Butler loses small but mighty Gerry Williams, Dick Haslam from 1962 Sweet 16 team
David WoodsINDIANAPOLIS – Fifty days apart, Butler University lost two of its icons from 60 years ago.
Gerry Williams, track star and point guard, died April 28. Dick Haslam, golfer and basketball captain, died June 17.
Both were 81.
Both were unselfish players and belong to the Indiana Basketball and Butler halls of fame. Both were starters on the Butler team reaching the 1962 Sweet 16 in its first NCAA tournament appearance.
New to Butler Hall of Fame:Gordon Hayward, Matt Howard, Shelvin Mack
“One of the main things I remember about that team is all the guys were really good to be around,” said Jeff Blue, a 6-6 sophomore for those Bulldogs and a close friend of Williams.
Butler, with an all-Hoosier starting five, was unexpectedly selected for its first NCAA tournament in 1962. Time magazine headlined a story on the team “Fierce Little Butler.”
The 5-8 Williams, of Indianapolis, was nicknamed “Muffin.” He set a high jump state record of 6-6 at Shortridge High School — 10 inches over his head and just four inches off the national record. He was a college conference champion in the high jump and 100-yard dash. Time magazine pictured Williams, characterized as “a refuge from Biddy Basketball,” and coach Tony Hinkle together.
The 5-9 Haslam, of Crawfordsville, led his team to second place in the 1958 state tournament. Known more for ballhandling, speed and defense than for scoring, he was Trester Award winner for mental attitude. Hinkle once called Haslam “the smartest player I ever coached.”
The Bulldogs started the 1961-62 season 3-4, losing on the road at Illinois, Purdue and DePauw. They proceeded to win a school-record 13 in a row, including an 83-67 victory over Notre Dame in which Blue and Williams scored 26 points each.
At 20-5, Butler was among 25 teams selected for March Madness. The campus, then with 1,900 undergraduates, had a level of excitement resembling the 2010 and 2011 Final Four runs.
The Bulldogs were assigned against Bowling Green at Lexington, Ky. Bowling Green featured two future NBA players, 6-11 Nate Thurmond and guard Howard “Butch” Komives, who two years later would lead the NCAA with a 36.7 scoring average.
With 33 seconds left, Williams’ two free throws pushed the Bulldogs ahead 56-53. They had the ball under their own basket and a one-point lead with 18 seconds left, but Williams’ long pass intended for Haslam went out of bounds.
Bowling Green’s 20-foot desperation shot went off the rim. Butler survived, 56-55, and advanced.
“We were fortunate enough that they missed a shot,” Williams told IndyStar in a March interview. “I would never have been able to live that down.”
In the Mideast Regional at Iowa City, the Bulldogs trailed third-ranked Kentucky 37-36 at halftime before losing 81-60. There were regional third-place games then, and Butler beat Western Kentucky 87-86 in overtime. Ken Freeman threw a length-of-the-floor pass to Williams for the winning layup.
More:Sixty years ago, Butler made it to Sweet 16
It took 41 years for Butler to reach another Sweet 16.
“I really enjoyed that run,” Williams told IndyStar. “I think about that all the time.”
Blue said Haslam and Williams compensated for lack of size with speed. When they trapped an opponent, Blue said, it was fun to watch.
“I could grab a rebound and turn in the air and throw it down the court, and either one of them could make a bad pass look good,” Blue said.
Haslam was a quiet leader. He topped Butler in free-throw percentage (.813 on 52-of-64) that season. In one game, he shot 7-of-7 from the field.
“You know what that means? It means you should keep shooting,” Blue told him afterward.
Blue’s recollections of Williams included the clever and the courageous.
Blue was having trouble keeping one opponent out of the paint, so Williams urged him to step on the baseline, forcing the dribbler onto the court. Blue did, and Williams twice swept in to steal the ball.
“He just quit driving at that point. Gerry made him look so bad,” Blue said.
In a game against Ohio State, Blue became involved in a skirmish with center Gary Bradds, the 1964 national player of the year and future ABA star. Benches emptied, and Williams jumped on the back of a Buckeye who was about to smack Blue.
When Blue asked about it, Williams replied:
“It’s just like riding a tiger. I didn’t know how to get off.”
According to a Crown Hill Cemetery obituary, Williams once played for Team USA in a tournament at Barcelona. He had 22 points and 19 rebounds in one game.
Williams was honorably discharged from the U.S Army and worked for more than 31 years as an insurance claims adjuster.
After college, Haslam coached high school basketball at Brownsburg, Crawfordsville and Maconaquah, winning two conference and four sectional titles. He was athletic director at Maconaquah until his retirement in 1996.
He moved back to Crawfordsville, where he was a longtime substitute teacher and avid golfer on the Rocky Ridge Course where he owned a home. He was credited with 17 holes-in-one.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.