Time Machine: Hawkeyes rolled to unbeaten Big Ten season in 1969-70

John Johnson's death earlier this month evoked memories not only of a wonderfully gifted player but also of a team that lives in Iowa basketball lore.

It was the 'Miller Six Pack,'' an intoxicatingly efficient offensive juggernaut that was one of the few Big Ten teams to complete a conference season unbeaten.

The 1969-70 squad was so dubbed because Coach Ralph Miller used primarily six players in most games. They were 6-foot-7 Johnson and 6-5 Glenn Vidnovic at forward, 6-3 Fred Brown and 6-1 Chad Calabria at the guards, and 6-8 Dick Jensen and 6-7 Ben McGilmer sharing the post. All were seniors except Brown, a junior.

Miller had put together an eclectic collection. Calabria and Vidnovic came from Aliquippa and McKeesport in Pennsylvania, respectively. Johnson and Brown starred at different high schools in Milwaukee and went to Iowa City via different junior college routes. McGilmer was from Detroit. Jensen was an all-stater at Madrid, Iowa.

'My father worked in the steel mill with (Iowa assistant coach) Lanny Van Eman's father,' said Vidnovic, affectionately known as 'Stick.' 'Chad was more heavily recruited, actually Mr. Basketball in Pennsylvania as a junior. Everyone wanted him. He couldn't get into Duke, so he ended up at Iowa.'

They didn't necessarily mesh immediately. But when they did, no Big Ten team got in their way. The Hawkeyes went 14-0 in conference play and averaged a still-Big Ten record 102.9 points in those games, scoring more than 100 nine times.

Iowa started that season with a 3-4 record, not exactly a harbinger.

'Fred and Jensen, one of them had mono and the other didn't make the first 2-3 games,' Vidnovic said. 'We went into the first few games short-handed. But once they came back and started getting involved, we started getting a feel for things.

'Once it rolled, it really rolled.'

Miller had arrived at Iowa as the head coach in 1964, coming from Wichita State with a reputation for being defensive-minded. That was hardly the strength of the Six Pack.

'Early that season I think Fred and John had a talk with him and he loosened up on some of his stances,' Vidnovic said. 'He always believed in shooting from the power zone, 15 feet on in.

'He changed and it was sure for the better.'

Miller, who died in 2001, was a character on and off the floor.

'Cigarettes and Cutty Sark (scotch),' Vidnovic said when asked what he remembered about Miller. 'At halftime, he'd go over in the corner of the locker room and smoke a couple. (Assistant Dick) Schultz would talk. Can you imagine if that happened today?

'Ralph was a showman. He liked the sideline. But he definitely wasn't as mean as he looked.'

What made the offensive production even more remarkable was the shot clock and 3-point goal were still about 15 years from being fully implemented into the college game.

Johnson, who died Jan. 7 in San Jose of unknown causes, averaged 31.8 points in conference and 27.9 overall. Calabria scored at a 19.1 clip, Brown 17.9, Vidnovic 17.5 and McGilmer 10.3.

'It's been almost 50 years now, but I don't know of another 6-7 player like John who could handle the ball like he did,' Vidnovic said. 'I still haven't seen a guy his size who could pass like he did either.

'His junior year, we went down to Drake. That was their Final Four year with Willie Wise and Dolph Pulliam. John tore it up, abused Dolph. I knew then he was something special.'

Perhaps the most memorable conference game was on Feb. 28, 1970, against league runner-up Purdue in West Lafayette. Iowa overcame a 61-point explosion by Boilermaker Rick Mount and a nine-point deficit with four minutes left to clinch the Big Ten title, 108-107.

The NCAA tournament beckoned for Iowa for the first time since 1956. At the time, it was a 25-team bracket. The Jacksonville Dolphins won a play-in game against Western Kentucky to become the Hawkeyes' opponent.

Jacksonville was an offensive machine as well, featuring 7-2 Artis Gilmore and 7-foot Pembrook Burrows III. Gilmore, who visited Iowa out of junior college, played 17 seasons in the NBA and ABA, scoring almost 25,000 points.

'They were favored by a point and a half,' Vidnovic said. 'It was one of the few teams we had a scouting report on. Schultz and Van Eman went to the play-in game. They came back and said one of the main things we needed to do was let Burrows shoot. Then he made 11 of 12 on us.'

Including the game-winning tip-in at the buzzer. Burrows, who became a 30-year veteran on the Florida Highway Patrol, gave Jacksonville a 104-103 victory in the regional semifinal in Columbus, Ohio. Brown had provided Iowa the lead with 10 seconds left on a rebound basket. A brilliant free throw shooting team (78 percent), Iowa made just 19 of 31 against the Dolphins.

'One of their guards (Rex Morgan) came up the side and put up about a 30-footer that sort of got trapped on the rim,' Vidnovic said. 'Coach Miller broke down. It was a bad place to be.'

Two days later, Iowa ripped Notre Dame in the regional consolation game, 121-106, after leading at halftime, 75-42. Johnson and Calabria each scored 31, Vidnovic 24. Austin Carr had 45 for Notre Dame.

Five members of the Six Pack were drafted by the NBA, then a league of 17 teams. Johnson was the seventh overall pick and the first choice ever for the expansion Cleveland Cavaliers. Vidnovic also went to Cleveland in the fourth round. McGilmer went to Baltimore in the 12th and Calabria to Phoenix in the 14th. A year later, Brown was the sixth overall pick, going to Seattle.

In 1979, Johnson and Brown shared an NBA championship with the SuperSonics.

'When you have guys like J.J. and Fred, who come along maybe every 25, 30 years, you can be pretty good,' Vidnovic said.

And they were.