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I enjoyed Neil Rudel's piece on Bill Coyle and couldn’t agree more about how good a fellow he always seemed to be.
His senior year was the beginning of a special time, four or five memorable seasons that included Stormin' Norman Van Lier, Mugsy Lewis and the early days of Kevin Porter's career.
In the 1966-67 season, Coyle was the lone senior starter. The other starters were junior Len Murray and three sophomores -- future NBA star Van Lier, Lewis (who finished second in the country in rebounding his senior year) and shooting guard John Penwell.
I did not see Coyle play but a few games, as I was only 10 years old in 1967 and started going to games regularly the following season.
Coyle moved to the assistant's chair next to John Clark the next season, as Bill Snodgrass seamlessly replaced him in the starting lineup.
One of only two Saint Francis teams to be rated among the 50 top teams in the country by the Sports Reference computer rating (which started the year after Maurice Stokes graduation) was that 1967-68 squad.
That year and Coyle's last year the season before were two of only six times since 1956 that Saint Francis was ranked in the top half of the nation’s Division I teams.
As Coyle provided senior leadership the year before, Murray was the unsung hero of that next team. A good rebounder and a reliable scorer, he always seemed quiet and steady.
So thanks for that stroll down memory lane.
Those were some special times, and I'm happy Saint Francis honored one of the somewhat unsung heroes, and good guys, of the era.
John Frederick
Tyrone