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Post by ptctitan on Feb 8, 2021 20:24:18 GMT -5
Former Ferndale HS star and UD star in 1965-68. Hit the game winning shot in the 94-92 win over Marquette after which Al McGuire was arrested for allegedly punching a police officer. 1116 career points. 6th in career rebounds in Titan history. Had 36 points and 19 rebounds in our win over Indiana.
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Post by ptctitan on Feb 9, 2021 8:31:03 GMT -5
When I was in high school, Rodwan's team, that also had Dorie Murrey, Lou Hyatt, Jim Boyce and Larry Salci, was the Titan team that I followed and came to Calihan Hall (then called the Memorial Building) to watch. That team gets overlooked so much in the thoughts of Titan fans because they played between DeBusschere and the shooting stars of Haywood's one year and Vitale's teams. Most of you never saw them play; and, so you only see them as cold stats printed on a website page or grainy black and white photos. Those teams were very good. Rodwan himself was a winner from Ferndale HS. I remember these teams as very skilled and unselfish players who worked very hard and competed against the best teams in D-1 in those days.
This heritage and tradition in our basketball program pre-dates the current merger. It is getting lost in time as the older guys pass on. The school should honor it, teach it, and market it because it was an important part of this university's unique value proposition that it offers prospective students. These guys were kicking the butts of Indiana, Notre Dame and Marquette in the city of Detroit when Mercy High School left for Farmington Hills and Mercy College was building a dormitory on its old campus. I still have no clue why the university's branding initiative declines to embrace this aspect of the Jesuit tradition at our university. Look at Rodwan's uniform in one of the photos on the page honoring him. Why can't our current teams wear those retro uni's a few times to honor the Jesuit tradition?
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Post by larrytitan on Feb 9, 2021 12:47:26 GMT -5
Bruce may have been the last Titan to shoot his FTs under-handed....a la Rick Barry.
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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 9, 2021 17:41:53 GMT -5
RIP, Titan.
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Post by Commissioner on Feb 9, 2021 19:26:09 GMT -5
From udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/20758/thread#27. Bruce Rodwan, 6-5 F, 1966-68
Bob Calihan always played a short bench, but by the mid-1960s it had become a bit ridiculous—Calihan’s starting five were playing almost every minute of every game. The result is that they put up some really good raw stat numbers, and it’s tough to go back and evaluate just how good some of the players were. Since the Titans were an Independent, there were no conference awards or recognition as a sort of substitute “eye test.” And of course no one kept “tempo” stats in those days, or per play efficiency rankings.
Forward Bruce Rodwan was a beneficiary of Calihan’s system, putting up some big numbers--three straight years of a double/double stat line. Rodwan averaged 13 points and 11.8 rebounds as a sophomore, 16.4 and 13.4 as a junior, and 15.2 and 11.1 as a senior. Those are pretty good numbers no matter how many minutes you play.
Rodwan’s best game was a 39 point effort in an upset of #13 Indiana early in the 1967-68 season. Rodwan is 6th on the Titans’ all-time rebounding list. Captain of the 1968 Titans, in 1969 he was a grad assistant coach for the freshman team. He then obtained his JD from UD, and has had a long career practicing law in the Detroit area. Rodwan was inducted into the Titan Hall of Fame in 1987.R.I.P.
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Post by Commissioner on Feb 9, 2021 20:01:50 GMT -5
When I was in high school, Rodwan's team, that also had Dorie Murrey, Lou Hyatt, Jim Boyce and Larry Salci, was the Titan team that I followed and came to Calihan Hall (then called the Memorial Building) to watch. That team gets overlooked so much in the thoughts of Titan fans because they played between DeBusschere and the shooting stars of Haywood's one year and Vitale's teams. Most of you never saw them play; and, so you only see them as cold stats printed on a website page or grainy black and white photos. Those teams were very good. Rodwan himself was a winner from Ferndale HS. I remember these teams as very skilled and unselfish players who worked very hard and competed against the best teams in D-1 in those days. This heritage and tradition in our basketball program pre-dates the current merger. It is getting lost in time as the older guys pass on. The school should honor it, teach it, and market it because it was an important part of this university's unique value proposition that it offers prospective students. These guys were kicking the butts of Indiana, Notre Dame and Marquette in the city of Detroit when Mercy High School left for Farmington Hills and Mercy College was building a dormitory on its old campus. I still have no clue why the university's branding initiative declines to embrace this aspect of the Jesuit tradition at our university. Look at Rodwan's uniform in one of the photos on the page honoring him. Why can't our current teams wear those retro uni's a few times to honor the Jesuit tradition? So true, PTC. I'm one of the non-UD alums. I became a Titan fan for a few reasons: 1. I was a kid from Detroit. The University of Detroit was the hometown team. I don't know if I would have felt that pull toward Detroit Mercy. We now bill the squad as "Detroit's college team." Let's call it "Detroit." 2. Spencer Haywood. My dad took me to Memorial to see Haywood play when I was 10. It was my first live college game. 3. Dave DeBusschere. Dad was a public school teacher at a time when they were paid quite a bit less than today, and between cost and Dad's own coaching schedule, we didn't make a lot of sporting events. But for a couple years Dad coached the son of the Pistons GM, and we used to get free tickets to a couple games a year. DeBusschere was, of course, the best player on the Pistons (at least until Dave Bing arrived when I was 8), and so naturally was a favorite. I know I was vaguely aware that DeBusschere attended UD. Here's kind of an odd one: I have a very clear memory of a headline in the Detroit News sports section, it was probably in the fall of 1965, although I suppose it's conceivable it was the fall of '64, or maybe a preview to the '65 NIT or something. It was on the right hand column, had a picture of Dorie Murrey, and the headline read (I may not have this quite right) "UD's fortunes rest on Murrey's broad shoulders." But I don't recall that I knew at all, at the time, of Larry Salci or Lou Hyatt or Bruce Rodwan. You're very right. Those teams were lost in the middle. But they were good teams. Here are some of the wins I noted in our list of top victories. You can see the types of teams we played in the interregnum between DeBusschere and Haywood, and how we did. 19. March 13, 1965: Detroit 93, La Salle 86 (NIT) Lou Hyatt scored 10 of his game high 31 points in the final 10 minutes as Detroit finally broke through in post-season play with a 93-86 win over traditional eastern power La Salle in the first round of the NIT. Detroit’s substantial height advantage helped the Titans dominate the boards and take a 53-45 lead at the half. But UD’s 6’8” star center Dorie Murrey went to the bench early in the second half with foul trouble, and the much smaller Explorers came back to take the lead in the second half, before Hyatt took control of the game. The Titans shot 59% from the floor to overcome a balanced La Salle attack in which all five starters scored in double figures.
The game marked the Titans’ first ever post-season win. In the second round they fell to NYU 87-76 to finish the season at 20-8. It was Detroit’s third 20 win season ever. udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/257525. February 6, 1965: Detroit 77, Notre Dame 74. Notre Dame had thrashed UD in South Bend, 107-86 just a few days earlier, behind 37 points from Larry Sheffield and 25 from Walt Sahm, who had outplayed Detroit star Dorie Murrey. But the Titans turned it around in the rematch. After a see-saw battle, UD went ahead to stay on a Murrey basket with 6:41 to play. The win was keyed by Murrey, who completely shut down Notre Dame star Sahm. Sahm, who entered the game averaging over 18 points per game, did not score a single point. Murrey finished with 14 points and 22 rebounds, dominating Sahm, the nation’s #6 rebounder, underneath. udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/256636. Jan. 2, 1968, Detroit 99, #14 Indiana 93. Indiana, the defending Big 10 champs, had opened the 1967-68 season 6-0, including wins over North Carolina St., Missouri, Kansas St. and Notre Dame, to advance to #3 in the AP and #5 in the last polls of calendar 1967. However, back to back losses to Western Kentucky and SMU in the Dallas Classic over Christmas week dropped them out of the AP poll ( AP ranked only the top 10 that year) and to 14th in the UPI poll, both released just hours before the tip-off with Detroit. Meanwhile, the Titans had started the season 7-2, the losses only to Missouri and Michigan, and the victims including West Virginia, Xavier, and Calvin Murphy-led Niagara.
Trailing 21-20 midway through the first half, Detroit went on a 9-0 run and led the rest of the game. At the half it was 46-42. Forward Bruce Rodwan scored 5 consecutive points as the Titans built their lead to 56-45 in the opening minutes of the second half, and UD gradually upped the lead to 16 points, 83-67, with six minutes to play. At that point, Indiana went into a full court press and chopped steadily into the Detroit lead, but Rodwan hit 4 consecutive free throws down the stretch to keep the Hoosiers at bay.
Rodwan finished the game with a career high 36 points, plus 19 rebounds. Larry Salci added 19 points and center Tom Richardson 14 points and 19 rebounds to the Titan effort. All 5 Titan starters scored in double figures – not unusual that year as the Titans featured a high scoring but balanced attack by Rodwan (15.2 ppg), Jerry Swartzfager (14.6), Salci (14.9 ppg), Ralph Brisker (15.4), and Richardson. Swartzfager had 15 and Brisker 14 in the win over Indiana.
So how could a Titan victory over a #14 Indiana squad not even make the Top 30 Titan wins? Well… Unfortunately, the win was the not the harbinger of good things to come for the Titans. In fact, both clubs soon found themselves on a downhill slide. Indiana rebounded from the Detroit loss to beat Minnesota and Illinois, but the Hoosiers would lose 11 of their last 13 to finish 10-14 overall. The Titans proceeded to lose 7 of their next 9 against a tough slate that included road losses to Notre Dame, Dayton, Xavier, and St. Bonaventure, and home defeats to Duquesne, Marquette, and Villanova. The Titans did beat Notre Dame at the Memorial Building later in the season, but only victories over John Carroll and Canisius in their final two games raised them above .500 at the finish, at 13-12. This was one victory that looked awfully good at the time, but that lost its luster rather quickly.40: January 10, 1964, Detroit 114, Notre Dame 104 (OT). This overtime victory was Detroit’s first ever win in South Bend. Dick Dzik had 26 and Lou Hyatt 24 to overcome Larry Sheffield’s Notre Dame record 47 points. Notre Dame led 52-50 at the half, and it was 100-100 at end of regulation. The score was not that atypical for UD in 1964 – the Titans led the nation in scoring, but played little enough defense that their season ending 14-11 record was the worst, to that time, of any team ever to lead the nation in scoring. Notre Dame would finish 10-14.41. January 9, 1965: Detroit 76, Dayton 74 (OT). 8-2 Dayton came into Detroit in January of 1965, but high-scoring sophomore forward Donnie May was out for this one. The real UD featured a sophomore star of its own in broad-shouldered center Dorie Murrey, and an able supporting cast including Lou Hyatt, John Watson, and Terry Page. The Titans were just 7-5, however, and had been blown out by Indiana, Minnesota, and Notre Dame.
The Titans led by 5, 41-36, at the half, and opened a 10 point lead in the second half. But Murrey hit the bench with 4 fouls and Dayton went on a 19-7 run to take a 65-63 lead with under four minutes to play. Hyatt hit a jumper to tie the game at 65 with 3:21 to play, and then Dayton went into a stall to play for final shot (ah, those pre-shot clock days). Page forced the issue by fouling John Wannamacher with 28 seconds to play, and Wannamacher obligingly missed the front end, but Detroit was unable to capitalize and the game went to OT. The Titans led all the way in the OT, with a pair of Watson free throws providing the final and ultimately winning points. Coach Calihan used just six players in the game. Murrey and Hyatt led the Titans with 20 each, and Page and Watson each added 14. The fifth starter on that team was guard Jim Boyce.
The overtime win over the Flyers seemed to be the moment the talented Titans finally came together. The Titans thumped Marquette by 12 in their next game, lost at Villanova 74-72 on a pair of free throws with 4 seconds remaining, then rolled off 10 more wins in their final 11 games, including a 14 point win at Marquette and a victory in a rematch with Notre Dame at Memorial. That got the Titans an NIT bid, where they recorded their first ever post-season victory by downing La Salle. Dayton, for its part, made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, losing to eventual runner-up Michigan.42. January 30, 1963: Detroit 83, Michigan 70. Dave DeBusschere’s departure after the 1962 season did not leave the Titans without weapons, most notably juniors Dick Dzik (9.1 ppg in 1962) and Al Cech (13.4 ppg in 1962), plus a pair of talented sophomores in forward Terry Page and guard John Watson. The Titans started out well enough, losing by a single point to Purdue and thumping Xavier by 18 en route to a 6-3 start, but then they dropped six straight, including a 35 point loss at Notre Dame and a 43 point drubbing at Western Michigan. Wins over Assumption and St. Bonaventure righted the ship but Detroit was still at just 8-9 when Michigan came to town at the end of January.
For the Wolverines, 1963 was a turnaround year. Michigan had never had sustained success in basketball before 1963, with just 1 NCAA appearance and 1 Big 10 title (both in 1948). After three straight seasons with single digit victory totals, however, in the 1962-63 season UM unveiled talented sophomore center Bill Buntin, and began a rapid rise to become one of the college game’s dominant powers for the next 35 years. The Wolverines came into Detroit at 10-3, their losses on the road to Butler, Minnesota and Ohio State by a combined total of just six points.
On this night, however, the Titans were all over Michigan from the opening tip. Detroit held UM without a field goal for the game’s first six minutes in building a 14-1 lead, pushed the lead to 16 at one point, and led 41-29 at the half. Detroit retained control through much of the second half, but midway through the period the Wolverines ran off 12 straight points to cut the Titan lead to one, 59-58. Detroit finally steadied itself, and when Buntin twisted a knee and went to the bench with six and a half minutes remaining, UD pulled away for the win. Dzik led Detroit with 23, while Cech and Page each added 14, Watson 13, and John Schramm 12. Buntin led Michigan with 16.
The win marked the only time the Titans have ever defeated Michigan in back to back seasons, having won in Ann Arbor in 1962. UD would finish the season at 13-12, while UM wound up at 16-8. udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/253561. Feb. 3, 1968: Detroit 82, Notre Dame 79. The Titans trailed most of the afternoon before an 8-0 run sparked by a pair of Rapid Ralph Brisker baskets gave Detroit its first lead with under 5 minutes to play in the second half. The Titans hung on to defeat the Irish. Jerry Swartzfager's 23 points led Detroit, Larry Salci added 20 and Brisker 18. Notre Dame would finish 21-9 and in third place in the NIT. This is probably the Titans most impressive win over Notre Dame. udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/252975. Dec. 21, 1964: Detroit 75, Colorado State 73. John Watson’s desperation 40 foot jumper bounced high off the rim, and with the buzzer already sounded, the ball dropped straight down through the nets to give the Titans an exciting win over an NCAA bound Colorado State squad.
The talented Titans were sputtering early in the 1964-65 season, and entered this game at 4-3, with losses to Purdue, Indiana, and Notre Dame, and unimpressive wins over Western Ontario, Christian Brothers, John Carroll, plus a rollicking 123-110 win over Xavier that set a school record for points scored. Colorado State was in the midst of a span of 5 post-season bids in 6 years, and the Titans needed to start getting wins, especially over good teams.
In this game, the Titans blew an early 14 point lead and trailed by 9 with under seven minutes to play, but rallied behind Lou Hyatt, who hit back-to-back jumpers to tie the game with 1:28 to play. That set the stage for Watson’s big shot, his only bucket of the half. Dorie Murrey led the Titans with 21 and Hyatt added 18. Colorado State finished 16-8 and returned to the NCAA as an at-large selection. The Titans went on to the NIT. udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/2526I think Kerrie tried to leverage some Titan history, and did a pretty good job, but her term was cut short. Vowels has made some efforts there, too--remember Titan TV? Plus days honoring past teams and players have been pretty regular. But they don't seem to be executed well. Now we're at the point where nobody under age 50 can remember Long and Tyler and Vitale at all. And the legends are dying off themselves. Anyway, I don't mean to take the focus off Bruce Rodwan. Just trying to emphasize and re-live what he and some of his teammates did.
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