More Bradley Basketball TRIVIA from the 1960's

[tornado]

Brave4Life, here's a chance to show your stuff....

And anyone else who wants to try your Braves-knowledge


Let's flash back the Bradley's 1959-1960 season.
It is a season with a lot of unusual things.

First...Bradley was still basking a bit in the glory of their first ever National Championship that they won (the NIT) in 1957, and they had 20-7 and 25-4 seasons in 1957-58, 1958-59 with players like Shellie McMillon and Bobby Joe Mason.

But Bobby Joe was set to graduate in mid-year of 1959-1960 and lose his eligibility in January of 1960, right in the middle of the hot conference race.

But Bradley unveiled a new secret weapon.

In an era when freshmen could not play on varsity, Bradley started it's very first game of 1959-1960 with an untested sophomore in the STARTING LINEUP.

1) Who was that sophomore?

2) how many points did he score and what records did he break in his very first Bradley game?

3) What was Bradley's final record in 1959-1960?

4) what #1 ranked team did BU knock off 91-90?

5) why didn't Bradley, with a Top-5 ranking and a 24-2 regular season record go to the NCAA Tournament?

6) and what odd occurrence happened at the NIT where Bradley almost lost because their very best player did not start?



Answers:
(mouse over to view)
1) Chet Walker

2) Chet the Jet scored 44 points in 25 minutes of play to set brand new all time records for most points scored in a game and most FGs (18 ) in the very first game he ever played for the BU varsity.

3) 27-2, they won the NIT

4) In one of the greatest BU games ever, and for sure the best game ever in the Fieldhouse, over 8,000 saw #4 ranked Bradley beat the Oscar Robertson-led Cincinnati 91-90 as Bradley scored the final 6 points to win.

5) Despite their 24-2 record and #4 ranking, they were in second place in the Missouri Valley behind #1 ranked Cincinnati, so Cincy went to the NCAA. Only one team from each conference was allowed at that time.

6) Chet Walker was delivered a glass of orange juice at his hotel room only hours before the Bradley team was to leave and head to Madison Square Garden for their semifinal game against St. Bonaventure. The orange juice made Chet very sick, and was suspected to have been intentionally tampered with and poisoned in an effort to keep the midwestern team from winning the NIT. The person who delivered it was confirmed to have not been a hotel employee as he claimed.

Despite being very sick all day, Chet came off the bench to spark Bradley to the win.
In the Champioship game, Bradley rallied from down 62-50 and in the last 10 minutes outscored Providence 38-10, to win 88-72 and claim their 2nd National Championship.
Bradley Coach Orsborn was the National Coach of the Year.

[AB99]

Was anything ever proved about that incident?

[collegehoopjunkie]

The journal Star wrote about it in their coverage of the Teams of the Decade

scroll down about half way to
"While the story of Walker's tainted orange juice stole the headlines of the '60 NIT - when the sophomore sensation was allegedly poisoned by a glass of orange juice delivered to his New York hotel room, then went out and scored 27 points in 23 minutes as he ran on and off the court to the bathroom-"

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/ssections/teamofdecade/1961-1970.shtml

[Da Coach]

Here is an archive of an article from March 18, 1960 that relates the incident. It appears to have been scanned into digital archive with a text scanner, so there are errors in the text. Scroll down about 1/3. --

http://www.newspaperarchive.com/LandingItems/GLP/LP9.aspx?search=%22chet%20walker%22%2c%22orange%20juice%22&img=NUCC4daB2aKKID/6NLMW2uKxif3qQkYjkLBioon4vQwXq0yv/h4TLw==&site=google&fileType=jpg

It does say that police were notified, and that teammate Al Saunders did not drink his glass of orange juice, and the police were examining it. But in 1960, they didn't have the technology to find foreign substances like we do now. I don't think anything was ever proven. And nobody was ever implicated in the "poisoning", but it was confirmed that the "room service employee" who brought the orange juice to the room, was not actually an employee of the hotel.

[tornado]

Here is one more trivia question.

What uniform number did Chet Walker wear?



By the way, in 1995 Chet Walker wrote a book titled
"Long Time Coming: A Black Athelete's Coming-Of-Age in America"

It really did NOT sell well, and it is very hard to find, but it was about Chet's childhood & early years in college and the NBA.

It was mostly a rant that criticized just about everyone affiliated with Bradley, college basketball, the NCAA, NBA, and life in America.

Lots of people who read it thought it sounded like Walker was spewing bitterness at just about anyone he could for some perceived unfairness.
In the book he recounts the infamous orange juice incident and lumps it together with other supposed evidence of all the racism he had to endure. I don't have a copy of the book, and would like to hear from someone who does.

When this book came out, a PJ Star article about it went and interviewed Joe Stowell, who related that a lot of what Walker played up was greatly exaggerated, and that Chet has turned on many of his closest friends, even to the point of burning bridges. It was reported that some Peoria friends of Walker loaned him money to get his film and book career off the ground, and that Walker had disowned those friends and declined to settle the debts.

By the way.....here is a brief bit in the PJ Star about this, and it claims Walker is angry because of what was said by the Journal Star, and hasn't talked to anyone from Peoria since.

http://www.pjstar.com/services/sports/2003hoops/walker.html

Here is some info about the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Coming-Atheletes-Coming-/dp/0802115047

By the way....Chet was #31

[tornado]

PS-- I just found a copy of Chet Walker's book online at Amazon for $1.99, and bought it.
So I will have it to review shortly.

[Braves4Life]

Thanks

Wow Windy one! I did not know about the OJ incident Wild and crazy stuff! As big as the game is today you'd probably see someone tracked down and jailed over this.

Sad to hear about Chet's bitterness I always admired him as a kid.

[MacabreMob]

Re: Thanks

I did not know about the OJ incident

And you call yourself a fan!


















Just kidding B4L.