1966–67 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 1966–67 Illinois Fighting Illini 1966–67_Illinois_Fighting_Illini_men's_basketball_team.jpg 300px Big Ten Conference Big Ten 12–12 6–8 Harry Combes Howie Braun Jim Wright 20th 30th 9th Jim Dawson Jim Dawson Assembly Hall The 1966–67 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois. Regular season A dark cloud loomed over the Fighting Illini's men's basketball team as the 1966-67 season commenced. An investigation revolving around a "slush-fund" program which provided funds to athletes within the basketball and football programs had come to the conclusion that many integral parts of the administration, coaching staff, as well as athletes, were culpable and should be punished. The basketball team was the first to feel the brunt of sanctions caused by the "slush fund". For the first few weeks of the season, the 1966-67 Illini team was proving to be one of the elite teams in college basketball. They had defeated Kentucky 98-97 at Kentucky in early December, a feat the Illini had done only one other time in their history. Prior to the revelations, the team's only loss was by 2 points at the hands of West Virginia on their home court in Morgantown. Then, just two days before Christmas, while the team awaited its Chicago Stadium game with California, three fifths of the starting lineup were declared ineligible. Rich Jones, Ron Dunlap and Steve Kuberski never again played for Illinois, and Harry Combes and his assistant Howie Braun was forced to resign at the end of the season. The team that remained bonded together and defeated Cal, 97–87. Remaining starter Jim Dawson took over the scoring load from that point on, but the real surprise that night, and for the remainder of the season, was Dave Scholz. Scholz, a 6-foot-7 sophomore from Decatur, had seen only limited action in the first five games of the season. From the Cal game and beyond, Scholz utilized his opportunity to play by becoming the second leading scorer on this team and the leading scorer the following two seasons. Not only did he become the leading scorer, he was also named a Helms Foundation first-team All-American each of his remaining years. The dismissal of the three starters also gave impetus to a Big 10 MVP award for Dawson. Eventually, reality set in, and the Illini finished with a 12–12 record and a seventh-place finish in the Big 10. Based on the negative findings, Illinois was forced to hire a new athletic director and new head basketball coach. Gene Vance was hired to be athletic director and was asked to guide the Illini back to respectability. The university began the investigation into the "slush-fund" as a good faith gesture to demonstrate to the Big Ten commissioners that they were willing to handle any negative consequences in-house. University President David D. Henry found that 12 active football and basketball players had received illegal aid, seven football, 5 basketball. It also found that 17 other athletes had received aid since 1962, totaling approximately $21,500. The salt in the wound came from Big Ten commissioner Bill Reed, who emphasized that, even though the university had completed its investigation and dismissed the parties involved, the conference would continue the investigation further and hand down a formal decision on March 4, 1967. The decision, after a fairly brief debate, made by the conference athletic directors, including ex-offenders Biggie Munn and Forest Evashevski, called for Illinois to fire Elliott, Combes and Braun or "show cause" why the university should not be suspended or dropped from Big Ten membership. Based on the fact that the committee making the decision was made up of several members who had been guilty of infractions themselves, President Henry became outraged. The university appealed the decision while "friends of the coaches" began circulating petitions with hopes of pressuring the school into keeping them regardless of the consequences. On March 18, the Big Ten issued its ultimatum to the University of Illinois.Big Ten Decision In a statement from the commissioner, it was demanded that the implicated coaches be fired or the school could face an indefinite suspension. When the dust settled, football coach Pete Elliott and basketball coaches Combes and Braun all had their existing contracts terminated on August 31, 1967. Combes finished his 20-year career with 316 wins, three conference titles (1949, 1951, and 1952) and his 1963 team sharing a portion of the Big Ten Championship with Ohio State. Along with the conference championships, Combes' teams finished the NCAA Tournament in third place three times and in the Elite Eight once during his tenure. The 1966-67 team's starting lineup included Deon Flessner and Benny Louis at the forward spots, Dawson and Preston Pearson as guards and Scholz at center. Roster 1966 Illinois Fighting Illini y yes John Prescott 10 F 6 6 185 JR Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest High School n Benny Louis 11 G 6 2 175 JR Pinckneyville, Illinois Pinckneyville Community High School n Paul Nitz 12 F/C 6 6 195 SO Woodstock, Illinois Marian Central Catholic High School n Jerry Mettille 14 G/F 6 4 190 SR Morris, Illinois Morris Community High School n Bob Johansen 21 F 6 4 190 SR Geneva, Illinois Geneva High School n Jim Dawson 24 G 6 0 175 SR Elmhurst, Illinois York High School y Jimmy Dawson (basketball, born 1945) C Preston Pearson 25 G 6 1 195 SR Freeport, Illinois Freeport High School y Deon Flessner 30 F 6 4 205 SR Fithian, Illinois Fithian High School n Les Busboom 32 F 6 4 185 SO Royal, Illinois St. Joseph-Ogden High School n Rich Jones 33 F/C 6 7 200 JR Memphis, Tennessee Lester High School y Rich Jones (basketball) S Denny Pace 34 G/F 6 3 175 SO Collinsville, Illinois Collinsville High School n Ron Dunlap basketball 35 C 6 8 220 JR Chicago, Illinois Farragut Academy y S Dave Scholz 40 F/C 6 8 220 SO Decatur, Illinois Stephen Decatur High School y Steve Kuberski 43 F/C 6 7 210 SO Moline, Illinois Moline High School y S Bill Stefan 45 G 6 4 185 SO Westchester, Illinois St. Joseph High School n Harry Combes (University of Illinois) (20th year) Howie Braun (University of Illinois) (30th year) Jim Wright (University of Illinois) (9th year) https://fightingillini.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/1966-67 Schedule SourceUniversity of Illinois Fighting Illini Statistics Summary for 1966-67 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 , FightingIllini.com yes yes |- !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season 12/3/1966 yes 1966 Butler Bulldogs Butler Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 82-51 7,822 1-0 12/5/1966 yes 3 yes 1966 Kentucky Wildcats Kentucky Rupp Arena Lexington, KY 98-97 ot 11,500 2-0 12/10/1966 yes yes 1966 West Virginia Mountaineers West Virginia WVU Field House Morgantown, WV 88-90 6,500 2-1 12/19/1966 Wisconsin Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 87-74 8,525 3-1 1-0 12/22/1966 yes 1966 Stanford Cardinal Stanford Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 81-67 7,435 4-1 12/23/1966 yes yes 1966 California Golden Bears California Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL 72-89 8,000 5-1 12/27/1966 yes yes 1966 Arizona Wildcats Arizona Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Basketball Classic 93-77 3,473 6-1 12/29/1966 yes yes 1966 USC Trojans Southern California Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Basketball Classic 72-73 12,100 6-2 12/30/1966 yes yes 1966 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Georgia Tech Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Basketball Classic 83-71 12,130 7-2 |- !colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season 1/7/1967 Michigan State Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 74-76 11,047 7-3 1-1 1/10/1967 yes 1966 Northwestern Wildcats Northwestern McGaw Memorial Hall Evanston, IL Rivalry 96-104 7,748 7-4 1-2 1/14/1967 Michigan Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 99-93 7,141 8-4 2-2 2/4/1967 yes yes 1966 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL 75-90 17,024 8-5 1/29/1967 yes 1 yes UCLA Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL 82-120 10,025 8-6 2/4/1967 Northwestern Assembly Hall Champaign, IL Rivalry 93-83 8,145 9-6 3-2 2/7/1967 yes Iowa Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA Rivalry 89-96 12,822 9-7 3-3 2/11/1967 yes 1966 Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN 81-93 8,317 9-8 3-4 2/18/1967 1966 Purdue Boilermakers Purdue Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 94-92 7,244 10-8 4-4 2/20/1967 yes Indiana New Fieldhouse Bloomington, IN Rivalry 81-96 8,035 10-9 4-5 2/3/1967 yes Purdue Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN 86-98 8,035 10-10 4-6 2/27/1967 Minnesota Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 84-71 5,562 11-10 5-6 3/4/1967 1966 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State Assembly Hall Champaign, IL 80-70 10,733 12-10 6-6 3/6/1967 yes Ohio State St. John Arena Columbus, OH 79-100 5,898 12-11 6-7 3/11/1967 yes Wisconsin Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI 92-102 11,722 12-12 6-8 |- Central Time Player stats Player Games played Field goals Free throws Rebounds PointsJim Dawsonhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 242149373521Dave Scholzhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 2319483250471Deon Flessnerhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 208573162243Preston Pearsonhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 237549123199Bob Johansenhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 22584272158Rich Jones*http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 5521866122Denny Pacehttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 2229285486Benny Louishttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 2332385986Les Busboomhttp://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 1826216077Ron Dunlap*http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 526216073Steve Kuberski*http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html Season Stats 2014-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20140116071716/http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-baskbl/records/year-1966.html 2014-01-16 dead 5721216Paul Nitz 62347Jerry Mettille 92357 *Jones, Dunlap and Kuberski were deemed ineligible on December 23rd due to the "Slush-Fund" scandal. Awards and honors Jim Dawson Team Most Valuable Player http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf List of MVPs 2014-01-14 2014-10-30 https://web.archive.org/web/20141030004049/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ill/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/05_mbb_guide_06.pdf dead Big Ten Player of the Year Honorable Mention All-American (Converse) Dave Scholz Honorable Mention All-American (Converse) Team players drafted into the NBA Player NBA club Round PickJim DawsonChicago Bulls1621967 NBA Draft Rankings 1966–67 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings References Illinois Fighting Illini Category:Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons Category:1966 in sports in Illinois Category:1967 in sports in Illinois