The mention on the TCU game thread of this game brought back beautiful and bitter memories of that season.
Most bitter is the memory of Melvin “The Savage” Bell, who began the season as a starter. He was 6-7, 235, and he was a FORCE inside. He had been a touted recruit , and had broken E’s freshman scoring record, and had averaged 13 and 9 as a sophomore. With him and Spain and E we would have brutalized every other forecourt. But the Savage was injured a couple of games into the season and was never the same again. He was ably replaced by Theodis Lee, who was an outstanding shooter but not a presence inside. Who knows what he might have meant in the final 4. Another bitter memory is that George Reynolds, our point guard, was declared ineligible for the postseason, and replaced by Vern Lewis, Guy V.'s son. George was 6-4, a double figure scorer and a great floor leader; Vern was about 6 or 6-1, a steady ball handler but not a scoring threat. Nevertheless we waltzed through the first two rounds of the tournament, but who knows how much of a difference George would have made in the semi. Another extremely bitter memory is that we played that game at Pauley. I still can’t get over the injustice of UCLA getting to play on their home court in the final 4. Finally, I don’t think UCLA’s defense was responsible for E having his worst stats ever. I remember reading, I think it was in SI, that he had been severely ill with a stomach flu the night before, and had lost 10 pounds. But I’ve never seen that repeated anywhere else. Does anybody know anything about this? He certainly didn’t look like himself in that game. He had averaged 38 and 19 for the year, had hit for 39 and 15 in the dome. UCLA defense doesn’t explain how he could only get 8 bounds. He was also ineffective in the consolation game, where we were dominated by a not great Ohio State team after going 31-0 before the final four. UCLA was probably the the better team with a healthy Alcindor (though I suspect with Bell and Reynolds, maybe not), but no way were they as much better than us as this blowout suggested, and on a neutral court and with a healthy E who knows what might have happened.
2 weeks from today will reach 57 years since GOC – Jan 20 1968
Theodis Lees’ son worked with me on the railroad.
I was in the Dome that night, along with about 2 million others that claim to have been there. Loge (purple seating) 2nd row from top. I could not see the scoreboard, so I pestered the people in front of me to keep me updated on the score. They actually had to bend over a bit to see the score board.
How long would you say yall worked on a typical day?
Yep my brother ( RIP) as a fact was there as well. But crazy how many millions say there were there.
Oh yeah, I was there also. Can’t remember exactly where I sat but the view was not very good…but good enough to watch the Big “E” play the game of his life.
That prior late summer I played in a pick-up game against Melvin Bell out on the old outdoor courts at UH. What a talent.
I was there as a 9 year old in the gold seats with my good friend Jay. My parents sat on the opposite side of the stadium and mom spent most of the game monitoring us with binoculars. I still have my game program.
Speaking of mom, she will celebrate her 
birthday tomorrow. A true lifetime Coog.
I was 8 at time, listening to every Coog gm on radio. He knew what a Fan i had already become. Even then he still elected to take his gf to the game 
. They married n made it 50+ yrs together before his passing, so I guess it was worth it for him.
Sounds like he made a good decision
Typical days were rare but 10 hours on average. My record was 26 hours on duty out at eagle lake because they wouldn’t come pick us up. We can only operate the train for 12 hours.
I see what you did there.
Did I miss something?
I’ve been working on the railroad, all the live-long day.
I know my dad was there a year removed from graduating and just a couple days after his 24th bday.
Theodis was such a great guy…i played pool with him several times in 1968 and 69…Him and Ken Spain left us way too early…
They called him Savage for a reason…Mel Bell probably would have been the second pick in the 1969 draft had he not been injured…at least that is what Guy Lewis once told me…
Bell had a knee injury in high school in Clinton, Ok. He never really recovered from that injury and played his varsity career with basically one leg. I remember how much smaller that injured leg was than the other.
When he was being recruited by Harvey Pate I remember the assistant coach carried around a full length fold out picture of Melvin. He was a monster. A healthy Bell gives us a much better chance at UCLA, even with the game in LA…
The GOC made college basketball. Why don’t we play UCLA every year.