Colorado State University Athletics
The Jim Williams Files: Bob Caton Looks Back on Williams’s First WAC Win
1/26/2023 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Colorado State's entered the WAC in the 1996-70 season
By: John Hirn
Bob Caton was in his junior year as a Rams guard and coming off the great 1969 NCAA Tournament season. Since his first year as a Ram and going back to the 1962-63 season, CSU had not competed in a conference for basketball, or other sports. Thanks to the construction of a new auditorium/gymnasium (Moby Arena) and football stadium, CSU finally was allowed to join the Western Athletic Conference for the 1969-70 basketball season.
In a 2023 interview with the Ram Legend, Caton looked back on CSU entering the WAC and said, "First of all the WAC was a great basketball conference… a few years back, 1966 - Utah and Texas Western (they came in the WAC with us, UTEP) were in the final four and Texas Western won the national Championship. You had New Mexico, with the PIT arena which seated 17,000 and they led the nation in attendance. Utah had a new arena which seated about 15,000. So, getting into the WAC was exciting because you were going to playing against top-notch competition and play in front of great crowds. You also had on TV at that time 'the WAC game of the week', which was usually on a Saturday afternoon (Don Perkins of Dallas Cowboy fame and New Mexico University.) was one of the announcers."
On January 8, 1970, the Rams lost their first WAC game against UTEP at home, then two days later they faced New Mexico in front of 7,530 fans at Moby Gym. Caton looked back on playing in Moby in the late 1960s and said, "The gym was usually packed, I think we might have averaged around 7,000 per game with some crowds of 10,000 - Standing Room Only - for the Wyoming games. Students would fill the one side and they would show up two hours before the game to get a seat, very exciting. The town people filled the other side, season ticket holders. CSU basketball was the thing in that era, it was loud and exciting."
The Rams boasted three redshirt seniors in Cliff Shegogg, Marty Hess and Jess Ash while the Lobos came to Fort Collins with a group of small guards who could not keep up with a taller Rams team. According to a Rocky Mountain News article about the game, Shegogg often took the smaller New Mexico defenders inside to score at close range. If he wasn't inside, he swished outside shots over his smaller opponents. Shegogg ended up with 28 points in the game hitting 13 of 19 shots.
Rams 6' 7" center Archie Weems, had 17 points and Bob Caton hit 15 points on the history-making night. The Rams dominated the Lobos all night long, but that didn't matter. Bob Caton remembered how Coach Jim Williams's coaching style worked. Caton said, "Coach Williams was a teacher of the game of basketball. His mind was always seeing something before it ever took place, the insightfulness of the game of basketball was really something. Offensively he had the skill to put the players in the right place to help them and the team be successful."
CSU went on to beat New Mexico 79-62 for the historic first WAC win in school history. Tough losses to Wyoming at home and on the road by a combined three points and a close loss to Arizona on the road prevented CSU from having a breakout first season in the conference. The Rams ended the 1969-70 season with a 14-9 record, 7-7 in the WAC finishing tied for 5th in the conference. One bright spot in the season showed how important Moby Madness in its early days was. The Rams had a 10-2 record at their home gym, the second season in a row CSU had 10 wins in the new building.
It took 19 years before the Rams would win a WAC title in basketball, coached by Boyd "Tiny" Grant whom was Williams' assistant in that first WAC win in 1970, Grant as CSU's head coach won the only two WAC championships in school history, 1989 and 1990. The legacy of Jim Williams carried over to Grant's success too, another legendary coach at CSU.
Bob Caton was in his junior year as a Rams guard and coming off the great 1969 NCAA Tournament season. Since his first year as a Ram and going back to the 1962-63 season, CSU had not competed in a conference for basketball, or other sports. Thanks to the construction of a new auditorium/gymnasium (Moby Arena) and football stadium, CSU finally was allowed to join the Western Athletic Conference for the 1969-70 basketball season.
In a 2023 interview with the Ram Legend, Caton looked back on CSU entering the WAC and said, "First of all the WAC was a great basketball conference… a few years back, 1966 - Utah and Texas Western (they came in the WAC with us, UTEP) were in the final four and Texas Western won the national Championship. You had New Mexico, with the PIT arena which seated 17,000 and they led the nation in attendance. Utah had a new arena which seated about 15,000. So, getting into the WAC was exciting because you were going to playing against top-notch competition and play in front of great crowds. You also had on TV at that time 'the WAC game of the week', which was usually on a Saturday afternoon (Don Perkins of Dallas Cowboy fame and New Mexico University.) was one of the announcers."
On January 8, 1970, the Rams lost their first WAC game against UTEP at home, then two days later they faced New Mexico in front of 7,530 fans at Moby Gym. Caton looked back on playing in Moby in the late 1960s and said, "The gym was usually packed, I think we might have averaged around 7,000 per game with some crowds of 10,000 - Standing Room Only - for the Wyoming games. Students would fill the one side and they would show up two hours before the game to get a seat, very exciting. The town people filled the other side, season ticket holders. CSU basketball was the thing in that era, it was loud and exciting."
The Rams boasted three redshirt seniors in Cliff Shegogg, Marty Hess and Jess Ash while the Lobos came to Fort Collins with a group of small guards who could not keep up with a taller Rams team. According to a Rocky Mountain News article about the game, Shegogg often took the smaller New Mexico defenders inside to score at close range. If he wasn't inside, he swished outside shots over his smaller opponents. Shegogg ended up with 28 points in the game hitting 13 of 19 shots.
Rams 6' 7" center Archie Weems, had 17 points and Bob Caton hit 15 points on the history-making night. The Rams dominated the Lobos all night long, but that didn't matter. Bob Caton remembered how Coach Jim Williams's coaching style worked. Caton said, "Coach Williams was a teacher of the game of basketball. His mind was always seeing something before it ever took place, the insightfulness of the game of basketball was really something. Offensively he had the skill to put the players in the right place to help them and the team be successful."
CSU went on to beat New Mexico 79-62 for the historic first WAC win in school history. Tough losses to Wyoming at home and on the road by a combined three points and a close loss to Arizona on the road prevented CSU from having a breakout first season in the conference. The Rams ended the 1969-70 season with a 14-9 record, 7-7 in the WAC finishing tied for 5th in the conference. One bright spot in the season showed how important Moby Madness in its early days was. The Rams had a 10-2 record at their home gym, the second season in a row CSU had 10 wins in the new building.
It took 19 years before the Rams would win a WAC title in basketball, coached by Boyd "Tiny" Grant whom was Williams' assistant in that first WAC win in 1970, Grant as CSU's head coach won the only two WAC championships in school history, 1989 and 1990. The legacy of Jim Williams carried over to Grant's success too, another legendary coach at CSU.
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