Even Hall of Famers have “bad” games.
Ask Sam Stith, the legendary player who scored over 1100 points in his three varsity seasons at St. Bonaventure University (SBU) from 1957-60. Playing at a time in college basketball when players weren’t eligible to play at the varsity level until their sophomore year, Stith also collected 620 rebounds, rather impressive for a 6-2 guard/forward.
His #22 jersey was raised to the Reilly Center rafters upon his 1969 induction to the University’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
After all, losing wasn’t common to Stith’s career at SBU. In his three seasons, the Bona teams coached by Eddie Donovan amassed a record of 62-13, good for a .827 winning percentage.
The basketball success in that era was known for something else during Stith’s playing days: a prominent home-game win streak. The Bonnies’ last loss had come to Niagara on February 11, 1948. By the time that Stith joined the varsity squad in 1957, the streak of victories in the Olean (NY) Armory had gained national attention.
“There’s no way in the world that someone would come into the Armory and beat us,” Stith recalled. “That was our feeling. It didn’t matter who it was.”
Asked about the most memorable games in his Bona career, Stith pointed to consecutive home win #73. Though the Bonnies survived with a narrow victory over Niagara, 69-66, the streak appeared to be coming to an end in the final seconds of regulation. Stith fouled a Niagara player, who made both free throws to put the Purple Eagles ahead by a point. Donovan called a timeout, and Stith headed to the team huddle with his head down, thinking that he was being pulled from the game for committing the foul. On top of that, he hadn’t made a basket the entire game.
To this point, it wasn’t Stith’s best moment in a Bona uniform.
Donovan, however, kept Stith on the floor and instructed the Bonnies to run a set play. “We’re moving it [the ball] around, the clock is ticking off, and [teammate] Larry Weise yelled at me when I got the ball to drive to the hoop. The defensive guy played me for the charge, so I pulled up and banked it off the backboard,” Stith remembered.
The Olean Times Herald story—headlined “Pipe-Dreamer Couldn’t Have Improved on Bona’s Victory”—credited that basket with 15 seconds left as deciding the game and keeping the streak alive.
Was there pressure in the moment with such a long win streak on the line?
“Nope, nope,” he said without a second thought. “I wanted it because I messed up by fouling [the Niagara player].
“The only thing is that I came close to charging the other player. That would have really been disastrous. If I went one more step, I would have run into him. Game over.” And 72-game home win streak over.
Still the Purple Eagles of Niagara nearly sent SBU fans home from the Armory in shock. The final 14 seconds were “sweat-producing,” as described by The Times Herald, and found Weise, the 5-11 senior guard and subsequent Bona head coach, sinking two foul shots in the final two seconds to seal the win.
Stith’s recollection of what happened after the final buzzer was vivid. “The students put me on their shoulders and carried me off the court,” he recounted, adding that he almost hit his head on the overhang in exiting the Armory court.
Win #73 was pivotal to Stith’s career. “That Niagara game jump-started my career at St. Bonas,” he said.
He realized that the ending to the game nearly 55 years ago could have been different. Being called for a charge on that last shot, particularly after committing the foul to allow Niagara to take the lead, may have affected his subsequent time in a Bona uniform. “If I miss that shot, it means I’m the goat, and keep in mind that it would have broken the Bona winning streak,” Stith added.
Instead the win over Niagara became a signature game for Stith en route to the Bona Athletics Hall of Fame honor. The University’s webpage of Stith offers an apt description: “When the game was on the line, he became the ‘Go To Guy,’ and he seldom disappointed.” Win #73 included.