Jesuit Basketball
Playing the city game with Bill Russell, Patrick Ewing, Al McGuire, and the Saint Peter’s Peacocks
A year ago this month the saga of Jesuit basketball took a magnificent improbable turn when Saint Peter’s University became the first 15th seed to become one of the Elite Eight—the final eight teams in the NCAA men’s tournament. To do that, the Peacocks upset three much more highly ranked teams, including Kentucky and Purdue, two of the blue-blood elite college programs.
Saint Peter’s is smaller than many community colleges. It’s an urban school tucked into a small campus in Jersey City, a short PATH train ride from Manhattan. I know; it’s my alma mater. I grew up in New Jersey, rode the PATH train, and trudged the mean streets of Jersey City on my way to and from class. I was thrilled by the Peacocks’ run through the tournament. I watched every minute of it. I taped the games and I occasionally watch the last ten minutes of the Kentucky game when I need a dose of joy.
As I watched the games, a sense of déjà-vu swept over me. I had seen this movie before. In 1968 I sat in a seat in Madison Square Garden and watched Saint Peter’s crush heavily-favored Duke 100–71, in the quarter finals of the NIT basketball tournament. It was the classic David-Goliath moment. Duke was a nationally ranked basketball powerhouse. Saint Peter’s was the same then as it is now: a small Catholic college that nobody outside of Jersey City had ever heard of. Duke was a team of lumbering white guys. Saint Peter’s motto was “run baby run,” and the Peacocks ran Duke off the court in a dazzling display of run-and-gun playground basketball.
Four Jesuit schools are playing in the NCAA men’s tournament this year: Gonzaga, Xavier, Creighton, and Marquette. Five are playing in the women’s tournament: Saint Louis University, Gonzaga, Holy Cross, Creighton, and Marquette. Alas Saint Peter’s isn’t in the tournament this year. They’re rebuilding. They’ll be back.
Jesuit schools have been very good at men’s basketball for a long time. Consider this all-star team consisting of alumni of Jesuit universities. In the backcourt we have Bob Cousy (Holy Cross) and John Stockton (Gonzaga). At center is the incomparable Bill Russell (San Francisco). The forwards are Elgin Baylor (Seattle) and Patrick Ewing (Georgetown). On the bench are Allen Iverson (Georgetown), Steve Nash (Santa Clara), and Dwyane Wade (Marquette). The head coach is Al McGuire (Marquette), assisted by John Thompson (Georgetown), and George Ireland (Loyola Chicago)—three men who led their teams to NCAA championships.
Why did I make Al McGuire the head coach over Thompson and Ireland? Because he was funny:
A team should be an extension of a coach’s personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.
Remember, half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class.
My rule was that I wouldn’t recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house. That’s not my world. My world has a cracked sidewalk.
But Al also said this:
Success is communal type thing, and if we win, then everyone can be considered successful and we can move uptown together.
Is there something “Ignatian” about Jesuit basketball? I think so. Basketball is a city game, and cities are where you find Jesuits. The early Jesuits set up shop in the cities of Europe; the countryside was for monks and hermits. The Jesuits have been in the cities ever since. Most of the twenty-eight Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States are located in urban areas, often right downtown. Basketball is a game of constant motion; it blends teamwork, individual skills, improvisation, and finesse. If you want a metaphor for Ignatian spirituality, basketball is a good one.