70 years ago, Holy Cross won the NCAA tournament
The roster included a young Bob Cousy.
Until 1999, only one New England basketball team had ever won the NCAA men’s tournament. And despite not even having a home court located on campus, they triumphed in the tournament whose modern day incarnation has come to rule the college basketball world.
Holy Cross, going 27-3 that season, won the school’s first (and so far only) NCAA men’s basketball championship on March 25, 1947. They played their home games in the Boston Garden because there was no school gymnasium (only a cramped practice space). The Boston Globe’s account of the team’s 58-47 win over Oklahoma in the final fittingly called them the “champions of the land from a red barn atop cold Pachachoag Hill in Worcester.”
Coached by Alvin “Doggie” Julian, the Crusaders clinched an NCAA tournament berth after an impressive regular season. The team was composed of two groups: upperclassmen led by “rebound king” George Kafton, and a second string of talented freshmen. Among that group was the “Wizard of Worcester,” Bob Cousy.
Known now as the Hall of Fame guard on several of Red Auerbach’s Celtics teams, Cousy was merely a role player in 1947. In fact, it was only because of a wartime rule left over from World War II (that allowed freshman to play on the varsity team) that he factored at all in Julian’s plans that season. Most freshmen wouldn’t be allowed to play on the varsity team until the NCAA finally revoked the rule decades later.
And initially, he wasn’t impressed with Holy Cross. After all, they didn’t even have a gym, playing all home games miles away from campus at the Boston Garden.
Bob Cousy as a freshman for Holy Cross in 1947.
“I was walking around the campus with General (Al) McLelland and I said, ‘coach, where do we play our games?” Cousy once explained to Ian Powers of the New York Daily News. “He said, ‘We’re in the process of building a gymnasium.’ They built it [25] years later when I was coaching [at Boston College].”
Still, his presence on the team along with a slew of quality freshmen ensured that Holy Cross could wear down opponents with relentless efficiency.
“We were that close in talent, that Doggie found it simpler than dealing with 11 egos for playing time,” Cousy recalled to Powers, explaining the near-full team rotation that occurred periodically.
Having defeated Navy and City College of New York to advance to the championship, Holy Cross was deemed a “slight favorite” by Globe writer Jack Barry. Julian’s team faced a tough test in Oklahoma, who were riding an 11-game winning streak. Still, the presence of Kaftan was reassuring. In the pre-shot clock era where scoring was at a premium, Kaftan set a record in the semifinals by scoring 30 against CCNY.
Barry’s prediction of a Holy Cross victory by a 57-49 margin turned out to be almost completely accurate. Kaftan led the Crusaders with 18 points, helping to guide a New England college basketball team to the NCAA title for the first time by a final score of 58-47.
