October 17, 1967: The Death of Don Holleder

October 17, 1967: Major Don Holleder, U.S. Army, is shot and killed by a Viet Cong sniper while attempting to rescue a wounded soldier and bring him aboard a helicopter, in the Battle of Ong Thanh. He was 33.

The Buffalo native was a star athlete at Aquinas Institute in Rochester, and was recruited to the football team at the U.S. Military Academy by Vince Lombardi, then an assistant to their head coach, Colonel Earl "Red" Blaik. He was an All-American end in 1954, but was moved to quarterback in 1955, and led the team to a 6-3 record, including an upset of Navy that made him the 1st athlete from any of the service academies to be shown on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He graduated the following Spring, and one of his classmates was Norman Schwarzkopf, later field commander of all allied troops in the Persian Gulf War.

Although drafted by the New York Giants, he would have had to sit out his military commitment. (Which might have worked out, because Charlie Conerly would have retired as quarterback by then, but the Giants got Y.A. Tittle instead.) He stayed in the Army until his death, including a tenure as an assistant coach at West Point, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1974, his high school's football stadium, Aquinas Memorial Stadium, was renamed Holleder Memorial Stadium. Professional soccer's Rochester Lancers played there, including their home leg of the 1970 North American Soccer League Final, in which they beat the Washington Darts, before surviving the D.C. leg to be named NASL Champions.

Holleder Stadium was torn down in 1985, and Holleder Technology Park is now on the site, on Holleder Parkway. That same year, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and West Point's arena was named the Donald W. Holleder Center.

*

October 17, 1967 was a Tuesday. On the same day, the musical Hair opened at the Public Theater in New York. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball season had ended 5 days earlier, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the World Series. Football was in midweek. A new hockey season was underway, but no games were scheduled.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks open their season, their last at the old Madison Square Garden, where they beat the San Francisco Warriors 124-122. In his 1st professional game, Walt Frazier -- not yet nicknamed "Clyde" -- does not play. Walt Bellamy leads the Knicks with 16 points, but will be traded for Dave DeBusschere, in what turns out to be a title-making trade.

Their last game at the 49th-50th Street and 8th-9th Avenue Garden was on February 10, 1968, and they beat the Philadelphia 76ers 115-97. Their 1st game at the 31st-33rd Street and 7th-8th Avenue Garden was on February 14, and they beat the San Diego Rockets 114-102.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Cincinnati Royals, 131-108 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Dave Bing scored 35 points for the Pistons. The arena was named for Albert Cobo, Mayor of Detroit from 1950 to 1957. Bing would serve as Mayor from 2009 to 2014.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 107-105 at the Chicago Stadium. Bob Boozer scored 36 in defeat.

* And, in only their 2nd game ever, the San Diego Rockets lost to the St. Louis Hawks, 123-105 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). The Hawks moved to Atlanta the following season. The Rockets moved to Houston in 1971.

And there was 1 game in the brand-new American Basketball Association: The Houston Mavericks beat the Denver Rockets, 102-85 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver. This was the 2nd game for the Rockets, who, in anticipation of being admitted to the NBA, and with that league already having a team named the Rockets in Houston, changed their name to that of the long-defunct first Denver team in the NBA: The Denver Nuggets.

April 21, 1951: The Rochester Royals' Title

Left to right: Bill Calhoun, Bob Davies, Paul Noel, Joe McNamee,

Arnie Risen, Jack Coleman, Arnie Johnson and Bobby Wanzer

April 21, 1951: The NBA Championship was also decided that day, and also in overtime, but in a Game 7. The Rochester Royals defeated the New York Knicks, 79-75 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York.

The Edgerton Park Arena

For the Knicks: Max Zaslofsky and Vince Boryla each scored 16 points, Harry Gallatin 12, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (the 1st black player signed to an NBA contract) and Connie Simmons 11, Ernie Vandeweghe (father of future NBA player Kiki) 5, Dick McGuire (brother of Hall of Fame college coach and announcer Al) 4, and Ray Lumpp none.

It wasn't enough, as Arnie Risen scored 24, and former Seton Hall star Bob Davies scored 20. Scoring 2 points for the Royals in this game was William "Red" Holzman. Ed Mikan, brother of Minneapolis Lakers star George, was on the Royals' roster at the start of the season, but was traded.

The Knicks would win 3 straight NBA Eastern Division Championships, but lose the Finals all 3 times: This one to the Royals, and 1952 and '53 to the Lakers. It would take them until 1970 to win their 1st title, with Holzman as their coach. They won again in 1973. But haven't won one since, also losing in the Finals in 1972, 1994 and 1999.

At least the Knicks still exist. The Royals don't, at least not under that name. Rochester proved too small a market for a growing sports league. In 1957, they moved, becoming the Cincinnati Royals. In 1972, they moved again. Since Kansas City already had a baseball team called the Royals, they became the Kansas City Kings. And in 1985, they became the Sacramento Kings. In the early 2010s, they came close to moving yet again, to Anaheim and to Seattle, before the building of their new arena was negotiated. Come to think of it, Minneapolis lost the Lakers to Los Angeles in 1960.

Nevertheless, at their arena, the Golden 1 Center, the Kings still hang a banner proclaiming themselves to be the 1951 NBA Champions.

Davies, Wanzer, Risen, and Holzman as a coach have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Kings retired Davies' Number 11. Nevertheless, when the NBA named its 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players in 1996, the '51 Royals were 1 of 4 teams with no representatives, the others being the 1947 Philadelphia Warriors, the 1948 Baltimore Bullets, and the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics.

*

April 21, 1951 was a Saturday. The Stanley Cup was also decided that day. Game 5 of the Finals, and the Cup itself, were won at 2:53 of overtime, when Bill Barilko scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs, beating the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I have a separate entry for that event.

There were also Major League Baseball games played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 8-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Yankees led 5-0 going into the bottom of the 6th inning, but Frank "Spec" Shea imploded. Allie Reynolds was brought in to stop the bleeding, but couldn't, and the Senators scored 7 runs.

But in the top of the 8th, Mickey Mantle, who had made his major league debut only 4 days earlier, doubled home Phil Rizzuto with the winning run. Joe DiMaggio, the man that right fielder Mantle was being groomed to replace in center field, also had an RBI double. Tom Ferrick ended up as the winning pitcher.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Giants, 7-3 at the Polo Grounds. Jackie Robinson hit a home run off Larry Jansen. Ralph Branca won the game in relief of starting pitcher Chris Van Cuyk. For the 1st 3/4ers of the season, the Dodgers would have the edge over the Giants. Even the arrival of Willie Mays from the minor leagues in May didn't help much at first. But in mid-August, things began to change, resulting in the game that would make Bobby Thomson the Bill Barilko of baseball.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams hit a home run.

* The Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* And a game at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis was rained out, and rescheduled for June 29. And they still couldn't find a winner: The Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals were tied 6-6 after 9 innings, when it rained again, and it was called. The next day's game was rained out, too. Eventually, the June 30 game was made up, but the April 21/June 29 game never was.

Also, Arsenal drew with Bolton Wanderers, 1-1 at Highbury in North London.

And actor Tony Danza was born on this day.

March 6, 1957: The End of the Rochester Royals

The 1956-57 Rochester Royals

March 6, 1957: The Rochester Royals beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 82-79 at the Rochester Community War Memorial Arena. This is their last home game of the season, and they did not qualify for the Playoffs. Therefore, this is the last game they will play in Rochester: They play 3 more games on the road, and move to Cincinnati the next season.

Edgerton Park Arena

The franchise is the oldest continuously operating team in professional basketball. They began play in 1923, as the Rochester Seagrams. In 1944, they joined the Midwest-based National Basketball League (NBL), changed their name to the Rochester Royals (based on Seagram's crown logo) in 1945, and won the NBL Championship in 1946. In 1948, it joined the East-based Basketball Association of America. In 1949, the BAA and the NBA merged to form the National Basketball Association. In 1951, the Royals won the NBA Championship. In 1955, they moved from the Edgerton Park Arena to the War Memorial.

The Rochester War Memorial, now the Blue Cross Arena

But Rochester proved too small a "market" for a major league sports team. In 1957, the team became the Cincinnati Royals. Their best performance in Cincinnati was a pair of trips to the Eastern Division Finals in 1963 and 1964. Cincy is a bigger market than Rochester, but it was still one of the smallest in the NBA. In 1972, they moved again, to Kansas City. Since that city already had a baseball team named the Royals, they became the Kansas City Kings. K.C. also isn't a big market, and they moved again, in 1985, to another not-so-big market, becoming the Sacramento Kings.

Only once in K.C., and once in Sacramento, have they been to the Western Conference Finals. So that 1951 title, for which they do hang a banner, remains their only trip to the NBA Finals.

From the Royals/Kings' Rochester period, guards Bobby Wanzer and Bob Davies, forwards Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman, center Arnie Risen, and coach team owner Les Harrison are in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame Knicks coach Red Holzman was also a superb player for the Royals. The Kings have retired Davies' Number 11, Stokes' 12 and Twyman's 27.

Today, Rochester -- the city of Port Charles on the ABC soap opera General Hospital is based on it -- is a city of 210,000 people, making it the 3rd-largest in New York State, after New York City and Buffalo. Its metropolitan area has a little over 1 million. The War Memorial still stands, under the name of the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. It seats 10,662. Despite having one of the best-known minor-league hockey teams, the Rochester Americans, still playing at the Blue Cross Arena, the city remains too small to support a major league team.

*

March 6, 1957 was a Wednesday. There was 1 other game played in the NBA that night, and it was by the team that would no longer be the Royals' geographic rivals. The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 100-93 at the Onondaga County War Memorial Arena (now named the Upstate Medical University Arena) in Syracuse, New York.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. One game was played in the NHL: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.