Today’s Lion Cagers Revive Memories of Glory Season of 1960-61

How long has it been since Loyola Marymount won a West Coast Athletic Conference basketball title?

Well, former Loyola star Ed Bento had a son playing at Rolling Hills High several years ago. And Loyola Athletic Director Brian Quinn, who was a starting basketball guard, has a son at Loyola.

“It’s been so long. Let’s see, I can’t remember, did we have the center jump after every basket then?” Quinn said with a laugh.

After four conference games, the Lions are alone in first place this week, prompting reminiscing about the 1960-61 team that went 20-7 and won the Lions’ last WCAC title.

Quinn said that while the game is different, the teams have similarities. Neither had a big center. The championship team had the 6-6 Bento and 6-7 Tom Ryan up front. This year’s team plays 6-7 Hank Gathers in the middle. The other old-time starters were 6-4 swing man Jerry Grote and 6-5 Tony Krallman, whose son graduated from the University of San Diego last year.

“We ran a lot for the times,” Quinn recalled. “We had a guard--Grote--who was an outstanding player. Ed Bento--I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone 6-6 ever shoot the ball better. He was a great player and a marvelous person.

“Tony Krallman was the Mike Yoest type. We nicknamed him the ‘Garbage Man.’ He busted his back for us.”

Bento and Grote remain among Loyola career leaders in most statistical categories, and Ryan, the only starting senior that year, is among rebounding leaders. Quinn started as a sophomore--freshmen weren’t eligible for varsity in those days--and was a role player.

“I was the midget at 5-10. My role was basically to guard the best player on the other team,” he recalled. We all did our part. It was a team concept. I sure would have loved playing on this (current) team. I’d love to be the ‘2’ guard (shooting guard) like Jeff Fryer, run down court and take those shots. But I was the happiest guy in the world to be 5-10 and start three years. I was a big scorer coming out of high school but can remember Ed Bento telling me, ‘I feel hot tonight, Brian, get me the ball.’ I knew my role, if I didn’t want to be sitting on the bench.”

With the same nucleus, that team came back to win 18 games the next season. Bento, who averaged 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Grote, who averaged 13 points, were all-conference. Bento, a top recruit out of Hawaii and near-legendary in high school there, was nicknamed “Hawaiian Eye” for his shooting accuracy. Krallman was a recruit out of basketball-mad Kentucky.

In those days, the WCAC had an eminence that was eventually surpassed by the Pac-8. John Wooden and UCLA hadn’t established their NCAA dominance yet, and the WCAC, featuring two-time national champion San Francisco, was the prominent conference on the West Coast.

“In those days we didn’t have to fight for credibility,” Quinn said. “We were the conference in the West. We had USF and Santa Clara, and St. Mary’s with Tom Meschery. They were outstanding teams.”

“I can’t say any of our guys was as good as Gathers,” Quinn said, “but that was a pretty good basketball team and very entertaining. We had a great time, we ran when we could and we shot well.”

Thanks to their fast start, and with the meat of the conference schedule coming up, the Lions are becoming a hot ticket. Athletic Director Quinn said the Feb. 20 Pepperdine game is a virtual sellout, and Gersten Pavilion should have well over 3,000 spectators for the five remaining home games. It officially seats 4,156.

Students were in line Monday to get tickets for this weekend. The campus could be in for several weeks of media turnout and parking problems it hasn’t seen since the Olympics.

“Things we’ve never worried about before, we have to worry about. But they’re good things,” Quinn said. “A lot of social things are going on on campus (tied in with the games). It’s picking up. There’s a lot of interest in basketball.

“We’re not lacking for kind words from our alumni--there’s a kind of euphoria out there. And it’s not just the alumni, it’s the community as well. I’m pleased--I’m a fan as well. Sometimes I get a little twinge when I see them breaking the records from our last championship team. But I say let’s just keep it going, set all kinds of records. It’s a new regime.

“If people want to come to our games, they’d better get their tickets. We’re becoming a hit item.”

Life in fast lane: Loyola’s 134-106 victory over Portland last weekend set a West Coast Athletic Conference scoring record as well as records for most field goals (54). The Lions are averaging 106.9 points, just behind national leader Oklahoma at 107.7. Portland’s sports information office came up with these game statistics:

- Loyola scored within 13 seconds of a Portland basket 23 times.

- Loyola scored 89 of its points within 20 seconds of a previous score.

- In a 12-minute, 10-second span late in the first half, the Lions scored 53 points. At that pace they would have scored about 175 in a 40-minute game.

- The Lions broke 100 points with 11:51 to play. The longest time between points was 1:05. In the first half the longest scoreless span was 51 seconds.

The Oracle of Westchester? On Dec. 13, Loyola Marymount lost in overtime at Long Beach State to drop its record to 3-3. In the next game, guard Bo Kimble came off the injured list to score 28 points in 16 minutes in a victory over Southern California College. Corey Gaines declared: “My man is back. No more losses.”

Since Kimble’s return, Loyola is 11-0.

The NCAA’s decision to initiate a women’s Division II soccer tournament next fall has Cal State Dominguez Hills Coach Marine Cano talking national championship. The Toros were the second-ranked Division II team last season when they were thrown in with Division I schools.

Dominguez Hills, Cal State Hayward and Sonoma State have been the top Division II women’s programs in the West for two years. Barry College in Miami, Fla., was the top-rated Division II team last season and is another early favorite. The top Eastern program appears to be Keane State in Massachusetts.

“Having been a top-20 team in Division I should put us among the elite in Division II,” said Cano. “We have fought hard to compete against schools with more resources and now our players have a chance to think about a national title instead of just a playoff berth.”

Cano also noted that the chance to play for a national title will help recruiting.

The Toros return a solid nucleus of players including all-conference midfielder Kristine White, who missed the end of last season with a knee injury; Lynor Johnson, who filled in as goalie but would prefer to move back to defense, defensive stalwarts Mandi and Donna Robertson, fullback Laura Moses and midfielder Jeanine Charroux.

The tournament will have a final four format at the site of one of the finals.

College Notes:

In the latest NCAA statistics, Cal State Dominguez Hills leads Division II men’s basketball in free-throw shooting. The Toros entered the week shooting .772. . . . Loyola’s Hank Gathers was named WCAC player of the week. He scored 56 points in two conference victories. Gathers has recaptured the conference scoring lead with a 23.2-point average. . . . UCLA soccer Coach Sigi Schmid has been named to the adidas soccer advisory board, a 3-year-old committee that promotes the sport. As a representative of the sporting goods firm the Torrance native will conduct clinics and test products. . . . USF basketball Coach Jim Brovelli broke an unusual streak last week when his Dons defeated the University of San Diego. Brovelli, who came to prominence as the coach at San Diego, was 0-6 against USF. Since he took over the program at USF, his teams were 0-4 against San Diego until last week.