Hall of Famer Jim Callane '64 Recalls Big-Time Basketball Matchups

August 7, 2009

Jim Callane bw2009a.jpg August 7, 2009, Greencastle, Ind. — As a basketball player at DePauw University, 1964 graduate Jim Callane "averaged almost 15 points per game as a junior and 19.8 ppg as a senior," notes Indiana's Greene County Daily World. The feature on Callane, who is a member of both the Indiana Basketball and DePauw Athletic Halls of Fame, points out that he was honored as All-Conference and received an honorable mention for a Small College All-American honor.

"Bob Love and Jerry Sloan, who both who went on to star with the Chicago Bulls, were both Small College All-Americans when I was a senior," Callane tells the newspaper. "There were a lot of very good ball players out there."

Callane, who went on to a successful career as a high school basketball coach and athletic director, has fond memories of his college coach, Elmer McCall (pictured at right), whose many connections in the basketball world took the Tigers to some interesting places. "John Wooden coached at South Bend Central and McCall had met him there," Callane recollects. "My sophomore year we played in a tournament with Colorado State, UCLA and USC. Which one of these teams didn't belong? We played in the L.A. Coliseum, which was unique. That UCLA team with Wooden as coach featured Gail Goodrich and Walt Hazzard, who two years later won the first of all those national championships. The rest is history."