![]() "Something will have to be done about this." "Would you be interested in coming to Villanova?" asked the coach. As Arizin walked off the floor, `Judge' Severance tapped him on the shoulder. One of the spectators at the finals was Al Severance, magistrate of Tredyffrin Township and also coach at Villanova. "The Main Liners nosed out the Hastings Club for the title but Arizin was voted the most valuable man in the tournament. They had entered as a lark after the regular season. The other team in the finals was the Main Liners - the entire Villanova College team. The team entered the Eagles' citywide tournament and reached the finals. So he joined a team around his own home in South Philadelphia, the Hastings Club. he wouldn't have a chance to play in college. Gosh, he thought, he hadn't made the La Salle High team. In his freshman year, he never gave a thought to trying out for the team. "His appearance on the basketball court was even more of an accident than his registration at Villanova. His plan was to earn his degree and continue to play basketball for its own enjoyment. When it came time to apply for college, Arizin settled on Villanova in part due to his fondness for watching the Wildcats on the gridiron, according to Sport. It was just lack of ability, pure and simple." I honestly don't think I was good enough. "A lot of people criticized `Obie for cutting me," Arizin told Bilovsky, "but I didn't. In an interview prior to his induction to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978 with Frank Bilovksy, Arizin made clear that he believed the move was justified. It has been well chronicled that Arizin was cut at LaSalle High School after a few games of his senior season in 1945-46 by head coach Charlie `Obie' O'Brien. Villanova dominated the series at that point and the youngster was particularly impressed by All-American Johnny Wysocki. As a boy, his uncle would bring him to the Wildcats' games with Temple. Though he began to gravitate to basketball, according to this account, Arizin's connection to Villanova came through football. "But I decided that being an undertaker was one thing I wasn't going to be. Every night, there was always someone in the parlor. You see, the first floor of our house was an undertaking parlor and I was sort of raised in the business. I think she wanted me to be an undertaker. "Dad had worked hard all his life helping out a family of 12 after his father died, and mother's family had been undertakers for generations. "My folks didn't care much about sports," Arizin told the magazine. But he was initially lukewarm about the game, according to this account. It elevated his status among his peers instantly as it was the only one in his circle of friends. His was a basketball neighborhood - it was written that every telegraph pole had a peach basket affixed to it - and his uncle bought him his first basketball. It presents an in-depth look at his roots in South Philadelphia. One of the most revealing portraits comes from a Sport Magazine profile done during Arizin's junior year, 1948-49. Through now yellowed newspaper and magazine clips come fascinating details of Arizin's four years on campus and the enormous impact he made on Villanova Basketball. Tucked away in a file cabinet in a storage area located only a few feet from the floor upon which he once scored 85 points in a game in what is now Jake Nevin Field House, a modest beige file folder offers exceptional insight into the Villanova career of Paul Arizin. Arizin died in his sleep earlier this week at his home in Springfield, Delaware County, at the age of 78. ![]() This week we look back on the remarkable life journey of Paul Arizin, Villanova's first basketball All-American who went on to become a Hall of Fame player with the Philadelphia Warriors. The Nova Notebook, by Villanova director of media relations Mike Sheridan, appears each Friday from September through February and monthly from April through August.
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