1961-62 Cincinnati Bearcats national championship families meet
Families from 1961-62 Cincinnati Bearcats national championship teams meet
- The Cincinnati Bearcats were a college basketball dynasty before UCLA.
- The living members of the team still get together to celebrate their friendships.
- The team went to five straight Final Fours from 1958-63 and won national titles in 1961 and 1962.
Well over 60 years since they last laced up a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor’s, a group of men who were once the toast of Cincinnati, toast each other’s friendship. Some have passed. Some are faithfully represented by their wives or friends.
From breakfast gatherings at McDonald’s to a recent lunch at Norwood’s Indian Mound Cafe, this collection of families from the early 1960s has religiously convened to catch up and relive the magic seasons that took the city by storm.
Before John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1964 and 1965, then seven straight between 1967-1973, the Cincinnati Bearcats were quite the hardwood dynasty.
Cincinnati Bearcats had noteworthy March Madness runs for 6 seasons
From 1958-1963 UC was in five straight Final Fours, the first two coming under George Smith and Naismith Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. Then, with Smith moved to athletic director and Ed Jucker named head coach, the Bearcats switched styles and didn’t miss a beat.
“When Oscar left, so did a lot of the fans,” Maxine Yates, widow of point guard Tony Yates said. “Then, when they started to win, the fans eventually came back. Then, the fans really showed up.”
UC twice beat top-ranked Ohio State in 1961 and 1962 to become the first back-to-back national champions since Oklahoma State (1945-46), Kentucky (1948-49) and San Francisco (1955-56). In 1963, an overtime defeat to Loyola-Chicago kept them from making it three straight.
“Those two championships, we earned those things!” Assistant and later head coach Tay Baker said. “I guess you have to have a little luck, but you can’t even compare that era with what’s going on now.”
In recent years, Duke (1991-92), Florida (2006-2007) and Connecticut (2023-2024) have matched the Bearcats improbable run.
Foundation of UC basketball
The large banners you see in Fifth Third Arena are theirs, the first photos you see entering the Richard E. Lindner Center are theirs and their tall, triumphant trophies are the highlights of the awards on display as you enter the facility.
UC’s top scorer (17.1 points per game, 10 rebounds ) was rugged Bob Wiesenhahn. Center Paul Hogue averaged 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds, 6-foot-2 Tom Thacker was at 12.3 points and 9.5 rebounds and guard Carl Bouldin averaged 11.7 points per game. With a 3-point shot, Bouldin’s numbers may have been higher.
Wiesenhahn (Cincinnati Royals) and Hogue (New York Knicks) were draft picks from the 1961 champions. From the 1962 champions, Tom Thacker and George Wilson had NBA careers.
Thacker is the answer to a great trivia question as he played for an NCAA championship team, an NBA championship team (1968 Boston Celtics) and an ABA championship team (1970 Indiana Pacers).
Now, Thacker misses seeing teammates who have passed over the years. He remembers the championships as beautiful days and loves those still around. As he entered the room set aside for the Bearcats June 6, he greeted each person.
“It’s very difficult, very difficult,” Thacker said. “Everybody’s gone. Long time. (Counting) One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.”
UC wives tales
Patti Hogue lost her husband, Paul, in 2009. The early 1960s were a different time and just as Oscar Robertson had to endure racial issues, so did Paul Hogue. She jokes that she got a husband due to segregation, as the University of Tennessee wouldn’t admit the 6-foot-9 center.
Fortunately for Patti and for UC basketball, Hogue wanted to play with the “Big O” and did so in the 1959-1960 season. Without the move, he wouldn’t have met Patti from Glendale and UC might not have brought home national championship trophies in back-to-back years.
“We needed that in Cincinnati,” Patti Hogue said. “For the city and the state.”
Maxine and Tony Yates were married at the time of his UC career, which began at age 22 since he had served time in the Air Force. Maxine says that during the first championship year, he was considered a walk-on and wasn’t on scholarship until the following two seasons.
In between work to support them, she attended games at the Armory Fieldhouse and remembers the atmosphere of the city when the Bearcats brought home the hardware, knocking off Ohio State in overtime in Kansas City in 1961.
“It was electric,” Maxine Yates said. “It was pure basketball then not like it is now. The fans were disciplined. There wasn’t a lot of heckling, except when we played Kentucky (laughs).”
Because of his age and his military service, Yates was called “Grandpa” or “Gramps”.
“They would listen to him,” Maxine Yates said. “They just clicked. Jucker was the man who helped them click. They were each for each other.”
Early 60s Cincinnati Bearcats were heavy on local recruits
UC hoops has historically had local players. Currently, Wes Miller’s team has Tyler McKinley (Walnut Hills, Winton Woods) and did have Rayvon Griffith (Taft) until his transfer to Kent State.
Mick Cronin had Yancy Gates (Hughes, Withrow) and Bob Huggins had several, including Keith Starks (Taylor), Damon Flint (Woodward), Keith Gregor (Lakota), Bobby Brannen (Moeller) and Ryan Fletcher (Monroe).
On the 1960-61 title team, the Bearcats were heavy on Cincinnati. Tony Yates was from Lockland Wayne, captain Bob Wiesenhahn from McNicholas, Tom Thacker played at Covington Grant, Carl Bouldin was from Norwood, Mark Altenau from St. Xavier, Dale Heidotting from Greenhills, Tom Sizer from Middletown and Ron Reis from Woodward.
That’s eight locals mixed with Larry Shingleton from nearby Madison, Indiana, plus starting center Paul Hogue, Fred Dierking and Jim Calhoun from out of town.
The 1962-62 season added Bill Abernethy from Wyoming High School and Larry Elsasser from Cincinnati Central High joining Yates, Thacker, Sizer, Heidotting and Reis. Key additions not from Cincinnati were Muncie, Indiana’s Ron Bonham and George Wilson from Chicago.
The 1962-63 team dropped from seven locals to six, but Elder’s Fritz Meyer joined the fray. If you ever did Hamilton County jury duty in recent years, you may have met Meyer who served many years as Hamilton County Jury Commissioner.
Ed Jucker’s changes weren’t initially welcomed
You can still buy Coach Jucker’s book, “Cincinnati Power Basketball” on Amazon. After winning the first national title, he published a book on how it was done in January 1962 before winning the second crown.
When Bob Huggins took UC to the Final Four in 1992 for the first time in 29 years, he admitted to reading Jucker’s plan of attack.
With the “Big O” Oscar Robertson, the George Smith Bearcats ran the court and fed the legend who averaged 35.1, 32.6 and 33.7 points per game in three seasons. But, in 1959 and 1960, California derailed UC’s championship plans in the Final Four.
With Robertson gone to the NBA Cincinnati Royals, Jucker went to a slower, deliberate game that had the Bearcats out to a 5-3 start on Dec. 23, 1960, with losses to Seton Hall, Saint Louis and Bradley. From there, they won 22 straight and took down the Buckeyes who featured future NBA Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek and an eventual Hall of Fame coach (Bobby Knight).
The second season they were 29-2 with away losses at Wichita State and Bradley, then 18 straight wins to finish, including another triumph over the No. 1 Buckeyes.
!962-63’s campaign was 26-2 with a February loss to Wichita State, then eight straight wins before falling to Loyola-Chicago in overtime 60-58. It would be the only NCAA loss in Jucker’s career.
UC’s Tay Baker saw it all
Now 97, Tay Baker has outlived many of his former players. He joined the George Smith staff in 1959 and was part of Oscar Robertson’s last UC run. Then, he was an assistant under Jucker for the back-to-back titles and beyond.
After missing the tournament in 1964 and 1965, Jucker resigned and Baker got the Bearcats back in the NCAA mix in 1966, making the Mideast Regional. His top-ranked team reached No. 6 (1968-69), but the best UC did after that was an NIT appearance against Coach Bob Knight’s Army squad in 1970.
Baker resigned in 1972 and was replaced by Gale Catlett. After a year off, he did what may never be done, taking over the reins at crosstown rival Xavier in 1973 and coaching the Musketeers through 1979.
Baker was recently inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame along with his 1966 NCAA team.
“I feel very blessed to have had the opportunities I’ve had,” Baker said. “The people that I’ve met and the athletes that I had. I’ve had an opportunity to watch (them) grow and do well and raise families and things like that.”
He turned 98 in September. Dick Bouldin, younger brother of Carl and a UC baseball/basketball player from 1964-1966 has helped keep the older Bearcats basketball circle going and a birthday bash for Baker was held.
UC players from all eras are welcome to the group. In attendance at this recent gathering were Greg Jurcisin from the 1970s, Myron Hughes from the 1980s and Alex Meacham from the 1990s.
