Even before shot clocks and three-point lines, Ohio drew top talent to Athens. In 1968, The Convo opened. The next season, the Bobcats played host to Purdue, which was ranked No. 3 in the preseason polls.
The year before, the Boilermakers were Big Ten Conference champions and NCAA runners-up, losing 92-72 to the John Wooden-coached UCLA Bruins in the NCAA Championship.
"It was a top-10 team coming to Athens, Ohio, so it was a big deal," said Ohio baseball coach Joe Carbone, who was a student-athlete at the time.
The game, which was held Dec. 6, 1969, became the first non-conference game in The Convo to be played in front of more than 10,000 people. The previous season, a 60-59 win against rival Miami drew 10,102.
But Miami had to visit Athens because it is part of the Mid-American Conference - Purdue did not.
The Boilermakers returned eight lettermen, including All-American guard Rick Mount, who was the No. 2 scorer in the nation in 1968-69.
"Rick Mount and Pete Maravich - those were the types of names that everybody heard about," Ohio associate head baseball coach Bill Toadvine said.
Toadvine graduated from Ohio in 1971 and attended the game.
Purdue became one of five Big Ten opponents the Bobcats faced during the 1969-70 season, causing former Ohio President Dr. Vernon Alden to joke that Ohio could win the Big Ten.
"I was happy that we could schedule in football and basketball more prestigious universities," Alden said. "I wanted very much in football and basketball to play schools who were well known because that would help our school become well known."
Alden said the hiring of Bill Rohr - the former basketball coach at Big Ten-member Northwestern - as Ohio director of athletics helped Ohio upgrade its schedules.
Ohio, meanwhile, had finished 1968-69 with a 17-9 record, including 9-3 in the MAC. The Bobcats returned 13 players who had seen action, but lost their leading scorer from the previous season.
According to the Dec. 2, 1969 edition of •The Post•, "The Boilermakers are coming all the way from Lafayette, Ind. Saturday and they won't feel like making a trip for nothing...and the Cats won't feel like embarrassing themselves in their home opener."
Ohio coach Jim Snyder and the Bobcats did little to embarrass themselves, beating Purdue 80-79 in front of 11,371, despite 29 points from Mount.
"It was a great team effort," Snyder said in a Dec. 7, 1969 •Columbus Dispatch• article. "Neither team shot well, but we were lucky to stop Mount in the first half. Our defense forced them into a few errors and our big men up front really worked the boards."
Purdue took the lead only once, 76-75 with two minutes and 35 seconds left in the game, but Ohio guard John Canine, who led the team during the season with 18.8 points per game, made a runner from eight feet out to give the Bobcats the lead for good.
"It was a very exciting game," Ohio Special Assistant to the Athletic Director Kermit Blosser said. "One team would score, then the other team would score. No one could run away with it."
Toadvine said the game had the physicality of a boxing match.
"Almost every time that Mount shot the ball, Ohio players were all over him," Toadvine said. "It was one of the most physical basketball games that I have ever seen."
Blosser coached under Snyder before the 1969 season. Less than a month after the Purdue win, the Bobcats were ranked No. 5 in the nation in the United Press International basketball poll.
"Jim Snyder was a teacher," Blosser said. "Our players improved, and they took great pride in being recognized as good talent."
The win sparked a 20-5 record and a trip to the NCAA Mid-East Regional Tournament, which Ohio lost to Notre Dame 112-82. The Fighting Irish finished the regular season ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll.
17 Archives
Eric Pfahler
200302261253midsize.jpg
Ohio forward Steve Esterkamp reacts to a call while coach Tim O?Shea argues his case in last Saturday?s 79-72 double overtime win against Western Michigan in The Convo.
