Nearly four decades have past since that night in Portland’s Memorial Coliseum. Yet at least once a month, someone asks Eric Hays about it.
It was the night that Jud Heathcote’s Montana Grizzlies of the Big Sky Conference almost took down John Wooden and his mighty UCLA Bruins in the 1975 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. It was the night Hays, who wasn’t known much for his scoring, poured in 32 points on 13-of-16 shooting from the floor and a 6-of-7 effort from the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds and six assists. Montana lost 67-64.
The game ranks 49
th on the Big Sky’s list of “50 Greatest Moments.” But for Eric Hays, it’s a moment that left an indelible mark on his life.
“Had I played a normal game or we got blown out, a lot of things probably never would have happened,” said Hays, who currently works in the financial world after a highly-decorated tenure as a basketball coach at Missoula Hellgate High School. “It was the best game of my life by far. It was a great feeling.”
The 1974-1975 Montana Grizzlies won the Big Sky Conference with a 13-1 record, finishing 21-8 overall. Hays, a 6-foot-3 guard, was a First Team All-Big Sky player, as was Canadian born center Ken McKenzie, the unquestioned leader of the Grizzlies. The team also featured a young point guard named Micheal Ray Richardson, who was drafted in the first round by the New York Knicks in 1978.
The NCAA berth was the first for Montana. The Grizzlies earned the Big Sky’s automatic bid by winning the regular-season title. The league postseason tournament didn’t start until 1976. Montana opened the NCAA Tournament with a 69-63 win over Utah State in Pullman, Wash. Hays tied his career high against the Aggies with 25 points.
Next up was UCLA, which owned college basketball. Under Wooden, UCLA had won nine of the previous 11 NCAA Championships. The win over Montana catapulted UCLA to its 10
th championship in 12 years. It also proved to be the final season for Wooden, who retired after 27 years in Westwood.
“I don’t think we were afraid of them,” Hays said. “I do remember the Wednesday before the game we got to Portland and the practice session. UCLA practiced before us. We got to the facility, and I distinctly remember dressing quickly so we could go out and watch them, and just see them in action. Normally, you didn’t have that kind of feeling, but this was UCLA.”
The Montana-UCLA game tipped off the night session at the Memorial Coliseum. Arizona State and UNLV were set to follow. The Grizzlies were more than prepared under the tutelage of Heathcote.
“Jud knew what they were going to do,” Hays said. “We just couldn’t stop them. We knew what we had to do offensively, and we played really, really well. We were a bit nervous and apprehensive early in the game, but as the game went on we knew we could play with them.”
UCLA led 34-33 at halftime. Montana didn’t lead in the second half, but never let the Bruins take command. McKenzie finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but connected on just 9-of-22 shots from the floor, and 2-of-6 from the free-throw line.
The UCLA team featured Marquis Johnson and Dave Meyers. Meyers scored 12 points, and Johnson was limited to seven. Richard Washington and Pete Trogovich led the Bruins with 16 points each.
“I think they were frustrated with some of the things we did,” Hays said of UCLA. “We slowed down the pace offensively. We executed well offensively. We took good shots. We torched their press. As time went on, they got more and more frustrated.”
Hays, who grew up in Junction City, Ore., had many friends and relatives in attendance at the Coliseum. He didn’t disappoint them with his near-perfect performance.
“Everyone who plays basketball has a night where they make every shot,” Hays said. “For some it’s in a high school game, or an intramural game. The UCLA game was that night for me. I knew after I put up a couple of shots that nothing was going to stop me. I could throw anything up, and it went in.”
Hays won’t forget that night. Turns out Wooden, who died in 2010 at the age of 99, never did either. Years after the game, Hays and Wooden crossed paths at a coaching clinic and talked about the game. Years after that, Wooden wrote a letter that was read and presented the night Hays was honored upon retiring as Hellgate’s head coach.
About 10 years ago his wife, son, and two of his daughters, took Wooden up on an invitation to visit if they were ever in California. They thought the visit would last a few minutes. It turned into a five-hour stay. Wooden rode shotgun in Hays’ car as all six went to lunch at coach’s favorite restaurant. Hays said Wooden read poetry, told stories, and served them lemon custard in his apartment.
“It was an incredible experience,” Hays said. “I didn’t think my kids would want to listen to a 93-year-old man. My kids were totally memorized. They sat on the edges of their seats.”
Hays has bits and pieces of the game on video, but has never been able to find a start-to-finish copy. Occasionally, he’ll dust it off and watch it. For those who watched on TV back in Montana, or were in the arena that night, it’s a game that lives on in memories.
“It was an incredible accomplishment at the time,” Hays said. “It’s amazing how it affected the residents of the state of Montana. It wasn’t a Montana or Montana State thing. Everyone was pulling for the University of Montana that night. Big Bobcat fans will still talk to me about that. Back then I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal. But it was another 16 years before Montana made it to the NCAAs again. Those things don’t happen every day.”
