Roanoke College

The Maroons entered the NCAA Tournament with a 23-4 record. Roanoke made a mockery of their opposition, winning their opening game against Mercer by six, followed by a 10-point win over Biscayne.  The University of Missouri at St. Louis was dispatched with 24 points to spare in the quarterfinals, while Eastern Michigan fell by 26 in the semifinals.  The Akron Zips, who upset tournament favorite Tennessee State in the semifinals, were the other team on the court, but no other College Division team in the nation played with the Maroons: Beatty Barnes, Jay Piccola, Everett Hurst, Dickie Adams, and Hal Johnston.
 
Head Coach Charlie Moir’s “murderous Maroons” were a colorful bunch. Johnston, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and a first-team All-American at the shooting guard position, was a “whirling dervish in Roanoke’s perpetual motion attack.” Barnes was described as, “deceptively mobile” at power forward.  Piccola was noted for his glass jaw almost as much as his playing skills at small forward. The second-team All-American was twice knocked unconscious during the tournament by punches from frustrated opponents.  Moir earned the AP Coach of the Year award in 1972, while he and his Maroons won a very special place in Roanoke lore—the first to be called National Champions.
 
The 1971-72 team was a team of destiny. Salem native Hal Johnston could not be stopped as the Maroons went on a late season tear of 11 straight wins. The Maroons won the Mason Dixon Conference tournament, the NCAA South Atlantic Regional, and the College Division National Championship in Evansville, Indiana. Johnston was named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.  The championship season was the sophomore campaign for Roanoke’s next All-American, Jay Piccola.
 
Johnston averaged 23 points in the final three wins for Roanoke at Evansville, IN in the elite 8. The Salem, VA native became the first Roanoke College athlete to ever receive First-Team All-American honors. He scored 1,322 points (16 points per game as a senior), and was renowned for his competitiveness, passing, and long range shooting. He holds the career record for free throw percentage (.826). A hometown favorite as an Andrew Lewis High School product, Johnston became known as ‘Hal-lelujah’ for his clutch play in big games.  His career-high was a 33-point effort in an upset-win over nationally-ranked Mount St. Mary’s as a sophomore.
 
Piccola was one of the fiercest competitors to wear a Maroon uniform.  He had his best games against some of the strongest opponents RC had ever faced. The Harrisburg, PA native had a career-high of 41 points against nationally-ranked rival Old Dominion in 1973. A tenacious defender and aggressive rebounder, Piccola frustrated George Gervin out of the national semifinals in ’72. Piccola was selected as the only non-Division I player to participate in the national East-West College All-Star Game in 1974. Piccola is the third leading scorer and second leading rebounder for Roanoke College.  A Second Team All-American in ’72, Piccola would earn First-Team honors in both his junior and senior seasons. He is Roanoke’s only three-time All-American, and among a handful at any level that have earned that honor.
 
Moir left Roanoke for NCAA I pastures after a second trip to the championship round in Evansville in 1973. His six-year mark at Roanoke was 133-44 and he went on to build winners at Tulane and at
Virginia Tech.  He shared 1972 NABC National Coach of the Year honors with UCLA’s legendary John Wooden. Moir, who is the father of current head coach Page Moir, still ranks as one of the winningest coaches in the nation with nearly 400 collegiate wins and over 600 overall coaching wins to his credit. He averaged a remarkable 20 wins per season over 31 years as a head coach.