Hall of Famer, arena namesake and La Salle legend Tom Gola was named the 17th best men’s basketball player of all time by ESPN. Among Gola’s college distinctions include Co-MVP of the 1952 NIT tournament, 1954 men’s basketball player of the year, 1954 NCAA tournament MVP, among others. He led La Salle to its only national title.
On the list Gola is nestled between Patrick Ewing and Ralph Sampson and additionally, is listed higher than Tim Duncan and George Mikan. This is a pretty important distinction and Gola should be heralded some more for this. Other than late Peter Boyal, Gola is about all we got.
Mention of this national distinction is noticeably absent from La Salle’s Web site. The Big Five’s Web site ran a story about it, why can’t La Salle?
I wonder if at least we’ll see some ceremonial Gola stuff at the Explorer’s last home game, March 8 against Temple. Winning one for Gola may reward the Explorers with an NIT bid (coupled with a decent A-10 tourney showing).
—Sam Fran Scavuzzo
1 Comment
March 3, 2008 at 7:35 pm
It’s Spring Break. Give Kale the day off. lol