Tom O'Neill was a 6' 1" guard at USF. He coached basketball for 6 years at University of the Pacific.
Although USF's scrappy Dons slowed Cal down to almost half their normal point production, Berkeley's Bears nevertheless scored enough to defeat the Hilltoppers in Harmon Gym last Saturday, 59-51. The Green and Gold, though cutting off the Bears' vaunted fast break, could not contain the hot outside shooting of guard Charlie Perkins and the deep hooks of center Bruce Steckel, and that made the difference. The contest opened rather slowly, and the score was knotted at a mere 17-17 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half. At this point, however, Perkins potted a jumper that got the Bears in gear, and enabled them to leave the court at intermission with a 25-19 lead. The Dons showed new life with the second half, and pumped through four buckets, two by hustling guard Tom O'Neill, before the Golden Bears could hit the scoreboard.
The following night, Loyola entered Memorial Gymnasium with an identical 5-1 league and 11-6 overall record to vie with USF for second place behind the undefeated (in WCAC play) Tigers from Stockton. And vie they did. After Tom O'Neil's top-of- the-key jumper put the Dons up 14-11 with 10:42 to go, the Lions made their move. Led by their ace playmaker-scorer Rick Adelman, Loyola out- scored the Hilltoppers 17 - 8, including a seven-point burst, to take a 28-22 lead into the lockers (TheFoghorn).
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