Silver Hawks

Jan. 6, 2005

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Editor’s Note: The UI men’s basketball program will stage its annual Lettermen’s Day on Saturday, Jan. 15, when Coach Steve Alford’s Hawkeyes entertain Minnesota in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. As part of that event, the UI will celebrate the 25th anniversary – the Silver Anniversary – of the 1980 Hawkeyes who advanced to the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis. The following is the first of a series of articles that have been written about that historic team. The following was written five years ago by former UI sports information director George Wine and appears in his book “Black and Gold Memories.”

Twenty-five years ago this month Iowa added some craziness to “March Madness” with a series of surprising upsets in the NCAA basketball tournament. The 1980 Hawkeyes, whose season had nearly been wrecked by adversity, were making a serious run at the national championship.

After blazing through their non-conference schedule that season, a series of injuries left the Hawkeyes literally limping through the Big Ten and they barely qualified for the NCAA tournament, setting the stage for an amazing finish. When it was over, everyone agreed the 1980 season was one of the most memorable in school history.

Iowa had been the surprise of the Big Ten in 1979, capturing a share of the Big Ten title after being picked to finish eighth. (It’s the last time the Hawkeyes have figured in a conference championship.)

Despite that success, previews of the 1980 Iowa team were mixed, probably because it had lost three of its top five scorers. But Coach Lute Olson, going into his sixth season with the Hawkeyes, had a solid group of veterans led by Ronnie Lester, who Olson called “the best point guard in college basketball.”

The quicksilver Lester, who had earned all-American honors as a junior, was a shy, modest youngster with a winning smile. As the only senior on the 1980 club, he gave the Hawkeyes an exceptional leader, but the team also had good size and good shooters. And typical of Olson’s teams, it played solid defense.

Steve Krafcisin and Steve Waite, both 6-10, lent a strong inside presence, and Vince Brookins had a deadly jump shot. All three were juniors. Kevin Boyle had started every game as a rookie, and Kenny Arnold was another promising sophomore. Key freshman were Bob Hansen and Mark Gannon.

Olson had been making inroads in recruiting Chicago talent, and four of his top eight players were from the Windy City (Lester, Boyle, Krafcisin, and Arnold). Three were from Iowa (Waite, Gannon, Hansen) and Brookins was from Cleveland.

The Hawkeyes opened the season by pounding Northern Illinois and Colorado State by margins of 43 and 47 points. They took their show on the road and continued to win big before hostile crowds at Detroit, Wichita State and Iowa State. They were moving up fast in the national polls and after seven games their average margin of victory was an impressive 27 points.

The season was altered dramatically with seven minutes remaining in the championship game at Dayton’s holiday tournament. Driving hard to the basket, Lester was knocked to the floor by a Dayton defender and suffered ligament damage in his right knew. The Hawkeyes had suddenly lost their leader for an indefinite period.

Without Lester, they hung on to make Dayton their eighth victim, then went home to beat Drake, but a lot of air was gone from their Top Ten balloon. Iowa was about to open its Big Ten season without the best point guard in the league, if not the nation. Clearly, this was not the same team that had cruised through its non-conference slate.

Arnold, playing with a broken right thumb he hurt in practice, moved from shooting guard to the point and Iowa went to Illinois for the conference opener. Illinois was 10-2 and nationally ranked, but the Hawkeyes escaped with a 72-71 victory, their 10th straight, but reality was about to set in.

The winning streak ended with a three-point loss at Michigan, followed by a home-court loss to Ohio State. And adversity struck again when Gannon twisted his left knee and was lost for the season.

Iowa managed to beat Wisconsin by a point, then lost two more road games to see its Big Ten record slide to 2-4. Injuries continued to plague the team when Hansen broke a bone in his left hand, but he never missed a game. Krafcisin’s various ailments required so much gauze and tape he looked more like a mummy than a basketball player.

The Hawkeyes had a near-disaster off the court when assistant Tony McAndrews, on a recruiting trip, was seriously injured in a plane crash near Rock Island. He suffered broken bones, plus head and chest injuries that disabled him the remainder of the season, leaving the coaching staff short handed.

Maury White, covering the Hawkeyes for the Des Moines Register hung a nickname on the team, calling it “The Fabulous Few”. In some games only five or six players saw action as Olson searched for able bodies.

When Lester’s knee felt strong enough for a comeback, he led his team to two victories at the Fieldhouse, giving Iowa a 4-4 record in the Big Ten. But the injury began bothering him again, and he underwent minor surgery, leaving the Hawkeye fans wondering if they would see their favorite player in a black and gold uniform again.

With Lester and Gannon out of action and other players hobbled by various ailments, the Hawkeyes saved their season by winning three Big Ten contests in a four-game stretch. One was at Minnesota and another was at home against Purdue.

The third was at the expense of Michigan State’s defending national champs, who came into the Fieldhouse and held the ball for a half, which ended with Iowa leading 8-6 (yes, the shot clock was a good idea). With fans chanting “Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse!” Spartan Coach Jud Heathcote turned his team loose and Iowa pulled out a 44-39 victory in overtime. Olson did not make a substitution in the 45 minute game.

Two games remained in the regular season, both at home, and Iowa’s Big Ten record was 8-8. The NCAA had a 48 team field for its post-season tournament that year, leaving the Hawkeyes on the tip of the bubble.

Shooting a Fieldhouse record 65 percent, Iowa blistered Michigan 83-67. “They really drilled us,” groaned Wolverine Coach Johnny Orr in his raspy voice. “They shot `em all in.”

That set the stage for senior day at home, and the only senior was Ronnie Lester, who made a surprising return after it was announced his jersey No. 12 would be retired at season’s end. Amazingly, Lester led Iowa’s balanced scoring with 15 points and controlled the ball in the late stages in a hard-fought 75-71 victory over Illinois.

The hawkeyes owned a 10-8 Big Ten record, good for a fourth-place tie with Minnesota, a team with three future NBA players: Kevin McHale, Trent Tucker, and Darryl Mitchell. Iowa had beaten Minnesota twice during the season, which must have impressed the NCAA selection committee. It gave the Hawkeyes a berth in the NCAA tournament while ignoring the Gophers.

Although Lester was far from 100 percent, his presence energized the Hawkeyes as they headed to Greensboro, North Carolina, to play Virginia Commonwealth. It was a good first-round NCAA test for Iowa, which got 23 points from Arnold and 17 each from Lester, Boyle and Waite. Lester also had eight assists in the impressive 86-72 victory.

Still in Greensboro, the Hawkeyes played the local favorite, North Carolina State, whose campus was nearby and shoes star player had the unlikely nickname of “Hawkeye” Whitney. Thanks largely to a 17-point second half by Brookins, Iowa recovered from a three-point second half deficit at intermission to win decisively, 77-64. Lester’s knee held up as he scored 17 points. Arnold had 18.

Playing with confidence, the Hawkeyes moved on to the Eastern Regional at Philadelphia to play Syracuse, the No. 1 seed. Iowa saw a 12-point first half lead evaporate into a six-point second half deficit, but finished strong to win 88-77. Brookins had another big game with 21 points and Boyle added 18 as Iowa shot better than 50 percent for the fifth straight game.

“I’m not surprised we’re still in the tournament, I think we can play with anybody,” said Olson when a reporter pointed out that Iowa was the only unranked team in the NCAA quarterfinals. “We’re looking forward to Sunday.”

At high noon Iowa faced Georgetown, and the winner advanced to the Final Four. Iowa was the underdog for the third straight game. The eastern news media was scratching its collective head over the Hawkeyes, wondering Iowa a team that barely qualified for the NCAA tournament had gotten this far.

The two teams played one of the best games in tournament history. Collectively, they made 64 of 106 shots (60 percent) and 33 of 36 free throws (92 percent). Lester had nine assists and no turnovers, and Brookins scored 22 points. But Waite was the hero when he made a driving lay-up with five seconds remaining, then added a free throw to give Iowa a three-point lead. Georgetown’s basket at the buzzer made the final score 81-80, and the happy Hawkeyes cut the nets down.

A jubilant crowd jammed the Fieldhouse that night to welcome home the basketball team and the Hawkeye wrestlers, who had just won another national championship. Iowa fans were raucous but orderly as they patiently awaited their heroes, giving them a thunderous salute when they finally appeared. It was an unforgettable celebration.

The Hawkeyes had become the best story in the NCAA tournament and carried their “Cinderella” role to the Final Four at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Iowa was matched with Louisville, while Purdue played UCLA in the other bracket.

For 12 minutes Lester played up a storm, never missing a shot as he scored 10 points and dished assists to his teammates. With eight minutes left in the half, he was knocked to the floor in a collision that ended his Iowa career and his team’s chances of winning a national championship. He was helped to the sideline as Iowa fans among the crowd of 16,637 sat in silence.

The Hawkeyes played valiantly without their leader, but they couldn’t slow down Darrell Griffith, the magnificent Louisville star who scored 34 points. Iowa trailed by only five points at the half, but could not make up the deficit and lost 80-72.

I had a good visit with Lute Olson a few years ago and we talked about his 1980 Iowa team that started the season with great promise, fought through adversity and came tantalizingly close to a national championship.

Olson thinks that club had the ability to win the NCAA title with a healthy Lester. “We were an awfully good team when Ronnie was 100 percent,” he said somewhat wistfully. “Even when he was playing hurt we were very hard to beat.”

Those of us who witnessed the 1980 Hawkeye season agree with Lute about that. We can only reflect back to 10 years, shake our heads a little sadly and imagine what might have been.