Saluki Athletics welcomes home the 1967 NIT Championship team
02/10/2017 | 8:40:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Saluki Athletics welcomed home college basketball royalty on Friday night with a reception and dinner honoring the 50-year anniversary of SIU's 1967 NIT national championship. Nine team members (Roger Bechtold, Walt Frazier, Dick Garrett, Willie Griffin, Bobby Jackson, Rick Millis, Clarence Smith, Jay Westcott and Creston Whitaker) plus assistant coach Joe Ramsey, SID Fred Huff and radio announcer Ron Hines were on hand. They participated in a lively panel discussion reliving the memories of that magical season.
In March of 1967, future NBA stars Frazier and Garrett led SIU into New York City's Madison Square Garden with a record of 20-2. The NCAA Tournament consisted of only 16 teams at the time, and the NIT was much more prestigious than it is today. SIU was ranked No. 1 in the College Division rankings and turned down a bid to the NCAA College Division Tournament. SIU had already defeated No. 2-ranked Louisville and defending NCAA champion Texas Western, and wanted no part of the small school postseason.
Garrett scored 28 points to lead SIU over St. Peter's, 103-58, in the opening NIT game. Frazier added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Salukis (21-2). They faced off against Duke in the quarterfinals of the NIT. The Blue Devils had dropped the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament just two days earlier. Southern knocked off Duke, 72-63, and Garrett led the club with 18 points. Frazier and Ralph Johnson added 17 points apiece for SIU, which out-rebounded the Blue Devils, 47-41. The victory marked win No. 100 for head coach Jack Hartman, as the team moved to 22-2.
Duke head coach Vic Bubas called the Salukis "a great team" and praised the play of Frazier and Garrett.
"The thing that impresses you about Southern Illinois is its fine team discipline," Bubas said in The Chicago Daily News.
In the NIT semifinals, SIU defeated Rutgers, 79-70. Frazier led the Salukis with 26 points and 18 rebounds. Garrett tallied 22 points and Clarence Smith added 15. Jim Valvano led the Scarlet Knights with 24 points. Rutgers coach Bill Foster told The Home News he was nervous about the SIU offense before the game even began.
"There's no place to cheat on that ball club," Foster said. "They can really shoot. I got sick just watching them warm up."
SIU met up with Marquette – coached by Al McGuire – in the NIT championship game. Frazier scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds – on his way to the NIT MVP – as Southern defeated Marquette, 71-56, to win it all. Garrett added 16, Smith had 13 and Roger Bechtold scored 10 for SIU. The Warriors led 42-34 with 13 minutes left in the game, before SIU closed out the game with a stunning 37-14 rally. The Saluki faithful rushed the court as time expired and they carried many players on their shoulders.
The celebration continues tomorrow when the NIT group is introduced at halftime of the game versus Evansville, which tips at 3 p.m.
Three members of the team met with the media on Friday night. Here is a transcript.
It's right at the top because that was the beginning. I honed my skills here in Southern Illinois. Going to the NIT catapulted me to the national spotlight, being the MVP and being drafted by the Knicks. It was a culmination of those things that I will never forget.
How did your time SIU help make you into the person you are now?
My time here at SIU groomed me for the person I am. What would've been my junior year I was ineligible to play because of poor grades. That was the making of Walt Frazier, because nobody helped me. The coaches didn't help me. I had to do everything myself. I registered my classes. I had to find my housing. I had to do everything. That's when I grew up as a person. I started to take on my responsibilities. I developed discipline. I always look back on that one year of adversity in my life as a really positive experience. Also, it helped me in basketball because every day in practice coach Hartman made me play defense. So for a whole year I never played offense. I fell in love with defense. Defense became my favorite part of the game. So, I mastered the stance, the technique, everything. That year really turned my life around.
Where did coach Hartman rank among the coaches that you've had?
My high school coaches — I always give a lot of credit to. He's right behind my high school coaches. He's a disciplinarian. He's very strict. I remember I raised my kids the way he coached us. If you wanted something you had to work for it. He never gave you anything. It was an old school philosophy, but I know it worked.
This was a great time. We had some great coaches, great guys, and we're still all friends to this day. It's a little tough telling people we're back for a 50-year reunion. But, at the same time, it's a pleasure to be here and halfway healthy and able to enjoy this occasion. It's a pleasure to have us back here.
What does 1967 mean to you?
That was the highlight of my career. As a player and as an athlete, you always look to win a championship. That's always your goal. To win the championships that year, being the first team from the College Division to ever even be invited to the NIT was a big thing. It was a big deal for us. We had only lost a couple of games. We lost to Louisville that was ranked 2nd in the country behind UCLA with Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and those guys and we in double overtime there, then beat them in regulation. We thought we could play with anyone in the country, so we looked forward to playing in the NIT. The rest is history.
Do you remember what it was like on the court after the win?
Yes, I do. Those memories will probably never leave us. I still look back at running off the court after the game and thinking about how excited we were. I live in Milwaukee now where Marquette is, who we beat for the championship. I still have some guys who give me some stuff about beating those guys. They can't give me too much though, because we got the W.
It's amazing that that's only four years out of your life that you're at a university. Yet, it sets the stage for everything that you do for the rest of your life. All the friendships that you make. All the relationships that you form. It's just incredible. It all comes back to you when you see this stuff. It's a short period of time out of your life, but it is so, so important. It's unbelievable.
When did it become clear that the team was really good?
It crept up on us. All of a sudden we were 15-1. Then 20-2. Right after the Sun Bowl we knew we were really good. We had beat Texas Western, the former National Champions in 1966. When we beat them we knew we were really good. After only losing to Louisville in overtime, we played two of the best top-five teams in the country, and we beat Louisville after that. We knew we could play with anybody.
In March of 1967, future NBA stars Frazier and Garrett led SIU into New York City's Madison Square Garden with a record of 20-2. The NCAA Tournament consisted of only 16 teams at the time, and the NIT was much more prestigious than it is today. SIU was ranked No. 1 in the College Division rankings and turned down a bid to the NCAA College Division Tournament. SIU had already defeated No. 2-ranked Louisville and defending NCAA champion Texas Western, and wanted no part of the small school postseason.
Garrett scored 28 points to lead SIU over St. Peter's, 103-58, in the opening NIT game. Frazier added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Salukis (21-2). They faced off against Duke in the quarterfinals of the NIT. The Blue Devils had dropped the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament just two days earlier. Southern knocked off Duke, 72-63, and Garrett led the club with 18 points. Frazier and Ralph Johnson added 17 points apiece for SIU, which out-rebounded the Blue Devils, 47-41. The victory marked win No. 100 for head coach Jack Hartman, as the team moved to 22-2.
Duke head coach Vic Bubas called the Salukis "a great team" and praised the play of Frazier and Garrett.
"The thing that impresses you about Southern Illinois is its fine team discipline," Bubas said in The Chicago Daily News.
In the NIT semifinals, SIU defeated Rutgers, 79-70. Frazier led the Salukis with 26 points and 18 rebounds. Garrett tallied 22 points and Clarence Smith added 15. Jim Valvano led the Scarlet Knights with 24 points. Rutgers coach Bill Foster told The Home News he was nervous about the SIU offense before the game even began.
"There's no place to cheat on that ball club," Foster said. "They can really shoot. I got sick just watching them warm up."
SIU met up with Marquette – coached by Al McGuire – in the NIT championship game. Frazier scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds – on his way to the NIT MVP – as Southern defeated Marquette, 71-56, to win it all. Garrett added 16, Smith had 13 and Roger Bechtold scored 10 for SIU. The Warriors led 42-34 with 13 minutes left in the game, before SIU closed out the game with a stunning 37-14 rally. The Saluki faithful rushed the court as time expired and they carried many players on their shoulders.
The celebration continues tomorrow when the NIT group is introduced at halftime of the game versus Evansville, which tips at 3 p.m.
Three members of the team met with the media on Friday night. Here is a transcript.
Walt Frazier
Where is 1967 on your list of accomplishments?It's right at the top because that was the beginning. I honed my skills here in Southern Illinois. Going to the NIT catapulted me to the national spotlight, being the MVP and being drafted by the Knicks. It was a culmination of those things that I will never forget.
How did your time SIU help make you into the person you are now?
My time here at SIU groomed me for the person I am. What would've been my junior year I was ineligible to play because of poor grades. That was the making of Walt Frazier, because nobody helped me. The coaches didn't help me. I had to do everything myself. I registered my classes. I had to find my housing. I had to do everything. That's when I grew up as a person. I started to take on my responsibilities. I developed discipline. I always look back on that one year of adversity in my life as a really positive experience. Also, it helped me in basketball because every day in practice coach Hartman made me play defense. So for a whole year I never played offense. I fell in love with defense. Defense became my favorite part of the game. So, I mastered the stance, the technique, everything. That year really turned my life around.
Where did coach Hartman rank among the coaches that you've had?
My high school coaches — I always give a lot of credit to. He's right behind my high school coaches. He's a disciplinarian. He's very strict. I remember I raised my kids the way he coached us. If you wanted something you had to work for it. He never gave you anything. It was an old school philosophy, but I know it worked.
Dick Garrett
How did SIU prepare you for life?This was a great time. We had some great coaches, great guys, and we're still all friends to this day. It's a little tough telling people we're back for a 50-year reunion. But, at the same time, it's a pleasure to be here and halfway healthy and able to enjoy this occasion. It's a pleasure to have us back here.
What does 1967 mean to you?
That was the highlight of my career. As a player and as an athlete, you always look to win a championship. That's always your goal. To win the championships that year, being the first team from the College Division to ever even be invited to the NIT was a big thing. It was a big deal for us. We had only lost a couple of games. We lost to Louisville that was ranked 2nd in the country behind UCLA with Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and those guys and we in double overtime there, then beat them in regulation. We thought we could play with anyone in the country, so we looked forward to playing in the NIT. The rest is history.
Do you remember what it was like on the court after the win?
Yes, I do. Those memories will probably never leave us. I still look back at running off the court after the game and thinking about how excited we were. I live in Milwaukee now where Marquette is, who we beat for the championship. I still have some guys who give me some stuff about beating those guys. They can't give me too much though, because we got the W.
Clarence Smith
What thoughts does seeing the pictures of the team and trophy bring back to you?It's amazing that that's only four years out of your life that you're at a university. Yet, it sets the stage for everything that you do for the rest of your life. All the friendships that you make. All the relationships that you form. It's just incredible. It all comes back to you when you see this stuff. It's a short period of time out of your life, but it is so, so important. It's unbelievable.
When did it become clear that the team was really good?
It crept up on us. All of a sudden we were 15-1. Then 20-2. Right after the Sun Bowl we knew we were really good. We had beat Texas Western, the former National Champions in 1966. When we beat them we knew we were really good. After only losing to Louisville in overtime, we played two of the best top-five teams in the country, and we beat Louisville after that. We knew we could play with anybody.
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