Tar Heels' 1957 victory may be best NCAA title game ever

Fifty years later, they're still coming to understand what it meant, that weekend in Kansas City. They are grandfathers in their 70s now, the North Carolina Tar Heels of 1957. The team with the championship like none other.

On March 22, No. 1 and 30-0 North Carolina had to go three overtimes to beat Michigan State 74-70.

On March 23, 24 hours later, the Tar Heels had to go three overtimes to beat No. 2 Kansas and a fearsome Goliath named Wilt Chamberlain 54-53. Arguably — or maybe not so arguably — the greatest NCAA title game in history.

Two days, two games, six overtimes. The bracket is more merciful now. That'll never happen again.

So in a way, they stand alone, these old Tar Heels long scattered.

From the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the retired real estate man whose shot with four seconds left saved them in the first overtime against Michigan State. "We could have gone another three overtimes," Pete Brennan said. "Nobody told us back then you had to have a day of rest in between because you might be tired."

From south Florida, the star of the team who scored 31 points against Michigan State and 20 against Kansas had to helplessly watch the overtimes against the Jayhawks after fouling out in regulation. "We never felt any pressure. We just played every game," Lennie Rosenbluth said. "But I can see now, me sitting on the bench and watching it go back and forth like a fan ... It was agonizing."

From Fayetteville, N.C., the former dentist who hit two free throws with six seconds left of the third overtime against Kansas. The points that made all the difference. "Every kid has a dream of winning the NCAA Tournament. My dream had been to stand in the corner and take a jump shot with no time left," Joe Quigg said. "I had to settle for two free throws. Just as good."

So much began to come of age in Municipal Auditorium a half century ago. The power of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The aura of North Carolina basketball. The possibility of the tournament itself, in its infancy as a televised entity.

They did not understand then, of course. Young men in winning locker rooms do not think that way. Actually, according to Brennan, it did not fully hit them until this past winter, when North Carolina recognized the 1957 and 1982 champions, 50 and 25 years after their deeds.

They heard more famous younger men honor their memory and example. Michael Jordan. James Worthy. Sam Perkins. They heard how, in the locker room of the 1982 team, hung a picture of the 1957 team.

"I knew they knew our names," Brennan said. "I didn't realize we were an inspiration to them."

They were the sons or grandsons of immigrants, appreciative of just the chance to go to college. "We didn't want to let Coach (Frank) McGuire down, our families down, the student body down," Rosenbluth said. "We never talked about losing."

Money was too tight to travel. The Tar Heels met Kansas, in Kansas City, with no family in the stands. "We didn't even have a cousin out there," Quigg said.

But McGuire had hardened his team with a road-heavy schedule. By the Final Four, only eight of North Carolina's 30 games had been in its own gym.

"We didn't need a lot of applause," Brennan said.

They had been unbeatable. Were they ready to become unforgettable?

Rosenbluth remembers the words from one of his teammates. "Tommy Kearns said it best. Everything changed with one point. Our lives changed."

It nearly didn't happen. With only a few seconds left in the first overtime against Michigan State, the Spartans led 64-62 and their best player, Johnny Green, was on the free throw line. He makes it, and a 30-0 season crumbles.

As Green stood at the line, a Michigan State player edged up to Kearns and murmured, "Thirty-and-one."

But the free throw bounced off to Brennan, who figured there wasn't time to get the ball to a guard, so he took it all the way himself.

"I don't think they expected that," he said. "As it left my hand, it felt terrific."

Soon after, they were back in their hotel trying to sleep, knowing a 7-foot giant was waiting for them the next night. Kansas and Chamberlain had destroyed San Francisco 80-56.

Before the championship game, Rosenbluth said, McGuire went down the bench asking each player a question. "Are you afraid of Chamberlain?"

Nobody said yes.

Then he sent out the 5-11 Kearns to jump center for the opening tip, while the other four North Carolina players set up in a zone around the Kansas basket.

"I wanted to show them the zone we were going to use," McGuire was quoted in some newspapers afterward. "And I wanted to show how ridiculous it is to have anybody jump against Chamberlain. I told some of the photographers to be ready for that picture. It should have been a good one."

Mind games aside, North Carolina took a 19-7 lead, slowing the tempo to try to control Chamberlain. The Tar Heels held their own on the boards — would, in fact, end up with a startling 42-28 rebounding edge.

But Rosenbluth fouling out was a blow. North Carolina needed a late Kearns' free throw to force overtime. Each team scored two points the first overtime, and none the second, when North Carolina missed four free throw attempts. Chamberlain, who would end with 23 points and 14 rebounds, was oddly quiet.

"How can you have the greatest basketball player in the country, which he was," Rosenbluth said, "and go 10 minutes and score two points?"

Finally, as the third overtime drained away with Kansas ahead 53-52, Quigg retrieved a Chamberlain blocked shot, drove to the basket and was fouled with six seconds left. It would all come down to a junior shooting 72% from the foul line.

"I relate it, as I've gotten older, to a golfer," Quigg said. "Sometimes you're on the green and you really feel good, looking at a putt, and you know you're going to do it. As we left the huddle after a timeout, I said to coach McGuire that I was going to make them. He just smiled.

"When the first one went through, the second one was easy."

And had he missed both?

"I would have been practicing (dentistry) in New York."

The post-game locker room was too small for celebration, or even a shower. They'd have to do that back at the hotel.

"I can remember just winning the national championship," Quigg said, "and being on the street by myself in the rain, running back to the hotel.

"We didn't do anything except we went in somebody's room and sat in the corner and had a beer or two. It was very, very calm. We were sort of drained."

The players were given watches. "I think I'm the only one that still has mine," Quigg said.

Not until the 1990s, at the insistence of Dean Smith, did the 1957 Tar Heels get championship rings.

Every player on the roster graduated. Several had advanced degrees.

"I'm proud of the guys I played with. They've been some of my best friends for 50 years," Brennan said.

"There have been better players than us," Rosenbluth said of a group so in tune, McGuire never called plays. "I doubt if there has ever been a better team.

The first starter to die, Bob Cunningham, passed away just last summer. "He would have been the one who loved all this notoriety," Quigg said.

Fame teeters on a narrow ledge. Maybe that is why they appreciate it so deeply.

"We won by one point in three overtimes, and we've been considered the winners for 50 years." Brennan said. "Kansas lost by one point and they've been considered the losers."

Lennie Rosenbluth's last words to a caller:

"Thank you for remembering us."

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Contact Mike Lopresti at mlopresti@gns.gannett.com

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