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The early sixties remain the Golden Era of Bearcat Basketball. Following
Robertson’s graduation, the team won its first national championship in
1960-61. Led by All-Americans Bob Wiesenhahn and Paul Hogue, as well as
future All-Americans Tom Thacker and Tony Yates, Cincinnati defeated an
imposing Ohio State team featuring John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, Bobby Knight
and Larry Siegfried. The win cemented Cincinnati’s burgeoning reputation as
a national power, and set the stage for a rare event – repeating as national
champions.
With freshmen ineligible to compete in varsity athletics, Bonham adjusted to
college life while preparing to help his team secure back-to-back titles.
Cincinnati started Bonham’s sophomore season where it left off, bolting to a
10-1 record and a Number 2 ranking in the polls. His role in those early
games was to come off the bench. Ever the consummate team player, Bonham
understood that UC had lost only two players (Wiesenhahn and guard Carl
Bouldin) from a team that ran off 22 straight wins on its way to that 70-65
title clincher over the Buckeyes. Hogue, the team’s rugged rebounder, was
still there. Lanky forward Fred Dierking, the man with perhaps the sharpest
elbows in the college game, was still there. Guards Thacker and Yates were
only juniors. Bonham filled the role of Sixth Man to perfection, providing
instant offense when head coach Ed Jucker sensed his team needed it.
"I like to have a good bench,” Jucker said at the time, referring to the
player known alternately as the ‘Muncie Mortar’ and the ‘Blonde Bomber’.
“And Bonham helps make it one of the best.”
By season’s end, Bonham was playing a far more integral role in Cincinnati’s
fortunes, with perhaps his biggest game coming in the National Semifinals
against budding power UCLA. In a tightly contested game (tied 37-37 at
halftime), Hogue (36 points) and Bonham (19) powered UC to a 72-70 win and a
rematch with Ohio State for the national championship. Bonham would score
10 in that 71-59 victory, completing a dream season for a player unafraid to
follow Robertson’s footsteps.
“You can’t put it into words,” he says. “Even after all of these years it’s
hard to believe what we accomplished.”
A year later Bonham was a certified star, earning Consensus All-America
honors while leading the '63 team in scoring (21.0 ppg). Cincinnati made a
then-unprecedented fifth straight trip to the Final Four in 1962-63, and
narrowly missed capturing a third-straight national crown when Loyola (Ill.)
overcame a 15-point deficit and defeated the Bearcats by a basket, 60-58, in
overtime. During those five seasons, UC recorded a 37-game win streak and
posted a 161-16 record. The five straight Final Four appearances remain a
feat topped only by UCLA. And Bonham was squarely in it all.
“What a thrill to be a part of those teams,” Bonham says, smiling. “It was
an honor to be associated with Bearcat basketball – it’s something I’ll
never forget.”
UC’s
Final Four streak ended a year later, but Bonham was once again named to the
All-America team. He was then the sixteenth player selected in the 1964 NBA
draft, going in the second round to the defending champion Boston Celtics.
A great athlete in the best shape of his life, Bonham was nevertheless
ill-prepared for those grueling training camps ran by the legendary Red
Auerbach. He found himself physically exhausted after two weeks of
two-a-days, at times wondering whether he wanted to be so far away from
home. Somehow Bonham survived both his homesickness and Auerbach's
military-style boot camp, making the cut along with fellow rookie Mel
Counts. The Celtics roared out of the blocks; the sixty-two wins that
season were a club record, and the club won it's seventh consecutive NBA
championship.
For Bonham, the wide-eyed rookie
suddenly had the basketball world on a string. He was an Indiana high
school hoops legend, an NCAA champion, and a member for the greatest dynasty
in professional sports. His teammates were some of the greatest players in
NBA history, including hall-of-fame talent such as Bill Russell, Sam Jones,
KC Jones, Tom Heinsohn and John Havlicek. Auerbach was revered in Boston
and reviled outside of it, a certified genius and the NBA’s Coach of the
Year. Russell was the league’s MVP for a record fifth time. Radio
announcer Johnny Most belted out his signature call ("Havlicek stole the
ball! Havlicek stole the ball!") following Havlicek's theft of inbounds pass
during the final seconds of Eastern Division deciding game against
Philadelphia. Bonham soaked it all in – the awesome personalities, the key
moments, the grueling practices – well aware that he was in a very special
place indeed.
“The Celtics were a family,”
Bonham says. “As a rookie, I was considered an outsider. But that all
changed once I made the team. At that point I became part of something
truly special.”
The Celtics repeated as
champions a year later, with Bonham playing 39 games as a reserve. It was
the team’s eighth consecutive title, a record that many feel will never be
broken. It was also a year of change for the aging franchise; Auerbach
retired as coach following a 95-93 Game 7 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in
the fabled Boston Garden, while Russell was named to succeed him as
player/coach. Bonham found himself playing less as the season went on, and
by following summer he was out of basketball and back home in Indiana.
His time away from the game
would prove short-lived; still a marquee name in his home state, the
fledging Indiana Pacers coaxed him back onto the court for one more season
of action. That Bonham finished his cage career as an original member of
the ABA’s Indiana Pacers is only fitting, given his towering presence over
Indiana high school basketball. To this day he remains part of the lore
that fuels hoops hysteria in his home state, the stories told and retold
through the generations. From Plump to Robertson, Bonham to Bird, fans
statewide can recite the historic moments that make basketball such a
special part of their lives. Bearcat and Celtic fans can, too, as Bonham’s
achievements have left an indelible mark on two of this sport’s true
dynasties.
Celtic Nation is honored to bring you this interview.
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