| John C. Balczuk | ||
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| Class of 1976 | ||
| Basketball | ||
| Inducted October 17, 1998 | ||
John was a dangerous swingman for the great Purple Knight
basketball teams of the mid-1970's. As a freshman, he finished the
year fourth on the team in scoring with 14.5 points per game. At
that time, it was the second highest rookie scoring average ever at
SMC. Although his average dipped a bit his sophomore season (13.7
ppg), he was second to Hall of Famer Fran Laffin '74 in the team
scoring race. As a junior, his average climbed back to 14.2 points
per game. In his senior year, however, he exploded for a team-high
20.2 points per game. He finished his career with 1,569 points --
at that time #4 on the all-time scoring list. He was named
All-State three times and All-New England twice. During his career
he led the Knights to a mark of 60-45 (.571) and made two trips to
the NCAA Tournament Regional Finals.
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