Story on Bradley Brave Gene Gathers

[tornado]

they kinda say he paved the way for stars like Zion Williamson & Ja Morant...

https://www.postandcourier.com/sport...bd8092e7d.html

"It was players like Gathers and Johnson who laid the foundation for future stars like Zion Williamson and Ja Morant,
ellow South Carolinians who are expected to be the top two picks ..."

[64NIT]

Anyone remember the game against Jacksonville? It was played in Chicago. Gathers went up against Artis Gilmore who was about five inches taller than Gathers. Jacksonville won the game but BU played close for most of it. BU had a relatively small team and there was no true center. I think Gathers was the tallest player, among the starters and significant reserves, at 6'7".

[Da Coach]

Anyone remember the game against Jacksonville? It was played in Chicago. Gathers went up against Artis Gilmore who was about five inches taller than Gathers. Jacksonville won the game but BU played close for most of it. BU had a relatively small team and there was no true center. I think Gathers was the tallest player, among the starters and significant reserves, at 6'7".

Yes, I was at that game on Feb. 13, 1971. It was part of a doubleheader in the old Chicago Stadium. Jacksonville beat Bradley 87-79 and Wichita State beat Loyola in the second game.
I was sitting right under one of the baskets. Gilmore was huge. I had never seen a player as tall as him before that. He was a legitimate 7'2" and was a very skilled player. Jacksonville also had a second 7-footer named Pembrook Burrows III, who was not nearly as skilled as Gilmore, but combined with a couple guards who were decent passers and shooters, it made them a very good team. They had lost in the NCAA national championship game to UCLA the season before in the midst of UCLA's long run of national championships in the 1960s-70s. And they went on to finish that 1970-71 season 22-4, though they got knocked off early in the NCAA Tournament.
Bradley was an overachieving team in 1970-71, Joe Stowell's sixth season, and they finished that season 13-12 and 6-8 in the MVC.
There was no way they shouldn't have been blown out by a top ranked team like Jacksonville in that game, but they hung close until the final minute or two. I don't remember Gene Gathers scoring much in the game, but he and Rich Schultz played heroically trying to defend Gilmore and Burrows. The only 2 "big men" Bradley played against the 2 Jacksonville 7-footers were Gene Gathers at 6'7" and Rich Schultz, who was 6'5".
Here was Bradley's roster and stats that year.-
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...dley/1971.html

Unfortunately for Artis Gilmore, he never quite got the recognition and accolades in his college or pro career that he deserved IMO because he never played with other great players. The only championship he ever won was the old ABA Championship in 1975 with the Kentucky Colonels. When he moved to the NBA, he played with some pretty mediocre Bulls and Spurs teams, never good enough to play for a chance at an NBA championship.

[capecod]

Anyone remember the game against Jacksonville? It was played in Chicago. Gathers went up against Artis Gilmore who was about five inches taller than Gathers. Jacksonville won the game but BU played close for most of it. BU had a relatively small team and there was no true center. I think Gathers was the tallest player, among the starters and significant reserves, at 6'7".

What could have been.....
The year before this game (Jacksonville won by 10 over Bradley), Stowell had signed 7'0 Tom Payne to a MVC Letter of Intent.......but Kentucky's Adolph Rupp (which didn't have to honor another conference's LOI) signed Payne to become the first African American player in Kentucky history(there was also noise that Payne's parents refused to sign the Bradley LOI...)

Payne had many troubles in his lifetime...wonder if life would have been different IF he had had chosen Bradley.....

So Payne vs Jacksonville's 2 7'0 footers-Gilmore & Borrows would have been interesting.

Looking at the actual BU roster posted above by Da Coach, I was reminded of two other "missing" Brave players who should have been on that squad-but flunked out of Bradley......ironically, neither would have added height to the team.....both were forwards in the mold of earlier BU forwards Ernie Thompson and Cal Criddle(both 6'3)....the 2 who flunked were Willie Fort 6'2 from Nashville Tn(who would have been a junior)-averaging17.7 for the BU frosh before flunking out; and Lamonia Barksdale 6'3 Peoria Spalding(who would have been a soph)...Barksdale averaged 13+ on the Frosh team before flunking, after helping Spalding to the Illinois State championship game as a HS senior.

[tornado]

several Bradley students saw Joe Stowell taking 7-footer Payne to lunch at Hunt's Restaurant
down at the bottom of the hill beyond Bradley Park - and even before cell phones, word traveled
so fast that the place was packed with dozens of students wanting to see him - so I believe Joe & Payne
got up & left before finishing the meal so as to avoid a crush of interested fans...
I recall - I got down to Hunt's just as Joe & Payne were getting in the car and leaving - but that would have really changed Bradley's fortunes had he come to Bradley - and maybe Payne would have had an easier time avoiding
trouble than he ended up having down in Kentucky tempted by all that cash the sleazy UK boosters threw his way..

[capecod]

several Bradley students saw Joe Stowell taking 7-footer Payne to lunch at Hunt's Restaurant
down at the bottom of the hill beyond Bradley Park - and even before cell phones, word traveled
so fast that the place was packed with dozens of students wanting to see him - so I believe Joe & Payne
got up & left before finishing the meal so as to avoid a crush of interested fans...
I recall - I got down to Hunt's just as Joe & Payne were getting in the car and leaving - but that would have really changed Bradley's fortunes had he come to Bradley - and maybe Payne would have had an easier time avoiding
trouble than he ended up having down in Kentucky tempted by all that cash the sleazy UK boosters threw his way..

During my HS days I was a busboy at Kramer's Restaurant (later renamed Jumer's)...Bradley always brought in their visiting recruits for a meal there....saw some talent parade through that restaurant back in the day..........

a longtime bartender there told me about the time then BU Frosh Coach Stowell brought in 6'11 Walt Wesley from Ft Meyers, Fla(this was before I worked there). Wesley signed a LOI with Bradley , but Kansas took him away (again, not having to honor a MVC LOI). Wesley was billed by Kansas as the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain.... teamed with JoJo White on some great Kansas teams....KU lost to Texas Western in a famous NCAA Tourney game when the winning basket by Kansas was disallowed with ref ruling that White had stepped out of bounds before the would have been winning shot.

[tornado]

wow - great story capecod -- I love hearing from you...

[Da Coach]

During my HS days I was a busboy at Kramer's Restaurant (later renamed Jumer's)...Bradley always brought in their visiting recruits for a meal there....saw some talent parade through that restaurant back in the day..........

a longtime bartender there told me about the time then BU Frosh Coach Stowell brought in 6'11 Walt Wesley from Ft Meyers, Fla(this was before I worked there). Wesley signed a LOI with Bradley , but Kansas took him away (again, not having to honor a MVC LOI)....

This sounds a little like another big man that was "stolen away" from Bradley and Dick Versace in 1983. Does anyone else remember Barry Sumpter? He was a somewhat unknown 6'11" kid from tiny Brooklyn, Illinois. He gave Dick Versace a verbal commitment in 1983, but then shortly before classes began in 1983, Louisville head coach Denny Crum decided he needed more post depth, and "lured" Sumpter to drop Bradley and enroll at Louisville instead. Sumpter was a decent player in his 2 years at Louisville. But then he transferred to Austin Peay and had much more success. He lead them in scoring (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg) in the only season he played at Austin Peay. Here are his stats-
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...sumpter-1.html

He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1988 NBA Draft, but his NBA career was very short. He did have a pretty successful career in the old CBA for many years.
But he probably would have been a good player in the MVC.

[Bradley3342]

Man these stories from all of you guys bring back a lot of memories. I remember growing up listening to games on the radio with my dad when very few games were televised and being in class in grade school when my dad would pick up tickets for the games against Louisville when they were highly ranked...I couldn’t concentrate on anything to do with class on those days. So much fun then and hopefully we can add to it in the Brian Wardle era!