Among Mullen's successes as coach were his three consecutive 20-win seasons from 1977-80 and the team's trips to the NAIA playoffs – most notably the 1979-80 trip to Kansas City as NAIA District 15 representatives. That year, the Duhawks won their opening game of the tournament in Kansas City on a last-second shot.
He coached multiple Duhawks who are currently enshrined in the Loras College Athletics Hall of Fame and are members of the '1,000 Points Club'.
Fondly remembered by many in the Loras College and Galena High School communities, Mullen moved on to the University of Southern Colorado following his time in the tri-states.
Details regarding his visitation and burial area available at the bottom of this obituary from Envoy Funeral Home in New Jersey, where a memorial service will take place on March 31.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association.
Below is an excerpt from the history of Loras College basketball compiled by Dan Even ('67) for the program's celebration of the 100th anniversary of the program's first season in 1909-10.
The 1974-75 season would open with Bob Mullen (B.S., M.S. from Northern Illinois) as head coach and athletic director. He had held the same position at Galena High School. Barry Beckmann, 1970 graduate of Buena Vista, was named assistant coach. Mullen's first victory was a 93-85 win over Northeastern Illinois State. In this game, Greg Gibney scored 33, Bob Wagner 25, Mike Thissen 15 and Randy Skemp 10. His first loss was to Loyola University of Chicago, 94-77, with Gibney scoring 24, Wagner 15, Thissen 15 and Skemp 10.
The 1975-76 team included Kevin Foley, Randy Gibbs, Randy Skemp, Bob Wagner, Greg Gibney, Keith Daniel, Mike Thissen, Mike Meyer, Gerry Eggers, Ron Norman and Jeff Vorwald. They ended with a record of 12-17, including a loss to U.D. and a split with St. Ambrose. In a 73-70 victory over the University of Northern Iowa, Gibney scored 28 and Wagner 13. During play in the Augustana tourney, the Duhawks defeated the host team before losing to Olivet Nazarene 76-72 in the finals. Gibney and Wagner won all-tourney honors. On his way to a career total of 1396 points, Bob Wagner totaled 42 in a 82-81 loss to Iowa Wesleyan. In a 103-78 victory over Lewis University, Gibney scored 21 and Wagner 38. Following this game Coach Mullen also cited Meyer and Vorwald for their good play. In a victory over Lakeland, Mike Meyer was credited with 14 assists on his way to becoming Loras' all-time leader in this category.
The 1976-77 roster included Mike Meyer, Jeff Howard, Tim Granzow, Randy Skemp, Gerry Eggers, Dave Schnefke, John Trifone, Kevin Foley, Jeff Vorwald, Greg Jury, Mike Friedlein, Bill Finn and Bill Luensmann. They went 13-16, losing five out of the first six and dropping three out of four during a southern trip, the only victory a 79-68 win over Georgia Southern. In a 96-77 victory over St. Norbert's, Granzow scored 23 and Skemp 20. In a 108-25 victory over Coe, Granzow scored 19 and Howard 24. Mike Meyer and Tim Granzow made the NAIA All-District team and Jeff Howard was named honorable mention. The final game of the '77 season was a 88-86 loss to St. Ambrose.
The 1977-78 team would go 24-8, the best record since the 1951 team of Vince Dowd. Six seniors, namely, Mike Friedlein, Dave Schnefke, Jeff Howard, Tim Granzow, Randy Skemp and Gerry Eggers, were a part of this team. It was the best year for Coach Mullen as they won eight in a row, also eleven out of the final thirteen. A 73-62 loss to Briar Cliff cost this team a trip to the NAIA tourney in Kansas City. In a 80-65 win over Lewis, Granzow scored 19, and Howard scored 30 points in a 95-80 win over the University of Dubuque. Kurt Denner, in his first game as a freshman, scored 18 during a 96-45 win over Mt. Mercy. On the way to a 74-72 victory over St. Ambrose, Howard totaled 20 points and scored 1029 points in two seasons, a record that has not been broken. Steve Jirak paid special tribute to this team in The Lorian as follows: "One of the finest basketball teams in Loras history ended their season with a 73-62 defeat against Briar Cliff last Wednesday. The closely contested ballgame involved a District 15 championship as well as the right to go to the N.A.I.A. national tournament in Kansas City this week. Although the Duhawks didn't advance in tournament play, their season finale came on the road, at the hands of a nationally ranked opponent. Briar Cliff was ranked 19th in N.A.I.A. ratings going into the contest. Loras earned a berth in the championship game when they knocked off Graceland College in first round action at Dubuque Senior High School last Monday. This year's team featured a team that averaged 80.2 points on offense and limited their opponents to an average of 68.3 points on defense. Junior Greg Jury, sophomore Terry Callahan, and newcomers Jeff Carter, Kurt Denner and Curtis Evans also helped to bolster the Duhawk attack.
"Howard led Loras in scoring with a 21.0 average, while Eggers paced his teammates in the rebounding department with an average of 6.1 per game. Besides garnering top scoring honors for Loras, Howard was also named to the District 15 first team by the coaches in the district. Eggers and Skemp were honorable mention selections. Howard and Skemp joined an elite group when they scored their 1,000th career point this season. Skemp finished his four years of play with 1,128 in 112 games. Loras finished the season with a 24-8 record. Highlights of the season were victories over Brian Cliff, St. Ambrose and Luther. The Duhawks also captured the title in the Dan Donovan Tournament hosted by the University of Dubuque."
The 1978-79 team would go 22-12 with a roster that included the following: Terry Callahan, Bill Finn, Jeff Carter, Greg Jury, Curtis Evans, Bill May, Dick Mertens, Dave Cox, Bart Gibney, Bill Luensmann, Neal Trainor, Kurt Denner and John Schafer. Loras, with two returning starters, Callahan and Carter, and lettermen Jury, Finn and Denner, would end the season winning nine out of eleven, but would again be denied a trip to Kansas City by losing to Briar Cliff.
For the third year the Duhawks won the Dan Donovan tourney at the U.D., defeating Carroll College 67-64, with Jury scoring 14, along with six rebounds and five assists. They had defeated Platteville 85-75 in the opening round. In a 89-84 victory over St. Ambrose, Jeff Carter scored 24 and had 13 rebounds. Mike Heffern, writing in The Lorian, paid the following tribute to the '78-'79 team: " If the 1978-79 Loras basketball team was supposed to be in what Head Coach Bob Mullen last November called 'a rebuilding year,' then now that the season has culminated, it can be said with little opposition that they are quite evidently 'rebuilt.' For the second year in a row the Loras cagers have surpassed the twenty game victory plateau and gone on to play in post season tourney play. This year's club acquired a record of 24-12, which entitled them to the NAIA playoffs where they first beat Marycrest College 84-73 and then were conquered by Briar Cliff 78-68. As a footnote to the Duhawks final game, Briar Cliff (of Sioux City, Ia.) were in turn defeated by Drury College of Springville, Mo., who then went on to become the 1978-79 NAIA champions. The Drury victory over Briar Cliff was deemed 'the most spectacular basketball of the entire tournament,' by College Sports Illustrated.
"The season was highlighted by the outstanding play of several key individuals, including sophomore center Kurt Denner, who led the team in scoring with a prominent 14.7 per game average having 499 points on the season. Denner was runner-up in the rebounding department to Jeff Carter, who had a 9.1 per game average and 299 total rebounds on the year. Carter and Bill May were a close second and third on the year in scoring with 398 and 393 points respectively. A glance at the assists column and one name stands clear, as Terry Callahan closed out the season with remarkable 259 passes-to-be-points, giving him a career total of 378.
"Coach Bob Mullen said of the '78-'79 season that 'it was my most pleasurable at Loras. We went into games not expecting to win,' he stated, and added that 'our hustle and bench depth is what made this team.'"
The 1979-80 team won twelve out of their final thirteen games, go to the NAIA tourney and post the first Loras win in this event since 1945-46. Terry Callahan, Bill May, Jeff Carter, Curtis Evans, Bill Finn, Neal Trainor, Dick Mertens and George Lynch were all an important part of this NAIA team. One of the main victories of this season was an overtime decision over Briar Cliff before 3000 people at the Five Flags. This was a special day as it paid tribute to the great Loras All-American Mickey Marty. Kurt Denner scored the final six points for the Duhawks. A 113-81 victory over St. Ambrose marked the 100th career win for Coach Mullen. In this game Carter scored 25, Evans 19, May 16 and Callahan 14.
The Iowa playoff game to represent District 15 in Kansas City was held at the Five Flags and the Duhawks defeated Grandview 93-70. Curtis Evans would lead Loras with 29, followed by Jeff Carter with 21 and John Curtis 17. This victory would send five seniors, namely, Callahan, Carter, Trainor, Finn and May to Kansas City to complete their Loras career. The first game in the NAIA resulted in a last second victory, 72-70, on a shot by Terry Callahan. Loras led by ten points at half-time, but failed to score in the first eight minutes of the second half. Curtis Evans and Jeff Carter each scored 21 points in this historic win.
Loras dropped the second round game to Clarion State College (PA) 79-71; the Duhawks trailed at half-time 43-29 but came back to lead 64-63 on a free throw and basket by Curtis Evans but could not hold the advantage. Jeff Carter, who needed 24 points to reach 1000 for his career, finished with 13. John Curtis led the Duhawks with 18, followed by Denner 16 and Evans 13. Curtis also had 17 rebounds.
The last full-time season for Coach Mullen was 1980-81 and the Duhawks went 15-16. The only senior on this team was Kurt Denner. He was joined by juniors John Curtis, George Lynch, and Dick Mertens, along with Roy Humphrey, Paul Kacynski, Jim Hayes, Bill Hogan, Tom Meany, Tom Connolly, and Doug Goodmann, and freshmen Dwayne Spraglin, Van Bakke, Troy Cicero, Andy Kotlarz and Jeff Hermsen. Loras played ten home games at the Five Flags Center as part of a special arrangement because the College had provided the basketball court for this establishment. They won the first three games of the season before losing to Evansville, but did score a 68-60 win over the University of Dubuque with Denner scoring 26 and Van Bakke 15 before losing twice to Western Illinois. In the first game Denner scored 28 and Curtis 14, and in the second, Curtis, Cicero and Hermsen each scored 14. Grandview ended their chances of going to Kansas City with a victory over the Duhawks, a game in which Denner had 22, Mertens 18 and Curtis 13. Kurt Denner and John Curtis would be named All-District. Denner, who would score 1710 points during his great career, would receive special tribute in The Lorian from an unknown writer prior to the '80-'81 season.
"Loras College Center Kurt Denner will be a member of the 11-man squad chosen to represent the United States in Jones Cup Competition in Yugoslavia early in October. The 6' 9", 225-pound native of Fort Madison, Iowa, has sparked the Duhawks to back-to-back season records of 24-12, while winning All-District 15 and NAIA All-American Honorable Mention honors in the process.
One of the most unusual games in Loras basketball history occurred in February of '81 when Loras defeated St. Ambrose 28-19. One hears a great deal about low scoring games in the early years, but we should note that Loras played Ambrose twice in 1913-14, one game going to the Purple and Gold 40-11 and one to the Bees 40-33. Bill O'Neill, one of the best Chicago Cub fans ever, covered this game with the following headline: DUHAWKS TAKE STING OUT OF BEES, SOLVE SLOW-DOWN TACTICS. Part of his T.H. game story went as follows:
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. That was the boast of one-time world heavyweight boxing champion Mohammed Ali—and Wednesday night it appeared Coach Leo Kilfoy of St. Ambrose thought the same about his basketball team. For the better part of 40 minutes whenever they had the ball they floated like butterflies, but the sting wasn't there and the Loras College Duhawks patiently went about the business of posting a 29-18 victory over the stingless Bees at the Five Flags. 'They tried the same thing down there, so there was no reason to expect they wouldn't do it again,' Loras Coach Bob Mullen said. 'Our kids learned something when Marycrest slowed down on us and we got too far behind to catch up. Tonight we were mentally ready. We didn't make a mistake until 1:29 left in the game, and then we made a few.' Loras led 25-18, with 31 seconds left, but Cicero marched to the free throw line over the final seconds often enough to cash four straight charity tosses to account for the final 11-point margin. Denner was the only Loras player in double figures hitting on six of his eight attempts for 12 points, while Sottos finished with five of seven shots for 10 points to lead the Bees."
The 1981-82 season resulted in a split season for coaching, as Bob Mullen went 3-6 in the first nine games before Doug Smith finished the season going 10-10. Mullen left to become athletic director at the University of Southern Colorado. His assistant coach and Loras head baseball coach, Doug Smith, took over the Duhawks. Prior to coming to Loras, Smith had been the head coach at Iowa Wesleyan. Dan Corken was named as assistant to Smith. Coach Mullen's final victory was over Northeast Missouri State.
The members of this team were Gene Smith, Troy Cicero, Dwayne Spraglin, George Lynch, Curtis Evans, John O'Brien, Sly Bush, Steve Kramer, Jim Griffin, John Curtis, Andy Kotlarz, Dick Mertens, Rob Rudakas, Van Bakke, Rodney Roach, Jeff Hermsen and Doug Goodmann. The biggest win of this season was a double overtime win over St. Ambrose 111-109.
