Jack Ramsay turned out some outstanding teams at Saint Joseph's in his 11 years on Hawk Hill. In his own words, his last two were his best.
Beginning with the 1964-65 season, Ramsay added two new key players, Cliff Anderson and Matt Guokas, Jr., to go along with holdovers Marty Ford, Tom Duff and Billy Oakes. Just three years earlier, Guokas and Duff from St. Joseph's Prep, Ford from West Catholic, and Oakes from Bishop Neumann, were voted onto the All-Catholic League team.
Coming off the bench were Bob Brenner, Steve Chapman, Don DiJulia, Al Grundy, Bill McFadden, and Chuck McKenna. Saint Joseph's had gone 18-10 the year before and played in the NIT Tournament. Two starters – Steve Courtin and future Hawk coach Jim Boyle – had graduated.
Everyone knew that when Saint Joseph's opened up the season with 10 straight wins, this team was going to be great. After an easy opening win over Fairfield at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, 95-64, the Hawks knocked off fourth-ranked Davidson, 77-64, at the Palestra (Davidson finished the season ranked number six with a 24-2 record). After running their record to 4-0 with wins over Saint Peter's and Hofstra, the Hawks knocked off St. John's, who would go onto win the NIT Championship. Next came wins over Baldwin Wallace and Bowling Green before the Hawks got ready for the Quaker City Tournament.
They capped the 10-game winning streak by winning the tournament at the Palestra for the second time in three years. The Hawks started off and defeated Holy Cross, 82-63, and number-seven Illinois, 76-71. The championship game was against Wichita State, ranked number two in the country at the time eventually made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament and were led by Dave Stallworth.
Before the championship game that afternoon, Ramsay had his players walk through maneuvers in their street clothes at the Fieldhouse that he wanted his team to execute in the game. Saint Joseph's won it, 76-69, as the five starters played the whole game. Wichita State coach Gary Thompson vowed to never return to the Palestra after the game. His team made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament before losing to the eventual champ, UCLA.
The 10-game winning streak was snapped by Providence on the road, 65-61. The Friars, who went 24-2 and had a 19-game winning streak to start the season, would be heard from again.
When Saint Joseph's started City Series play towards the end of January, the Hawks were 14-1. Temple was in first place with a 2-0 city record. Up first was Penn, and Saint Joseph's came away with an 88-72 win.
The Hawks followed with five straight wins, including a big win over Wake Forest on the road in Winston-Salem, 117-91. This was the fourth time the Hawks scored 111 points or more on the season.
Next up, Saint Joseph's met Temple and came away with a 73-59 win. The Hawks were in great shape to win the City Series championship for the first time in four years. Their third match up was against their biggest rival, Villanova, who would finish eighth in the final rankings and lose to St. John's in the finals of the NIT.
Saint Joseph's jumped out to a 30-26 halftime lead. Then the sold-out crowd was asked to leave the building and head outside, where the temperature was 27 degrees, because there was a bomb threat. Les Keiter, broadcasting the game on Channel 6, was having nothing to do with that. He was staying regardless. The police tried to get him down from the television booth; maybe Les was figuring the climb up to the top of the stands, followed by going up a narrow ladder to the booth, was bad enough, and he wasn't about to make the trip a second time. The Hawks left their locker room and went to the corridor over by the entrance to Hutchinson Gym right next to the Palestra. After a 15-minute delay, everyone was allowed back into the building and the game eventually resumed.
The Hawks put the Wildcats away, 69-61, to clinch at least a tie for the title as Anderson scored 36 and hauled down 24 rebounds. The final City Series game was with La Salle, who was 2-1, and hoping to tie Saint Joseph's for the City title, but the Hawks downed the Explorers, 93-85. It was Ramsay's sixth City Series championship and fourth outright.
Saint Joseph's finished the regular season with a 95-87 defeat of St. Bonaventure to post a 25-1 record, the best in school history at the time, and a 15-game winning streak.
Up next was the NCAA Tournament and the Hawks got off to a great start by beating Connecticut, 67-61. Guokas led the way with 19 points. Next up was the Eastern Regionals in College Park, Maryland, and their opponent was Providence, who had prevented the Hawks from having a perfect season. This game had to be one of the most heart- breaking defeats in Saint Joseph's history. It looked good for the Hawks, who were back in the Eastern Regionals for the sixth time in seven years. They led the Friars late, 59-53, but Providence tied the game, 61-61, with 45 seconds left. Led by All-American Jimmy Walker, Providence won it in overtime, 83-71.
The Hawks had to play North Carolina State the following night in the consolation game and lost, 103-81. Despite the final two losses, the Hawks set a school record at the time for the most wins in a season with 26.
Cliff Anderson scored 519 points and set a school record with 450 rebounds. Oakes followed with 448 points. The five starters all averaged in double figures. Anderson and Guokas made the All Big-5 Team.
Saint Joseph's had everyone back for the following season and was ranked number one in the preseason. The Hawks then followed up with a 24-5 record.
Ramsay soon departed for the NBA, meaning that the last two teams of the Jack Ramsay era were two of the best in the school's history.
