Nice to see all the replies. Thanks for the welcome. I had been talking with Jim Murphy recently about Hercle and so I googled him. This thread showed up and I thought I would contribute. I always felt bad for Jim because he got caught in between a lot of change in the program. Lynn Nance brought in Uthoff, Harmison, and Juco transfer Paul Landsburger. Jim kind of got lost in the shuffle. He is like a brother to me. My father played a year at ISU in the early 50's, and actually held the consecutive free throw record for a couple years. Nance offered me a walk on opportunity in June of 79. I declined. I knew I would rarely if ever see the floor. I do love the Cyclones.
Does anyone remember Hercle Ivy?
- Thread starter docholihawk
- Start date
John Ness for me but Hercle Poison Ivy from the corner was money every time. Ness would have had a 3 pt record never equalled because he never shot in front of the 3 pt line EVER!
I was there almost every home game from when Hilton opened to the end of the 76 season. While it looked so promising with Maury John coming in, cancer sucks, and losing him, effectively sucked the life out of the program for tge remainder of the decade.
Hilton was not a home court advantage back then. Many said its design would never let it. Back then us students literall had the whole north side of the lower bowl. Ed Gangier's national champion gymnastics teams did almost as well in attendance. The ISU-EIU matches, however, were epic. I was in the upper reaches of a sold out Hilton for on of those.
Another player from that era, who transferred in from Kentucky to follow Nance, was Bob Fowler. Fowler was a 6'4" small forward who could jump out of the gym. The first time I saw him, he was dunking over everyone in a pick up game at Beyer Hall. I believe he embarassed me several times. After the game, I asked who he was. He explained he was coming in from Kentucky. Fowler was was a solid contributer for 3 seasons. Oddly, his production and playing time decreased each season, until midway in his third season, he peeled off his jersey at Hilton, and quit the program. If I remember correctly, that was also the year Nance was fired late in the season for personal reasons. Nance was a strict coach. He ran a tight program, openly criticizing players and handing out extra running to those who didn't live up to his expectations. When he was at Kentucky as an assistant under Joe B. Hall, he went nose to nose with an enraged Indiana coach Bobby Knight. Nance had been a very good college player and FBI agent before becoming a coach. I believe he would have more than handled Knight.
Hilton also held the record for dual wrestling meet attendance (ISU vs Iowa) and regularly did 5000 + for duals especially against OSU, a power back then. They also hosted the NCAA wrestling tournament under Nick, which sold out.
Wrestling duals with Iowa were amazing stuff back then. It was Ali-Frasier. I usually watched them on a TV at Cy's Roost.
Yea, Hilton was not known for Basketball; rather Wrestling, Concerts and Public Skating kept the doors open
PS: of course with public skating there was more action going on in the balcony; than on the floor! Students could skate for free, cheap date.
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Hercle had a nephew, I believe, named Sam Ivy. He went to my cousin's high school in the St. Louis area. ISU recruited him but I'm not sure where he ended up. NC State, maybe?
Edit: Looks like Sam played at Wake.
Edit: Looks like Sam played at Wake.
So nice to see all the posts here...even on an 8 year old thread. About 4-5 years back, I joined WRNL. It was pretty busy for awhile there but it kinda died. I was older than most of the contributors there and had trouble adjusting to all the profanity.....call me old fashioned....
I worked in the aerospace industry for 40+ years. I always tried to be professional, but get me out on the shop floor with the rank and file, and I could swear with the best of them. When in Rome.
Damn. In the midst of all these “kids”, people who have been Cyclone fans even longer than I have. Sweet!
I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with Ness a little the summer of 79. We would shoot and run at state gym. Ironically, it was the hot hand of Ness who defeated my high school (Atlantic) in the State Championship game at Veterans in 77. He poured in something like 40 points. I had already graduated. John Ness was a pure shooter and a really nice guy.
And what's your mother's maiden name?
Asking for a friend of mine that's a Saudi Prince.
https://cyclones.com/news/2008/1/25/1346406.aspx
I'll 2nd this. Dude could JUMP. Had not thought about that in decades.
I'll 2nd this. Dude could JUMP. Had not thought about that in decades.
