The article was written for and published at USC media site TheBigSpur.com, and Heffner received the OK from site owner J.C. Shurburtt to let me post the story here a day after it's original posting.
Thanks, J.C.
Heffner, now a sports talk show host in Columbia covered the 1975 team for The State paper. I covered some regular-season games, the NCAA regional and the College World Series for The Greenville News.
Thanks, J.C.
Heffner, now a sports talk show host in Columbia covered the 1975 team for The State paper. I covered some regular-season games, the NCAA regional and the College World Series for The Greenville News.
Heffner has some provides some great insight and behind-the-scenes information of how the team was assembled.
I got to ride the team bus from the hotel to Rosenblatt Stadium a few times. I was able to chat with Garry Hancock, finding common ground in the fact we were both married.
I believe the 1975 College World Series was the favorite event I ever covered and stoked my love for the college game.
One of the events mentioned in Heffner's article was coach Bobby Richardson's decision to choose an envelope to a side instead of picking the envelope straight in front of him. That's one of my clearest memories of 50 years ago. Heffner has much clearer recollection of some things that my mind has forgotten because of too much artificial sweetener.
Richardson and several members of the team were honored on the field at Founders Park in connection with Friday night's Florida game.
Enjoy. Teddy's story. I did.
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| Teddy Heffner got a couple of years' head start on me in the sports writing profession. (Photo lifted from X) |
By Teddy Heffner
It's hard to believe that it's been 50 years.
I can recall it so vividly, it's as if I have been transported in time to Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha on a warm, June night in 1975. Rose Dawson may have been able to smell the paint of the Titanic after 84 years, well, I can practically smell the grass, the leather on the players' gloves, all pressing to get a view of the three-way, tie-breaking ceremony at the College World Series.
I was no more than 20 feet from South Carolina baseball coach Bobby Richardson when he - as I wrote in The State newspaper back then - zigged when he should have zagged, reaching to his left instead of straight ahead and picking up an envelope with a blank card inside.
Arizona State coach Jim Brock also came up empty. An assistant for Texas coach Cliff Gustafson got the envelope with the marker, jumping and yelling, pumping his fist with joy when he discovered the coveted prize. That marker meant Texas was in the title game of the 1975 College World Series. South Carolina and Arizona State would play the next night to see who would advance against the Longhorns.
The draw was necessitated by Texas beating the Gamecocks, 17-6. That left three teams with one loss. Arizona State earlier beat Texas 5-2 and South Carolina beat Arizona State 6-3.
This was, of course, a different bracket than the one used these days. Heck, there was so much scorn about breaking a tie with a blind draw that the rule was changed the next year. In the future, the final unbeaten team would get the bye if three teams remained unbeaten after the 13th game of that 8-team bracket. South Carolina was the last unbeaten team in the 1975 Series.
So, for the Gamecocks, another win was needed and against an Arizona State team which featured future big leaguers Floyd Bannister, Darrell Jackson, Greg Cochran, John Poloni, Gary Allenson, Chris Bando, Mike Colbern, Jerry Maddox, Chris Nyman, Ken Phelps, Ken Landreaux, Ricky Peters, and Gary Rajsich.
Damn, the Sun Devils were loaded.
If your are curious, eventual national champion Texas had eight future big leaguers: Jim Gideon, Rick Bradley, Blair Stouffer, Keith Moreland, Rich Wortham, Michael Anderson, Martin Flores and tournament MVP Mickey Reichenbach.
The Gamecocks, 47-4-1 entering the CWS, had five future major league players on its roster, although its star pitcher Earl Bass had to retire due to elbow injuries after playing at the Class AAA level.
Bass actually went straight from campus to the Cardinals AAA team in Tulsa, Okla. He was in the Mexican League - considered a notch above AAA but a notch below The Show - four years later when he realized it was time to hang it up.
"Teddy," he told me, "one morning I couldn't lift my arm to shave."
Earl came to regret a clause in his contract that called for a $25,000 bonus when he made the big league club. "They wouldn't call me up in September because they didn't want to have to pay that bonus," he said.
The five big leaguers? Hank Small, Garry Hancock, Jim Pankovits, Greg Keatley and Ed Lynch, who pitched only 4⅓ innings. Lynch was a mainstay on the 1977 national runner up and not only a future major league player but a future major league General Manager.
It was a different era in college baseball. South Carolina had 21 players on full scholarship and although I don't know for sure, I would bet Texas and Arizona State had similar - if not higher - numbers. The 'Horns and the Sun Devils were college baseball elite. Arizona State won it all in 1965, 1967 and 1969 and finished second in 1972 and 1973. Texas won the whole thing in 1948 and 1949 and lost the title game in 1953.
One thing was certain in 1975, there would not be a repeat champion; Southern California had won four straight titles prior to this season.
South Carolina was the newcomer. Richardson was the first full-time coach the school ever had. It was usually an assistant football coach or a faculty member prior to Richardson being hired in 1970 following a 12-year career with the New York Yankees from 1955-66 where he was an eight-time all-star.
The Carolina athletics director at the time, who also was the head football coach, Paul Dietzel made the hire.
"It was worth it just to have a man of Richardson"s national stature affiliated with the athletic department," Dietzel told me oh so many years ago. "If he was able to win … well, that was just an added bonus."
In the 77 seasons of collegiate baseball competition prior to Richardson taking over, the University of South Carolina had winning records 34 times, losing marks 33 and break-even seasons 10.
Richardson's stature indeed helped. He had two holdover pitchers, lefty Alan Hilliard and Larry Erbaugh. The former Major League second baseman and 1960 World Series MVP brought in Whitey Ford's son, Eddie in 1972. Phil Rizzuto's son, Phil, Jr., signed on in 1976. Al Worthington sent his son south in 1973. Eddie was a first-round draft pick a few years later - of the Boston Red Sox.
There was at the time a Delta Airlines pilot in Atlanta was a big baseball fan and, well, a big man. He was called Big George and he was a huge Richardson fan. Big George also had one of the top prospects in the country living under his roof, his older son, Hank Small.
All it took was a lone visit from Bobby and Hammering Hank was headed east to Columbia in 1972, the same year as Earl "The Pearl Bass" and Eddie Ford. Small's brother, David, also played for the Gamecocks enrolling in 1974. A third Small, Martin, also later became a Gamecock.
Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts called from Pennsylvania, where he was coaching American Legion baseball.
"You need to come see this big lefty I've got," Roberts said. "I don't need to see him," Richardson said. "If you say he can pitch, that's good enough for me."
The first time Richardson or assistant Johnny Hunton met Tim Lewis, the scholarship papers were ready to be signed. By the way, Roberts was dead on. Lewis was, as they say these days, a "Dude." He was 36-6 in his career; the most USC career wins by a left-handed pitcher. Greg Ward also wound up with the Gamecocks program after a tip from a Red Sox scout.
Richardson gradually built the program. He signed a catcher from Wilmington, N.C., named Steve King in 1973 and picked up a middle infielder from the football team named Jeff Grantz, who had a glove as soft as left-out butter and an arm stronger than Bounty and Mr. Clean combined. Grantz accepted Dietzel's football offer only when the highly-sought quarterback was assured he could play baseball.
Hilliard and King are, in my opinion, the two most underrated players in South Carolina baseball history. In Hilliard's final three seasons he posted ERAs of 2.31,1.59 and 1.99. Erbaugh chalked up 2.16, 2.49 and 1.46 seasons. And yes, I know they were pitching to wood. I wielded a Mickey Mantle 33 with modest success in fall practice 1969 before life came calling.
King? If he wasn't the top prospect in the country for the 1973 class he was near the top. Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager Al Campanis flew across the country to see him play one night along with USC assistant June Raines and about 40 pro scouts.
"How'd you do?"
"Oh, I got two."
"Hits?"
"Oh, no. Home runs."
Steve hit .315 with wood as a freshman, and then tore up his ankle sliding into second in fall practice for the next season and was out for the year.
"We may have gotten to Omaha in 1974 if he didn't get hurt," Richardson told me. "That 1974 team missed by a run, falling 2-1 to talented Miami (Fla.) in the District III Championship."
The majors came, and they came hard, after the 1974 season with Bass and Hank as the targets. Bass won his final six decisions and was 12-1 with a 1.10 ERA. Small, hitting with metal for the first time, hammered 17 home runs with 65 RBIs and a .360 batting average. He also stole 21 bases.
But the two made a one-word pact: Omaha.
South Carolina had its stars back and reloaded.
Speedy second baseman Mark Van Bever came from the junior college ranks, saying the opportunity to play for Richardson was too good to not take. Home-grown Ray Lavigne also came from JUCO, as did catcher Greg Keatley, right-fielder Garry Hancock and center fielder Steve Cook. Keatley and Cook actually played for current South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri's father Demie Mainieri at Miami-Dade North Community College.
In 1975, the outfield of King in left, Cook in center and Hancock in right did not commit an error and Cook and Hancock were destined to make huge defensive plays in the CWS.
The third-baseman was Jim Pankovits, a true freshman from Richmond who came to Carolina's attention via a letter from his pastor. Jim Fleming turned down the Dodgers to come to USC and he provided depth along with David Small, Don Repsher and Chuck McLean, who also pitched.
South Carolina opened the 1975 season with 13 straight wins before losing one-run games to Stetson and St. John's in Deland, Fla. The Gamecocks then reeled off 17 victories in a row and closed the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 20-1 and 7-0.
The NCAA enacted a new playoff system in 1975 and South Carolina benefited by hosting the Atlantic Regional. The Gamecocks advanced to the College World Series by beating The Citadel 11-3; Temple 15-0; and an N.C. State team with two-sport star Tim Stoddard, 4-3.
Bass and Small were All-Americans. Bass won his final six decisions of 1974 and his first 17 of 1975. He was 17-1 in 1975 with a 1.40 ERA. Small hit .390 with 19 home runs and 66 RBIs.
One of the home runs was at College Park in Charleston against The Citadel. Bulldogs' Coach Chal Port called it a top-step home run. "He hit it so far everyone in both dugouts ran to the top step to see just how far it was going," he explained.
They still talk about that massive drive over the light tower at the 375-foot sign in left-center.
"475 if a foot," Port always said. "Probably closer to 485."
Harmon Killebrew was the guest speaker at the pre-CWS banquet. Afterward, Small cornered the future Hall of Famer to talk hitting and Bass had cornered the banquet's Miss College World Series to talk goodness knows what. So, it was evident the Gamecocks were ready to play.
First would come a rematch. The Gamecocks and Seton Hall split a pair of games early in the season in the round-robin event in Deland. Now, they were matched in the first round of the 1975 College World Series.
A new champion was assured as Southern California was out already, but neither South Carolina or Seton Hall was expected to be left standing. The Gamecocks were ranked fourth in the country by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the only college baseball poll of the time, but they were behind No. 1 Florida State (49-8); No.2 Texas (52-5); and No. 3 Arizona State (58-11). Seton Hall (31-8) was ranked ninth.
Also in the field were No. 5 Oklahoma (50-8); No. 6 Cal-State Fullerton (36-14-1); and No. 8 Eastern Michigan.
Earl Bass was not sharp in the CWS opener, but still had enough to hold off Seton Hall 3-1. Mike Cromer pitched two scoreless innings in relief. The big play? In the third and USC up 2-0, Anthony Roselle lined a single to right with a man on second.
"If he goes, he's dead at the plate," I remember saying to my boss, Executive Sports Editor Herman Helms, seated beside me in Rosenblatt's old wooden press box.
Garry Hancock was in right. I had watched several times during the season when he unloaded strong, accurate throws. He nailed the runner at the plate and it wasn't even close. Next came Eastern Michigan and future big league pitcher Bob Welch. Greg Ward gave up only two hits in six innings and Carolina led 5-1 when the rains came and came hard.
"Teddy, the game's not over," Ward kept telling me in the locker room when I was trying to get a comment for the next day's newspaper. "It's not over. We might go back out there."
"Greg," I told him, "there is no way you're playing any more baseball tonight."
The game was called; the last rain-shortened game in CWS history. Starting the next season, all tournament games had to go nine innings.
Three days later, the Gamecocks flexed their muscles in one of their better performances of the season with a 6-3 victory over that talent-rich Sun Devils outfit and superstar pitcher Floyd Bannister.
Alton Rabon, in his book reviewing 1975 Gamecock Baseball, "Omaha Bound" tells of Arizona State's Clay Westlake not being impressed with Earl Bass' 16-0 record. "His record looks good … but wait until he faces our batters."
The Sun Devils led 2-0 after an inning. Bass, who was pitching on three days' rest, allowed three hits. ASU managed just five and one run the rest of the way. Bannister retired the first 11 he faced, but Carolina scored four times in the fourth, despite Small getting picked off second on a great play designed by Arizona State coach Jim Brock.
Gary Allenson came way in at third on a first-and-second bunt situation, apparently leaving Small an easy lane to the bag. Small was an aggressive, smart baserunner, but he was nailed at second on a called pick. But an out later with two on Greg Keatley delivered a two-run triple to tie it 2-2. Mark Van Bever then squeezed in the go-ahead run, with two strikes. "I never expected a bunt with two strikes," Allenson said,
"It's nice to have someone you can trust to give the squeeze sign to with two strikes, Richardson countered.
Rabon also wrote in his book that when the fourth run scored on an error, that Bass turned to Keatley and said, "my friend it's all over now."
Westlake? He was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
South Carolina went from one of its best games to one of its worst. Texas
collected 18 hits and hit three home runs in a 17-6 rout. That set up the draw for the bye. It also set up what Bobby Richardson called "One of the best wins in school history."
"If we had won the bye, we would not have been able to get that win against a great Arizona State team," Richardson reasoned after his team scored four times in the ninth to earn a spot in the national championship game.
Tim Lewis was magnificent. He went the distance in a 4-1 victory with help from an outstanding defense. The best web gem was a catch in right-center by Steve Cook, banging into the wall and robbing Ken Landreaux in the third. Richardson called it the best college defensive play he had ever seen.
My eyes followed Hancock, a speedster who as a lefty was wearing his glove on his right hand. I thought Hancock might have a chance to get to the ball. I never considered Cook.
In the ninth, Mark Van Bever bounced a double over Gary Allenson's head at third base. If not for that perfect bunt with two strikes the first time these teams met, Allenson would not have been up the line. The high chopper would have been a routine play.
After a Jeff Grantz sacrifice, Hancock delivered the run with a hard single to left.
I had moved down behind the plate in order to get to the locker room after the game without battling the crowd. I had a perfect view of Hancock's scorcher through the right side. Analytics, of course, were not available then, but judging from today's numbers that hit had to have an exit velo near 110 mph.
Small singled, King walked and then a rattled Arizona State defense committed a pair of costly errors. Lewis pitched a perfect ninth.
South Carolina was still at a disadvantage having to play the extra game. Richardson decided to go with his ace, Bass, who would be pitching on two days rest after a previous start on three days rest. That's two starts in four days. For Texas, ace and future big leaguer lefty Rich Wortham was available.
A two-out throwing error allowed the Longhorns to take a 1-0 lead and CWS MVP Mickey Reichenbach hit a two-run homer in the third. Texas led 4-0 before Hank Small's home run in the fourth, the 48th of his career. Carolina managed just four hits against Wortham. Bass was touched for eight hits and three earned runs before leaving to a standing ovation with two outs in the ninth.
Bass finished 34-3 at USC, losing to Southern Cal, Georgia Southern, which was a national program in those days, and Texas. He recorded 22 complete games and 10 shutouts with a 1.34 earned run average.
Ray Tanner called a few years back to tell me the school was going to retire a uniform number.
"You have been around South Carolina baseball longer than anyone, so who do you think should be first to have his jersey retired?'' he asked.
"Earl Bass," I answered with absolutely no hesitation.
Earl, Hank Small, Don Repsher and Garry are gone now. But the memories of the accomplishments of that team 50 years ago, the memories of the collective talents, the robust, competitive individuals and the unique characters will never die.
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extra inning recap
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