By Raymond G. Hebert, Ph.D.
Thomas More University
Sources for this article include: Statistics provided by Michael Pagano Co-Director of Sports Information, TMU Athletics, and print media as noted.
The Men’s Basketball Program at Villa Madonna/Thomas More College during the early years went through phases linked to special coaches. The Charlie Wolf era, led by talented players like Larry Staverman, Jim Weyer, and Dan Tieman, had ties to the Cincinnati Royals. It was followed by the Jim Weyer era, with Coach Weyer’s playing days (and Dan Tieman as his assistant coach) being followed by two decades as Head Coach at his alma mater. They would then be followed by Jim Connor who was to become Head Coach of both the basketball and baseball teams for the years between 1978 and 1990.
Brian O’Conner, one of the leading scorers in Thomas More College history.
What is significant about the Weyer and most of the Connor years (late 1950s and the next 25+ years) is that there was not a Convocation Center/gymnasium either in Covington or on campus for college-level competition throughout those years.
The team practiced at an elementary school gymnasium (St. Benedict’s in Covington) and played most of its games at Covington Catholic High School or even other high school gyms in and around Northern Kentucky.
Linked closely to the team, however, in addition to the coaches’ families was a super active Athletic Boosters Club made up of player parents and program friends, let by Roy and Pat Romes, the Faust family, the Schneiders (Don and Anita) and Brian O’Conner’s parents Dr. Robert and Marge O’Conner, among others. All of them staffed the Friday Night Bingo that raised funds for what became the Convocation Center, named appropriately after Coach Jim Connor, whose family members were the catalysts behind the multi-year campaign for an on-campus facility.
Significantly, it was during Coach Connor’s best year (1980–1981), led by Brian O’Conner, that the team, with its 21-13 record, finally surpassed in the win column the two 19-win seasons under Coach Charlie Wolf (1957 and 1960). Brian O’Conner, meanwhile, would go on to become one of the leading scorers in Villa Madonna/Thomas More College history.
Brian O’Conner (#23), with the 1978–1979 basketball team.
Incredibly, as a Covington Latin School graduate, O’Conner was two years younger than his senior teammates when, in a remarkable senior year (1980–1981), he scored 761 points in 34 games, for an average of 22.4 per game, with a shooting percentage just under 50%. He also collected 1,180 rebounds, averaging 10.5 per game. Adding to the superlative nature of that year and even his junior year, his totals, among his teammates, were first in scoring (761 points in 1980–1981) and third in scoring in 1979–1980 (701 points), first in field goals made (302 in 1980–1981), second in field goals made in 1979–1980 (296), first and second in field goal attempts, third in free throws made in 1980–1981 (157), and second in rebounds in 1980–1981 (386), and fourth in rebounds in 1979–1980 (363).
Most important of all, in both these years, as well as his sophomore season, Brian O’Conner averaged a double-double in points and rebounds:
1. 17.7 points per game and 11.8 rebounds per game in 1978–1979
2. 21.2 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game in 1979–1980
3. 22.4 points per game and 11.4 rebounds per game in 1980–1981
The result, not surprisingly, was recognition as All Kentucky Inter-Collegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) in both 1979–1980 and 1980–1981. He was All-NAIA District 32 in both years and the NAIA District 32 Player of the Year in 1980–1981.
Brian O’Conner and his mother, Marge O’Conner, at the 2002 Greater Cincinnati Hall of Fame Induction.
It is worth noting that other players on that special Jim Connor-coached team of 1980–1981 included Jim Fox, Dave Faust, Kurt Pohlgeers, and Jim Nestheide, all local. They were stars on the court and their families made up the Athletic Boosters who were the inspiration for what became the Connor Convocation Center (CCC), a facility representing an era of unsung heroes that was a long way from a grade school gymnasium. The players never complained, though, and they became an inspiration for many players and teams to follow.
Brian O’Conner, meanwhile, who is symbolic of that era, was a 6’8” Power Forward out of Covington Latin School and only 16 years old when he started and 20 when he graduated, nevertheless was viewed as impressive enough to be drafted by the New York Knicks in the eighth round, or the 177th overall pick nationally in the 1981 NBA Draft. It was reported later that he was the last player cut from the Knicks roster in that year. O’Conner would then settle in Northern Kentucky and become a successful businessman.
As reported in a LINK NKY article by Dan Weber, now a NKyTribune reporter, on August 22, 2022, entitled: “The A-Z history of NKY Sports:”
Brian O’Conner, a power forward for Thomas More, played between the years 1977–1978 and 1980–1981.
After four years at Thomas More, the 6-foot-8 O’Conner was drafted in the eighth round of the NBA Draft (No. 177) by the New York Knicks after a four-year college career that saw him average 18.6 points and 10.5 rebounds a game with a senior season averaging 22.6 points and 11.4 rebounds, the third season he pulled down an average 11 or more rebounds. At Covington Latin, the Ft. Thomas native helped the Fr. Ed Heile-coached Latin team stay extremely competitive despite the fact that Latin students were two years younger than their opponents going straight from the sixth grade to freshman year. Brian is helping another TMU athlete, Dave Faust, coach the St. Henry basketball team and this year became part of one of the rare father-daughter Hall of Fame duos when daughter Lauren, after outstanding volleyball careers at Scott and UK, was named to the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Hall of Fame.
Dr. Raymond G. Hebert is Professor of History and Executive Director of the William T. Robinson III Institute for Religious Liberty at Thomas More University. He is the leading author of Thomas More University at 100: Purpose, People, and Pathways to Student Success (2023). The book can be purchased by contacting the Thomas More University Bookstore at 859-344-3335. Dr. Hebert can be contacted at hebertr@thomasmore.edu.
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Brian O’Conner was inducted into the Thomas More Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991.
