University of Dayton - Daytonian Yearbook (Dayton, OH)

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St. Johnls, Dayton's foe in the final, was picked to win the coveted championship cup because. the oddsmakers said, the Flyers had a mental block due to the fact that, in five previous NIT championship contests, UD had been unsuccessful each time. This Flyer team wasn't content to settle for a recurrence of the past, however, and calmly grabbed an early lead on the Johnnies and held out to win by six points. The feelings of patient UD fans on the Flyers' NIT accomplishments were best summed up by Rev. Raymond A. Roesch, university President, when he said, This is so much better than second place. It was nice in the past to be called Cinderella, but now we're queen and that's what we want to re- main. Coach Blackburn. never one to dish out praises on silver platters, commented. We've never played as many tough teams in the NIT as we did this time. Wichita. Houston. Loloya. and St. ,lohn's are all good clubs and my boys should be proud. Yes, this is by far the best team I ever coached. And so ended a new beginning in athletic ex- cellence at the Ilniyersity of Dayton. Below: Go ahead, Bill, pounce on him. I've got him blocked off on this side and my brothers waitin' for him behind. hm--N 1 little nap. St. ,l0hn's player watches Carry Roggenburk put Flyers nine points ahead in championship tilt. i Hal Schoen bat- tles two Loyola opponents fo r possession o f loose bull carly in semifinal game. Oh to heck with all this running around. I'm gonna lay down here and take a ZOI

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bb C-ee-this is like taking candy from a baby, Chmielewski. all alone under a basket during Loyola ganw. says. Take it easy, boys, you'll crush me if you don't watch out, Roggenburk says as The Moose, Loyola foe, twists toward h.im. 200 Even though the Flyers had a 20-6 record under their belts going into the twenty- fifth NIT, only a daring few predicted they could win. They were not seeded and most observers felt that Dayton would be lucky to get beyond the semifinals. Even Coach Blackburn predicted many-times NIT champ St. John to win again. With Chmielewski out-duelling opposing center Len Wiley, 24-11, and C. Hatton potting 19 points, the Flyers chopped the Wheatschockers of Wichita 79-71, in the opening game. Hope was not bustin' out all over after the victory over Wichita, though, because Houston, a seeded entry, and the best team in the Southwest during the season, loomed as big obstacles in the Flyers' victory path. Sophomores Chmielewski and G. Hatton had little trouble in scoring 2-L and 19 points respectively while leading their Ohio buddies to a 9-1-77 victory over the Cou- gars from Texas. By this time New Yorkers began to take Dayton as a serious contender and they viewed the Flyers, semifinal game with Loyola of Chicago as a tossup. Chmielewski and Hatton should have been wearing professional uniforms for their performances against the Ramblers 'Fr from Chicago were truly magnificent. Scor- ing 60 points between them, the two guided the Flyers into the finals with a 98-82 win. Now where in the devil did that guy go, St. ,lol'm's player ffore- groundb wonders. Tournamenfs most valuable player sizes up situation as teammate Tom Hatton gets set for break down court.

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FROSH BASKETBALL For the first time in his career as freshman basketball coach at UD, Herb Dintaman experienced a losing campaign. After a 36-sl-1 season with the Dayton AAU League champions a season before, Dintaman's 1961-62 group finished last in the amateur league and were able to win only eight of their 27 season games. Playing one of the toughest of any college freshman schedules in the country, the first-year Flyers showed improvement during the second half of the season, Win- ning six of their last 14 games. That fair finish enabled the team to prevent what had begun to be a totally disastrous season. In their initial 13 tilts the frosh were able to win only two, and suffered a seven game losing streak. With only six scholarship players on the team, Coach Dintaman was forced to use players recruited from the student body and their play often left much to be desired. Top prospects for the varsity include Bob Sullivan, Earl Lindholtz, Phil Sherer, and Ralph Steffano. Sullivan and Lindholtz finished 1-2 in scoring C172 and 10.5 respectivelyj and rebounding t268 and 2301 among this y63l'i5 Flyer freshmen. Steffano and Sherer, who maintained scoring averages of 9.0 for the '61-62 freshmen, should help next year's varsity. l I I This is what is known as a layup, boys X, it I3 t'Come to Mama You guys can have the ball . . . I see something Let's choose up sides and . . . 202 better over here.