What were we?

[squirrel]

While I was looking though all my old BU stuff I ran across something I thought was interesting, and I hadn't really noticed it before.

On March 10 of 1947 was the final home BASKETBALLgame for one of the all time BU greats, Ray Ramsey, who went on to a fine career in the NFL after leaving BU as a three sport athlete.
The handout game card had a nice tribute to Ray and the game was against Colorado College (now University of Colorado).

But on the back of the game card was a typed a story about the game by the guy who obtained the lineup card when he went to the game.
The story related a bizarre series of events that quite possibly makes this game one of the oddest of all time, and the details might be somewhat lost to history, so I will present them here just in case anyone cares.

At one point during the game the mechanical game clock got stuck, and the game played on for a minute or so until someone noticed the game clock wasn't running. They got the clock going again and played on.
Then later, at the final tick in the game, Bradley scored and won the game, 57-56. The refs left the floor and BU was officially the winner. But a long discussion carried on after the game, and the BU officials finally agreed that had the clock not stopped and malfunctioned, then Colorado would have won in regulation. Therefore, the BU personnell VOLUNTARILY offered to award the game to Colorado with the score 56-55, and Colorado accepted.
BU ended up with a 25- 7 record, and went to the NIT, and lost in the 1st round, ending their season.

So, this was a game that Bradley actually won, but at present time it sits in the all time loss column, even though the officials deemed BU the winner. This was done as a gentlemanly thing back in 1947 and I suspect we'd never see the same action nowadays! A very strange story.

Good stuff, Tornado. There was an incredible amount of drama surrounding that game.

It was senior night for Ray Ramsey.

It was viewed as a must-win given BU had played a demanding slate as an independent, and a loss could cost them a postseason bid. To give you an idea of how demanding the schedule was, they played either the winners or runner-up of all three national postseason tournaments (NIT, NCAA, NABC).

The opponent was Colorado College and has no association with the University of Colorado.

http://www.coloradocollege.edu/index.asp

Following the game, one of the score or timekeepers had been then president of Toledo, Peoria, and Western Railroad. He was gunned down on High Street about a block from his home while walking home from the Armory. While I haven't been able to research yet if the incidents were in any way related, it did add to the gravity and weight of the controversial win, and Bob Leu infers in "Good Evening Bradley Basketball Fans" that news may have been a motivation for BU formally conceding that particular contest.

The New York Times followed the story closely and ran numerous followups and editorials that spoke glowingly of Bradley University, with one column even calling Bradley "Sportsmanship College."

The clock malfunction is probably one of the most ironic incidents in college sports history. Bradley's dedication Horology school was believed to be the first and even at its closing, the "finest" such institution in the nation.

[squirrel]

B4l, you have come to the right place, and I have your answer.

I have quite possibly the most exhaustive collection of Bradley yearbooks, press guides, basketball programs, lineup cards, and other stuff. I have bought collections from old folks who went to BU as far back as the 1920's and even earlier.
And I have checked it all over and here is your answer.

From the founding of BU in 1897, through 1946, Bradley was officially known as Bradley Polytechnic Institute.

Nicknames for schools were very unofficial for the first 30 years or so of last century, just like nicknames for people, which won't appear on your birth certificate or in official documents.
So only rarely did the nickname of Bradley Polytechnic Institute appear in print up through the 1920's.

But there were actually THREE different nicknames used alternately and interchangeably up through the 20's.

The first nickname to appear, was the "B-men". It isn't hard the figure this one out, as the Bradley athletic teams all wore uniforms with a BIG LETTER "B" on the front.
(I have many pictures if anyone is interested in seeing them)
So frequently, the BU teams were called the "B men".
But pretty much simultaneous to that, another name began to appear in use, as the team was called the "Techmen"
(obviously because the "Polytechnic Institute men" was a little too cumbersome)
.......and at times the "Techs" for short. All three of these nicknames appear often in the Bradley literature and yearbooks all the way up through the 1930's.
Never once in all the year books, literature, and game cards, was the name "Braves" used any time before the mid-1930's.

Maroons was also used, and likely the first unofficial name given to Bradley's teams.

A Tech article from c. 1904-06 refers to the team as "Bradley's braves"

Indians became the common name towards the late 1920's, but I have not been able to establish an exact date.

Robbymen and Techsters had also been used quite frequently between 1920 and the common use of Indians, which became more prevelant in the late 1920's.

Then sometime around 1936 Bradley not only adopted the "Braves" nickname, but they also began emblazoning the picture of an Indian Chief in full regalia with feathered head dress on all their literature and even on the covers of the yearbooks, and the athletic teams were invariably referred to only as the Braves. No mention of Techmen, Techs, or B Men appear after 1934-35.

Once the name of the school changed in 1946, they were and have ever since been the "Bradley Braves".

David Blair Owen who became Alumni President in the 1930's played a major role in developing alumni relations in the ten or so years before he led the school through its change into a full-fledged university as the school's President.

[mike radigan]

On the subject of watches, the Springfield Watch Company built a 9" refractor telescope just after the turn of the century to assist them in setting the correct time. Yes, this was some time ago. Anyway, in the 30's the company went bankrupt and denoted the scope to Bradley. It sat under the bleachers at the field house until 1956 at which time it was donated to the Peoria Astronomical Society. They still have it out at Northmoor Observatory located on Donovan Golf Course on Knoxville in Peoria. The observatory is open for viewing free to the public on Saturday evenings during the summer weather permitting. I'm hosting October 7th.

[squirrel]

On the subject of watches, the Springfield Watch Company built a 9" refractor telescope just after the turn of the century to assist them in setting the correct time. Yes, this was some time ago. Anyway, in the 30's the company went bankrupt and denoted the scope to Bradley. It sat under the bleachers at the field house until 1956 at which time it was donated to the Peoria Astronomical Society. They still have it out at Northmoor Observatory located on Donovan Golf Course on Knoxville in Peoria. The observatory is open for viewing free to the public on Saturday evenings during the summer weather permitting. I'm hosting October 7th.

I'm tailgating at the soccer game, but afterwards I'll stop by and see if you're still there, Mike.

[OrangeandBlack74]

On the subject of watches, the Springfield Watch Company built a 9" refractor telescope just after the turn of the century to assist them in setting the correct time. Yes, this was some time ago. Anyway, in the 30's the company went bankrupt and denoted the scope to Bradley. It sat under the bleachers at the field house until 1956 at which time it was donated to the Peoria Astronomical Society. They still have it out at Northmoor Observatory located on Donovan Golf Course on Knoxville in Peoria. The observatory is open for viewing free to the public on Saturday evenings during the summer weather permitting. I'm hosting October 7th.

What time is the viewing schedule?

[mike radigan]

On the subject of watches, the Springfield Watch Company built a 9" refractor telescope just after the turn of the century to assist them in setting the correct time. Yes, this was some time ago. Anyway, in the 30's the company went bankrupt and denoted the scope to Bradley. It sat under the bleachers at the field house until 1956 at which time it was donated to the Peoria Astronomical Society. They still have it out at Northmoor Observatory located on Donovan Golf Course on Knoxville in Peoria. The observatory is open for viewing free to the public on Saturday evenings during the summer weather permitting. I'm hosting October 7th.

What time is the viewing schedule?

Dark until the last guests leave.