When the United States plays Spain on Sunday for the gold medal in basketball, Peoria's Frank McCabe will be watching.

"Last time I was asked I said, 'Is the Pope Catholic?' You're gosh darn right I will be watching."

McCabe knows what its like to win a gold medal. The former Marquette star earned one himself. Frank was one of five players from the old Caterpillar Cats that helped the 1952 Olympic team defeat iron–curtain Russia.

"(The Russians) played slow down, which was the old Oklahoma A&M style. One of the Russian players even sat on the floor. They were stalling, trying to hold the ball to keep the score down. The score at the half was only 17–15."

The United States managed to score 19 points in the second half and beat Russian, 36-25, to claim the gold medal.

In 1952 there was a playoff system to determine the head coach of the Olympic team. Warren Womble's Caterpillar Cats, an AAU team, beat Fogg Allen and Kansas, the winner of the college bracket. Then Womble took McCabe and the Cats other four starters to Helsinki for the games.

"We beat Kansas by two points, 62–60. That made Warren Womble, who was in his first full year as a basketball coach at Caterpillar, the coach of the head Olympic coach. And Phog Allen, who was a head coach for 30 years, was the assistant coach. But they got along so well together. We never saw any strife between them."