BUFFALO – The St. Bonaventure men's basketball teams from 1967-70 will be honored as a Team of Distinction as part of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 induction.

Bona's legendary teams will be honored along with 12 individuals as part of the Class of 2024 with this year's induction ceremony Nov. 12 at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.

The 1967-68 St. Bona squad finished the regular season with a perfect 22-0 record and a No. 3 national ranking. Led by head coach Larry Weise, the team was a juggernaut, averaging 86 points per game before the advent of the 3-point line. On the floor, the team was led by senior captain Bill Butler, who averaged more than 20 points over his three varsity seasons at Bona and was later drafted by the Boston Celtics.  That season also introduced the college basketball world to Buffalo's own future Hall of Famer Bob Lanier (who averaged 26 points and 15 rebounds a game as a sophomore that season) and Billy Kalbaugh, the center-guard duo who would lead the program to even greater heights two years later. Butler, Kalbaugh, Lanier, Jim Satalin and John Hayes made up Bona's legendary "Ironman Five."

All the pieces came together for St. Bonaventure during that 1969-70 season.  The team suffered just one regular season loss and stormed through the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament with victories over Davidson, North Carolina State and Villanova.  In the eyes of many fans and the basketball elite, only a season-ending knee injury to Lanier during the Villanova win in the Eastern Regional Final prevented the Brown and White from capturing a Cinderella national championship.

The Bonnies are part of a group including four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski, nationally recognized reporter Vic Carucci and St. Bonaventure graduate and longtime Buffalo Sabres communications professional, the late Paul Wieland as honorees in this year's Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame induction class.

For more information, visit buffalosportshalloffame.com.