St. Bonaventure NIT Champions

1977 NIT Championship 50th Anniversary

This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of St. Bonaventure's most well-known teams, the 1976-77 NIT Championship squad, Bona's only national championship team. 

Essie Hollis (21.8 ppg, 10.1 rpg) and Greg Sanders (21.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg) gave the Bonnies an impeccable 1-2 scoring punch while Glenn Hagan ran the point with nearly 14 points per contest. For the year, the Bonnies posted over 82 points per game on average. 

Hollis dominated the boards for the team and future head coach Jim Baron provided hard-nosed defense. The Bonnies finished that year 24-6 overall under head coach Jim Satalin, taking the NIT crown at Madison Square Garden with a 94-91 victory over Houston. Sanders, a junior that season, led all scorers by pouring in 40 points along with a game-high 12 rebounds in the title game.

The entire NIT run was filled with dramatics. The Bonnies defeated Villanova in the semifinals, 86-82, after getting by Rutgers and Oregon before that. Hagan made a last-second shot that gave St. Bonaventure a 79-77 win over Rutgers.

Hollis and Sanders were named to the All-NIT First Team with Sanders crowned MVP. Hagan was picked to the Second Team.

St. Bonaventure NIT Championship 50th Anniversary
1977 NIT jersey
The iconic jersey of the 1977 NIT Champions
Day 77: 1977 Eastern Basketball Magazine Cover of 1977 Basketball Team
The cover of the March 30, 1977 Eastern Basketball Magazine was one collected by many Bonnies fans for its celebration of St. Bonaventure’s NIT championship team. Bona brought back thousands of well-wishers along with them from Madison Square Garden following a thrilling 94-91 win over Houston in the championship game. Greg Sanders sealed MVP honors in the tournament with a performance for the ages – 40 points on 14-of-23 shooting from the floor, adding 12 rebounds. Essie Hollis totaled 24 points and Glenn Hagan added 14.
Greg Sanders NIT Championship
Named MVP of the 1977 NIT, Greg Sanders is St. Bonaventure's career leader in points with 2,238 (1974-78). He is also first in career field goals made (944) and shot a .538 percentage, also grabbing over 600 rebounds. His No. 53 is retired and he was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988.
Hollis Baron celebrate
Jim Baron and Essie Hollis were at the heart of the 1977 NIT Championship team and images like this one are ingrained in the minds of Bonnies fans from that era. Before he became a celebrated head coach, Baron was a hard-nosed, defensive-minded guard. He made his mark as a player from 1973-77, helping the Bonnies to a 73-28 record. As a senior co-captain, he keyed a run to the 1977 NIT Championship with one of the most magical seasons in program history.
1977 NIT championship Parade
This photo ran in the March 21, 1977 edition of the Olean Times-Herald. Here, NIT MVP Greg Sanders celebrates with fans after posting 40 points in the Championship Game victory over Houston at Madison Square Garden. The Bonnies got back home after midnight, but that did not deter fans from all over the Southern Tier to show their support for the Brown and White. Despite the late hour, members of the Bonnies were honored at Olean Municipal Building by hundreds of well-wishers who followed the unforgettable run to a national championship.
Glenn Hagan
The point guard of the 1977 NIT Championship team, Glenn Hagan established the career assists record for the program with 486 (4.7 apg), a total that still ranks fourth today. A team player, he finished his career with 1,396 points which ranks 19th all-time. Hagan helped clinch the 1977 NIT Championship with clutch efforts in the postseason: He knocked in the game-winning shot for a win over Rutgers, finishing with 26 points. Hagan also posted 13 points in a win over Oregon as well as 14 points in the championship game win over Houston. He was named to the Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.

In a season that would later end with the NIT championship, a signature victory along the way was a 91-84 decision over Syracuse on February 12, 1977. Essie Hollis was unstoppable, scoring 27 of his game-high 37 points in the first half as the Bonnies knocked off the Orange and its then-rookie coach, Jim Boeheim. 

NIT Champs montage

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