bradley's unbeaten frosh team

[capecod]

a post below contained a 1954 newspaper article speculating on how the 1954-55 Bradley Braves frosh team would likely go unbeaten (especially after beating the BU varsity in their annual season opener)

The '54-55 Braves (featuring Barney Cable, Shellie McMillon and Curley Johnson) did not go undefeated-finishing 15-1(sorry need to do more research to see who they lost to)

The following are the Bradley Papoose teams that finished undefeated:

1946-47 26-0 w player Joe Stowell
1956-57 15-0 coached by Stowell w Mike Owens and Dan Smith
1958-59 15-0 Chet Walker Bob Ortegel Ed Wodka Mickey Tieman
1963-64 15-0 Tom Campbell Alex McNutt (Joe Allen played 2 g & dropped out of school/re-enrolled the next season
1970-71 15-0 Seymour Reed Mike Harrell Dave Klobucher

[capecod]

one loss Bradley frosh teams

there were a number of Bradley Papoose teams that only lost one game in a season


1952-53 19-1 coached by Chuck Osborn w Lee Utt Jerry Hansen
1954-55 15-1 Osborn coached, McMillon, Cable and Curly Johnson
1955-56 14-1 Bobby Joe Mason, Joe Billy McDade, Gene Morse
1964-65 14-1 Stowell coach, Willie Betts,Joe Allen
1965-66 15-1 Coach Harris, LC Bowen,Cal Criddle,Al Smith

The last BU frosh team was in 1971-72.
Frosh were declared eligible to play on the varsity in 1972-ending the BU frosh teams

[wily coyote]

So many memories from those last 2 posts and may I say,those were the good old days. Wish we could recruit kids like those today but I do realize that's not gonna happen no matter who the coach is.

[capecod]

top 10 BU frosh scorers all time

all played a 15 game schedule(Varsity vs Frosh game not included)

#1 Mark Dohner 1971-72 24.4 pts/g

#2 LC Bowen 1965-66 23.8

#3 Mike Harrell 1970-71 23.6

#4 Chet Walker 1958-59 23.2

#5 Walt Gerard 1959-60 23.0

#6 Joe Allen 1964-65 22.4

#7 Sam Simmons 1968-69 22.3

#8 Tom Campbell 1963-64 21.3

#9 Al Saunders 1957-58 19.3

#10 Joe Strawder 1960-61 19.2

Tim Robinson 1959-60 average 21.4 but only played in 10 games

[johncooper44691]

I was a freshman when L.C. Bowen was, back in 1965-'66. Terrific player, who if he'd been about two inches taller would have stuck in the NBA. He was very creative inside, with lots of pump fakes, and double pumps, usually doing all of this while in the air!

He had an unusual jump shot in that he didn't hang in the air and then shoot, but kind of shot on the way up, maybe just before he reached the peak of his height. It was so smooth looking, that I tried copying it for a while, and it worked.

He, Criddle, and Smith all lived on Wyckoff One, while I was up in four. When school started in the falll of '65, my roommate and I organized a flag football league, because at that time the dorms didn't have an official one. We got teams based on floors, and all of the Wyckoff and Harper floors entered teams. (Harper 3 won it.) Except for Wyckoff One, likely because they had too many guys like Bowen, Criddle, and Smith, who would ot be allowed to play in such a league. Those guys would have clobbered us.

[Da Coach]

I was a freshman when L.C. Bowen was, back in 1965-'66. Terrific player, who if he'd been about two inches taller would have stuck in the NBA. He was very creative inside, with lots of pump fakes, and double pumps, usually doing all of this while in the air!

He had an unusual jump shot in that he didn't hang in the air and then shoot, but kind of shot on the way up, maybe just before he reached the peak of his height. It was so smooth looking, that I tried copying it for a while, and it worked.

He, Criddle, and Smith all lived on Wyckoff One, while I was up in four. When school started in the falll of '65, my roommate and I organized a flag football league, because at that time the dorms didn't have an official one. We got teams based on floors, and all of the Wyckoff and Harper floors entered teams. (Harper 3 won it.) Except for Wyckoff One, likely because they had too many guys like Bowen, Criddle, and Smith, who would ot be allowed to play in such a league. Those guys would have clobbered us.

I remember L.C. Bowen very well. Thanks for posting your recollections.
I was a freshman when he was a junior. He was overshadowed his junior season by the great Joe Allen and Al Smith, but as a senior, L.C. Bowen and Steve Kuberski were the 2 stars of the team. You are right about Bowen's shot. He had a quick release, and shot the ball from a very high point and slightly behind him, making it hard for anyone to defend it. He was especially good with the mid-range jump shot from 10-15 feet on the wings.

Incidentally, since this thread was initially about the past Bradley unbeaten frosh teams, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with one of the players from the 1970-1971 freshman team, the last such team to go undefeated.
Rich Bowles was a 6'2" guard from East Peoria who played on that team that went 15-0. He still lives in East Peoria, and remains a Bradley fan, though he does not attend games regularly. He was a sub who made the team from a tryout, but because almost every game was a huge blowout win, he did get to play quite a bit. He went on to graduate from Bradley, but did not play basketball beyond his freshman year. I enjoyed hearing a lot of his stories about the team and the guys he played with. The guys from that team who went on to play varsity ball for Coach Stowell were Dave Klobucher, Seymour Reed, Mike Harrell, Tim Althoff, Doug Pomatto, Doug Shank, and Henry Thomas.

Roster of the 1970-1971 freshman Bradley team from the 1970-71 Media Guide:



Here is the following year's Media Guide showing the results from the 1970-71 team that went 15-0. They only had 1 close game, and a lot of big blowout wins-