Men's Basketball | February 6, 2023
PHILADELPHIA — There are so many things that stand out when it comes to the 1989-90 La Salle men's basketball team.
There are the obvious on-court accolades: winning a school-record 30 games, putting together a school-record 22-game winning streak, capturing the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship, claiming the Philadelphia Big 5 title, and reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
This team also had the Naismith Player of the Year in Lionel Simmons, three future NBA players — Simmons, Doug Overton and Randy Woods. In addition, it had one of the best coaches in college basketball history in Speedy Morris, who is La Salle's all-time winningest coach with 238 victories — 100 of which came in his first four seasons as head coach from 1986-90.
Now, this team will add one final accomplishment as a group: being enshrined into the La Salle Hall of Athletes — an achievement members of this team felt they could not have done without having developed an unbreakable bond with each other all those years ago.
"The brotherhood and camaraderie we have still lives with us today," said Keith Morris, who played for the Explorers from 1988-92 as a walk-on and is the son of Speedy Morris. "When you win together like we did, that brotherhood never goes away."
"This is one the best teams I had ever coached," Speedy Morris said. "We had some really good teams, but they were the best. They were talented and did everything together."
"We were connected in so many ways," said Bobby Johnson, who played for the Explorers from 1986-90 as a guard. "We would go to Coach (Morris') house and have Miss Mimi's famous spaghetti or my mom would have a soul food dinner and they would come down to South Philly. We would all go downtown and hang out or just hang out on campus as a group. We really got to know each other on a personal level beyond basketball. The camaraderie and chemistry that we had on that basketball court stems from us being able to trust each other, having confidence in each other, and knowing that if I fall, my brother is going to be right there to pick me up, and we are going to fight until the end."
The 12 Explorers — Simmons, Overton, Woods, Johnson, Morris, Mike Bergin, Bron Holland, Jack Hurd, Milko Lieverst, Jeff Neubauer, Don Shelton, and Mike Stock — began this team bond with having team meetings on a regular basis with Coach Morris during the summer and the preseason. At first, the Explorers thought these get-togethers were almost pointless.
"We would always complain about having these meetings," Simmons said. "We would have a meeting to tell us about the next meeting, all the while these were done to help bring us together. It was pretty genius on Speedy's part because it allowed us to come together and talk to each other. We had our fights and disagreements, but we always came back to being one family and one team."
When they weren't in meetings, especially in the summertime, the Explorers would just play ball against each other in gyms or playgrounds throughout the city.
"It was during those times where we pushed each other to be the best," Simmons said. "It allowed us to get on each other and criticize each other, no matter if it was the best player doing it or the worst player giving it back to the best guys. We wanted to create that toughness we needed so that when we went up against opponents, it would translate to the court."
It certainly showed, as they began the season with eight straight victories including two preseason tournament titles at the Coors Light Classic in Fresno, Calif., and the Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans. La Salle earned victories over the likes of Florida, Ohio State, Villanova, Fresno State, DePaul, and Temple during that stretch that vaulted them into the national rankings at No. 17.
"We beat Ohio State, which had Jim Jackson and Treg Lee. We beat Florida which had (future NBA player) Dwayne Schintzius, Dwayne Davis and Livingston Chapman," Johnson said. "Those games tested our fortitude because weren't polished at that point, but we knew we had the best players from one through four in the country to go out there and win games like that."
After seeing their eight-game winning streak snapped at the hands of No. 25 Loyola Marymount, which beat them 121-116, the Explorers went on a tear, ripping off 22 consecutive wins including a perfect 16-0 mark in MAAC Conference play. In addition to Simmons, Overton, Woods, and Johnson led a La Salle attack that averaged 86.1 points per game to rank 24th nationally.
During this stretch, the Explorers ran through the MAAC Tournament, defeating Fairfield, Siena, and Fordham by an average of 18.7 points per game to earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The Explorers' brotherhood bond really came into play during the MAAC Tournament, as they received the tragic news of Hank Gathers, a Philadelphia native and star player for Loyola Marymount, passing away during their game against Siena in the semifinals. Gathers, who collapsed and died in the first half of Loyola Marymount's conference semifinal game, had played with Overton in high school and many of the Explorers were great friends with Gathers growing up.
"I was sitting on the bench at the time and Sanford Jenkins, who played for Fordham and was a product of Ben Franklin of the Philadelphia Public School League, he walked over to me and he was like, 'Yo Bob! Hank just died,'" Johnson said. "At the same time, Coach was calling for me to come into the game, so I was hearing this and hearing Coach. I was like. 'Wait a minute. Did he really just say Hank died? I'm kind of just walking on the floor and Siena's shooting foul shots. I'm standing across the lane from Train (Lionel) and I said to him, 'Sanford just told me that Hank just died.' At that point, we grabbed the ball, someone from Siena fouled me and we called timeout. Doug finds out the news and walks off the floor. Train is being taken out of the game and is crying. I'm standing at the foul line with tears in my eyes. Then, they announced it over the loudspeaker.
"After the game, we were just like, 'What are we doing this for?' Johnson continued. "Hank was guy who didn't do any drugs, didn't drink, didn't do anything wrong. He was just doing what he loved and he died. We had a meeting and Doug being the closest to Hank, we sat there and we as a group left the decision up to Doug. If Doug said we were playing, we would play. If he said we're not playing, then we would not play. But, Doug said, 'Hank did what he did and he died playing the sport he loved. He wouldn't want us to sit down and not play. It was such an emotional roller coaster, but it showed that we were a close-knit team and had a love for each other beyond basketball."
After that emotional championship experience, the Explorers went to the NCAA Tournament looking to make a run for the ultimate prize.
A 16-point victory over Southern Mississippi led into a Round of 32 contest against No. 17 Clemson, for a trip to the Sweet 16. After holding a 16-point halftime lead, La Salle saw its historic season come to a close as the Tigers took charge to earn a 79-75 win.
Despite the loss, the Explorers couldn't believe what they had experienced and done for La Salle basketball, the city of Philadelphia, and beyond.
"When you think about La Salle, you look back and this four thousand-people Catholic school from North Philadelphia was able to capture the imagination of the entire country," Keith Morris said. "We beat the likes of Notre Dame, Villanova, Ohio State, Florida, Temple, DePaul. We were Big 5 champs. To have a guy like Lionel Simmons carry us in a lot of ways and two NBA guards in Randy Woods and Doug Overton, the role players we had and the coaching staff we had was amazing to be a part of. My Dad and the staff did a great job of helping us understand that there was nobody that we couldn't beat. It was a magical ride."
"Just winning in this city means everything," Simmons said. "People still acknowledge you when you go places. It's been a privilege to be a part of the Philadelphia basketball tradition and I'm fortunate to have played with such great guys."
Next Saturday, the 1989-90 team will get acknowledged once again for all that it has done in a Hall of Athletes enshrinement ceremony at Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center before the La Salle men's basketball game against UMass. Out of all of the other accolades it earned in the past, the 1989-90 team will always remember being inducted into the Hall of Athletes.
"It's such an honor," Simmons said. "We worked hard to accomplish what we did that year. It's great to see all of us get rewarded, be acknowledged and be a part of La Salle's history."
