and Paul Tagliabue's 25 in the Rhode Island finale, With one senior, Ed Hargaden, would be lost to graduation, better days seemed ahead....again.

The 1950's ended with an overall record of 113-122 for the Hoyas. Since 1953, the team's fortunes had been on the down slide, as witnessed by a 5-15 record versus the local teams Maryland and George Washington, and two consecutive losses to American. But for all the optimism about the new decade of basketball to come, the plain truth remained that GU just didn't recruit the kind of player that could send the Hoyas into post-season contention. For all his heroics, Puddy Sheehan was no Jerry West, and Tom Coleman was no John Havlicek.

So, in hindsight, it seems strange that as Georgetown recruited for the Class of 1964, it failed to pay any attention to the area's top basketball team: John Carroll High School. The team had won a record 55 straight games between 1958 and 1960, a mark untouched to this day. Each of the five starters won scholarships to Catholic schools, among them offers at Villanova, Notre Dame, and St. Bonaventure. The Carroll team had even played in Georgetown's own gym, with a pair of fine performances versus Georgetown's 1959 and 1960 freshman teams, and wins against national competition in the Georgetown-sponsored Knights of Columbus tournament.

As names like George Leftwich and Tom Hoover went north to play college, its 6-10 center considered staying closer to home. For a school which often lamented its lack of height, a local big man could have instantly become one of Georgetown's all-time greats, and a local favorite.

Georgetown officials failed to take any serious interest in this local high school hero. Six years earlier, a local recruit named Elgin Baylor was stopped at the campus gates and politely told that he wasn't Georgetown material, from which he later enrolled at Jesuit-run Seattle University and led the Chieftains to the Final Four.

Instead of joining Jim Christy, Chuck Devlin, and the rest of the Georgetown class of '64, this prep All-American was soon accepted at Providence College, where he went on to win an NIT championship there. Who was this recruit rejected by Georgetown University on the eve of a notable college career?

His name was John Thompson.

Narrative © 1987, 2006. All rights reserved.
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