“At Xavier, I really felt good that after I left, the conference was formed and all of a sudden Xavier basketball started an upswing,” Baker said. “I felt like I was a part of that development. I feel like the foundation was laid there for part of the success of the program they have even today.”
It must be noted that as UC’s coach, Baker went 5-2 against the Musketeers. When he was coaching Xavier, he went 0-6 against the Bearcats.
There is no question where his allegiances are.
“Even though in wins and losses it wasn’t too successful a career at Xavier, the people there were very fair to me and there was some progress made,” Baker said.
“But I graduated from UC and they’re always at the bottom of my heart.”
7
GALE CATLETT ERA (1972-1978)
CLEAN START
The University of Cincinnati community was a bit surprised when 31-year-old Gale Catlett was announced as the Bearcats’ new basketball coach in April 1972. The University of Kentucky assistant under Adolph Rupp entered the picture late in UC’s six-week search for Tay Baker’s replacement.
The search committee had whittled the candidates down to North Carolina assistant John Lotz and Capital University coach Vince Chickerella.
When Catlett had originally expressed interest in the job, Athletic Director George Smith told him that he was too late, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
But there was obviously a change of heart. Catlett got an interview after all. “We were impressed with his credentials,” Smith said after Catlett was hired.
That ’70s show: Gale Catlett brought a certain flair to the UC basketball program with his, uh, flamboyant wardrobe. (Photo by University of Cincinnati/Sports Information)
Like all new coaches, Catlett showed up with his own set of rules; he also brought a reputation as a disciplinarian. One of the things he insisted at his very first team meeting was that the players shave off all facial hair and that hair be kept “neat and groomed.”
That didn’t sit well with a lot of the Bearcats, including Lloyd Batts, Cincinnati’s top scorer who had not shaved in his life and had a slight goatee.
Batts told himself: I’ve never shaved before, and I’m not about to shave for him.
Catlett found out some of the players were considering boycotting and not shaving, so he called them in individually. “Shave or pack your bags,” was his message. “You’ll no longer be a part of UC basketball.”
“Nobody left,” Batts said. “Everybody did what he said.
“I always called him the yes-man. Any time he wanted something done, people would always say yes to him. He just had a way of getting his way.”
Batts didn’t appreciate what Catlett was trying to accomplish in terms of discipline and expectations until years later when he became a junior college head coach in his hometown.
Batts said he wrote Catlett a letter and thanked him for all that he tried to instill in his players.
“I think I understood what he was trying to do and the point he was trying to get across to his players,” Batts said. And he wanted to tell Catlett that.
SHORT DEBUT
Catlett wasn’t around long to see his first game as UC’s coach. The Bearcats beat Cleveland State handily, 113-85, but Catlett was long gone by the final buzzer.
With just under seven minutes left in the first half, a referee blew his whistle while right in front of the Cincinnati bench. “You’re getting paid to call all the violations, not only the fouls,” Catlett yelled.
Robert James, the official, slapped Catlett with a technical foul.
Catlett got off the bench. “That’s two,” James said. Catlett told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he then said “a naughty word” and received a third technical, which was an automatic ejection. As he was leaving the court, Catlett passed James, who worked in the Big Ten Conference, and told him: “I’m writing [Big Ten commissioner] Wayne Duke immediately, and I’m telling him you’ll never work another game for me.”
“That’s one more, four,” James said.
Catlett spent the rest of the game in a photographer’s booth high up in the Armory Fieldhouse. He communicated with his assistants by walkie-talkie, according to The Enquirer.
UC ran away with the game, which prompted Catlett to say afterward with a smile: “. . . Maybe I’ll coach from up there all season.”
HOPE AND A PRAYER
The picture is still in his home. The one game Batts won’t forget is against Louisville at the Armory Fieldhouse when he hit the winning basket during his junior year (February 5, 1973).
The game was tied at 79 in the final minute and Louisville was in possession, but the Cardinals turned the ball over with 21 seconds remaining. UC called a timeout.
Lionel Harris took the inbounds pass and started dribbling. The clock was counting down. Fans started screaming.
An impatient Batts ran toward Harris, grabbed the ball and shot from about 30 feet out. The buzzer sounded. The ball went in.
“When a guy is going the wrong way, is off balance and just throws the ball up and it goes in, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Louisville coach Denny Crum said afterward.
I HATE SNAKES
Batts was one of several UC players who refused to visit teammate Derrick Dickey in his dorm room. They liked Dickey, who everyone agrees had one of the most infectious smiles. But one of Dickey’s roommates was a boa constrictor.
He would taunt his teammates with tales of feeding the snake lots of mice. Once, Batts said, the boa got out of its cage and wrapped itself around one of Dickey’s sons.
“Nobody knew that he had it except the team,” Batts said. “After that, they made him get it out of there. After college, he took it with him to the pros.”
That’s why Batts called Dickey “The Snake.”
“He called it his baby,” Batts said. “I’m glad he wasn’t helping recruit me,” Batts said laughing. “I wouldn’t have come for sure. I never stepped foot inside of Derrick’s house.”
TRY OUT THIS CAR
Hal Ward grew up in Loveland, Ohio, but had no intention of attending the University of Cincinnati, even though Ken Cunningham, an assistant to UC coach Tay Baker, originally recruited him.
Ward, from Loveland High School, was headed for Tennessee-Chattanooga, where on his recruiting visit he was introduced at halftime of a game and treated like royalty. He said he was going to be a “package deal” with Ted Allen, a football player from Loveland.
When Catlett became UC’s head coach in 1972, Ward was his first recruit. Catlett called the family and scheduled a home visit in an area that was rural at the time. “A hick town,” Ward said.
“We lived in lower-middle class crackerjack box homes—about 15 feet apart,” Ward said. “I remember we were waiting for Gale Catlett to come, and he drove up in a white Cadillac. Now, nobody drove a Cadillac in that area.
“One of his assistant coaches was with him. Then he jumped out. Of course, Gale Catlett was a flashy dresser. He had a maroon-and-white-checked suit on with white buck shoes. I thought, ‘This is a used car salesman.’ So he came in and I’ll tell you what, he had a gift of gab.”
Catlett hit it off with Ward’s mother. And he hit home with his message to Hal.
“You may not play one minute if you come to UC,” Catlett told Ward. “But if you come and bust your back and work hard, those are the kind of guys we’re looking for.”
Ward thought, “That’s a pretty good challenge.”
“I guess I liked challenges at that time,” Ward said.
At the last minute, he told the coaches at Tennessee-Chattanooga he wasn’t coming and he signed with UC.
HOW TO PLAY?
Ward was surrounded by UC teammates who were scoring machines in high school, guys like Lloyd Batts and Jesse Jemison, and later Robert Miller, Steve Collier, Mike Jones and Pat Cummings.
Early in his career, Ward figured out there was only one way he was going to get any playing ti
me: “I was going to have to play defense,” he said.
As a sophomore, he started at forward. He was a key reserve his last two seasons, when the Bearcats went a combined 48-12. He said he was three times voted best defensive player on the team.
“Nobody wanted to play defense,” Ward said. “Gale loved defense. I thought, ‘These other guys can shoot. If I want to play, I’m going to have to do something else.’ That’s how I got to play.”
NICE FINISH
In Batts’s final home game, he treated UC fans to a special parting performance.
The Bearcats were playing No. 8 Marquette at the Armory Fieldhouse and trailed 43-36 at halftime. Then Batts went to work. He ended up with 33 points and 10 rebounds. Marquette coach Al McGuire was yelling at his players, “Can anyone stop Batts?”
Marquette would go on to the NCAA title game, where it lost to North Carolina State. Batts thinks it was the victory over Marquette that helped him get drafted by the Kentucky Colonels.
THE ALL-AMERICANS
They arrived on campus in 1974, dubbed “The All-Americans.” There was Steve Collier, Indiana’s co-Mr. Basketball. Pat Cummings, a prep All-American from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Mike Jones, one of the best West Virginia had to offer. Robert Miller, an all-star in Kentucky. It is a group, recruited by Catlett, which ended UC’s eight-year absence from the NCAA Tournament and would be the last Cincinnati team to go to the NCAA for another 15 years.
Collier was from Hanover, Indiana, and attended Southwestern High School. Being an Indiana All-Star, Collier was, of course, expected to go to Indiana or Purdue or stay in state at another school. He visited Indiana “almost out of courtesy,” knowing he was not a Bob Knight-type of player. He also was recruited by the likes of Michigan, Wake Forest, Louisville, Kentucky and North Carolina.
Catlett worked hard to land Collier. He spoke at Collier’s high school basketball team’s banquet. He arranged meetings at Riverfront Stadium with Reds stars Pete Rose and—on another visit to town—Johnny Bench. “Every time I came to Cincinnati to visit, they did different things with me,” Collier said. “It was fun.”
Collier liked the city and saw a chance to play. He was part of a stellar freshman class that would have a chance to grow together.
Collier, Miller and Cummings started from Day One. The Cincinnati Enquirer referred to the Bearcats as the “Kiddie Korps.” Jones eventually worked his way into the starting lineup. All four started all the time by the time they were sophomores.
23 YEARS LATER
This is what Bill Lammert said about teammate Jack Twyman, who starred at UC from 1952-55: “Jack Twyman knew what he wanted to do. He was the first on the floor and the last one off. He worked harder than anyone else. He wasn’t that talented. He was rather awkward, quite frankly. Nobody had any clue he would turn out the way he did.”
This is what Collier said about teammate Cummings, who starred at UC from 1975-79: “He was the hardest worker I had ever seen on the court. He was always in the gym, always working on his game. You wouldn’t say he was real athletic, but he would outwork you and he had a good head on him. You could see why he went to the pros and why he played for so long. He just had that mental toughness.”
Twyman was six foot six and was UC’s all-time leading scorer when his career ended. He played professionally from 1955-66.
Cummings was six foot nine and was UC’s No. 2 all-time scorer when his career ended. He played professionally from 1979-89.
“We’d have an early morning practice and Pat would already be there shooting,” Collier said. “We’d get home from a road game and we’d drop off our stuff, and then he’d go up to the Armory and shoot around. He just wanted to develop his shot.”
“I had keys to every gym on campus that had a hoop in it,” Cummings said.
Cummings said that he knew when he was in ninth or tenth grade that he wanted to be a pro basketball player. At Greater Johnstown (Pennsylvania) High School, that was his stated goal. By tenth grade, he was lifting weights regularly, starting with a tailpipe filled with BBs. During his college career, he lifted three times a week throughout the season.
Remember, this was in the 1970s, before strength and conditioning programs existed.
TOO GOOD OF A TIME
Catlett believed in taking his players to interesting, exciting cities and giving them a chance to see some sites. On Catlett’s watch, the Bearcats went to Hawaii, Malibu, New Orleans, and New York City.
“He always wanted us to get out and experience the city,” Collier said. “He always said if we didn’t get out and enjoy it, we might as well take a bus up to Youngstown and play Youngstown. He’d set things up for us to see. He was a firm believer in that. I always thought it was great.”
When UC played in New York City, Catlett took the team to the 21 Club. After the Bearcats won the 1976 Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans, Catlett kept them in New Orleans through January 1 so they could celebrate New Year’s Eve on Bourbon Street.
“We really had a good time,” Collier said.
In May 1975, UC went to Australia and played 17 games. The players traveled in vans through the country and stayed with Australian families for a day or two at a time.
“I remember waking up in the middle of the night looking for the bathroom, and it’s out there by the cows—it was an outhouse,” Cummings said. “One time I stayed with a sailor, and he wanted to take me out drinking all the time.”
Then there was the basketball.
“We were 16-0 and the last game was in Melbourne,” Collier said. “The country was getting upset with us, so they loaded up their National Team. We won and went 17-0. The trip was quite an experience.”
There was a time Catlett’s philosophy backfired.
Unbeaten Cincinnati was favored to win the eight-team 1975 Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. Catlett let his players spend time on the beach and enjoy Honolulu. When it was time for the first game, against Arizona, the sixth-ranked Bearcats were pulled out of the ocean and off the beach, then they went out and lost 71-64 to the unranked Wildcats. They lost their second game to Holy Cross 66-65, before winning their finale 83-55 over Yale.
UC finished seventh in the tournament.
“A plastic atmosphere . . . too many distractions,” Catlett told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “The atmosphere just wasn’t for basketball. Everybody was there primarily to have a good time.”
“(Catlett) was upset, but that was early (in the season), and he stuck with what he believed in,” Collier said. The Bearcats only lost four more times that season.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
No. 18 UC was playing host to San Francisco at the Cincinnati Gardens on February 28, 1976. A strong freshman class that included Bill Cartwright led the Dons.
Pat Cummings (42) played 12 seasons in the NBA with five different teams, averaging 9.6 points and 5.6 rebounds over his career. (Photo by University of Cincinnati/Sports Information)
The game, which the Bearcats led 62-49, ended up going into overtime. UC trailed 88-87 with 44 seconds left and came down the court for a potential game-winning shot.
UC wanted to get the ball inside. But a pass got deflected and the ball was up for grabs. In a crowd of players, Cummings reached down and picked the ball up off the floor. He sent up an 18-foot shot that gave Cincinnati the victory.
“God was with me,” Cummings said that night. “I just turned and threw it.”
He finished with 20 points and six rebounds. Cartwright, who would become Cummings’s teammate with the New York Knicks, totaled 14 points and 16 rebounds.
LUCK OF THE IRISH
UC, ranked 15th in the country, had a golden opportunity to knock No. 7 Notre Dame out of the 1976 NCAA Tournament during a Midwest Regional game in Lawrence, Kansas. The Bearcats led the whole game and were ahead 78-77 in the final seconds. They were taking the ball out of bounds under the Irish basket with eight seconds remaining.
“We had two timeouts left,” said Ward, who was inbounding t
he ball. “Gale said, ‘If you can’t get the ball in, call timeout.’ I couldn’t get it in and I called timeout.”
Before Ward knew it, official Don Wedge blew his whistle and called him for five seconds. A turnover. The Fighting Irish would have one more chance.
“Nobody knows this—you can see it on the film—the referee puts the whistle in his mouth and he drops the whistle,” Ward said. “So he’s bending down to pick up the whistle. While he’s bending down, I call timeout in plenty of time. He doesn’t see me call timeout, he blows his whistle and points Notre Dame ball. We’re all thinking, what’s going on?”
Notre Dame inbounded the ball to Bill Paterno, who missed a jump shot. Toby Knight, a six-foot-eight forward, tipped in a game-winning basket for Notre Dame with two seconds left.
“He came from the foul line,” UC’s Gary Yoder said. “We couldn’t get a body on him.”
“Somebody up there loves us,” Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps said afterward.
UC would have played Kentucky next in the tournament, and the players thought they matched up well with the Wildcats.
“That was a killer,” Collier said. “We had the team that year. We had a good mixture of upperclassmen. We were playing well. We were clicking well. We had gone through the whole season improving. I don’t think we were ever as good as we were that year. That sticks in our mind. That was the time, and it did not happen.
“Hal Ward says to this day people ask him about that. He said that still haunts him. It’s not his fault. You can’t blame one guy.”
That was the final game of Ward’s career.
“It was disappointing,” Ward said. “I do know one thing: If we would’ve won that game, we would’ve gone to the Final Four. We should’ve been there.”
I GOT THE MESSAGE
UC played sixth-ranked Marquette—which would go on to win the national championship—on February 6, 1977 at Riverfront Coliseum in a nationally televised game. The Bearcats were No. 12 in the country.
Tales from the Cincinnati Bearcats Locker Room Page 9
