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Except for football, it's unclear how the grants-in-aid were distributed among the varsity teams, all of which were men's teams. What is known is that the new head basketball coach, Elmer Gross, gave his first tuition grant to Sledzik of little Elders Ridge, Pa., for the 1949-50 academic year, but he didn't make it public. "I didn't even know I had the first bas- ketball scholarship until years after I graduated," Sledzik, who would become captain of the 1953 team, told me years ago. "I thought several of my teammates were on scholarship." What he didn't know at the time is that his "scholarship" paid only for tu- ition and that Penn State alumni from western Pennsylvania, including Indiana car dealer Cecil Spadafora, had raised funds to pay for Sledzik's room and board at a fraternity. The alumni, led by Pittsburgh businessman Casey Jones, had been doing the same thing for foot- ball players for years as a way to get around the scholarship ban, and they continued to do so into the early 1950s. Gross, who was the captain of the 1942 NCAA team, had succeeded Lawther for the 1949-50 season. As usual, he was relying on walk-ons for Penn State's basketball team, but with the new finan- cial aid, athletes on football scholarships were the heart of his teams. It's easy to declare the 1950s as the glory years of Penn State basketball. In 1952, Gross became the first man who had played in the NCAA tournament to coach a team in the tournament, but his 20-win team had the misfortune of playing No. 1 Kentucky in its first game and lost, 82-54. Gross's 1954 team, led by a contingent of football players that included Arnelle, captain Jack Sherry and Bobby Hoffman, went all the way to the NCAA Final Four, finishing third in what by then was a 24-team tourna- ment. After the Final Four, Gross turned the team over to his assistant, John Egli, who also had played for Lawther. In his first John Bach, former Penn State men's basketball head coach and NBA coaching veteran, died Jan. 18. He was 91. Bach led the Nittany Lions to a 122-121 record during his 10 seasons as head coach from 1969-78. His Penn State teams were renowned for their pressure man-to-man defense, with four squads ranked in the nation's top 20 in scor- ing defense. His teams posted back-to-back records of 17-8 and 15- 8 in 1972 and '73 behind Brooklyn, N.Y., native Ron Brown. "Coach Bach was one of the great de- fensive teachers in the game," said Kevin Burke, a Penn State letterwinner from 1973-75. "His preparation and discipline were lessons that served those of us who played for him long after our basketball careers ended. He had a passion for the game that spanned six decades and in- fluenced hundreds of young men. He will be missed by many." A schoolboy star at St. John's Prep in Brooklyn and a 1948 Fordham graduate, Bach was considered one of the giants in the coaching profession. He arrived at Penn State in 1968 after 18 seasons as head coach and 11 years as athletic di- rector at his alma mater. During his time with the Lions, Bach also served as Henry Iba's assistant at the 1972 Olympic Games, where the United States was denied the gold medal in a disputed loss to the Soviet Union. Bach began his collegiate playing ca- reer at Fordham in 1942-43, helping the Rams to their first appearance in the NIT. His career with the Rams, however, was interrupted by years at the Universi- ty of Rochester, Brown University, and with the U.S. Navy ROTC program. He was commissioned as an officer in the Navy and served during World War II until late 1947, at which point he re- turned to Fordham, earned a bachelor's degree in economics and garnered team MVP honors for the 1947-48 season. During Bach's one-year stint at Brown, he was the key figure on the 15-4 New England championship team of 1944-45, coached by Rip Engle, who also led the football program. Engle came to Penn State as the head football coach in 1950, bringing Joe Paterno, who played basket- ball and football at Brown, with him as an assistant. The group would all be reunit- ed upon Bach's hiring at Penn State. Bach went on to play one season in the NBA with the Boston Celtics (1948-49) and one in the ABL in Hartford (1949- 50) before returning to Fordham as one of the youngest head coaches in the country in 1950. Over 18 seasons, he guided the Rams to an overall mark of 292-193 and appearances in two NCAA tournaments and five NITs, setting up his move to University Park. Following a stint as head coach of the Golden State Warriors (1983-86), Bach served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls under Doug Collins from 1986-89 and under Phil Jackson from 1989-94. During his time under Jack- son, he was an intricate part of the Bulls, claiming three consecutive NBA titles from 1991 to '93. Bach moved to assistant jobs with Charlotte, Detroit and Washington before returning to end his professional coach- ing career in the city where he found his greatest success. In 2003, Bach returned to the Bulls as an assistant under Bill Cartwright (2003) and Scott Skiles (2003-06). After 56 years of coaching, 23 of those in the NBA, Bach officially re- tired from coaching in 2006. "John Bach was a defensive master- mind who coached and inspired so many greats over his 56-year coaching career," current Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers said. "His teams at Penn State in the 1970s were known for their tough- ness and attitude, traits that continue to define our team to this day. The entire Penn State program sends its thoughts and prayers to the Bach family, and to all those he touched throughout his career." J O H N B A C H 1 9 2 4 - 2 0 1 6 BACH

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