Haderlein Still in Loyola Record Book but 15-Year Scoring Mark Is Eclipsed

Forrest Walton-McKenzie and Keith Smith both passed Jim Haderlein as the all-time leading scorer in Loyola Marymount University basketball last week but Haderlein, the record-holder for 15 years, hasn’t been forgotten around the Westchester campus and doesn’t begrudge them the record.

Haderlein, who was on hand when McKenzie broke his mark of 1,706 points last week, said, “I don’t really have strong feelings about it. Those things are kind of inevitable--something I really haven’t thought about.”

He said he was surprised the record stood as long as it did.

Haderlein, who works for the Automobile Club of Southern California and lives in Irvine, will be one of the inaugural inductees in Loyola’s new athletic hall of fame later this month.

He still holds Loyola season and career rebounding records, and his 659 points his junior year was the season mark until Smith eclipsed it with 678 last season. Smith and McKenzie figure to approach or break 2,000 points apiece, but both played as freshmen. When Haderlein went to Loyola in 1967 freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity.

The 6-9 Haderlein was not a storied scorer coming out of high school and said he probably wouldn’t have played much as a freshman anyway, “so the three- or four-year thing doesn’t mean that much. For me it was probably more helpful I was able to play as a freshman (on the freshman team).”

Haderlein’s varsity teams went from 6-19 his sophomore year to 13-13 when he was a junior to 15-10 his senior season. In his senior year the Lions went 10-4 in conference play and placed second in the West Coast Athletic Conference. They haven’t done better since. Haderlein had a 44-point game as a junior against Nevada-Las Vegas, his top collegiate effort. He averaged 25.8 points and 17 rebounds per game that year. For his career, he averaged 22.5 points and 15.2 rebounds.

“I was not really a high scorer, I just had the opportunity to play as a sophomore. And I didn’t miss any (varsity) games. I was fortunate.”

Haderlein’s younger brother, Steve, and sister, Lisa, also went on to play basketball at Loyola. Steve is a graduate assistant to Coach Paul Westhead this year.

Haderlein said he doesn’t play basketball anymore, “just a little golf.” But his basketball records continue to touch the program.

What did Lee Preble do on his Christmas vacation?

The 51-year-old ultra-marathoner ran for 72 hours and covered 224 miles to set a 50-and-over age-group record. Along the way he set a U.S. record for 48 hours with 72 miles, 16 more than 40-year-old runner-up Del Sharffenberg of Portland, Ore.

The Torrance resident accomplished a dual mission, not only setting national standards, but raising money for West Coast University’s Orange County Building Fund. Preble, a vice president of the school, started out without sponsors but ended up raising nearly $50 per mile in pledges, which paid for the use of Cerritos College’s stadium and the running of the three-day event and left money for the building fund.

Preble, who set up and received sanction from The Athletics Congress for the distance event and got a field of 30 runners for the 24-hour leg of the race, 22 of whom finished. Pete Saccone, 42, of San Diego set a U.S. age group record of 142 miles for 24 hours. Eleven of the more hardy souls stuck around for the second and third days. Eight runners completed the full three days. John Radich, 31, of San Bernardino provided the closest competition for Preble, totaling 217 miles.

Preble hopes to make the Holiday Ultras an annual event.

Loyola Marymount University’s basketball team broke a four-game losing streak by scoring 267 points in two victories last week, inspiring Coach Paul Westhead to literary quotation:

“I think it was Mark Twain who said, ‘The man who who has held a bull by the tail knows five or six things more about it than the man who hasn’t.’ I think we’ve held the bull by the tail.”