BATON ROUGE – One of the stars of LSU Basketball’s 1953 NCAA Final Four team, Bernard Joseph (“Benny”) McArdle, passed away on Saturday at the age of 85.
McArdle was the point guard for the team that won the 1953 Southeastern Conference title and then advanced to the Final Four in a team that included Bob Pettit and Ned Clark. McArdle was able to join the living members of the team at the 60-year reunion of the team during the 2013 basketball season.
McArdle, a New York City native, came in Baton Rouge to play both basketball and baseball for the Tigers. He was an All-SEC selection in both sports as besides his point guard ability, he was also an outstanding pitcher for the Tigers.
McArdle graduated from LSU in 1954 with a degree in education and later earned Master’s degrees in history and political science.
The Tigers 1953 team finished 22-3 and won the SEC with a 13-0 record. LSU lost just once in the regular season under Coach Harry Rabenhorst. Rabenhorst molded a near perfect combination of players with lanky Bob Pettit, an outside shooter in Don Belcher, the defensive prowess of Clark, a driver and shooter in guard Norman Magee. McArdle was the smart fast guard at the point who was voted the league’s top playmaker.
The team played to near perfection as their record indicated, including being able to withstand a portion of the year without the 6-9 Pettit who suffered a spell of viral pneumonia.
“That’s what brought us together,” McArdle once said. “We gained confidence knowing we could win even without Bob.”
McArdle averaged 8.5 points in that 1952-53 season and 8.0 points in 1953-54 as a senior. Unfortunately assist totals were not kept as an official NCAA statistic at that time.
In baseball, McArdle won seven games in earning All-SEC honors as a pitcher in 1952. He led or tied for the team lead in wins all three varsity seasons. He lead LSU in ERA in 1952 (2.31) and 1953 (2.89). He also led the team in inning pitched (78 in 1952; 56 in 1953). This was in an era when LSU played between 15 and 20 games for the entire season.
He led the team in strikeouts in 1952 with 64.
McArdle served two years in the United States Air Force and then returned to Baton Rouge High School where he taught and coached. His 1962 basketball team won the Louisiana High School Athletic Association state championship. He left Baton Rouge High at the request of Bishop Richard Borders to teach and coach at St. Joseph’s Cathedral Prep High School. He later became a leader in the field of Chemical Dependency and Prevention Education for the Louisiana State Department of Education in the seventies. He then worked and volunteered at the BR General CDU and OLOL Tau Center.
The funeral service is set for Tuesday at Christ the King Church on the LSU campus, ironically, the place where he met his wife, “Boots” and where they were married in 1953. The visitation will begin at 9 a.m. with the funeral mass at 10 a.m. There will be a reception following the mass at the activities center.
Besides his wife of 63 years, McArdle is survived by sons John, Frank, Brian and Chris. He has nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Elizabeth McMullen McArdle and son, Kevin Patrick.