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Well, I still have my 1961 Dell Basketball Magazine out and am looking through it-remembering Bradley 'glory days'
Dell had Bradley ranked #2 in the Nation in their preseason predictions that season-behind Ohio St w Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and Bobby Knight...Bradley had finished 27-2 the prior season and won the NIT-the future was very bright
BU's Junior Chet Walker was listed as a 2nd team AA...Tim Robinson was listed as the top sophomore in the Valley and Mack Herndon was listed as one of the top 10 players in the 'Prairie' states.
Here is the writeup on Chet in the AA section of the magazine:
"Chet Walker was a sick young man when New Yorkers saw him in action last year against St Bonaventure in the semi-finals of the NIT. Chet was the victim of what will probably go down in basketball history as the 'Great Orange Juice Mystery.'
Briefly, a bellhop brought a pitcher of orange juice to Chet and roommate Al Saunders in their hotel room before the Bonnie game, saying Coach Chuck Orsborn had sent it. Subsequently, it developed that the coach hadn't ordered any orange juice and the bellhop was no bellhop. In the ensuing excitement and fear that the juice might have been doped or poisoned (a laboratory analysis showed there was nothing in it but vitamins). Walker became upset and ill.(EDIT: I have to stop here and add what the magazine left out-Walker drank the OJ-Saunders did not). He had a tendency to get nervous and jittery before a game anyway, and the thought that he might have been poisoned made him fell even worse. So all he did was to score 27 points in 26 minutes.
The next night, against Providence, Chet was still weak and sat on the bench for all but three minutes as Providence outplayed and outscored the Braves. When Bradley caught fire late in the game, however, Walker proved himself a great clutch player. He soared up for a rebound on the defensive board against Jim Hadnot, who is four inches taller, in a leap that brought a roar from the crowd. In those last four minutes he swept the boards and scored two baskets to help insure Bradley's victory.
Throughout the 27-2 season, Chet was Bradley's key man. The 6-6 200 pound junior led the club in scoring (21.7ppg), shooting (56%) and rebounding -388 as a soph and ranked fourth in the nation in shooting. He goes up like a jumping-jack and has an excellent touch on taps. He has the strength and the bounce to go up for what coaches call the 'second jump.' He dribbles well, is a strong passer, and Orsborn calls him the 'finest all-round prospect ever to come to Bradley'."
POSTSCRIPT: In Chet's bio, he claims that he had lasting liver problems from the OJ incident and that it affected his jumping ability for the rest of his career. Walker wasn't exactly known for his leaping ability in the Pros....but there is a relatively famous picture of him soaring at least a foot above Providence's 6-10 Jim Hadnot in that NIT game-Chester had some 'hops' when he played for the Braves.
Dell had Bradley ranked #2 in the Nation in their preseason predictions that season-behind Ohio St w Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and Bobby Knight...Bradley had finished 27-2 the prior season and won the NIT-the future was very bright
BU's Junior Chet Walker was listed as a 2nd team AA...Tim Robinson was listed as the top sophomore in the Valley and Mack Herndon was listed as one of the top 10 players in the 'Prairie' states.
Here is the writeup on Chet in the AA section of the magazine:
"Chet Walker was a sick young man when New Yorkers saw him in action last year against St Bonaventure in the semi-finals of the NIT. Chet was the victim of what will probably go down in basketball history as the 'Great Orange Juice Mystery.'
Briefly, a bellhop brought a pitcher of orange juice to Chet and roommate Al Saunders in their hotel room before the Bonnie game, saying Coach Chuck Orsborn had sent it. Subsequently, it developed that the coach hadn't ordered any orange juice and the bellhop was no bellhop. In the ensuing excitement and fear that the juice might have been doped or poisoned (a laboratory analysis showed there was nothing in it but vitamins). Walker became upset and ill.(EDIT: I have to stop here and add what the magazine left out-Walker drank the OJ-Saunders did not). He had a tendency to get nervous and jittery before a game anyway, and the thought that he might have been poisoned made him fell even worse. So all he did was to score 27 points in 26 minutes.
The next night, against Providence, Chet was still weak and sat on the bench for all but three minutes as Providence outplayed and outscored the Braves. When Bradley caught fire late in the game, however, Walker proved himself a great clutch player. He soared up for a rebound on the defensive board against Jim Hadnot, who is four inches taller, in a leap that brought a roar from the crowd. In those last four minutes he swept the boards and scored two baskets to help insure Bradley's victory.
Throughout the 27-2 season, Chet was Bradley's key man. The 6-6 200 pound junior led the club in scoring (21.7ppg), shooting (56%) and rebounding -388 as a soph and ranked fourth in the nation in shooting. He goes up like a jumping-jack and has an excellent touch on taps. He has the strength and the bounce to go up for what coaches call the 'second jump.' He dribbles well, is a strong passer, and Orsborn calls him the 'finest all-round prospect ever to come to Bradley'."
POSTSCRIPT: In Chet's bio, he claims that he had lasting liver problems from the OJ incident and that it affected his jumping ability for the rest of his career. Walker wasn't exactly known for his leaping ability in the Pros....but there is a relatively famous picture of him soaring at least a foot above Providence's 6-10 Jim Hadnot in that NIT game-Chester had some 'hops' when he played for the Braves.
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