Column: A ranking and a giant from the past

When you see the Iowa State Cyclones are 9-1 and ranked No. 3 in the men’s college basketball poll, you might think this is the best they’ve been since “The Mayor” — Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg — was putting up shots. 

You’d be wrong. Their spot in the Associated Press Top 25 is their best since they reached No. 3 on Jan. 21, 1957.  

This past week, on Dec. 12, the Cyclones beat in-state rival Iowa 89-80 in a nationally televised game, and their lofty ranking was celebrated, along with the reason: They’d just beaten Wilt Chamberlain and the Kansas Jayhawks 39-37. 

“They had one photo on that evening and it was a photo of Wilt and I was in there,” Lyle Frahm said Wednesday. “I was No. 34. I happened to be sitting in my den and I think, ‘Oh geez, that goes back a long time.’ ” 

Frahm, who will turn 89 on Jan. 17, was a 6-foot-2 guard for Iowa State from 1955-58. His junior and senior seasons he averaged over 11 points for a team that was loaded.  Gary Thompson, the “Roland Rocket,” averaged 20.7 points in 1956-57. John Crawford, a 6-foot-5 forward out of New York City and the Cyclones’ first African-American player, averaged 13.6 points and 10.2 rebounds.  

Chuck Vogt stood 6-6; Don Medsker was 6-8. Pretty good numbers for the mid-50s. 

“The size was OK until you went against a 7-1 player,” Frahm said. “That was a whole different deal.” 

These days Frahm resides in Columbia Falls, where he’s watched three of his grandkids — Justin, Josie and Ben Windauer — excel in high school athletics and beyond. His three daughters all attended the University of Oregon; Beth married an Oregon wrestler named Dave Windauer, Jenny married a Duck football player named John Byrne and Katie married Scott Wallberg.  

Frahm followed the Windauers to Columbia Falls after retiring from Converse after 27 years. 

Which doesn’t cover 88 years, of course. He did a stint in the military, for one thing. He spent four seasons as a Cyclones assistant for another. 

So it was that he met Dr. J before he was Dr. J. 

“He was just Julius,” Frahm said of Erving, for whom he traveled to Long Island to recruit, along with trip to Connecticut to see Gene Mack. 

“We had those two on the (Iowa State) campus at one time, and they got along great,” Frahm said. “And it turned out we got the guard and Julius went to the University of Massachusetts.” 

Years later Erving sent Frahm a note congratulating him on his retirement. By then Erving, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had spent their NBA careers in Converse shoes. 

It’s easy to forget that there was a time before Nike was a giant; as it turned out the Frahms grew up about two miles from Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. He was hitting up every college in five states, so he got to know Jud Heathcote and Jim Brandenburg and Mike Montgomery at the University of Montana. 

“In 1970, everybody wore Converse,” Frahm said. “My promoting was fairly easy. It was a case of paying attention to coaches, maybe taking them to lunch. It was pretty automatic. 

“By 1980 it was getting pretty rugged. Adidas was there, and Reebok. And Nike, of course, kept surging.” 

By the end — well by the end he’d met Don Mattingly and Chris Evert and, well, the list goes on and on. It’s quite a life that started trending up in 1955, when he followed his brother Stan into the Iowa State basketball program.  

He was a good enough prep in Manning, Iowa, to draw the attention of KU coach Phog Allen. 

“He invited me to campus,” Frahm remembered. “Hs told me, ‘If you’re going to Iowa State I can understand that.’ That was pretty much it.” 

So Allen didn’t get Frahm, but he did get a 7-foot-1 guy out of Philadelphia. The Cyclones didn’t beat The Big Dipper and the Jayhawks every time, but held their own. 

“A few weeks before, we played them at the Big 8 tournament,” Frahm recalled. “We were ahead with 13 seconds left and they beat us (58-57) with a last-second shot. We were determined after that.” 

On Jan. 14, 1957, they got ‘em. Then on Feb. 2, at the brand new (and 18,000-seat) Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas prevailed 75-64. But this isn’t about that; this about that picture that showed up on the FS1 broadcast last week. 

“Sixty-eight years ago,” said Lyle Frahm of the Iowa State Cyclones. “It really dawned on me.” 

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 406-758-4463 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.