1968-69 SF State Opening Night Roster: Ron Beall, G, 6-1, Jr. Al Benjamin, C, 6-7, Sr. Joe Callaghan, F, 6-6, Sr. Girard Chatman, C, 6-6, Sr. Tom Courtney, F, 6-3, Sr. Robert Grayson, G, 5-10, Sr. Dennis Jew, G, 5-11, Sr. Washington King, G, 5-11, So. Richard Lind, F, 6-2, Jr. William Locke, F, 6-3, Jr. Sid Norman, G, 5-8, Jr. Rod Otto, G, 6-1, Jr. Bob Roehl, G, 6-2, Jr. Bob Thompson, G, 5-9, Sr. Russ Williams, G, 6-0, Jr. Lew Wooten, C, 6-9, Jr. Head Coach: Paul Rundell Assistant Coach: Frank Verducci

They were almost invisible at home. They didn't have much choice. The stakes turned out to be high.

During a year of protest, violence, vandalism and intense intimidation on campus, the 1968-69 San Francisco State men's basketball team persevered and, in the end, accomplished something that hadn't been achieved there before.

Fifty years ago on March 1, in spite of numerous factors that could have derailed their season, the Gators defeated Chico State en route to a Far Western Conference co-championship with UC Davis. The Gators went 20-9 overall that season, 12-2 in FWC play, went on to capture what is today an NCAA Division II regional crown, and participated in that division's national championship Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana.

With angry protestors storming SF State's administrative offices, confronting law enforcement, shutting down academic buildings, and forcing some instructors to abandon their classes during a tumultuous pro-civil rights/anti-Vietnam War era of resistance to the status quo, the 1968-69 basketball team continued to work through it all.

The chaos on campus, which originated with the Black Students Union's demands for a comprehensive ethnic studies curriculum, lasted for nearly five months, included a January mass arrest of 454 students and a strike by faculty members represented by the American Federation of Teachers Union, among other disturbing conditions. At one juncture, 1,300 law enforcement officers were stationed on campus to secure order and to keep classrooms open. When Dr. S.I. Hayakawa took the reins as the college's interim president in December at the behest of Governor Ronald Reagan, he warned that the situation was, "almost beyond solution."

But the core of the basketball team survived, and eventually, thrived. It wasn't a walk in the park by any means. Five players on the opening night roster would end up quitting the team or being declared ineligible.

Nevertheless, the Gators' steady string of successes, and the attendant positive publicity, proved to be a welcome tonic for a college community desperate for some sense of normalcy.

Bob Thompson, a starting guard on that team, recalled that armed police officers from the tactical squad had to surround the Gators' gymnasium on occasion in order to allow the team to practice in the afternoon.

Players were threatened. African-American athletes were especially targeted as a student strike increased in ferocity and the radical Black Panthers and Third World Liberation Front became involved. One player was believed to be associated with the former group and he quit the team. But, for the most part, the players hung together.

"We were under pressure to show support for the cause," Thompson said recently. "There were calls to shut down all activities on campus, including athletics."

Thompson, a St. Ignatius High School graduate, said he saw two ex-S.I. students, one a protester, the other a policeman, facing off with one another as the violence persisted and police tried to keep some semblance of order and the classrooms open.

"I will never forget that sight," he said.

Ron Beall, a guard, remembered trying to help snatch and return furniture used in student barricades and being assaulted by a female protester who objected. "She jumped on my back," he said. "It was wild." Anarchy became the norm.

The 1968-69 edition of the Gators had only two games at home prior to the new year. They were on the road for five weeks at one point _ which was probably fortunate since the campus was effectively under siege.

After an early non-league 6-5 record to commence the campaign (two wins over St. Mary's were highlights), SF State, which did not offer athletic scholarships at that time, settled into Far Western Conference action. They were regarded as one of the league's dark horse entities.

With a pair of 6-6 center/forwards (Girard Chatman and Joe Callaghan) leading the way, the Gators broke out of the gate and upset favored UC Davis in their FWC opener, 66-60, in overtime on the road.

That was a portent of good things to come, as the Gators proceeded to reel off another nine straight FWC wins.

Sandwiched in between was a non-league test 50 miles to the south against powerful Santa Clara, one of the nation's top scholarship teams (the Broncos finished the season 27-2). SF State led Santa Clara for much of the night at San Jose Civic Auditorium but lost in the end, 72-59. Foul problems for Chatman and Callaghan proved to be too much to overcome in the final period. A monumental upset was not to be. Prior to the game, one sportswriter had made it a point to mention that the Gators were essentially a collection of basketball vagabonds, most of them transfers from other institutions. One player in particular, guard Bob Roehl, was highlighted for having played for Brigham Young, City College of San Francisco, and West Valley College, not to mention "a stint at Fort Ord," before enrolling at SF State. He was listed as a junior. He would be ineligible in the upcoming postseason due to NCAA transfer rules.

The Gators' freshman/JV team was minimally helpful in those days. For example, the 1968-69 version went 1-24 and lost to three San Francisco high school teams. Transfers, particularly experienced junior college players, were critical to SF State's success.

By February, the varsity Gators were locked in a struggle with UC Davis for first place. On the final night of the FWC season, SF State managed to get past Chico State at home, 69-60, while the Aggies, who had edged the Gators on their floor the night before, were being upset by Hayward State, 81-74.

Sam Goldman, the Gators' sports information director, estimated the UC Davis crowd to be 2,000 spectators, by far the biggest home gathering of the season. How those reported 2,000 customers managed to cram themselves into the cramped confines of the SF State gymnasium remains a mystery. A typical attendance figure was closer to 300. Then it was on to the NCCA College Division Region 8 tournament in Las Vegas. SF State shocked the Sin City hosts by winning the two-night affair, defeating UC Irvine, 81-55, and heavily-favored Nevada-Las Vegas, 77-72, ranked No.4 among College Division teams. UNLV would move up to what is now Division I status the following year. Thompson remembered that just a "handful of friends and family" greeted the regional champs on their return from Las Vegas. The Region 8 title was a first for the Gators' program. Then it was on to Evansville, Indiana, for the College Division's version of the Elite 8 national tournament. But SF State finally ran into a buzzsaw in the Midwest. The Gators lost their first-round game to American-International, 80-75. That spelled the end of the line for them.

The significance of what they had accomplished — a Far Western Conference co-title, a College Division Region 8 crown, a 20-9 overall record and a coveted spot in the national tourney — was a modicum of balm for SF State's deeply troubled collective soul. The coaches, Paul Rundell and Frank Verducci, and their student-athletes had been able to maintain their focus and soldier on, in spite of enormous challenges. Rundell was named Far Western Conference Coach of the Year. Joe Callaghan and Girard Chatman were named Co-FWC Players of the Year and were late-round 1969 NBA draft picks of the San Francisco Warriors. Those three, and Thompson, are members of the San Francisco State Athletics Hall of Fame. Thompson noted: "We became isolated for our own purpose.

SF State, by and large, was essentially a commuter college. Players explained that their professors made accommodations for them so that they could maintain their grades and athletic eligibility during the strike and resulting confusion. Callaghan, a transfer from St. Mary's, stated that, if anything, he learned a lot during that period: "I came from a very small school, so SF State was something much different for me. It was more diverse. It was eye-opening. I became much more politically aware."

Verducci explained that, in a counter-intuitive way, the riotous campus uncertainty actually brought the team together. "There was a lot of stress on the players," he said. "Sometimes, it was hard to practice; the tac squad would assemble behind our gym. But the players were loyal to the team."
 

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John Horgan is a Bay Area freelance writer and a graduate of San Francisco State (Summer Class of 1965). He can be contacted by e-mail at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.