Let's start with a question. What is the only team from a New Orleans college that has ever won a national championship? According to the Loyola Maroon, it's the 1945 Loyola men's basketball squad which captured the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) championship.
The team was coached by Jack Orsley, who also fielded some very good Wolfpack baseball contingents.
- His 1944-45 roundball squad was led by Leroy Chollet from Holy Cross High in New Orleans.
- Another high scorer was Tommy Whitaker, another hometown product (Jesuit High).
- Other contributors were Sam Foreman, a transfer
from Southwestern Louisiana Institute,
and freshmen Jim Bonck and Jim (Red)
Hultberg.
Red Hultberg is the father of Jordy Hultberg, former LSU player and longtime sports broadcaster.
- One player who would have made the squad even better was Sam Trombatore from St. Aloysius High in New Orleans. After starring from 1941-43, he was in the military. (He would return to finish his career in 1945-47).
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A 62-47 victory over SLI, Foreman's former team
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A 48-47 squeaker over previously undefeated Gulfport Naval Training team on Hultberg's field goal in the last seconds.
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A 52-45 win over Keesler Field after overcoming a 31-16 deficit. Keesler was led by former Georgetown All-American Francis O'Grady.
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A victory over Millsaps behind Chollet's 20 points to end the regular season with a 20-4 record. This earned the Wolfpack an invitation to the NAIB tournament in Kansas City.
Victories over Central Normal (Danesville IN), Phillips (Enid OK), and Illinois Southern put the Crescent City upstarts in the championship game against the much taller Pepperdine team.
- Loyola pressed the Blue Waves full court to take a surprisingly easy 49-36 victory.
- The Kansas City Star labeled the Wolfpack "the surprise champions" who won "because Loyola had one of the finest coaches in the country." And "The Loyolans could hit the basket from any angle when they were in the bucketing mood, but it was when the enemy had the ball under the Loyola basket, or in its immediate vicinity, that the New Orleans boys really got down to leveling … Pepperdine could seldom get set for a shot."
- With 62 points in the four games, Chollet made the all-tournament team.
 Leroy Chollet at Canisius |
The following year, Loyola reached the semifinals of the NAIB tournament but lost to Illinois Southern 53-37. Amid rumors that he was of mixed race, Chollet transferred to Canisius College, another Jesuit college, in 1946 and, taking advantage of post-war
eligibility rules, played there through 1949. Then he played
for the Syracuse Nationals in the NBA for two years. He is a member of the Halls of Fame
of both Loyola and Canisius.
He died in Ohio in 1998. Orsley and Hultberg join him individually in the Loyola Hall
as does the 1945 team as a group.
The AIB changed its name to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in 1952 when it extended its sponsorship to other sports besides basketball. The organization is proud that it opened its competition to black student-athletes in 1948 and accepted black schools as members in 1953. After switching to the NCAA in the 1950s, Loyola is back in the NAIA today. |