Taylor-Made History: Everyone Seems to Get His 15 Minutes of Fame

The spotlight on Division I leaves the vast majority of Division II and III players toiling in virtual obscurity. That's unless, of course, a 5-10 guard from Grinnell (Iowa) named Jack Taylor tallies a "No! He didn't!" 138 points in a game against Faith Baptist Bible College or a school such as Rutgers-Camden considers dropping its program in the midst of establishing an NCAA record for most consecutive defeats with 117 from January 18, 1992 to January 7, 1997.

Well, it was only two years ago when Grinnell and Faith Baptist were involved in another noteworthy outing. Grinnell set an NCAA single-game record as 19 different players contributed a three-pointer in a 137-103 victory over Faith Baptist. Although barely mentioned or remembered, incredible achievements have been commonplace in the small-college ranks. Consider:

• In a game tied 59-59 at the end of regulation, the two teams were just getting started as Skidmore (N.Y.) outlasted Southern Vermont, 128-123, in seven overtimes in 2010-11. Southern Vermont's Lance Spratling played all 75 minutes.

• Northern Kentucky's Paul Cluxton set an NCAA record for consecutive successful free throws with 94 in 1996-97.

• Rollins' Daniel Parke (1994-97) established the NCAA standard for consecutive games with a three-point basket at 93.

• In 1999-2000, Saint John's (Minn.) coach Jim Smith coached his grandson Brandon Smith, which is the first grandfather-grandson connection on the court in NCAA history.

• Wisconsin-Platteville, the winningest school in the country in the 1990s (266-27, .908), had a 92-game homecourt regular-season winning streak entering 1999-2000 and had not lost a regular-season, non-conference home game since 1984.

The list goes on and on and Taylor is simply the latest to get his 15 or so minutes of fame. He incurred a season-ending broken right wrist (shooting arm) in mid-season, averaging 27.9 ppg in nine contests following his outburst. Thus the greatest folk hero in college basketball history will remain a small-college player named Clarence "Bevo" Francis, who set the previous all-time collegiate scoring record with 113 points for Rio Grande (Ohio) College in a 134-95 victory over Hillsdale on February 2, 1954. Francis' revolutionary jump shot helped him average 46.5 points per game that season, when he earned spots on AP, UPI and NABC All-American teams as a small-college player.

Francis, distinguishing himself from Taylor's achievement, proved he could score against major-college opponents by pouring in 39 points vs. Villanova, 41 vs. Providence, 48 vs. Miami (Fla.), 34 vs. North Carolina State, 32 vs. Wake Forest, 48 vs. Butler and 49 and 41 vs. Creighton. Rio Grande won the Providence, Miami, Wake Forest and Butler games and the first Creighton contest.

"I really don't remember much about the 113-point game," said Francis, who was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1956 draft but couldn't reach a contract agreement with them and never played in the NBA. "It was just another time when I was double- and triple-teamed. Their coach told me after the game that if he could have dressed out, he would have guarded me, too."

No stat sheet exists to detail how many shots the 6-9 Francis attempted en route to his 37 field goals against Hillsdale. "Most of them were outside," he said. "With the three-pointer, I know I would have come close to 150 points."

The scoring outburst might not have had much of an impact on him because he scored even more points - 116 - as a freshman the previous season against Ashland (Ky.) Junior College when he erupted for 55 in the 10-minute fourth quarter. Francis averaged 50.1 points that year for a 39-0 team that reportedly generated sufficient gate receipts to save the school from bankruptcy. However, his single-game total against Ashland and his season average were later expunged from the NCAA record book because 27 of the opponents for Rio Grande (pronounced RYE-o Grand) were junior colleges, military teams and vocational schools.

Francis was outscored by a teammate only once (23-21 by Roy Moses at Bluefield). Among the coaches who tried to contain him was George Steinbrenner III, the eventual New York Yankees owner who piloted the airmen at Lockbourne Air Force base in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Bevo's nickname stemmed from his father's fondness for Beve Beer, a root beer-type soft drink. Francis rejected offers from larger universities to follow his Wellsville, Ohio, high school coach, Newt Oliver, to a college with an enrollment of 92 full-time students. Francis, who had a wife and an infant when he arrived at Rio Grande, left school after his sophomore season and signed a three-year contract worth $13,000 annually to play on a national barnstorming tour for a team opposing the Harlem Globetrotters.

Francis singlehandedly outscored the opposition eight times to spark Rio Grande (Ohio) to a 59-8 record in his two-year scoring orgy. Bevo supplied four of the following 18 scoring explosions of more than 75 points in games between two four-year colleges: