Biography
Ben Galloway
Class of 1962
My Story of Interaction with Beloit College Basketball (1948-2020)
It was a cold and stormy night in February 1948. At this time, I was eight years old.
My family was traveling north on Illinois Highway 2 to attend a Beloit College basketball game at the Field House on the Beloit College campus. My dad, Wendell Galloway, a Beloit College graduate in the year 1933, had purchased season tickets and, on this occasion, included the family to attend a game. We entered the Field House, a converted large airplane hangar, and encountered a packed crowd of about 4,500 fans. Beloit won this game.
This experience was totally new to me, but it established a pattern for our family to attend Beloit College basketball games for the next six years. Those opportunities brought me excitement and a growing loyalty for the Buccaneers.
In the next decade during the early 1950s, Beloit College established a national reputation for excellence in the sport of basketball. During this period, the Beloit Buccaneers participated in big-arena Saturday night double-headers featuring highly successful basketball programs. For example, Beloit in the Chicago Stadium against DePaul University and won, 94 to 60, on Jan. 19, 1952. I was there and witnessed the unbelievable excitement of Beloit fans. On another event, Beloit played and defeated Loyola University of Chicago.
Another development of the early 1950s involved Beloit, on May 18, 1951, being asked to leave the Midwest Conference after having reached a measure of excellence in defeating all members of the conference rather easily, achieving five sole conference championships and one co-championship with Knox. Another feature of the early 50’s was the fact that one of Beloit’s highly recognized basketball players—Ron Bontemps—was selected to captain the 1952 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team.
Following the team’s withdrawal from the Midwest Conference, an independent schedule was established beating teams such as Brigham Young University, Washington University, University of St. Louis, Eastern Kentucky, St. Mary’s (California), Bowling Green and many others with excellent reputations in basketball.
Beloit was chosen to play in the March 1952 National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Beloit’s first round game was against Seaton Hall. Beloit was competitive but ended up losing by a slight margin.
In the mid-1950s, Dolph Stanley, the illustrious coach of the Buccaneers, left the college for a position as athletic director at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Following this, he returned to Rockford, Ill., coaching at Auburn High School on the city’s west side and then at Boylan Parochial High School on the city’s north side. Prior to coming to Beloit College in the mid-1940s, Coach Stanley had previously guided the Taylorville, Ill., high school basketball team to a 45-0 record and the 1944 Illinois state high school basketball championship. Many of the players on the Taylorville team followed Stanley to Beloit.
After following Beloit’s basketball program achieve national prominence, I elected to attend Beloit in 1958 and, subsequently, graduated in the class of 1962. When I arrived, freshmen were not allowed to play varsity, and so I joined the freshman basketball team, which had a successful season in the fall of 1958 and the spring of 1959.
During that first year, I made many close friendships continuing through with the varsity the next three years. These friends included Paul Hudgens, Denny Hodge, Frank McClellan, Tom Rath, Bill Munro, Bob Winkler, Dave Varnado, Dave Hendricks, Tom Moran, Craig Miller, Bill Biederman, Dick Van Scotter, Jim Kuplic and Frank Johnson, to mention a few.
Teammates on the 1961-1962 basketball team honored me and Tom Rath by selecting us as co-captains. Also, during my time at Beloit, I was a member of the football team, starting for the freshman and then starting with the varsity. Our football coach was Carl (Pill) Nelson.
The next important chapter in my history and relationship with Beloit College involves my grandson, Andrew Walters. He played basketball for Cherry Creek High School in the suburbs of Denver and was selected to the second team All-Conference during his senior year. Subsequently, he decided to attend Beloit College and joined varsity basketball team as a freshman. He started for the Buccaneers as a sophomore and junior and still has more opportunities during his senior year as a member of the class of 2021. He is majoring in business and economics. In his sophomore and junior years, he led the Midwest Conference in rebounding. He scores at crucial times and has a significant number of double-doubles.
In closing, I would like to thank Dick Neal, class of 1954, who was a member of great basketball teams in the early 1950s, for providing me with detailed information on the successes of the Beloit basketball program in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Of note, the 1951-1952 Associated Press basketball poll ranked Beloit as 16th among the nation’s top 20 teams, finishing above USC, UCLA and others.
For me, these many developments and events establish an incredible appreciation for this small Midwest liberal arts school. Beloit College has served as a foundation for my career as an M.D. pathologist (50 years in the state of Colorado). The acquired experiences have been the basis for my continued support, enthusiasm and love for this college and, in particular, my backing of student athletes for the past 72 years.
