Flyer March Madness - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

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

Flyer March Madness

My nephew Carter, pictured above playing against Anna last year, is now a freshman at the University of Dayton; same age I was in 1967 when the Flyers made their fantastic run to the finals during the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately Carter and all the Dayton fans are disappointed the Flyers season is over and will not have a chance to experience what I recall so vividly from UD’s 1967 run. Only 24 teams made the Big Dance then, one from each league and a couple independents like Dayton. The brackets were rather convoluted as shown at the end of this blog, making little or no sense looking back on it. As Dayton fans, we were just glad to be in the tournament, even though before that time, the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) with 14 teams was more prestigious than the NCAA.

The first three games against Western Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia Tech were very close, with the first and third games going to overtime, but the most memorable game for me was the semifinal game against #4 North Caroline. We watched that game at newly opened Timothy’s Bar on Brown Street next to the UD campus. I recall the exact bar stool in fact, the one closest to the 19’ black & white TV mounted high in the corner of the bar.

That year the semifinals, well before the Final Four moniker became famous, were held on Good Friday, and the Flyers left nothing to chance. The team attended a noontime rosary service, and UD star Don May #21 above inserted an Immaculate Conception medal into the waistband of his shorts.

After the game’s opening minutes suggested the expected Carolina route, May hit a 10-foot jumper and from that point on he could not miss, making 13 straight field goal attempts, an NCAA tournament record that has yet to be equaled. By half-time, the Flyers were up 29-13. Timothy’s was buzzing with anticipation as the second half began. Dayton stretched its lead, however, midway through the half, Carolina made a run to cut the margin to nine, but then Dayton scored the next four points. As the clock wound down, Flyer fans at Timothy’s went berserk, chanting, “We’re No. 1!” Dayton delivered a final punch with a Don May dunk, giving him a game high 34 points, for a final score Dayton 76, North Carolina 62, clearly the biggest win in Flyer history, then and now.

The Flyers were defeated in the finals by unbeaten UCLA lead by sophomore Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar). Shortly after that game, the NCAA rules committee outlawed the dunk, citing concerns over injuries and damage to rims and backboards that delayed or canceled games. Most considered it an attempt to curb Alcindor’s dominance, yet UCLA repeated as national champions his junior and senior years. The seven straight NCAA titles captured by Coach John Wooden’s Bruins is a record that will likely never be broken.

Here’s a game-by-game recap of all five of the Flyers tournament games, during which UD Athletic Director (and Minster native) Tom Frericks proclaimed, “Boys, you just built us an arena.”, which came to fruition two years later as documented in this previous blogpost.

Carter’s young, resilient and kinda goes with the flow, so he’ll be fine, but let’s hope Carter and all UD fans will witness many future Flyer highlights leading to lifelong memories like mine.

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