Loyola Going Like ’61 in ’88 : Donovan’s Lions Had Bumpy Trip

There is an air of excitement on the campus of Loyola Marymount, an old-fashioned spirit of pep rallies and camaraderie. Students, faculty members and alumni are savoring every moment of it.

And, why not?

It isn’t often that the Catholic school in Playa del Rey is recognized nationally, or even locally, for its athletic accomplishments.

The Lions, basketball champions of the West Coast Athletic Conference, are heading into the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament and a Thursday date with Wyoming in Salt Lake City.

“I don’t lose any sleep whether we’re going to be in the Final Four, or whatever,” said Brian Quinn, Loyola’s athletic director. “I’ve told Coach (Paul) Westhead he has done a terrific job, and it’s wonderful for the school. Everything from this point on is a bonus.

“Even if we go out after the first round, hey, we’ve had a great season. Of course, I hope we don’t obviously. I just want the kids to have the same experience that I did. I’ll never forget being in those playoffs. Those are memories you take with you all your life.”

Those memories are being revived now for Quinn, who was a 5-foot 9-inch starting guard on the last Loyola team to win the conference championship and advance into the NCAA playoffs. That was in 1961, 27 years ago.

Loyola got into the 1980 tournament, too, but only by default. The conference winner, the University of San Francisco, was ineligible to compete. So Loyola, the second-place team but with only a 14-13 overall record, represented the conference and was quickly dismissed, losing to Arizona State, 99-71.

The 1961 team also lost its opening NCAA playoff game to Utah, 91-75, before upsetting USC in a consolation game, 69-67.

It was, however, a gratifying season for the Lions, who at 20-7 were the last Loyola team to win 20 games in a season until this season’s 27-3 team.

Moreover, Loyola won the WCAC title with a 10-2 record, clinching first place with a regular-season ending 82-64 win over Pepperdine.

Loyola was coached by Billy Donovan, who along with his assistant, John Arndt, had been an exciting backcourt combination for the Lions in the late ‘40s.

The 1961 team featured high-scoring forward Ed Bento and ball-handling guard Jerry Grote. Quinn was the other guard. Forward Tony Krallman and forward-center Tom Ryan completed the starting lineup.

With the exception of Omer Simeon, the Lions didn’t have much support from the bench.

Donovan, who lives on Balboa Island now and operates Willowick and Western Hills golf courses, recalled that he had a disciplined team with fair size for that era.

“We ran a set offense, but we shot quickly for those days,” Donovan said.

Of course, the 1961 team couldn’t be compared to the present one in style. Not many teams can. Westhead’s team leads the nation in scoring, averaging 110.4 points a game.

However, as a shooter, Bento would compare favorably with any of Loyola’s present cast.

Bento was from St. Joseph’s High in Hilo, Hawaii, and was known then as the Hawaiian Eye, a nickname based on the television show of that name.

“We were just a bunch of kids who couldn’t run, or jump, but we had deceptive quickness,” said Bento, who is now an insurance adjuster living in Palos Verdes. “We were also extremely well disciplined and we believed in the guy who was coaching.”

Bento still is sixth on Loyola’s all-time career scoring list with 1,504 points. He’s also second in rebounding at 705 and fourth on the all-time single-season scoring list with 648 points in the championship season, when he averaged 18.3 points.

“Grote is one of the greatest passers I’ve ever seen and his passing got the ball in my hands and I scored a lot of points,” Bento said.

Bento’s repertoire of shots included a hook, practically a lost art in college basketball today.

“The hook shot gives you a tremendous advantage,” the 6-foot 6-inch Bento said. “It’s an elongated jump shot. You just shoot it off the tip of your fingers. I had only one hook shot blocked all the time I played in college.”

Quinn, a sophomore on the 1961 team, said there was great chemistry among the players, adding that Donovan was a marvelous coach.

“Bento and Grote were head and shoulders above the rest of us in talent, but we weren’t meant to feel that way. We all had our part,” he said.

Curiously, Loyola opened the season by beating Utah, 85-64, and losing to USC, 74-61. Those results were reversed at the end of the season.

Near the end of the season, Loyola was routed by Tom Meschery-led St. Mary’s, 92-61, at Moraga, a place that Bento still refers to as the pit of pits.

Said Quinn: “St. Mary’s just kicked our tail. We didn’t get back on defense. That game woke us up and gave us some fire after that.”

In an opening NCAA tournament game against Utah in Portland, the Lions were involved in a shoot-out at halftime, trailing, 49-42.

“Bento fouled out 10 minutes into the second half and we didn’t have anyone to match Utah’s Billy McGill,” Quinn said. “When Ed went down, we went down.”

In the other half of the bracket at Portland, USC was favored to beat Arizona State. The Trojans were champions of the Athletic Assn. of Western Universities, an interim alliance after the breakup of the Pacific Coast Conference and preceding the formation of the Pacific 8.

The Trojans were led by All-American center John Rudometkin, who had a dazzling assortment of shots including a sweeping hook, such as Bento favored.

Rudometkin had a fine supporting cast, namely guards Chris Appel and Neil Edwards and forwards Ken Stanley and Gordon Martin.

However, Arizona State beat USC, 86-71, as a “neutral” crowd shouted encouragement to the Sun Devils. The Trojans were as unpopular in the Northwest then as they are now.

After the game, the late Forrest Twogood, USC’s coach at the time, noted wryly: “If we played Red China in Portland, the crowd would be rooting for the communists.”

Anyway, Loyola got its second opportunity to play USC and made the most of it. Quinn’s four free throws near the end of the game wrapped up the two-point victory for the Lions.

It was the last game that Donovan ever coached for Loyola. He left coaching to go into business and Arndt succeeded him as Loyola’s coach.

“I guess to this day, that was our greatest accomplishment,” said Quinn, referring to the win over USC. “It was my one moment of glory.”

Now, 27 years later, the Lions are looking for some more glorious moments.

Donovan says today’s Loyola team is “fearless and fun to watch.”

Arndt, though, says that Loyola is the strangest team he has ever seen.

“You walk away and say they can’t play that way and win, but they do,” he said. “They’ve got very good athletes and they’re the best running team I’ve ever seen. They don’t defensively rebound very well, yet they’re a great fast-breaking team.

“They fast break off made baskets quicker than any team I’ve ever seen. But they do so many strange things. They don’t rebound very well and their defense is atrocious (the Lions are yielding 95.7 points a game).

“It’s almost to the point that they say, ‘Shoot a layup so we can get the ball and go the other way.’ They just run teams into the ground.”

And, even if Lions’ tournament run is a brief one, Quinn said he wants the kids to enjoy every minute of it--as he did.