Star of 17-0 Lobos start takes no pleasure that record survives

Jan. 5—No, that wasn't Ron Nelson sticking pins in a Jaelen House voodoo doll during the waning minutes of Tuesday's New Mexico-Fresno State men's basketball game.

And no, that wasn't Nelson popping a bottle of champagne after the Bulldogs handed UNM its first loss of the season after 14 victories — preserving his 1967-68 Lobos' singular spot in program history.

No, he said. Once a Lobo, always a Lobo.

"I really was hoping they would go and break our record," he said on Wednesday in a phone interview.

What a record it was, and is. The '67-'68 Lobos won their first 17 games, etching themselves into UNM history.

No one, I mean no one, saw it coming.

Gone from coach Bob King's 1966-67 team, which went 19-8 on the season, was all-time great post player Mel Daniels. Gone as well were starters Ben Monroe, from Carlsbad, and Bill Morgan. The only returning starter in 1967-68 was Nelson, a 6-foot-2 guard who'd started only the last 11 games as a junior and averaged 8.3 points.

That's why, Nelson said, "We were picked to finish last in the (Western Athletic) Conference."

Nelson, though, had seen encouraging signs as the season approached.

Roswell's Ron Becker, a 6-4 sophomore guard up from the freshman team, had exceptional shooting range and was a long-armed defender. Small forward Howie Grimes, a rock-hard 6-5 junior, was a football player in shorts who, Nelson said, "would go over his own teammates' backs to get a rebound."

Ron Sanford, a 6-8 senior, had ably backed up Daniels the previous season and could score inside and out. Junior college transfer Greg "Stretch" Howard, also 6-8, had almost otherworldly talent.

"We had two really nice players inside," Nelson said. "At any time, they could dominate a game."

Nelson and Becker, meanwhile, formed a backcourt that combined for an average of 30 points a game — 19.5 of those coming from Nelson, an Artesia product who'd come to UNM by way of New Mexico Military Institute.

As an east-side New Mexico kid, Nelson had always envisioned himself playing his college ball in Texas somewhere. But King, having watched Nelson light up the Lobo freshmen for NMMI in prelim games at the Pit, brought him to Albuquerque instead.

Always a deadly shooter, Nelson became far more: the on- and of-the-court leader King needed to help make the 1967-68 Lobos something special.

The starting five scored 90 percent of the team's points that season, and Nelson remembers averaging 39-plus minutes per game. But backups Keith Griffith, a reliable ball-handler, Farmington's Steve Shropshire, an excellent passer, and Dave Culver, undersized (6-5) but tough and dependable inside, contributed. St. Pius X grad Leonard Lopez, a 6-2 junior guard, could do a little of everything.

The season began on the road at Oregon, with Nelson and Howard combining for 36 points — Howard scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half — in a 64-60 victory. Two nights later at Seattle, Becker led the way with 18 points in a 68-63 win; Howard had an impressive double-double (13 points, 15 rebounds).

In the Dec. 6 home opener, Howard scored 24 in a 93-58 rout of Pepperdine. This time it was Sanford with the double-double (11 and 13). So it went, victory after victory.

"We had those kind of players that could just do different things," Nelson said. "We were a good defensive team. We could be really tough on people."

By the time win No. 17 came on Feb. 1 at Arizona State, 68-62, with Nelson scoring 22 points, the Lobos were ranked fourth in the nation and had been the subject of a multi-page spread in Sports Illustrated.

The streak ended at Arizona two nights later.

With UNM already down 12 points in Tucson, Howard was ejected for a flagrant foul with 15 minutes left in the game. The Lobos rallied but came up a point short, 69-68.

The Lobos were far from done, finishing the regular season with a 23-3 record and winning the WAC title outright.

Postseason success, however, eluded them. With Howard ineligible for NCAA Tournament competition and Sanford injured, UNM lost to Santa Clara 86-73 in a first-round game at the Pit.

Sanford returned the next night in the third-place game against — guess who? — New Mexico State, a team the Lobos had beaten twice during the season. But this time the Aggies prevailed, 62-58.

Nelson remembers it all, but it's not as if he's living in the past. At 76, he continues to run his own commercial real-estate company. And as for the 2022-23 Lobos, he hopes they win 'em all from here on out.

"It's been a while since we've had a team that's this fun to watch," he said. "They've got a good group.

"I like 'em."