Tommy "T.J." Whittaker was only a freshman when he had a substantial hand in helping the Loyola University New Orleans men's basketball team win its first-ever national championship at the end of its 1944-45 campaign. That year, in an era that long predated the sport's three-point line, he chipped in the Wolf Pack's third-most points (254) and connected on its third-most field goals (120).
The Wolf Pack Athletics Hall of Fame will take place on Saturday, Jan. 24. For more information, please visit: loyno.edu/hof26. We'll highlight each of our four inductees this week, leading up to the celebration.
Whittaker and the Wolf Pack went 25-5 in what turned out to be his only season at Loyola, going 4-0 at what is now the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament in Kansas City to clinch the competition's championship in March 1945. Only two players on that team outscored Whittaker: Leroy Chollet and Jim "Red" Hultberg. Both had been inducted into the Wolf Pack athletics hall of fame by the time Whittaker was chosen to join them in enshrinement in October 2025.
That trio's teammates all publicly credited Whittaker with being perhaps the most important on-court contributor to the '45 title winners beside Chollet and Hultberg in an early example of the "big three" model many championship-winning basketball teams throughout history have used. Whittaker was able to make those contributions despite hurting his shooting hand after being thrown into a gymnasium wall by an opponent during a particularly rough game. Chollet also hurt his back during that contest and left early in one of the few Wolf Pack defeats that season, illustrating what he and Whittaker meant to the team.
Another indication of what Whittaker meant to Loyola: like Chollet, he left the university after his freshman season. The 1945-46 team still managed to mount a run to the national semifinals — but it lost at that phase and therefore could not repeat as champions. Loyola would not win another national title until its 37-1 men's basketball squad returned to Kansas City in March 2022 and recaptured the NAIA crown.
Whittaker's athletic triumphs preceded and succeeded his time at Loyola. He arrived having led Jesuit High School of New Orleans to city and state basketball titles in 1944, earning all-Louisiana honors in the process.
Then, following his lone season with the Wolf Pack, Whittaker coached Jesuit's American Legion baseball to city, state and regional championships — after winning titles on that team as a player. He subsequently competed in professional minor league baseball as well as semi-pro basketball before a shoulder injury ended his career as an athlete.
From there, prior to his death in 1991, Whittaker pursued a variety of jobs. But notably, he became known to generations of schoolchildren and their parents as the co-founder of the well regarded Lake Castle Private School in New Orleans, which grew to have campuses in the city's Little Woods neighborhood and on the North Shore in Slidell and Madisonville.
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