March 8, 2016
Commodore History Corner Archive
Vanderbilt won its first SEC basketball regular season championship during the 1964-65 season led by junior All-American Clyde Lee, John Ed Miller and Bob “Snake” Grace. The Commodores lost to a powerful Michigan team in the NCAA Mideast Regionals who were led by their All-American Cazzie Russell.
That team was 24-4 (15-1, SEC) and ranked No. 8 in the country in AP’s final poll. While achieving national prominence on the hardwood, Vanderbilt was invited the next season to participate in the prestigious Los Angeles Basketball Classic on December 28-30, 1965. Coach Roy Skinner’s Commodores were ranked No. 2 in the nation at the time. The games were played in Los Angeles Sports Arena.
The Vanderbilt roster that season included Lee, Dave Boswell, Wayne Calvert, Keith Thomas, Gene Lockyear, Ron Knox, Ron Green, Kenny Gibbs, Bo Wyenandt, Bob Warren, Jerry Southwood and Kenny Campbell.
The LA Classic included Vanderbilt, St. Johns, UCLA, Syracuse, USC, Purdue, LSU and Northwestern.
The Commodores opening game was against Syracuse as the Tennessean wrote:
“Surging suddenly during the last two minutes of the first half, Vanderbilt’s second-ranked Commodores smashed previously undefeated Syracuse beneath a record-shattering 113-98 total in the opening round of the Los Angeles Classic last night.
“And the man who ignited the smoldering Commodores offense was the Vandy All-American center, Clyde Lee, who poured in 39 points, grabbed 24 rebounds and in general, smothered the Syracuse hopes of maintaining an unblemished mark.
“However, despite the marvelous exhibition by Lee, the individual man of the moment was Orangeman David Bing, a 6-3 Jumping Jack center who splattered the Classic scoring record for throwing in 46 points. It broke the mark of 39 set by Utah’s Billy (The Hill) McGill.”
Vanderbilt’s 113 points tied a school record that was established in December 1963 against TCU. Vanderbilt would score 130 points in December 1970 against Ole Miss to set the present record for most points scored in a game. Lee was scoreless until the 17:39 mark of the first half when his surge began.
The Commodores shot 55.8 percent connecting on 43-of-77 field goals. The 43 field goals set a Classic record once held by Ohio State (42) in 1961. Joining Lee for Vanderbilt in double figure scoring were Green (19), Wyenandt (18), Thomas (19) and Southwood (14). Scoring 13 points in the game for the Orangemen was guard Jim Boeheim, the longtime and current head coach at Syracuse.
Vanderbilt would next face USC, a 73-63 winner over Northwestern. The Tennessean reported on that game:
“John Block’s two free throws with four seconds remaining snapped Vanderbilt’s win string at nine as the Southern California Trojans posted a 74-72 upset over the Commodores in the semifinals of the Los Angeles Classic here last night.
“Block successfully converted both of his one-and-one foul shots after he and Commodore sophomore Bo Wyenandt bumped directly under the basket. Both men, Block a 6-9 senior and Wyenandt a 6-4 soph, went up when Block jumped on a drive for the bucket. They were tummy-to-tummy and the official on the spot determined the error was Bo’s.
“Many of the crowd of 10,441 questioned the call and the roar was loud when Block stepped to the line. He made both to send the Trojans into tonight’s championship finals against UCLA. The Uclans beat Purdue, 82-76, in the other semifinal last night.”
With the score tied at 72-72, Lee was fouled and missed the first of a one-and-one after hitting eight straight free throws. USC controlled the rebound at the 1:26 mark then went into a stall that led to the winning free throws by Block. It was humorously suggested by one of the Nashville media members that on the other side of the country a charge would have been called against Block.
Block scored a game-high 32 points while Lee chipped in 26 for Vanderbilt. Other Commodores in the scoring column were Thomas (16), Wyenandt (8), Gibbs (6), Southwood (6), Green (4), Warren (4) and Calvert (2). The Commodores were 16-of-20 from the free throw line and 28-of-66 from the floor.
Skinner felt that his squad was tired from the previous night’s shootout and played most of the first half in a zone defense.
Said Skinner, “I hoped that we might be able to coast along in the zone because it doesn’t require as much running. This worked okay until about the last five minutes of the half, when Southern Cal began tearing it apart. Once this occurred there was little for us to do except come out in the second half and try the man-to-man. That’s the reason for the change.”
In the battle for third place in the Classic, Vanderbilt was squared against Purdue. The Tennessean reported:
“Vanderbilt’s Commodores passed a major milestone last night rebounding from Wednesday’s heart-breaking semifinal defeat to storm past Purdue, 94-72 and capture consolation honors in the seventh annual Los Angeles Basketball Classic.
“It was one genuine consequence to Vandy players, coaches and followers that the Commodores came back from the depths of the last-second defeat by Southern California to play a heads-up, hustling performance.
“The Commodores started slowly, falling five points behind, 11-16, after five minutes. But then, behind Keith Thomas and Clyde Lee, the Vanderbilters began their move and streaked to a 43-32 halftime score.
“At the end, Thomas had a career high, ‘high school or college’ of 30 points and big Lee was in with 26, pushing his tournament total to 91. The Commodores also got super work from a pair of substitutes, Kenny Gibbs and Bob Warren. Gibbs, spelling Lee and Ron Green came up with 10 points. Warren, working as a reserve forward, threw in 11 points.”
Lee bested Boilermakers’ seven-foot, 240-pound center George Grams who managed just six points in the game. Dave Schellhase and Henry Ebershoff each collected 26 points for Purdue. The game was played before a jammed sellout of 14,871 that mostly came to see the championship game that followed with hometown rivals UCLA versus USC.
“I’m really glad to get this one behind us,” said Skinner. “You never know how a team will react after losing a close one such as our Wednesday night game with Southern Cal. The men seemed more relaxed than anytime I’ve seen them on the road.”
UCLA did defeat Southern Cal for the Classic championship title, 94-76. Lee was selected to the All-Star team with Edgar Lacey (UCLA), Mike Warren (UCLA), Dave Schellhase (Purdue) and Dave Bing (Syracuse). Bing was chosen as the Player of the Classic.
Dropping in the Vanderbilt dressing room to congratulate Skinner and the Commodores’ team after the victory was UCLA’s head coach John Wooden. Wooden’s Bruins’ squad had won the past two NCAA national titles on their way to a record 10 championships. Wooden told Skinner he believed the Commodores were the best team in the Classic. The team did enjoy an afternoon in Disneyland before returning to Nashville.
Vanderbilt finished the 1965-66 season with a 22-4 (13-3 SEC) record behind first-place Kentucky (15-1). For the second consecutive season, Lee was named an All-American and SEC Player of the Year. The Commodores were ranked No. 8 in the final AP poll.
Traughber’s Tidbit: On March 23,1970, Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium was host to a Tennessee-Kentucky College Basketball All-Star game which consisted of senior collegiate players from the states of Tennessee and Kentucky. Coaching the Tennessee Stars was Vanderbilt head coach Roy Skinner while the Kentucky Wildcats coach Adolph Rupp led the Kentucky Stars.
The roster for Tennessee included Perry Wallace (Vanderbilt), Bobby Croft (Tennessee), Howard Wright (Austin Peay), Dale Alsup (Belmont), Kendall Stephens (Fisk), Ron Sutton (Tennessee Tech), Mike Kretzer (East Tennessee) and Tommy Everette (Carson-Newman).
The Kentucky roster featured Dan Issel (Kentucky), Mike Pratt (Kentucky), Bob Long (Cumberland College), Willie Woods (Eastern Kentucky), Bobby Hiles (Morehead State), Rod Belton (Bellarmine), Jim Reid (Georgetown), Claude Virden (Murray State) and Toke Coleman (Eastern Kentucky).
The game was played with professional rules as a 48-minute game with four 12-minute quarters and a mandatory man-to-man defense. Dunking was allowed, which was not permitted in college at that time. The Kentucky Stars won 132-105 as Issel led all scorers with 29 points (12 rebounds). Other Kentucky scorers were Coleman (21), Woods (20), Pratt (19), Belton (16), Virden (14), Reid (7), Hiles (4) and Long (4).
Leading the Tennessee Stars were Kretzer (23), Everette (20), Stephens (18), Wallace (15), Wright (12), Croft (9), Alsup (6) and Sutton (2). Proceeds from the game were donated to the Kidney Foundation in honor of former Vanderbilt player and assistant coach Bobby Bland who died of kidney failure. Bland’s widow, Judy, presented the game’s MVP trophy to Issel.
If you have any comments or suggestions contact Bill Traughber via email WLTraughber@aol.com.
