La Salle yearbook, 1969
The story of the 1968–69 La Salle Explorers begins in an unexpected place. It doesn’t begin with the story of Tom Gola — a legend in Philadelphia basketball who coached the team. It doesn’t begin with one of the finest teams in La Salle and Big 5 history, which boasted a dominant 23–1 record and whose basketball program dates back to the Great Depression.
To understand how the team that could do almost anything on the college hardwood didn’t get a chance to win an NCAA Championship, one has to go back to the mid-1960s. Our story begins right before the start of the 1965 season, when a talented group of seniors and top recruits alike with sky-high season expectations endured the retirement of their coach Bob Walters. His successor, a young coach named Joe Heyer, only lasted two seasons before resigning. The legend of Heyer needing a student to give permission for him to have a beer due to his youthful appearance is still told today.
Enter Jim Harding, who stayed one year and then went to the NBA. It was under Harding’s regime when La Salle was flagged for infractions and subsequently had to endure a two-year postseason suspension for a series of infractions. Even though Harding only stayed for one season, the sanctions that were levied by the NCAA for his tenure would prevent one of Philadelphia’s best college basketball teams ever to play in the city from having a chance at the national title.
When La Salle legend Tom Gola got rolling in his new coaching role in October 1968, the NCAA placed La Salle under a two-year probation. But even though the decision rendered them ineligible for the post-season play, the Explorers played that season with an unyielding resolve.
With the program cascading into uncertainty, La Salle turned to a legend. In the deep annals of Philadelphia basketball lore, Tom Gola’s name is as prominent as any. In a period of six years during a playing career that spanned nearly twenty, Tom Gola would win the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship in 1950 in high school, the NCAA Tournament and the National Invitation Tournament championship (NIT) at the collegiate level, and an NBA Championship as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors. Although Gola went into politics when in 1968 — he was elected to the Pennsylvania State House representing the Northeast Philadelphia-based 170th District — his win did not deter Gola from coaching the Explorers.
The 1968–69 Explorers would finish with a record of 23–1, loaded with talent including four future professional players: Ken Durrett, Larry Cannon, Bernie Williams, and Roland Taylor. Off the bench, La Salle also received great performances throughout the season from Ed Szczesny and Fran Dunphy. La Salle would finish its season with fifteen straight wins. In yet another great game in the history of the Palestra, La Salle defeated a Villanova squad that was ranked eighth in the nation by a score of 74–67.
The roller coaster of the 1968–69 La Salle Explorers ended with the team being ranked No. 2 in the country by the Associated Press. It included Fran Dunphy, who just retired as the Head Coach of those same La Salle Explorers. It did not end with what would have been a thrilling matchup with the #1 team in the country in the UCLA Bruins led by Lew Alcindor — later known as Kareem-Abdul Jabbar.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.
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