Final Four Memories - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.

Final Four Memories

Last year during March Madness, I shared a story about Ohio State’s Final Four exploits back in the early ’60’s, losing in the finals two straight years to Cincinnati. For this blogpost, let’s fast forward a few years to 1967 when the University of Dayton made it to the Final Four. At the time, I was living with three UD students from Anna, Minster and Ft. Loramie in the upper level of a house located at 521/2 Anderson within blocks of campus Although I was attending college at General Motors Institute in Michigan, March of 1967 found me working at a GM plant, Frigidaire in Dayton, as part of GMI’s coop rotation program to provide practical experience that complemented my education. So being around campus during that run to the Final Four by Dayton was really special. The only problem was that I had to get up early to work the day after the games, while my roommates, and likely most of the UD student body, slept in and skipped class!

The Flyers were lead by coach Don Donoher, who guided the team to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in his first two years as coach; then led the Flyers to the 1967 NCAA Championship game by beating Western Kentucky, #8 ranked Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and #4 ranked North Carolina, before falling to #1 ranked and eventual champion UCLA 79–64 in the final. It was quite a run. I can still visualize the exact seat at the newly opened Timothy’s Bar along Brown Street where I watched UD upset highly favored North Carolina in the Final Four. The star for UD was Don May, No. 21 in the above team photo, with 34 points and 15 rebounds. Don was a small forward the same size as me who could really shoot and rebound with a passion. He carried the team on his broad shoulders that season, especially against NC. But in the finals against UCLA, 7 footer Lew Alcindor, aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar intimidated the Flyers with his height and shot blocking. Even though May got 21 points and 17 rebounds against them, it wasn’t enough. 

UCLA was undefeated that year and Dayton ended up 21-6. May was named first team All-American and went on to play in the NBA for the New York Knicks. Read more about the ’67 Flyers at this link and catch a recent photo of the team below at the 50th anniversary of that magical season earlier this year. Coach Donoher is second from the right and Don May is the guy on the far right with a basketball in his hands. Point guard Bobby Joe Hooper is holding up the trophy.