Obie Hill, dean of the College of Education, says he saw it begin to come together after the second game of the season against the University of New Orleans. Don Landry, head men’s basketball coach at the time, says it happened during a tour of Central America the summer before the season. A squad that Hill says had once played as individuals had come together to produce a team that finished the 1975-76 season with a 22-4 record, won the school’s first Gulf South Championship and was one of the final eight teams still playing in the 1976 NCAA Division II Tournament.
“It was really amazing because you saw a bunch of individuals who had played basically as individuals come together,” Hill says. “That year (I) was very much in doubt if this group was going to come together. I can’t tell you what happened (to make the team come together).”
This team still holds the University record for the highest winning percentage (84.6) and is tied with the 1994-95 squad for the most home games won (14).
Hill returned from the army in August of 1975 to Nicholls to complete his certification for teaching. A former Colonels basketball player himself, Hill served as a student coach for Landry.
He joined a coaching staff that featured six-year assistant Jerry Sanders, graduate assistant David Corona and Jay Carlin, who was the lone senior not returning from the 1974-75 squad, according to an October 1975 article in The Nicholls Worth.
Entering his 10th year as head coach, Landry returned eight lettermen. Among them was All-GSC selection and senior Richard Polk. Besides Polk, senior center Shelby Hypolite and senior forward John Nunez also returned to the squad as starters, according to the article.
The squad welcomed two high school players and three redshirt players. Included in that group was high school All-American freshman Larry Wilson from Central Lafourche High School in Raceland, who according to the article, “was sought after by more than 200 colleges and universities.”
“As a team we had so many stars,” Landry, who is now retired and living in The Villages, Fla., says. “The most valuable player in the conference that year was Shelby Hypolite. Richard Polk was the other forward, and he had started all four years. The other forward was Larry Wilson, who clearly became the greatest player in Nicholls history. The point guard and captain of the team was John Perry.”
Landry says these players and the others who made up the team made it a special one.
Hypolite, who played on one winning squad during his first three seasons, says he realized during an injury that sidelined him during his junior season that he had only one year left, and he had to make it worthwhile.
He said attracting Wilson to Nicholls was an important factor.
“They were recruiting Larry Wilson, and we knew we needed one more person to fill out the puzzle,” Hypolite says.
The squad began its season with a win at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., before returning home for a match up with UNO, the 1975 NCAA Division II runner-up.
The squad lost to UNO 98-91, but Hill says he saw the squad start to play like one unit.
“UNO had a great team that year,” Hill remembers. “They had two guys who went on to eventually play professional basketball.”
After losing to UNO, the Colonels won 17 straight games, including their first nine conference games. After dropping two consecutive games to North Alabama on the road and Northwestern State in Natchitoches, the Colonels regrouped and won their last two games against Delta State and Mississippi College to claim the Gulf South Championship.
The Colonels finished the regular season with a 20-3 record and 11-2 in conference play. They were chosen to host the NCAA South Central Region basketball championship at Stopher Gym. After beating Lincoln University 97-79 in the first game, the Colonels edged Grambling 90-89.
Landry says attendance at the victory over Grambling was probably the largest in Stopher Gym’s history.
“We pulled in extra bleachers in the upstairs in the end zones,” Landry says. “They had standing room (only) all over. That was one of the great victories that year.”
Hypolite says the bleachers put in for the playoffs were located on the second floor on the east side on each side of the main bleachers. He says these bleachers are still in use.
“It was interesting to watch it because that’s what made us play harder I think,” says Hypolite, who is now assistant director/recruiter with Upward Bound. “When we saw people coming, and they didn’t have anywhere to sit, and they started adding these bleachers to it for the playoffs, it made us work even harder.”
A January 1976 issue of The Nicholls Worth reported that more than 4,000 fans attended the home game against Delta State. Hill says it was common to have that many people at a home game.
Hypolite says the same could be said for away games. He says the fraternities were big supporters during that year.
“TKE was one of our big supporters,” Hypolite says. “They were like two or three hundred strong every time (at home games and away). They created the havoc and we looked forward to it.”
Hypolite says he has heard that people were standing outside the gym during the playoffs and that a lot of people could not enter.
“We would normally get to the gym for around 5:15 p.m. to get dressed and get ready for a 7 o’clock game, and people would be standing outside at that time waiting to get in line,” Hypolite says.
After beating Grambling, the Colonels advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals where they played the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga on the road. The Colonels fell to the Mocs 107-78, ending their season.
Following the season, the Colonels were rewarded for their performance. Hypolite was named MVP of the All-GSC Team, and he along with Polk were first team selections while Wilson, who led the conference with 21.1 points, was a second team selection. Landry was selected coach of the year.
According to spring 1976 articles of The Nicholls Worth, Hypolite was also named MVP of the South Central Region All-Tournament Team, and Richard Polk and Wilson both made the team as well.
Hypolite was named both a second team All-Louisiana College Basketball Team selection and an honorable mention selection on the Associated Press All-American College Division team. Landry was named the coach of the year on the All-Louisiana College Basketball team.
With the passage of 30 years, Landry says rules are different with the implementation of the 35-second time clock and the three-point line, but everything else is similar to what it was.
“If we had it (three-point play), (it) probably would have made us better because Larry Wilson was one of the greatest shooters to ever come out of Louisiana, and he’s one of the leading scorers in the state history without the three-point play,” Landry explains.
Landry says the three-point play would have helped his squad both average and score more points.
The squad with the coaches, sports information director, athletic trainer and managers were honored last Saturday during halftime of the Nicholls men’s basketball game versus Southeastern. Since that season, they have gone on to many different vocations in life.
Sanders is now the director of the University’s Disability Services/Testing Center while Wilson finished his career as and still is the Colonels all time leading scorer. The three-time All American now works for Bollinger Shipyard.
Perry is an attorney in Baton Rouge, Corona is the superintendent of West Baton Rouge Parish Schools and Carlin is the head basketball coach at Salmen High School in Slidell, where he has coached current Chicago Bull’s guard Chris Duhon.
