Difference between revisions of "La Salle"

Revision as of 13:59, 30 January 2010

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Division: NCAA Division I Conference (basketball): Atlantic 10 Conference Arena: Tom Gola Arena

The La Salle University Explorers compete as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference in NCAA Division I basketball. The school terminated its football program with the conclusion of the 2007 season. La Salle is a private Catholic (Lasallian) institution located in the northwestern reaches of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school has an undergraduate enrollment of around 4,000. The nickname, interestingly, is the result of a case of mistaken identity on the part of a sportswriter who assumed the school was named for a French explorer rather than a Catholic saint.

The campus is bounded by Belfield Avenue, Ogontz Avenue, Olney Avenue, and Wister Street; it's somewhat difficult to get to by auto from out of town as all routes to the campus from nearby freeways are circuitous. From the north, Ogontz Avenue turns into the Fort Washington Expressway (PA 309) a couple of miles north of campus; to the south, the freeway section of Roosevelt Boulevard (US 1) can be reached via Belfield Avenue and Broad Street. McCarthy Stadium (7,500) is the former home of the defunct football team, located on North 20th Street in the middle of campus. Just to the west on Olney Avenue is Tom Gola Arena (4,000), home of Explorers basketball since 1998. Prior to that, the team played its home games at venues closer to downtown, such as The Palestra, the Philadelphia Civic Center, and The Spectrum.

La Salle's primary rivals are the other Philadelphia Big Five schools: Saint Joseph's (PA), Temple, Villanova, and Pennsylvania. The most heated of these rivalries for the Explorers is that with Saint Joe's, being both conference mates and Catholic schools.

Only two La Salle alumni ever played in the NFL; linemen George Somers and Mike Mandarino combined for a total of 53 games prior to the end of World War II. The school's representation has been much wider in the NBA and ABA, with 22 former Explorers seeing action. Most prominent of these are Hall-of-Famer Tom Gola (who would return to coach the team for a few years after retiring from the NBA), eight-time All-Star Larry Foust, Lionel Simmons (third-leading scorer in NCAA Division I history), and Michael Brooks.

Conference Affiliations

Football

Basketball

Post-Season Appearances

Football

La Salle football never appeared in the post-season.

Basketball

Championships

Football

La Salle football never won a championship of any kind.

Basketball

External Links

La Salle University Athletics