The dandy Dons

Sporting News, The, Jan 15, 1996 by Steve Gietschier

Say what you will about the early great teams of college basketball, like Henry Iba's Oklahoma A&M Aggies and Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats, but the hoops world had not seen anything like Phil Woolpert's San Francisco Dons of the 1950s.

These were the Dons of Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and Hal Perry. These were the Dons who posted a then-record 60-game winning streak.

Forty years ago, the Dons had almost forgotten how to lose a basketball game. On January 13, 1956, the Dons took on Fresno State in a CBA (California Basketball Association) game and won, 69-50, to tie the acknowledged record for consecutive victories. It was USF's 39th consecutive victory, a streak that included winning the 1955 NCAA Tournament. And there was more to come.

When the country's best teams regularly were averaging 80 or more points, the 1954 55 Dons had topped the nation by allowing only 52.1 per game. They played suffocating defense. The guards pressed, the forwards fought through screens to contest shots and the center, a guy named Russell, blocked shots like he had invented a new art form. "If your opponents can't shoot," Woolpert reasoned, "they can't score."

Or win. San Francisco's winning streak, which started with a 60 34 victory over Oregon State on December 17, 1954, hardly could have happened to a less conspicuous school. Situated on a hilltop near Golden Gate Park, the Jesuit university with an enrollment of 3,000 was so small that it lacked a campus gymnasium. Woolpert had to beg practice time at a local boys, club or at a parish hall or at nearby St. Ignatius High School, where he had coached before taking the USF job in 1950.

Left with only one veteran player and a tough schedule, Woolpert's Dons compiled losing records in his first three seasons. His fortunes began to improve in the spring of 1952 when he offered scholarships to Perry, a 5-foot-11 guard from Ukiah, Calif., and Russell, who played at Oakland's McClymonds High School, where he had scored more than 10 points in a game only once.

Not eligible to play for the varsity as freshmen under the rules of the day, Russell and Perry worked with assistant coach Ross Giudice to hone their skills. In the duo's sophomore year, the Dons improved to 14-7, but they were hampered by the loss of Jones, a 6-1 guard who had ruptured his appendix one game into the season.

San Francisco opened the 1954-55 season with victories over Chico State and Loyola of Los Angeles, but then lost, 47-40, to UCIA. At this point, Woolpert inserted Perry into the starting lineup, joining Russell, Jones and forwards Jerry Mullen and Stan Buchanan. Now USF would have three starters who were black, a risky move anywhere in 1954. "It was never said," Woolpert said, "but you knew as a coach that you had to be aware of the quota thing."

The Dons began to win: Oregon State, UCLA, three games at the All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City, where the team chose to stay in a dorm instead of having the white players check into a whites-only hotel. The Dons then swept through the league schedule, earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament and beat four foes to face La Salle, the defending champion, in the final. It was no contest. Woolpert put Jones on Tom Gola, La Salle's 6-7 three-time All-America, and let Russell sag near the basket. Gola scored 16 points, but Jones countered with 24. Russell blocked shots, scored 23 points and grabbed 25 rebounds. The Dons won, 77-63, and finished 28-1.

Over the summer, rules officials reacted to Russell's style of defense. They widened the foul lane from six feet to 12, a change that Woolpert called "absurd" in THE SPORTING NEWS (December 14, 1955). "The playing area is already too small for players to operate in," he argued. "But I don't think the rule change will hurt a man of Russell's agility."

He was right. Russell moved to the high post and reveled in dishing the ball to teammates. The Dons opened the 1955-56 season with three victories at home, beat Marquette and DePaul at the Chicago Invitational Tournament and knocked offWichita and Loyola of New Orleans on the road. USF won the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden and kept the streak going. On January 28, the Dons beat California in Berkeley, 33-24, overcoming a slowdown directed by Coach Pete Newell, Woolpert's college teammate and predecessor at USF. But most important, it was victory No. 40, the record-breaker.

And there was more to come. The streak stood at 51 as the Dons entered the NCAA Tournament and 55 after they defeated UCLA, Utah, Southern Methodist and Iowa to finish 29-0 and become the third school to win back-to-back NCAA crowns and the first undefeated national champion. And they had defended their title without Jones, who, because he had played that one game two seasons before, was ineligible for tournament play.

And there was more to come. Russell, Jones and Perry graduated, but the 1956-57 Dons opened with five victories to run their streak to 60. Finally, they lost an exhibition to the U.S. Olympic team (starring Russell and Jones) on its way to Melbourne and then a regular-season game to Illinois. Still, USF finished 22-7 and advanced to the Final Four, where it lost to Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in the semifinals before beating Michigan State for third place.