With his team down by 12 points early in Thursday’s NCAA basketball tournament game, former Loyola Ramblers player Norm Buxbaum, 88, has an even bigger concern than the Nevada Wolf Pack.
“I don’t want the headline to read, ‘Loyola loses to bingo,'” Buxbaum groans as the women involved in the weekly bingo game refuse to yield the only room with a big-screen TV. Buxbaum argues that “you can play bingo any night,” while his Ramblers were playing in their first NCAA Sweet 16 game in 33 years. But the forced switch to a smaller TV in the employee lunchroom at Mather Place, a senior living residence in Wilmette where Buxbaum lives, proves lucky for Loyola.