1953-1954 Basketball Schedule

[wizard1]

While cleaning out some bookcases, I ran across my old Bradley Student Handbooks which included the 1953-1954 Basketball Schedule. Here it is:
12/1---Illinois State..................At Peoria
12/8---Purdue University...........At Peoria
12/11--Duquesna University......At Pittsburgh
12/12--University of Pittsburgh..At Pittsburgh
12/21-- Southern California.........At Peoria
12/23--Notre Dame..................At Peoria
12/28--Arizona........................At Peoria
12/30--Rutgers Univ.................At Peoria
1/ 2--Brigham Young................At Peoria
1/9---Iowa State......................At Peoria
1/11--Drake............................ At Peoria
1/13--St. Louis........................At Peoria
1/16--Louisville........................At Louisville
1/18--Houston.........................At Peoria
2/1---Arizona..........................At Tucson
2/3---Tulsa.............................At Tulsa
2/6---Wichita..........................At Wichita
2/9---DePaul..........................At Peoria
2/12-Marquette.......................At Milwaukee
2/15--Louisville.......................At Peoria
2/20--Drake...........................At Des Moines
2/22--Illinois Wesleyan.............At Peoria
2/27--DePaul..........................At Chicago
3/1---Marquette......................At Peoria
3/3---St. Louis........................At St. Louis
3/6---Tulsa............................At Peoria

27 games with 17 at home! Compare this to todays schedule and it will make you want to throw up. Nothing is forever and the Bradley Basketball program will eventually cease to exist if we cannot turn things around very quickly.
Wizard

[molar50]

Wow, what an impressive schedule and considering that they didn't fly to our of town venues, think how hard it was to travel, play and practice basketball, and study.

[AZ BU Fan]

1/11--Drake............................ At Peoria
1/13--St. Louis........................At Peoria
1/16--Louisville........................At Louisville
2/3---Tulsa.............................At Tulsa
2/9---DePaul..........................At Peoria
2/12-Marquette.......................At Milwaukee
2/15--Louisville.......................At Peoria
2/20--Drake...........................At Des Moines
2/27--DePaul..........................At Chicago
3/1---Marquette......................At Peoria
3/3---St. Louis........................At St. Louis
3/6---Tulsa............................At Peoria

I am assuming these were all MVC League Games....
My, my, my, how the MVC has changed....

[AZ BU Fan]

Bu 1953-54 sos!

12/1---Illinois State....................At Peoria
12/8---Purdue University...........At Peoria
12/11--Duquesne University...........At Pittsburgh
12/12--University of Pittsburgh..At Pittsburgh
12/21--Southern California........At Peoria
12/23--Notre Dame..................At Peoria
12/28--Arizona........................At Peoria
12/30--Rutgers Univ.................At Peoria
1/2----Brigham Young................At Peoria
1/9----Iowa State......................At Peoria
1/18--Houston.........................At Peoria
2/1----Arizona..........................At Tucson
2/6----Wichita..........................At Wichita
2/22--Illinois Wesleyan.............At Peoria

I would say BU MBB 1953-4 SOS not an issue either!

[capecod]

Bradley finished 2nd in the NCAA tourney

A few comments about the Bradley basketball 1953-54 season

The Braves played for the National Championship that season-losing to a Tom Gola led LaSalle team 92-76 in the title game. Bradley had led by 1 at halftime

Bradley finished 19-13 for the year against a very tough schedule

IIRC, the Braves were not members of the MVC that season-having quit the Valley in '51 in protest of the intential football injury of Drake's black star Johnny Bright in a game vs Valley football member Oklahoma A&M

Possibly the biggest game in Peoria that year was the Dec. 23rd matchup with Notre Dame. Both teams were ranked. Bradley won 74-72, one of only two games the Irish lost during the regular season(the other Irish loss was at Indiana). ND finished 22-3

The starting lineup for the Braves:

F Dick Peterson 6'5 ave 6.3 pts
F Eddie King 6'4 ave 9.1
C Dick Estergard 6'4 ave 14.5
G Bob Carney 6'1 ave 16.1
G John Kent 6'1 ave 13.1

Top reserves
Harvey Babetch 6'2 ave 6.1
Jerry Hansen 6'4 ave 5.4

After the season BU head coach Forddy Anderson left for Michigan State



.

[MacabreMob]

I recall a story told to me... the son of Eddie King is a friend of mine... he told me of that Tourney run in '54 and a game against (I believe it was) Okla A&M (now known as Okla St I believe).... he told me his dad was playing in the game and as it got late in the game a star player for A&M fouled out... and Eddie King went over to shake his hand as he was leaving the floor and the player shrugged him off.... and Eddie King grabbed him and said "Always wanted to know what it's like to be an All-American"... in disgust... basically showing that player how disgusting he was to not even shake hands in defeat.

[TNel]

The telecast of that NCAA championship game was pre-empted, locally, by the State high school championship game. (Ironically, featuring Dusable and Shelly McMillon.). The BU/LaSalle game was joined, in progress, in the second half. I remember climbing the walls until the IHSA game ended.

[capecod]

Followup on a couple of players on that BU team

A couple of stories/pieces of random trivia somewhat related to 2 of the reserves on that Braves 1953-54 team

**Harvey Babetch 6'2 F Chicago Van Steuben HS

Babetch was a jr-a top reserve on the team

Harvey had averaged over 30pts a game as a HS senior, scoring a record 87 pts in one prep game. He was (at the time) the leading scorer in Illinois HS BB history.

Somewhat ironically, Babetch's Illinois scoring record was broken a few years later by Tamms HS guard named Chico Vaughn-with Bradley appearing to win the recruiting battle of Chico too.

A story that was later retold in Sports Illustrated- Vaughn was on the Bradley campus, set to become a member of the Braves 1958-59 Frosh recruiting class (that also included Chet Walker).

But nothing was official until Vaughn enrolled in classes at Bradley-there was no letter of intent signing doc in those days. Chico was still fair game-even though he was already on the Bradley campus days before enrollment.

BU coach Chuck Osborn knew the risks in those 'wild west' recruiting days & had assigned a upperclassman basketball player to 'babysit' Vaughn until enrollment. However, when the BU player assigned this simple task stole off briefly to meet up with his girlfriend, Vaughn disappeared.

Chico resurfaced at Dayton U. But Dayton's victory was short-lived. Before Dayton could enroll him, Chico was off again -this time to Southern Illinois U.

Chico Vaughn became the leading all time scorer in U of Southern Illinois basketball history before a long pro career in the NBA (St Louis Hawks) & ABA (Pitts Pipers).


**Les O'Connell 6'1 Chicago South Shore HS

O'Connell was a heralded hard luck Braves recruit-very talented, but always hurt.
Les was considered the best defensive player on the Bradley squad.

O'Connell's HS rep was helped along by his famous older brother-Tommy.
Tommy O'Connell had signed to play QB at Notre Dame in 1948- labeled to be the next great ND QB following in the footsteps of Heisman winners Bertelli & Lujack

But Tommy flunked out of ND. He transferred to Illinois & would led the Illini to a Big 10 championship & Rose Bowl victory over Stanford.

Drafted by the Chicago Bears, Tommy O'Connell later led the Cleveland Browns to the 1957 NFL championship game. He led the League in passing that season & was named to the Pro Bowl

In 1960, Tommy O'Connell was the first starting QB for the Buffalo Bills of the new AFL

In 1978, Tommy's son Mike (Les' nephew) became the first Chicago born player to ever play for the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL.

[Chico]

The telecast of that NCAA championship game was pre-empted, locally, by the State high school championship game. (Ironically, featuring Dusable and Shelly McMillon.). The BU/LaSalle game was joined, in progress, in the second half. I remember climbing the walls until the IHSA game ended.

I believe that was the first NCAA championship game televised.

[TNel]

I believe that was the first NCAA championship game televised.

I think you're right.

[tornado]

capecod... appreciate all your knowledge-