ESPN's Jay Williams Wins "Emmy" For Inane Commentary on Clark's Legacy

The good news for ESPN is that the network won't have to conduct another Emmy scam (returned 37 Emmys for using fake names in 13-year scheme to get awards for ineligible on-air "talent"). After all, Jay Williams already clinched award for dumbest basketball commentary of the year on College GameDay by saying "I am unwilling to say she is great yet (needs to win championship)" after Iowa scoring sensation Caitlan Clark became the most prolific major-college point producer in women's basketball history. Caitlan also paces nation in assists and doesn't one from us, but Williams' lame performance was nearly as feeble an effort as exhibited by "great" players in a listless NBA All-Star Game and as incisive as pap from ex-colleague Jemelle Hill.

The bad news is Williams' wisdom is as memoir moronic as anyone claiming colleague Screamin' A. Stiff was a regal recruit for Hall of Fame coach Clarence "Bighouse" Gaines at Winston-Salem State and bound to become the next Earl "The Pearl" Monroe (only Jason Whitlock knows for certain whether Stephen A. Smith incurred a severe knee injury). By any measure, Clark is easily the most compelling - yes greatest - story in all of college basketball this season, making Williams' comment on her more idiotic than an ill-advised motorcycle jaunt. After a mediocre rookie season with the Chicago Bulls in 2002-03, second pick overall in NBA draft incurred career-ending injuries crashing his Yamaha R6 into a utility pole (not wearing a helmet and not licensed to ride in Illinois).

Sounding like the Claudine Gay of hoop analysts, let's hope "diversity" doesn't have anything to do with Williams' assessment as Harvard-like doubt lingers he would say similar thing about college careers of Lisa Leslie and Sylvia Fowles. Brain damage or not, something must have happened to his cognitive ability leaving him impaired almost like Plagiarist Biledumb conducting unethical business with son hideous Hunter comparable to Williams' suspect stint toiling for a sports agency. "Legal Title" argument from Williams makes virtually no sense and leaves impression he must be related to anal attorneys Alvin Bragg, Letitia James and Fani Willis. You're also more piker than biker in role as analyst if you don't acknowledge more than 125 male All-Americans never participated in both the NCAA playoffs and NIT - let alone capture a crown - since the introduction of national postseason competition in the late 1930s. Were none of them "great" college players (including two-time Duke All-American Dick Groat before becoming eight-time MLB All-Star shortstop)?

Upon disrespecting Clark, does Williams - leader in scoring and assists for Duke's 2001 titlist while also pacing NCAA in turnovers with 154 - also bang the floor 154 times looking down with a scowl when evaluating Pete Maravich, the all-time leading men's scorer? Maravich is a prime example regarding the specter of tourney trials. Maravich's star, shining so brightly as the NCAA's all-time leading men's scorer (3,667 points), faded before some cynics questioning whether he was a team player because LSU was only two games above .500 against SEC competition and didn't participate in the NCAA Tournament while he was in college. He is the only three-time first-team All-American failing to appear in the NCAA playoffs. Don't seek to Pistol-whip anyone, but Maravich's college career scoring average (44.2 ppg) is significantly higher than Williams' single-game career-high in scoring (38 against Kentucky in OT). In the NBA, Pistol Pete provided a career-high of 68 points while HG for Williams was 26 (one of only three of more than 20).

How about "great" collegians proceeding to have infinitely more success at the NBA level than Williams' brief underachieving pro career? Let us get this straight regarding Williams' oral turnover. If comprehending his logic, Charles Barkley never was "great" in college (lost only NCAA playoff game in three seasons with Auburn) or the NBA (11-time All-Star scored 23,757 points but earned no championship ring in 16-year career). Despite a college crown, did Williams' nondescript rookie campaign give any indication he was going to be a "greater" pro guard than Joe Dumars, Damian Lillard, Jeff Malone, Maravich, John Stockton and Dick Van Arsdale (each of whom scored more than 15,000 NBA points)?

How about Hall of Famer Julius Erving, the first former major-college player to become NBA Most Valuable Player (1980-81 with the Philadelphia 76ers) after never participating in the NCAA tourney? Erving (Massachusetts) is the lone major-college player in history to average more than 25 points and 20 rebounds in a career. Although many of Jaded Jay's not-so-great-in-college pro stalwarts resembled Erving and participated in the NIT, following are more than 20 of the highest scorers in NBA and ABA history to play at least two years of varsity basketball for a major college but never have opportunity to capture an NCAA title because they didn't appear in the Division I playoffs at all (less-than-great member Klay Thompson recently surpassed 15,000-point threshold):

Non-NCAA Tourney Player College (Varsity Seasons) College Record NIT Mark Pro Points
Julius Erving Massachusetts (1970 and 1971) 41-11 0-2 30,026
Dominique Wilkins Georgia (1980-82) 52-37 4-2 26,668
Rick Barry Miami, Fla. (1963-65) 65-16 1-2 25,279
Robert Parish Centenary (1973-76) 87-21 DNP 23,334
Walt Bellamy Indiana (1959-61) 46-24 DNP 20,941
*Damian Lillard Weber State (2009-12) 84-42 0-2 20,632
John Stockton Gonzaga (1981-84) 64-45 DNP 19,711
Chet Walker Bradley (1960-62) 69-14 3-1 18,831
Lou Hudson Minnesota (1964-66) 50-22 DNP 17,940
Lenny Wilkens Providence (1958-60) 62-18 5-3 17,772
Bailey Howell Mississippi State (1957-59) 61-14 DNP 17,770
Otis Thorpe Providence (1981-84) 47-68 DNP 17,600
*Paul George Fresno State (2009 and 2010) 28-39 DNP 17,484
Kevin McHale Minnesota (1977-80) 73-40 4-1 17,335
Kevin Willis Michigan State (1982-84) 43-43 1-1 17,253
Jeff Malone Mississippi State (1980-83) 46-64 DNP 17,231
Joe Dumars McNeese State (1982-85) 64-53 DNP 16,401
Billy Cunningham North Carolina (1963-65) 42-27 DNP 16,310
Pete Maravich Louisiana State (1968-70) 49-35 2-2 15,948
Jack Twyman Cincinnati (1952-55) 54-47 2-1 15,840
Dick Van Arsdale Indiana (1963-65) 41-31 DNP 15,079
*Klay Thompson Washington State (2009-11) 55-44 0-1 15,022

*Lillard, George and Thompson are active NBA players.

NOTES: Stockton and fellow guard Bill Sharman (Southern California) join Erving, Barry and Wilkins on the list of major-college players to never appear in the NCAA Tournament before selection to an All-NBA Team at least six times. . . . Centenary has never participated in the NCAA playoffs. . . . Walker-led Bradley won the 1960 NIT with an 88-72 title game victory over Wilkens-led Providence. . . . Cincinnati (first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1958), Georgia (1983), Minnesota (1972), Mississippi State (1963) and Providence (1964) didn't reach the NCAA playoffs for the first time until the college playing careers of Twyman, Wilkins, Hudson, Howell and Wilkens had ended, respectively. . . . Bellamy, Hudson, Maravich, Twyman and Wilkins never participated in the NBA championship series. . . . Erving (Philadelphia 76ers '83), Barry (Golden State Warriors '75), Parish (Celtics '81, '84 and '86), Walker (76ers '67), Howell (Celtics '68 and '69), McHale (Celtics '81, '84 and '86), Cunningham (76ers '67) and Klay Thompson played on NBA championship teams. . . . The only individual to become NBA Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player to participate in the NCAA Tournament but never be on a team to win an NCAA playoff game was Dave Cowens, who managed just 11 points and four rebounds as a sophomore for Florida State in 1968 when the Seminoles lost in the first round of the Mideast Regional against East Tennessee State (79-69). . . . In addition to Hudson and McHale, three other Minnesota alums scored more than 10,000 points in the NBA after never participating in the NCAA Tournament - Mychal Thompson (12,810), Archie Clark (11,819) and Ray Williams (10,158). . . . Spencer Haywood (1968-69 with Detroit) and George McGinnis (1970-71 with Indiana) both scored more than 17,000 points in the pros after averaging at least 30 points per game in their only year in college before entering the ABA. . . . Bellamy, McGinnis, Van Arsdale and Van Arsdale's twin brother, Tom, combine to make Indiana the only school to have as many as four of its players score more than 14,000 points in the pros after never appearing in the NCAA playoffs or NIT. Tom Van Arsdale, finishing his 12-year pro career with 14,232 points after playing for five different teams, is the highest scorer in NBA history to never participate in the NBA playoffs. . . . Barkley, Lillard, Maravich, Stockton, Wilkens and Wilkins are joined by luminaries Carmelo Anthony, Elgin Baylor, Patrick Ewing, James Harden, Allen Iverson, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Nate Thurmond and Russell Westbrook in never earning an NBA championship ring.

Memorable Moments For Super Bowl Spotlight Shining on Ex-College Hoopers

Former NCAA Tournament hoopers Antonio Gates (Kent State) and Tony Gonzalez (California) - two of the top three tight end reception leaders in NFL history - never participated in the Super Bowl. The absence of their 22 combined years as NFL All-Pros helped open the door for some other ex-college hoopers to emerge in the Super Bowl spotlight. Following are the 10 most memorable plays in Super Bowl history - good and bad - involving former college hoopers:

  1. Jacoby Jones (Lane TN hooper in 05-06) - Ravens WR supplied Super Bowl record 109-yard kickoff return for a touchdown opening the second half of SB XLVII against the 49ers.
  2. Don Beebe (Aurora College IL 84/JV) - Despite trailing by 35 points, Bills WR delivered iconic hustle play in Super Bowl XXVII against the Cowboys when stripping Leon Lett of the ball for a touchback just before the showboating defensive end crossed the goal line following running more than 60 yards after fumble recovery.
  3. John Mackey (Syracuse 61) - Colts TE had 75-yard reception on a deflected pass from Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas early in second quarter for first touchdown of game in Super Bowl V against the Cowboys.
  4. Andre Rison (Michigan State 86-88) - Packers WR opened scoring in Super Bowl XXXI with a 54-yard touchdown reception from Brett Favre on their first pass play against the Patriots.
  5. Otis Taylor (Prairie View A&M in early 60s) - Chiefs WR tallied a game-long 46-yard touchdown reception from Len Dawson (Purdue 57) to cap off scoring in Super Bowl IV. Taylor broke a sideline tackle attempt from Vikings LCB Earsell Mackbee (averaged 3.4 ppg for Utah State in 1964-65 as teammate of All-American Wayne Estes).
  6. Antwan Randle El (Indiana 99) - Steelers WR threw flea flicker 43-yard touchdown pass to game MVP Hines Ward to cap off scoring in Super Bowl XL against the Seahawks.
  7. Jordan Norwood (Penn State 07) - Broncos backup WR, escaping numerous Panthers defenders upon receiving punt, returned it for Super Bowl-record 61 yards in second quarter of Super Bowl 50.
  8. Bob Griese (Purdue 65) - Dolphins QB sacked for a 29-yard loss by Cowboys RDT Bob Lilly late in opening quarter of Super Bowl VI.
  9. Roger Staubach (Navy 63) - Five-time Pro Bowl TE Jackie Smith, lured out of St. Louis Cardinals retirement by Cowboys, was a little off-balance but flubbed the easiest of touchdown catches from Staubach hitting him right in numbers in third quarter of Super Bowl XIII four-point setback against the Steelers.
  10. Percy Howard (Austin Peay State 73-75) - Cowboys backup WR had a 34-yard touchdown catch in Super Bowl X. It was one-hit wonder's only NFL reception. A Hail Mary pass in his general direction from Staubach at game's end was foiled by the Steelers.

Ranking 58 Premier Former College Hoopers Participating in NFL's Super Bowl

Excluding wondering about the variety of grub to be consumed at Super Bowl LVIII party, college basketball enthusiasts might rather want to enjoy know which former hoopers impacted the championship contest over its 58-year history. Emphasizing criteria including multiple appearances, following is a list ranking 58 former varsity hoopers - including multiple athletes from mid-majors Idaho, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Southern, Texas-El Paso and Utah State - impacting Super Bowl history the most from schools currently at the NCAA DI level:

Rank Four-Year College Hooper Current DI School/Hoop Season(s) Super Bowl Participation Summary
1. Roger Staubach Navy 63 Cowboys QB completed 61-of-98 passes for 744 yards and eight touchdowns in four Super Bowls (VI, X, XII and XIII). Receivers for three of his TD passes were former major-college hoopers (Mike Ditka/Billy Joe DuPree/Percy Howard).
2. Rodney Harrison Western Illinois 93 SS with Chargers contributed one solo tackle in Super Bowl XXIX. After switching coasts and joining Patriots, he registered team-high eight solo tackles in SB XXVIII, game-high 10 solo tackles in SB XXXIX and game-high 11 solo tackles in SB XLII.
3. Len Dawson Purdue 57 Chiefs QB completed 28-of-44 passes for 353 yards in Super Bowls I and IV. Threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Otis Taylor.
4. Preston Pearson Illinois 65-67 RB returned two kickoffs for 59 yards with Colts in Super Bowl III. Six years later with Steelers, he returned one kickoff for 15 yards in SB IX. After shifting to Cowboys, he rushed five times for 14 yards, caught game-high five passes for 53 yards and recovered one fumble in SB X; rushed three times for 11 yards and and caught game-high five passes for 37 yards in SB XII, plus rushed once for six yards and caught two passes for 15 yards in SB XIII.
5. Ed "Too Tall" Jones Tennessee State 70-71 Cowboys LDE amassed a total of 13 solo tackles in three Super Bowls in four-year span (X, XII and XIII). He also contributed one fumble recovery in SB XIII.
6. Otis Taylor Prairie View Chiefs WR caught a total of 10 passes for 138 yards in two Super Bowls (I and IV). His 31-yarder from Len Dawson helped set up KC's first score in second quarter of inaugural SB. Taylor tallied a game-long 46-yard touchdown reception to cap off contest's scoring in SB IV.
7. Junious "Buck" Buchanan Grambling 59 Chiefs RDT collected five solo tackles and a sack in Super Bowl I before tying for team high with five solo tackles plus a sack in Super Bowl IV.
8. Bob Griese Purdue 65 Dolphins QB completed 26-of-41 passes for 295 yards and one 28-yard touchdown covering back-to-back-to-back Super Bowls (VI, VII and VIII).
9. Ronnie Lott Southern California 80 49ers DB amassed total of nine solo tackles in four Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, XIII and XXIV) with a high of four in SB XXIII.
10. Donovan McNabb Syracuse 96-97 Eagles QB completed 30-of-51 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns in Super Bowl XXXIX.
11. Antwaan Randle El Indiana 99 Steelers WR caught three passes for 22 yards, returned two punts for 32 yards in Super Bowl XL and threw flea flicker 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward to cap off scoring in Super Bowl XL before catching two passes for 50 yards including team-long 37-yarder in SB XLV.
12. Brad Johnson Florida State 88-89 Buccaneers QB completed 18-of-34 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns (bridging both halves) plus rushed once for 10 yards in Super Bowl XXXVII.
13. London Fletcher St. Francis (Pa.) 94 Rams MLB collected game-high seven solo tackles in Super Bowl XXXIV and two solo tackles in SB XXXVI.
14. Terrell Owens UT Chattanooga 94-96 Seven weeks after breaking his leg, Eagles WR registered team highs of nine pass receptions and 122 receiving yards (long of 36) in Super Bowl XXXIX.
15. John Mackey Syracuse 61 Colts TE caught a total of five passes for 115 yards in two Super Bowls (III and V). He had a 75-yard TD reception on a deflected pass from Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas for their initial score in SB V.
16. Joe Kapp California 57-58 Vikings QB completed 16-of-25 passes for 183 yards and rushed twice for nine yards in Super Bowl IV.
17. Billy Joe DuPree Michigan State 72 Cowboys TE recorded one solo tackle in Super Bowl X and caught a total of six passes for 83 yards and one touchdown in subsequent back-to-back SBs (XII and XIII).
18. Keith McKeller Jacksonville State 83-86 Bills TE caught at least one pass in four consecutive Super Bowls (XXV through XXVIII).
19. Harold Carmichael Southern 69-70 Eagles WR caught five passes for 83 yards from Ron Jaworski in Super Bowl XV.
20. Johnny Sample Maryland-Eastern Shore Colts DB supplied five solo tackles and an interception in Super Bowl III.
21. Tommy Polley Florida State 97 Rams RLB tied for team high with seven solo tackles in Super Bowl XXXVI.
22. Andre Rison Michigan State 88 Packers WR caught two passes for 77 yards in Super Bowl XXXI. He opened game's scoring with 54-yard touchdown reception from Brett Favre.
23. Martellus Bennett Texas A&M 06-07 Patriots TE caught five passes for 62 yards from Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI.
24. Earsell Mackbee Utah State 65 Vikings LCB managed six solo tackles in Super Bowl IV.
25. Bobby Bell Minnesota 61 Chiefs LLB recorded total of five solo tackles in Super Bowls I and IV.
26. Cornell Green Utah State 60-62 Cowboys SS contributed a total of four solo tackles in back-to-back Super Bowls (V and VI).
27. Adalius Thomas Southern Mississippi 97-98 Patriots OLB contributed five solo tackles and two quarterback hits in Super Bowl XLII.
28. Don Blackmon Tulsa 78 Patriots ROLB had five solo tackles in Super Bowl XX.
29. Julius Thomas Portland State 07-10 Broncos TE caught four passes for 27 yards from Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII.
30. Dave Robinson Penn State 61 Packers LB registered two solo tackles and returned a fumble recovery 16 yards in Super Bowl II.
31. George Martin Oregon 73 Giants LDE manufacutred a safety by tackling John Elway in end zone for only second-quarter score in Super Bowl XXI.
32. Art Shell Maryland-Eastern Shore Raiders starting LT in Super Bowls XI and XV. Went on to coach the team for seven years from 1989 through 1994 and 2006.
33. George Starke Columbia 69-70 Redskins starting RT in back-to-back Super Bowls (XVII and XVIII).
34. Wayne Moore Lamar 66-69 Dolphins starting LT in back-to-back Super Bowls (VII and VIII).
35. Ron Widby Tennessee 65-67 Cowboys P recorded 40.2 average on total of 14 punts in back-to-back Super Bowls (V and VI).
36. Mike Ditka Pittsburgh 59-60 Cowboys TE rushed once for 17 yards and caught a seven-yard touchdown pass in Super Bowl VI.
37. Jordan Norwood Penn State 07 Broncos backup WR returned one punt for 61 yards in second quarter of Super Bowl 50.
38. Percy Howard Austin Peay State 73-75 Cowboys backup WR provided a 34-yard touchdown catch in Super Bowl X. It was one-hit wonder's only NFL reception. A Hail Mary pass in his direction from Roger Staubach at game's end was foiled by the Steelers.
39. Fred "Fuzzy" Thurston Valparaiso 52 Packers starting LG in first two Super Bowls.
40. Alfred Williams Colorado 90 Starting RDE for Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII amassed two solo tackles in SB the next year.
41. Jim Duncan Maryland-Eastern Shore Colts RCB delivered one solo tackle, one fumble recovery and four kickoff returns for 90 yards in Super Bowl V.
42. Julius Peppers North Carolina 00-01 Panthers LDE provided two solo tackles in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
43. Napoleon Harris Northwestern 98-99 Raiders starting MLB notched two solo tackles in Super Bowl XXXVII.
44. Billy Kilmer UCLA 60 Redskins QB completed 14-of-28 passes for 104 yards and contributed two nine-yard rushes in Super Bowl VII.
45. Charlie West Texas-El Paso 68 Vikings DB returned three kickoffs for 46 yards and two punts for 18 yards in Super Bowl IV before returning two kickoffs for 28 yards in SB VIII.
46. Marlin Briscoe Nebraska-Omaha 65 Dolphins WR had two of QB Bob Griese's six pass completions in Super Bowl VIII.
47. Ephraim Salaam San Diego State 97 Falcons starting RT as a rookie in Super Bowl XXXIII.
48. Gerald Perry South Carolina 84/Southern 87 Broncos starting LT in Super Bowl XXIV.
49. Derrick Ramsey Kentucky 76 Patriots TE caught two passes for 16 yards in Super Bowl XX.
50. Brad Jackson Cincinnati 98 Ravens backup LB contributed one solo tackle and one fumble recovery in Super Bowl XXXV.
51. Tony Dungy Minnesota 74 Steelers DB recorded one solo tackle in Super Bowl XIII. He went on to become the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl (XLI with Colts).
52. R.W. McQuarters Oklahoma State 96-97 Giants CB returned three punts for 25 yards in Super Bowl XLII.
53. David Verser Kansas 78 Bengals WR returned five kickoffs for 52 yards in Super Bowl XVI.
54. Tom Mitchell Bucknell 64 Colts TE-WR caught one pass for 15 yards from Earl Morrall in Super Bowl III.
55. Ordell Braase South Dakota 53-54 Colts DE contributed one solo tackle in Super Bowl III.
56. Charles Philyaw Texas Southern 74-75 Raiders DE provided a solo tackle in Super Bowl XI.
57. Reggie Carolan Idaho 60-62 Chiefs TE caught one pass for seven yards in first quarter of Super Bowl I to set up missed field-goal attempt.
T58. Marvin Washington Texas-El Paso 85-86/Idaho 88 Broncos DE managed one solo tackle in Super Bowl XXXIII.
T58. Dick Capp Boston College 64 TE member of Packers special teams recovered a punt return fumble leading to field goal just before time expired in first half of Super Bowl II.

Ex-Purdue Hoopers Len Dawson and Bob Griese Threw Super Bowl TD Passes

In football feedback prior to a ballyhooed game such as the Super Bowl, there is a natural inclination to focus on the quarterback matchup. If adding an emphasis on college basketball to the equation, you should know Purdue alums Len Dawson (played hoops in 1957) and Bob Griese (1965) were involved in three Super Bowl QB duels in a four-year span featuring signal callers who each played major-college varsity basketball. Dawson won SB IV with the Kansas City Chiefs against Minnesota Vikings (23-7 vs. Cal 57-58 hooper Joe Kapp) before Griese split back-to-back Super Bowls against the Dallas Cowboys (lost to Navy 63 hooper Roger Staubach, 24-3, in VI) and Washington Redskins (defeated UCLA 60 hooper Billy Kilmer, 14-7, in VII).

Dawson (IV) and Staubach (VI), each named a Super Bowl MVP in a three-year span, both hooked up with fellow college cagers for touchdowns in SB competition. The initial basketball TD connection in Super Bowl history was Dawson's game-long 46-yard pass reception to Otis Taylor (Prairie View A&M backup forward in era following glory years of pro standout Zelmo Beaty) capping off scoring in SB IV. Taylor eluded Vikings DB Earsell Mackbee, a hoops teammate of Utah State All-American Wayne Estes in 1964-65.

Receivers for three of Staubach's eight TD passes in four SB appearances were former major-college hoopers. The fourth-quarter basketball bounty for Staubach went to:

  • Mike Ditka (Pittsburgh 59-60) capping off game's scoring with seven-yard touchdown pass in Super Bowl VI.
  • Percy Howard (Austin Peay State 73-75) with a 34-yard catch capping off scoring in Super Bowl X.
  • Billy Joe DuPree (Michigan State 72) via a seven-yarder in SB XIII.

Joining Howard among ex-college hoopers catching passes from Staubach in Super Bowl X was Preston Pearson (Illinois 65-67), who competed for three different pro franchises in the SB (also Baltimore Colts III and Pittsburgh Steelers IX). Although none of Pearson's catches found end-zone pay-dirt, he provided game highs of five pass receptions from Staubach for "America's Team" in two Super Bowls (X and XII). In Super Bowl XXXIX, former NCAA Tournament hoopers Donovan McNabb (Syracuse 96-97) and Terrell Owens (UT Chattanooga 94-96) hooked up for nine pass receptions and 122 receiving yards with the Philadelphia Eagles although none for a TD. Where are such incredible versatile athletes like this these days?

Super Men: College Basketball's Impact on 58 Seasons of NFL Super Bowl

College basketball fans shouldn't be assessed an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty if the NFL isn't their favorite sport, but they should rush to hold on because following is more super stuff to digest while blitzed by enough notes, quotes and anecdotes to have one seeking a sedative when assessing Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.

For what it's worth hoop-wise, did you know former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was a 6-5 forward who averaged 11.4 points and nine rebounds per game for Georgetown in three varsity seasons from 1959-60 through 1961-62? He led the Hoyas in rebounding as a sophomore (8.9 rpg) and junior (8.2 rpg) and was their second-leading rebounder as a senior captain. Well-rounded trivia buffs should also know that Tagliabue's predecessor, Pete Rozelle, was the basketball publicist for 1949 NIT champion San Francisco before orchestrating events leading to the Super Bowl becoming a national phenomenon.

The Super Bowl's link to college basketball is much more extensive than these commissioners and had more impact than unveiling of new commercials plus halftime entertainers. Actually, there are a striking number of ex-college hoopers who participated in the Super Bowl as players. In fact, the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967 featured seven former four-year college varsity basketball players for schools currently classified at the NCAA Division I level: Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Reg Carolan, Len Dawson, Dave Robinson, Otis Taylor and Fuzzy Thurston. Former college hoopers have also appeared prominently in previous Super Bowls for the Niners. There were former college hoopers in each of the first 13 Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys boasting seven such versatile athletes in SB X.

But times have changed and there were only five ex-college hoopers in the previous 16 Super Bowls. Kneeling in deference to the 58th anniversary of the Super Bowl, following are 58 questions tackling versatile players such as Bell, Buchanan, Carolan, Dawson, Robinson, Taylor and Thurston in this distinctive two-way athlete category that should surprise you with some of the marquee names. If you get them all correct before peeking at answers at the end of this gridiron quiz, then you boast inflated brainpower sufficiently omnipotent to know in advance what will transpire at halftime and which new expensive commercials offer the most entertainment.

1. Name the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals who appeared in Super Bowl XVI following the 1981 season after finishing his career as the fifth-leading scorer in his college's history. The high school teammate of Kentucky All-American and All-Pro Dan Issel led Augustana (Ill.) in field-goal accuracy and free-throw shooting as a freshman and sophomore.

2. Name the linebacker who was one of only two first-year players on the Miami Dolphins' undefeated team in 1972 and was still with the franchise the next season when the Dolphins repeated as Super Bowl champions for a 32-2 two-year mark, the best ever in the NFL. He played briefly for Louisville's varsity basketball squad before Cardinals football coach Lee Corso persuaded him to concentrate on the gridiron.

3. Name the nine-time All-Pro linebacker who was with the Kansas City Chiefs for their Super Bowl IV winner after becoming the first African American to play basketball for Minnesota when he appeared in three games in the 1960-61 season.

4. Name the tight end who caught five passes for 62 yards from Tom Brady in the New England Patriots' come-from-behind 34-28 win against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI after former Pro Bowl selection competed in 2006 NCAA basketball playoffs with Texas A&M.

5. Name the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end who appeared in Super Bowl III with the Baltimore Colts vs. the New York Jets after becoming a first-team selection as a basketball center for South Dakota in the All-North Central Conference when he averaged 7.8 points per game in 1952-53 and 11 points in 1953-54.

6. Name the first black starting quarterback in the NFL who was later converted to wide receiver and caught two of QB Bob Griese's six pass completions to help the undefeated Miami Dolphins beat Minnesota in Super Bowl VIII after averaging 9.5 ppg and 3.6 rpg in 14 basketball games for Nebraska-Omaha in 1964-65.

7. Name the DT who had a streak of eight consecutive campaigns named to either the AFL All-Star Team or NFL Pro Bowl while collecting five solo tackles in each of a pair of Super Bowls. He concentrated solely on football under legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson after earning basketball letter as freshman in 1958-59.

8. Name the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who caught five passes for 83 yards from Ron Jaworski in Super Bowl XV for the Philadelphia Eagles after he was the top rebounder for two seasons with Southern (La.). He established an NFL record for most consecutive games with a pass reception (127).

9. Name the 1963 Pro Bowl selection who participated in Super Bowl I as a defensive end with the Kansas City Chiefs after the 6-6, 235-pounder played three varsity seasons with Idaho's basketball team, averaging four points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

10. Name the 1994 first-round draft choice who was a defensive end on the Dallas Cowboys' last Super Bowl team after playing nine games during the 1992-93 season for Arizona State's hoop squad decimated with injuries.

11. Name the Pro Bowl selection who appeared in Super Bowl XXXI with the New England Patriots after the 6-5, 245-pounder played basketball one season for Livingstone (N.C.). He held the NFL single-season record for most receptions by a tight end with 96 in 1994.

12. Name the four-year starter who set school career records for total offense, passing yards and rushing yards by a quarterback plus rushing touchdowns by a QB. Most Outstanding Player in the 2002 Peach Bowl as a quarterback was activated for Super Bowl XXXVII as a rookie with the Oakland Raiders before succeeding all-time great Tim Brown as a starting wide receiver. He was North Carolina's leader in assists during 2000-01 when he directed the Tar Heels to a basketball No. 1 ranking and an 18-game winning streak.

13. Name the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs who was MVP in Super Bowl IV after playing in two basketball games as a 6-0, 180-pound guard for Purdue in the 1956-57 campaign.

14. Name the defensive left end on Miami's undefeated team in 1972 who played in four Super Bowls with the Dolphins after the 6-6, 220-pound basketball center finished his four-season career at Central College as the Pella, Iowa-based school's all-time leading scorer (15.5 ppg) and rebounder (12.4 rpg). He grabbed a school-record 29 rebounds in a game his senior season (1970-71).

15. Name the Hall of Fame tight end who played in two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, catching a TD pass to cap the scoring in Super Bowl VI, before coaching the Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears following the 1985 season after the 6-2, 205-pound forward averaged 2.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in two seasons with the Pittsburgh Panthers.

16. Name the defensive back for the Baltimore Colts' Super Bowl V champion who led the NFL in kickoff return average (35.4) in 1970 after playing basketball for Maryland-Eastern Shore.

17. Name the prominent ex-NFL coach who was a defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl XIII champion after averaging 2.6 ppg in 16 basketball contests with the Minnesota Gophers in 1973-74 under coach Bill Musselman.

18. Name the starting middle linebacker for a team in two of three Super Bowls in one stretch (game-high seven solo tackles in SB XXXIV) who started two games at point guard for St. Francis (Pa.) as a freshman in 1993-94 when he averaged three points per game. After transferring back home to Cleveland, the 5-10 dynamo collected 109 points and 52 rebounds in 27 games for John Carroll before quitting basketball midway through the 1995-96 campaign to concentrate on football.

19. Name the Super Bowl X tight end for the Dallas Cowboys after leading Amherst (Mass.) in scoring and rebounding in 1970-71.

20. Name the five-time Pro Bowl defensive back with the Dallas Cowboys who contributed a total of four solo tackles in back-to-back Super Bowls after finishing his three-year varsity career as Utah State's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. The 6-4 forward scored 46 points in a game against New Mexico en route to leading the Aggies in scoring with 21.2 points per game in 1959-60 (34th in the nation), 20.3 in 1960-61 (57th) and 25.6 in 1961-62 (13th).

21. Name the Hall of Fame quarterback who played in three Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins after he was a 6-1, 185-pound sophomore guard in 1964-65 when scoring 22 points in 16 games in his only varsity basketball season for Purdue.

22. Name the 12-year veteran safety who played in Super Bowl IV with the Minnesota Vikings after averaging four points and 3.5 rebounds per game in 10 contests for Wisconsin's basketball team in 1958-59.

23. Name the strong safety for the New England Patriots who registered a team-high eight solo tackles in Super Bowl XXVIII, game-high 10 solo tackles in Super Bowl XXXIX and game-high 11 solo tackles in Super Bowl XLII after starting five basketball games with Western Illinois in 1992-93.

24. Name the wide receiver who caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Roger Staubach for the Dallas Cowboys' final touchdown in a 21-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl X after he averaged 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in three varsity seasons (1972-73 through 1974-75) for Austin Peay. It was the only pass reception in his NFL career. The 6-4, 215-pound forward averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game in four NCAA Tournament contests in 1973 and 1974 as a teammate of NYC playground folk hero James "Fly" Williams.

25. Name the third-round draft choice of the Miami Dolphins in 1998 who backed up MVP Ray Lewis as a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV after being a member of Cincinnati's basketball team for the first month of 1997-98 campaign.

26. Name the three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman who appeared in three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys after the 6-8, 230-pound backup post player averaged 1.7 points and 2.6 rebounds for Tennessee State in his freshman and sophomore seasons (1969-70 and 1970-71).

27. Name the Baltimore Ravens wide receiver who caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco and opened the second half with a 108-yard kickoff return for a TD in a 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII after the Southeastern Louisiana track transfer was a part-time hoop starter for Lane (Tenn.), averaging 3.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

28. Name the 16-year quarterback who started Super Bowl VII for the Washington Redskins after scoring eight points in six games for coach John Wooden's 1959-60 UCLA basketball team.

29. Name the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback who participated in Super Bowl XVII with the Washington Redskins after the 6-4, 190-pound forward averaged 13.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for San Diego State in 1969-70 and 1970-71. He was the Aztecs' second-leading scorer (15.2 ppg) and rebounder (7.6 rpg) as a junior.

30. Name the 10-time Pro Bowl defensive back who competed in four Super Bowls after collecting nine assists, four points and three rebounds in six games for Southern California's basketball squad as a junior in 1979-80.

31. Name the 11-year defensive lineman who played in Super Bowl XIII for the Minnesota Vikings after averaging 12.3 ppg with Michigan Tech in 1962-63.

32. Name the Minnesota Vikings defensive back who had six solo tackles but let former Prairie View basketball player Otis Taylor (Kansas City Chiefs) elude him for a long touchdown in Super Bowl IV after being a basketball teammate of Utah State legend Wayne Estes in 1964-65.

33. Name the NFL Hall of Fame tight end who caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V after collecting 28 points and 28 rebounds in six basketball games with Syracuse in 1960-61.

34. Name the defensive end who scored six touchdowns in his 14-year NFL career and tackled John Elway of the Denver Broncos for a safety in the New York Giants' Super Bowl XXI victory following the 1986 season after the 6-5, 225-pound forward-center averaged just over 10 points and 10 rebounds per game for Oregon's freshman squad in 1971-72. He played briefly for the Ducks' varsity basketball team the next season.

35. Name the tight end who played in four Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills after he was the starting center for Jacksonville State's 1985 NCAA Division II championship team. He led the Gulf South Conference in rebounding each of his first three seasons and finished runner-up in that category as a senior.

36. Name the defensive lineman in Super Bowl XI for the Oakland Raiders who played basketball in the 1975 NAIA Tournament for Morningside (Iowa).

37. Name the quarterback who set an NFL record with 24 consecutive completions over a two-game span in 2004 before guiding the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl XXXIX the next year. He collected a career-high 10 points and six rebounds and made two clinching free throws with 2.7 seconds remaining in a 77-74 victory over Georgetown in 1997 before Syracuse appeared in the NIT. He scored two points in two 1996 NCAA Tournament games for the Orangemen's national runner-up.

38. Name the tight end who played in four Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills, catching a TD pass in Super Bowl XXVI, after the 6-8, 235-pound center for the basketball squad at Wabash (Ind.) averaged 19.2 ppg and 11.4 rpg in four varsity seasons. He set NCAA Division III field-goal shooting records for a single season (75.3% in 1981-82 as a senior) and career (72.4). He collected 45 points and 13 rebounds in the 1982 championship game, scoring a Division III Tournament record 129 points in five games and earning tourney outstanding player honors.

39. Name the tight end-wide receiver who caught a 15-yard pass with the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III after averaging 6.1 ppg and 9.4 rpg in 10 basketball contests for Bucknell in 1963-64.

40. Name the Pro Bowl offensive tackle who appeared in three consecutive Super Bowls with the Miami Dolphins after leading Lamar in rebounding as a senior with 12.6 per game in 1968-69.

41. Name the valuable addition to Super Bowl XXXIX-bound Philadelphia Eagles in 2004 who had nine pass receptions for 122 yards against the New England Patriots after setting an NFL single-game record with 20 receptions for the San Francisco 49ers against the Chicago Bears in 2000. He collected 57 points and 49 rebounds in 38 games (four starts) for UT-Chattanooga's basketball squad in three seasons from 1993-94 through 1995-96.

42. Name the 14-year running back who played in five Super Bowls with three different franchises, catching more passes (five) than anyone in Super Bowls X and XII, after the guard-forward averaged 8.7 ppg and 6 rpg as a senior in 1966-67 to finish his three-year Illinois varsity career with 5.2 ppg and 3.6 rpg.

43. Name the 2002 NFL defensive rookie of the year for the Carolina Panthers who appeared in Super Bowl XXXVIII the next season after being a member of North Carolina's 2000 Final Four squad. He started both NCAA Tournament games for the Tar Heels in 2001, including his first double-double (10 rebounds and career-high 21 points against Penn State).

44. Name the St. Louis Rams rookie linebacker who had a game-high 11 tackles (solo and assisted) in Super Bowl XXXVI after playing in one basketball contest for Florida State in 1996-97.

45. Name the wide receiver who made a two-point conversion on a run for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV and threw a flea flicker touchdown pass in Super Bowl XX after collecting 16 points and 11 assists in 11 games for Indiana's 1999 NCAA Tournament team, including two points in each of the Hoosiers' playoff contests (against George Washington and St. John's).

46. Name the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who scored the first touchdown at Super Bowl XXXI for the Green Bay Packers after he was a 6-1, 185-pound backup guard in basketball for Michigan State in two seasons (1985-86 and 1987-88).

47. Name the Hall of Fame offensive tackle who participated in two Super Bowls (XI and XV) with the Oakland Raiders after he was a two-year basketball letterman as a 6-5, 265-pound center for Maryland State College (now called Maryland-Eastern Shore).

48. Name the Denver Broncos wide receiver who had a game-high 152 receiving yards (including 80-yard touchdown pass from John Elway) in Super Bowl XXXIII after earning Missouri Southern State hoops letter as sophomore in 1990-91.

49. Name an offensive tackle for the Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins after the strike-shortened 1982 campaign who averaged 2.9 ppg and 3.7 rpg while shooting 50.5% from the floor with Columbia in 1968-69 and 1969-70.

50. Name the Hall of Fame quarterback who guided the Dallas Cowboys to four Super Bowls after averaging 9.3 points per game for the 1961-62 Navy plebe (freshman) basketball team. The 6-2, 190-pound forward scored five points in four games for the Midshipmen varsity squad the next season. He was MVP in Super Bowl VI.

51. Name the defensive back for the Baltimore Colts who appeared in two Super Bowls (III and V) after playing basketball for Maryland-Eastern Shore.

52. Name the wide receiver who played in two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, catching 10 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown, after he was a backup small forward in the Prairie View A&M era following the school's glory years with pro basketball standout Zelmo Beaty.

53. Name the linebacker who registered two sacks and five solo tackles in Super Bowl XLII when the New England Patriots lost against New York Giants for first defeat of season after he averaged 2.9 ppg and 1.9 rpg as reserve forward for Southern Mississippi in 1996-97 and 1997-98.

54. Name the Denver Broncos tight end who caught four passes from Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII after finishing as Portland State's second-leading rebounder in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

55. Name the offensive guard with the Green Bay Packers who participated in the first two Super Bowls after originally enrolling at Valparaiso on a basketball scholarship. He averaged 1.5 points per game in eight contests as a freshman with Valpo in 1951-52 before concentrating on football.

56. Name the Pro Bowl punter who appeared in back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys after averaging 14.5 points and 8.3 rebounds as a sophomore, 17.3 points and eight rebounds as a junior and 22.1 points and 8.7 rebounds as a senior for Tennessee. The 6-4, 210-pound forward scored 50 points against LSU as a senior on his way to becoming SEC player of the year in 1967.

57. Name the starting defensive end for the Denver Broncos' back-to-back Super Bowl champions (XXXII and XXXIII) who registered one steal while playing in one minute of one Big Eight Conference basketball game for Colorado in 1989-90.

58. Name the offensive tackle who was an NFL All-Pro six straight seasons in the 1970s and played in the Super Bowl five times that decade with the Dallas Cowboys after earning All-SIAC basketball recognition for Fort Valley State (Ga.).

ANSWERS TO 58 COLLEGE BASKETBALL-IMPACTING SUPER BOWL TRIVIA QUESTIONS
1. Ken Anderson; 2. Larry Ball; 3. Bobby Bell; 4. Martellus Bennett; 5. Ordell Braase; 6. Marlin Briscoe; 7. Junious "Buck" Buchanan; 8. Harold Carmichael; 9. Reg Carolan; 10. Shante Carver; 11. Ben Coates; 12. Ronald Curry; 13. Len Dawson; 14. Vern Den Herder; 15. Mike Ditka; 16. Jim Duncan; 17. Tony Dungy; 18. London Fletcher; 19. Jean Fugett; 20. Cornell Green; 21. Bob Griese; 22. Dale Hackbart; 23. Rodney Harrison; 24. Percy Howard; 25. Brad Jackson; 26. Ed "Too Tall" Jones; 27. Jacoby Jones; 28. Billy Kilmer; 29. Joe Lavender; 30. Ronnie Lott; 31. Bob Lurtsema; 32. Earsell Mackbee; 33. John Mackey; 34. George Martin; 35. Keith McKeller; 36. Herb McMath; 37. Donovan McNabb; 38. Pete Metzelaars; 39. Tom Mitchell; 40. Wayne Moore; 41. Terrell Owens; 42. Preston Pearson; 43. Julius Peppers; 44. Tommy Polley; 45. Antwaan Randle El; 46. Andre Rison; 47. Art Shell; 48. Rod Smith; 49. George Starke; 50. Roger Staubach; 51. Charlie Stukes; 52. Otis Taylor; 53. Adalius Thomas; 54. Julius Thomas; 55. Fuzzy Thurston; 56. Ron Widby; 57. Alfred Williams; 58. Rayfield Wright.

On This Date: Ex-College Hooper Norwood Tackling February 7 Super Bowl

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as ingrate #ColonKrapernick, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball player Jordan Norwood making a name for himself on February 7 in Super Bowl 50 following 2015 season:

FEBRUARY 7

  • Denver Broncos WR Jordan Norwood (Penn State hooper in 2006-07) returned a punt 61 yards in second quarter of 24-10 win against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 following 2015 season.

Magnificent Seven: Ex-Celebrated Cagers Eventually Playing in Super Bowl

They might not measure up in two-way athlete category to ex-MLB amateur draftee Patrick Mahomes II (Chiefs QB participating in fourth SB in last five years after he was selected as pitcher by the Detroit Tigers in 37th round in 2014). But who are the premier four-year college hoopers to end up competing in the NFL's Super Bowl as players or coaches? There might not be someone in this category in Super Bowl LVIII, but the following Magnificent Seven include two small-school hoop sensations who became tight end teammates for multiple Buffalo Bills teams after powering their colleges to non-DI national championships and pair of North Carolina teammates who went from the Final Four to NFL title tilt:

Rank Versatile Athlete Pos. Super Bowl Team/Year(s) Four-Year College Basketball Career Summary
1. Ron Widby P Cowboys/V & VI Three-time all-league selection scored 50 points for Tennessee vs. LSU as senior on his way to becoming SEC player of the year in 1966-67.
2. Cornell Green DB Cowboys/V & VI Finished his three-year varsity career in 1962 as Utah State's all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
3. Harry "Bud" Grant Coach Vikings/IV, VIII, IX & XI Third-leading scorer for Minnesota in 1948-49 (8.5 ppg) after named team MVP previous season over first-team All-American Jim McIntyre.
4. Ronald Curry WR Raiders/XXXVII Team leader in assists, including career-high 10 in ACC Tournament opener against Clemson, during 2000-01 when directing North Carolina to #1 ranking and 18-game winning streak.
5. Julius Peppers DL Panthers/XXXVIII Member of North Carolina's 2000 Final Four squad started both NCAA Tournament games in 2001, including his first double-double (10 rebounds and career-high 21 points against Penn State).
6. Pete Metzelaars TE Bills/XXV through XXVIII Set NCAA Division III FG shooting records for single season (75.3% in 1981-82 as senior) and career (72.4%). Led Wabash IN to 1982 DIII Tournament title, scoring tourney record 129 points in five games and earning tourney outstanding player honors. Scored DIII playoff-record 45 points in championship game against Potsdam State.
7. Keith McKeller TE Bills/XXV through XXVIII Starting center for 1985 NCAA Division II champion Jacksonville State (Ala.). Led Gulf South Conference in rebounding each of first three seasons and finished second as senior. Four-time all-league pick averaged 12.5 ppg and 10.1 rpg from 1982-83 through 1985-86.

NOTE: Curry was on special teams in Super Bowl.

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling February 6 NFL Super Bowls

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as ingrate #ColonKrapernick, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players making a name for themselves on February 6 in football at the professional level (especially Philadelphia Eagles tandem of Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens in Super Bowl XXXIX following 2004 season):

FEBRUARY 6

  • Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb (averaged 2.3 points in 18 games for Syracuse in 1995-96 and 1996-97) threw three touchdown passes in a 24-21 setback against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX following 2004 season. Eagles WR Terrell Owens (UTC-Chattanooga hooper from 1993-94 through 1995-96 started five games) caught nine of McNabb's passes for 122 yards (both team highs). Patriots SS Rodney Harrison (averaged 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3 apg and 1.6 spg for Western Illinois in 1992-93) had two interceptions and game-high 10 solo tackles.

  • Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antwaan Randle El (member of Indiana's 1999 NCAA Tournament team coached by Bob Knight) caught a team-long 37-yard pass from Ben Roethlisberger late in opening quarter and ran for two-point conversion midway through fourth period in a 31-25 setback against the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV following 2010 season.

  • Atlanta Falcons WR Andre Rison (backup hoops guard for Michigan State in 1987-88) named NFL Pro Bowl MVP following the 1993 season.

Outhouse to Penthouse: HBCU Hoopers Mattering to Power-League Members

A high percentage of bottom feeders among the lowest-ranked NCAA Division I squads are members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference. We're a long way from "the good ole days" when Historically Black College and University hoopers included extensive list of standouts. On the other hand, there occasionally are HBCU "Jeffersons" who sing "Movin' On Up" when they go to the deluxe "Best Side" (transfer to power-conference member).

Minnesota's Elijah Hawkins, a transfer from Howard University, is leading the nation in assists. But perhaps the premier player ever to transfer from a HBCU to a major university was Tom Boswell. The 6-9 forward averaged 18 ppg and 13 rpg for South Carolina State in 1971-72 and 1972-73 before switching to South Carolina, an independent school at the time where he averaged 16.5 ppg and 8.7 rpg in 1974-75. It is rare for a HBCU transfer to post a higher scoring averaqe for a power-conference member (Ole Miss boasts a couple of players in this category). In deference to Black History Month, following is an alphabetical list of rare players transferring from a HBCU to NCAA DI power-league member in the past 30 years:

Player Pos. HBCU HBCU Statistics Power-League Member Power-League Member Statistics
Andre Adams G Prairie View 14 1.5 ppg, 1.1 apg Arizona State 17 1.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg
Shareif Adamu F Alabama State 11 4.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg Auburn 13 2.7 ppg, 2 rpg
Cameron Bacote G Maryland-Eastern Shore 18 7.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.9 apg Georgetown 24 0.9 ppg, 1.5 apg
Malcolm Bernard G-F Florida A&M 16 14.4 ppg, 7 rpg, 4.3 apg, 2.3 spg Xavier 17 6.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1 spg
Wayne Bristol Jr. G Howard University 20 12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.8 apg, 2.3 spg Georgetown 23-24 3.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg
Dejuan Clayton G Coppin State 17-21 13.1 ppg, 3 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.2 spg California 23 9.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.9 apg
R.J. Cole G Howard University 18-19 22.5 ppg, 4 rpg, 6.2 apg, 1.8 spg, 37 3FG% Connecticut 21-22 14.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.1 spg, 37 3FG%
James Daniel III G Howard University 14-17 21.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.7 spg Tennessee 18 5.6 ppg, 2.8 apg, 37.2 3FG%
Edric Dennis G Jackson State 17 14 ppg, 4.1 rpg Texas Christian 20 6.2 ppg, 2.3 apg
Bassirou Dieng C Norfolk State 05 2 ppg, 1.2 rpg Georgia Tech 09 1.2 ppg, 1.3 rpg
RaShid Gaston F Norfolk State 13-15 11.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 57.8 FG% Xavier 17 7.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 59 FG%
Elijah Hawkins G Howard University 22-23 12.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 5.8 apg, 2 spg Minnesota 24 8.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 7.8 apg, 2 spg
Barry Honore' F Southern LA 08-09 8.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg Oklahoma 11-12 1 ppg, 0.9 rpg
Dale Hughes G Florida A&M 09-10 8.8 ppg, 35.6 3FG% Mississippi 12 0.7 ppg
Sam Hunt G North Carolina A&T 16-17 14 ppg North Carolina State 18 5.5 ppg
Deion James F North Carolina A&T 16 1.3 ppg Washington State 20 2.6 ppg
Branden Johnson F-C Alabama State 16-19 5.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 62.8 FG% Virginia Tech 20 0.4 ppg
Gerald Jordan F-C Morgan State 94 13.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 1.7 bpg Pittsburgh 96-97 8.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Darryl Labarrie G Florida A&M 97 12.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.3 apg Georgia Tech 99-01 4 ppg, 1.3 rpg
Jayveous McKinnis F Jackson State 19-22 10.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 61 FG% Mississippi 23 5.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 65.4 FG%
Christian Mekowulu F Tennessee State 15-18 8.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1 bpg Texas A&M 19 8.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1 bpg
Femi Olujobi F North Carolina A&T 18 16.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 53.6 FG% DePaul 19 12.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 60.1 FG%
Richaud Pack G North Carolina A&T 14 17 ppg, 4.6 rpg Maryland 15 5.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
Matt Pilgrim F Hampton 07-08 9.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.3 spg, 1 bpg Oklahoma State 10-11 6.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.1 spg
Cecil Rellford F Kentucky State 74 21.7 ppg, 10 rpg St. John's 76-77 11.2 ppg, 6 rpg
M.J. Rhett F Tennessee State 12-14 6.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg Mississippi 15 7.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg
Gerald Robinson G Tennessee State 08-09 16.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.8 spg Georgia 11-12 13.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.8 apg
Johnnie Rogers F Jackson State 95 2.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg Mississippi 97-99 3.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg
Frank Russell C Hampton 03-04 2.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg Rutgers 06-07 2 ppg, 1.8 rpg
Xavier Singletary F Howard University 97-98 18.7 ppg, 6 rpg Boston College 00-01 11.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg
LaRon Smith F Bethune-Cookman 16 7.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg Auburn 17 2.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg
Sterling Smith G Coppin State 13-15 10 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.2 spg Pittsburgh 16 4.5 ppg, 3 rpg
Ben Stanley F Hampton 19-20 13.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 57.7 FG% Xavier 21-22 3.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg
Davion Warren G Hampton 20-21 14.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.3 spg Texas Tech 22 9.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 spg
Kam Woods G North Carolina A&T 23 17.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.6 spg North Carolina State 24 1.4 ppg, 1 rpg
Jesse Zarzuela G Coppin State 22 14.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.4 spg Oregon 24 10 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.2 apg, 86.7 FT%

NOTE: Dennis attended UTA between Jackson State and TCU. Stanley enrolled at ODU for 2022-23.

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling February 5 NFL Super Bowls

Long before kneeling knuckleheads littered NFL pregame festivities, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players making a name for themselves on February 5 in Super Bowl competition:

FEBRUARY 5

  • New England Patriots TE Martellus Bennett (averaged 1.9 ppg and 1.5 rpg as Texas A&M freshman in 2005-06 before playing next season under coach Billy Gillispie) caught five passes for 62 yards from Tom Brady in a 34-28 overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 following 2016 season.

  • Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antwaan Randle El (member of Indiana's 1999 NCAA Tournament team coached by Bob Knight) caught three passes for 22 yards, returned two punts for 32 yards and threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward to cap off scoring in a 21-10 win against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL following 2005 season.

First Time NFL Pro Bowl Fails Featuring Ex-College Hooper Three Years in Row

This year marked only the fourth time an NFL Pro Bowl (joining all-star game following 1985 season and last three years) when there wasn't at least one gridiron participant who previously played college basketball. An average of eight ex-college cagers annually participated the first decade of the event in the 1950s with a high of 10 following the 1959 campaign. Midwest universities Purdue (five of six in 16-year span from 1956 through 1971), Michigan State (four) and Notre Dame (four) have had the most former hoopers become NFL Pro Bowl choices. High fives go to five major-university basketball All-Americans who wound up becoming NFL Pro Bowlers (Northwestern's Otto Graham, Utah State's Cornell Green, Michigan's Ron Kramer, Kansas' Otto Schellbacher and Tennessee's Ron Widby).

Pencil-necked puke politician didn't incur his brain damage from helmet collisions competing in masculine football activity but, unless you're "dazzled" by effeminate Adam Sack-of-Schiff's Russian collusion and impeachment idiocy resembling anal CNN connivers and MSNBC misfits, following is an alphabetical list of more than 100 Pro Bowlers who previously played hoops at varsity level for a four-year college:

NFL Pro Bowl Selection Pos. NFL Team(s) 4-Year Hoop College(s) Pro Bowl Season(s)
Ken Anderson QB Cincinnati Bengals Augustana (Ill.) 1975-76-81-82
Doug Atkins RDE Chicago Bears Tennessee 1957-58-59-60-61-62-63-65
Al Baker RDE Detroit Lions Colorado State 1978-79-80
Erich Barnes RDH Chicago Bears/New York Giants/Cleveland Browns Purdue 1959-61-62-63-64-68
Connor Barwin OLB Philadelphia Eagles Cincinnati 2014
Sammy Baugh QB Washington Redskins Texas Christian 1951
Bobby Bell LLB Kansas City Chiefs Minnesota 1970-71-72
Martellus Bennett TE Chicago Bears Texas A&M 2014
Cloyce Box E Detroit Lions West Texas A&M 1950 and 1952
Ordell Braase RDE Baltimore Colts South Dakota 1966 and 1967
Pete Brewster LE Cleveland Browns Purdue 1955 and 1956
Marlin Briscoe WR Buffalo Bills Nebraska-Omaha 1970
Jim Brown FB Cleveland Browns Syracuse 1957-58-59-60-61-62-63-64-65
Junious "Buck" Buchanan RDT Kansas City Chiefs Grambling 1970 and 1971
Jordan Cameron TE Cleveland Browns Brigham Young/Southern California 2013
Harold Carmichael WR Philadelphia Eagles Southern (La.) 1973-78-79-80
Fred Carr RLB Green Bay Packers Texas Western 1970-72-75
John Carson LE Washington Redskins Georgia 1957
Rick Casares FB Chicago Bears Florida 1955-56-57-58-59
Chris Chambers WR Miami Dolphins Wisconsin 2005
Lynn Chandnois RH Pittsburgh Steelers Michigan State 1952 and 1953
Ben Coates TE New England Patriots Livingstone (N.C.) 1994-95-98
George Connor LT Chicago Bears Holy Cross/Notre Dame 1950-51-52-53
Charley Cowan RT Los Angeles Rams New Mexico Highlands 1968-69-70
Billy Cundiff PK Baltimore Ravens Drake 2010
Glenn Davis LH Los Angeles Rams Army 1950
Len Dawson QB Kansas City Chiefs Purdue 1971
Mike Ditka TE Chicago Bears Pittsburgh 1961-62-63-64-65
Billy Joe Dupree TE Dallas Cowboys Michigan State 1976-77-78
Bobby Etter PK Atlanta Falcons Georgia 1969
Jim Finks QB Pittsburgh Steelers Tulsa 1952
London Fletcher LB Washington Redskins St. Francis (Pa.)/John Carroll (Ohio) 2009-10-11-12
Len Ford DE Cleveland Browns Morgan State 1951-52-53-54
Jean Fugett TE Washington Redskins Amherst (Mass.) 1977
Antonio Gates TE San Diego Chargers Eastern Michigan/Kent State 2004-05-06-07-08-09-10-11
Tony Gonzalez TE Kansas City Chiefs/Atlanta Falcons California 1999 and 2000-01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08-10-11-12-13
Jimmy Graham TE New Orleans Saints/Seattle Seahawks Miami (Fla.) 2011-13-14-16-17
Otto Graham QB Cleveland Browns Northwestern 1950-51-52-53-54
Cornell Green DB Dallas Cowboys Utah State 1965-66-67-71-72
Bob Griese QB Miami Dolphins Purdue 1970-71-73-74-77-78
Rodney Harrison SS San Diego Chargers Western Illinois 1998 and 2001
Todd Heap TE Baltimore Ravens Arizona State 2002 and 2003
Harlon Hill LE Chicago Bears Florence State (Ala.) 1954-55-56
Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch RE Los Angeles Rams Michigan 1951-52-53
DeAndre Hopkins WR Houston Texans/Arizona Cardinals Clemson 2015-17-18-19-20
Paul Hornung LH Green Bay Packers Notre Dame 1959 and 1960
Vincent Jackson WR San Diego Chargers/Tampa Bay Buccaneers Northern Colorado 2009-11-12
Dave Jennings P New York Giants St. Lawrence (N.Y.) 1978-79-80-82
Brad Johnson QB Washington Redskins Florida State 1999, 2000 and 2002
John Henry Johnson RB San Francisco 49ers/Pittsburgh Steelers Saint Mary's 1954-62-63-64
Johnny Johnson RB Phoenix Cardinals San Jose State 1990
Aaron Jones RB Green Bay Packers Texas-El Paso 2020
Ed "Too Tall" Jones LDE Dallas Cowboys Tennessee State 1981-82-83
Jacoby Jones KR Baltimore Ravens Lane (Tenn.) 2012
Joe Kapp QB Minnesota Vikings California 1969
Billy Kilmer QB Washington Redskins UCLA 1972
Ron Kramer TE Green Bay Packers Michigan 1962
Gary Larsen DT Minnesota Vikings Concordia (Minn.) 1969 and 1970
Johnny Lattner RH Pittsburgh Steelers Notre Dame 1954
Joe Lavender RCB Washington Redskins San Diego State 1979 and 1980
Rolland Lawrence CB Atlanta Falcons Tabor (Kan.) 1977
Bobby Layne QB Detroit Lions/Pittsburgh Steelers Texas 1951-52-53-56-58-59
Marcedes Lewis TE Jacksonville Jaguars UCLA 2010
Ronnie Lott DB San Francisco 49ers Southern California 1981-82-83-84-86-87-88-89-90-91
Johnny Lujack QB Chicago Bears Notre Dame 1950 and 1951
Lamar Lundy LDE Los Angeles Rams Purdue 1959
John Mackey TE Baltimore Colts Syracuse 1963-65-66-67-68
Jack "Cy" McClairen E Pittsburgh Steelers Bethune-Cookman 1957
Donovan McNabb QB Philadelphia Eagles Syracuse 2000-01-02-03-04-09
Joe Mihal L Chicago Bears Purdue 1940 and 1941
Zeke Moore CB Houston Oilers Lincoln (Mo.) 1969 and 1970
Elbie Nickel RE Pittsburgh Steelers Cincinnati 1952-53-56
Karl Noonan SE Miami Dolphins Iowa 1968
Terrell Owens WR San Francisco 49ers/Dallas Cowboys UT-Chattanooga 2000-01-02-03-04-07
Julius Peppers DE-LB Carolina Panthers/Chicago Bears/Green Bay Packers North Carolina 2004-05-06-08-09-10-11-12-15
Ulmo "Sonny" Randle WR St. Louis Cardinals Virginia 1960-61-62-65
Garet "Jerry" Reichow WR Minnesota Vikings Iowa 1961
Andre Rison WR Atlanta Falcons/Kansas City Chiefs Michigan State 1990-91-92-93-97
Dave Robinson LB Green Bay Packers Penn State 1966-67-69
Otto Schnellbacher RS New York Giants Kansas 1950 and 1951
Tom Scott LDE Philadelphia Eagles Virginia 1957 and 1958
Joe Senser TE Minnesota Vikings West Chester (Pa.) State 1981
Bob Shaw E Chicago Cardinals Ohio State 1950
Art Shell LT Oakland Raiders Maryland-Eastern Shore 1973-74-75-76-77
Del Shofner RH-SE Los Angeles Rams/New York Giants Baylor 1958-59-61-62-63
John "Jack" Simmons OL Chicago Cardinals Detroit 1956
Rod Smith WR Denver Broncos Missouri Southern State 2000-01-05
Norm Snead QB Washington Redskins/Philadelphia Eagles/New York Giants Wake Forest 1962-63-65-72
Ed Sprinkle DE Chicago Bears Hardin-Simmons (Tex.) 1950-51-52-54
Roger Staubach QB Dallas Cowboys Navy 1971-75-76-77-78-79
Greg Stemrick CB Houston Oilers Colorado State 1980
Courtland Sutton WR Denver Broncos Southern Methodist 2019
Hugh "Bones" Taylor LE Washington Redskins Tulane/Oklahoma City 1952 and 1954
Jason Taylor RDE Miami Dolphins Akron 2000-02-04-05-06-07
Otis Taylor WR Kansas City Chiefs Prairie View A&M 1971 and 1972
Adalius Thomas LB Baltimore Ravens Southern Mississippi 2003 and 2006
John Thomas LG San Francisco 49ers Pacific 1966
Julius Thomas TE Denver Broncos Portland State 2013 and 2014
Emlen Tunnell DB New York Giants Toledo 1950-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-59
Brad Van Pelt LLB New York Giants Michigan State 1976-77-78-79-80
Doak Walker LH Detroit Lions Southern Methodist 1950-51-53-54-55
Ron Widby P Dallas Cowboys Tennessee 1971
Norm Willey RDE Philadelphia Eagles Marshall 1954 and 1955
Alfred Williams RDE Denver Broncos Colorado 1996
Billy Wilson RE San Francisco 49ers San Jose State 1954-55-56-57-58-59
Rayfield Wright RT Dallas Cowboys Fort Valley State (Ga.) 1971-72-73-74-75-76

On This Date: Former College Hooper Dungy Tackling February 4 Super Bowl

Long before kneeling knuckleheads, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following after exhaustive research is tidbit you can tackle regarding former college basketball player Tony Dungy making a name for himself on February 4 in Super Bowl XLI:

FEBRUARY 4

  • Tony Dungy (roommate of Flip Saunders averaged 2.6 ppg for Minnesota in 1973-74 under bench boss Bill Musselman) coached the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 win against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI following 2006 season.

Black Magic: Hill of Beans Switching From Power League to Humbled HBCU

After integration finally swung open the doors of higher education to everyone with any modicum of intellectual motivation, enrollment at HBCUs (Historically-Black Colleges and Universities) steadily declined and athletic programs nosedived nearly into oblivion. Understandably, the vast majority of the premier African-American athletes follow the alluring money trail to superior facilities and greater exposure rather than enroll any longer at HBCUs. Actually, most HBCU institutions currently are imprisoned at the NCAA DI level, where collectively the Washington Generals of college entertainment are little more than indentured servants doing the bidding of their major-university masters; almost always getting whipped on the road as sacrificial lambs during non-conference competition. If telling the entire truth during Black History Month, HBCUs also suffer from substandard scholastic standards typified by nine of their institutions having athletic programs failing to reach Academic Progress Rate threshold required to compete in the 2021 postseason. How do HBCUs fill out rosters for an All-Star Game any more?

It's not a Trumped-up "go back to where you came from" but, if anything, the MEAC and SWAC should simply return to DII significance. Seven different historically-black colleges and universities advancing to the NCAA DI level captured a total of nine NAIA and NCAA College Division Tournament championships in a 21-year span from 1957 through 1977 (Tennessee State from 1957 through 1959, Grambling '61, Prairie View '62, Winston-Salem State '67, Morgan State '74, Coppin State '76 and Texas Southern '77). Coppin State is the lone school in this group to go on and post a triumph in the NCAA Division I playoffs. Thus, anyone making mistaken assumption premier players such as Makur Maker (Howard University) picking a HBCU to attend, rather than a power-conference member, will become trendy is simple perpetually-perplexed victim of poor public-school education emphasizing ebonics. How did things work out for Maker? Patronizing Plagiarist "you ain't black if you don't vote for me" Biledumb pretends he attended Delaware State, but HBCUs don't have access to $400,000 to consistently reel in regal recruits. There is more of a chance MEAC/SWAC members will depart similar to Hampton and North Carolina A&T for league resembling Big South Conference than HBCU schools reviving their glory years as delusional pipedream depicted on ESPN's Rhoden Road Trip.

With that historical background yielding a mite more perspective than diversity demonstrated by "open-minded" bloc voting for one party more than 90% of the time, let's also proclaim the political acumen part of journalistic jackal Jemelle Hill's brain couldn't fill an identity-politics thimble worthy of toppling any riot-worthy statue. The savvy shortfall is akin to another Michigan misfit, Odd Squad Congresswoman Tlaib, and fellow ultra-liberal Dimorats #MadMaxine, Sheila #Jackass-Lee and Ayanna "Don't Need Black Faces That Don't Want to Be Black Voice" Pressley. Exhibit A for jaded viewpoint of Hill, the sports world's progressive press puke playpen equivalent of NPR freedom-of-the-press hypocrite April Ryan, is her genius admonition imploring African-American "supremacist" athletes to abandon attending PWIs (Predominantly White Institutions) for HBCUs. Does Hill really believe hoopdom can go back to her "good old days" when a total of 23 products from HBCU schools presently at the NCAA Division I level were among top 22 NBA draft choices in 20-year span from 1957 through 1976. Such a ploy doesn't quite seem to be a sweet "art of the deal" insofar as Norfolk State's Kyle O'Quinn (2012) is the only HBCU product chosen in last 15 NBA drafts and no HBCU school over four decades has reached a Sweet 16 in the NCAA DI Tournament while winning an anemic 10% of their postseason games.

What do you have to lose accepting Hill's repulsive racial profiling resembling throwing buckets of water on policemen? Can you say dignity? Her HBCU thesis is an affront to the many courageous hoopers who broke the color barrier 50 and 60 years ago. By wandering off progressive plantation, they are looked upon by her ilk similar to life in womb in NYC, where thousands more black babies are aborted than born alive each year (a/k/a black genocide advocated by Planned Murderhood founder Margaret Sanger). In a nutshell, Hill is a do-as-I-provocatively-say; not-as-I-do-before-lecturing-you huckster. Why didn't ivory-tower social engineer attend TSU or a MEAC/SWAC member rather than a power-conference affiliate (Michigan State) to achieve her personal goals? While perhaps having a valid point if restricted to Trump University (no athletic program), the doltish former ESPN shrew shouldn't get critical welfare after showing how unfit and unqualified she was by failing to unearth the Larry Nassar predator scandal at her alma mater while managing editor at the State News or as a writer for the Detroit Free Press. Perhaps she should have been as aggressive with story as when we witnessed content of her character via fake NASCAR noose for driver Bubba Wallace-Smollett. Assessing the mental gymnastics exhibited by Hill and her equally-inept colleagues, the derelicts in duty need to don some enabler shame stemming from incompetence virtually allowing Nassar's sexual-abuse atrocities before, after and during six years she covered MSU. Prior to abusing our sensibilities about what an athlete is worth to a university, failed-at-my-job Hill should pay reparations by purchasing and reading abuse survivor gymnast Rachael Denhollander's memoir What is a Girl Worth? Unless, of course, her life didn't matter; let alone numerous other female gymnasts due to color of their skin. Blame game can go both ways.

Value wasn't much when all but two of the 25 HBCUs had at least one season with 20 defeats in a six-year span from 2003-04 through 2008-09 while Hill toiled for the Free Press and Orlando Sentinel prior to securing spot for her political pap at the Extra Sensitive Pious Network (ESPN). The pair of HBCU institutions emerging unscathed during that stretch were Hampton (worst record was 13-17 in 2003-04) and Norfolk State (11-19 in 2006-07). But in an attempt by someone who actually met the real G-Man "White Tiger" firsthand (not actor Bruce Jenner who played QB role in movie) to avoid being levied a $4.5 million fine by the U.S. Department of Education for withholding handout to lame-stream #MessMedia maven "needing a history lesson," following are additional relevant HBCU basketball historical nuggets for Hubris Hill to utilize in any way the genuine racist and bigot sees fit. Perhaps she and chest-pounding #Dimorat operative #DonnaBrazilla will pass this inside Basketball Jones intel on to certain "Dem(wit)" presidential candidates for an edge in any debate. At a bare minimum, maybe know-it-all Hill can help #Brazilla secure direct access for the FBI to investigate hacked DNC computer server while incessantly spewing how racist you and sports are at her dud gig (massive failure CNNminus). At least plus-sized Brazille, Hill and fellow purveyor of ill will Symone Sanders can fit in picture of wide-screen TV these days along with fellow #Dimorat divas Cori Bush, Letitia James and Fani Willis.

A computer database isn't necessary to know there has been only two HBCU regulars on NBA rosters the last half of past decade (O'Quinn and Tennessee State undrafted free agent Robert Covington). O'Quinn is one of only three HBCU products (all second-rounders) picked in an NBA draft over the past 23 years (a/k/a length of time since Not Worth a Hill of Beans graduated from college). That's a stark contrast to average of three HBCU draftees annually selected in first two rounds in five-year span from 1974 through 1978 after a total of 10 different HBCU schools produced players among the top 69 picks in 1969. The next season (1969-70), Southern schools Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina crossed the color barrier by featuring an African-American on their freshman basketball squad for the first time. As a further means of comparison, 17 straight NBA drafts from 1969 through 1985 had an HBCU product selected in first two rounds (total of 37 such players) despite the league not having more than 18 franchises until absorbing four ABA teams in 1976.

We presume Hill is referring to a HBCU school such as Grambling, which never has appeared in the NCAA DI playoffs. Success wasn't so difficult to find for the Tigers at the small-college level where they belong in order to thrive again. Beginning with third-rounder Charles Hardnett in 1962, they supplied one of the top 21 NBA draft choices four consecutive years through 1965. The majority of them didn't perform at the NCAA DI level, but following at the top of the hill is a ranking of the all-time top 25 HBCU players (a dozen from Grambling if include alphabetical list of honorable mention selections acknowledged below):

Rank HBCU Player Pos. HBCU School
1. Earl "The Pearl" Monroe G Winston-Salem State (N.C.) 64-67
2. Willis Reed C Grambling (La.) 61-64
3. Elmore Smith C Kentucky State 69-71
4. Dick Barnett G Tennessee A&I 56-59
5. Travis "Machine Gun" Grant F Kentucky State 69-72
6. Zelmo Beaty C Prairie View A&M (Tex.) 59-62
7. Marvin "The Human Eraser" Webster C Morgan State (Md.) 72-75
8. Sam Jones G North Carolina Central 52-57 (missed two seasons serving in military)
9. Lindsey Hunter G Alcorn State (Miss.)/Jackson State (Miss.) 89-93
10. Purvis Short F Jackson State (Miss.) 75-78
11. Cleo Hill G Winston-Salem State (N.C.) 58-61
12. Bob "Butterbean" Love F Southern (La.) 62-65
13. Bob Dandridge F Norfolk State (Va.) 66-69
14. Leonard "Truck" Robinson F Tennessee State 71-74
15. Anthony Mason F Tennessee State 85-88
16. Larry Smith F Alcorn State (Miss.) 77-80
17. Ben Wallace F Virginia Union 95-96
18. Marques Haynes G Langston (Okla.) 43-46
19. Charles Oakley F Virginia Union 82-85
20. Larry Wright G Grambling (La.) 74-76
21. Rick Mahorn F-C Hampton Institute (Va.) 77-80
22. Woodrow "Woody" Sauldsberry F Texas Southern 54-55
23. Ted "Hound" McClain G Tennessee State 68-71
24. James Jones G Grambling (La.) 64-67
25. Bob Hopkins F Grambling (La.) 53-56

Honorable Mention
Johnnie Allen, Bethune-Cookman (Fla.)
Al Attles, North Carolina A&T
Ken Bannister, St. Augustine's (N.C.)
John Barnhill, Tennessee A&I
Billy Ray Bates, Kentucky State
Joe Binion, North Carolina A&T
Hal Blevins, Arkansas AM&N
Tom Boswell, South Carolina State*
Alonzo Bradley, Texas Southern
Frank Card, South Carolina State
John Chaney, Bethune-Cookman (Fla.)
Bob Christian, Grambling (La.)
Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton, Xavier (La.)
Emanual Davis, Delaware State
Mike Davis, Virginia Union
Monti Davis, Tennessee State
Terry Davis, Virginia Union
Warren Davis, North Carolina A&T
Charles Edge, LeMoyne-Owen (Tenn.)
A.J. English, Virginia Union
Alphonso Ford, Mississippi Valley State
Jake Ford, Maryland State
Wilbert Frazier, Grambling (La.)
Mike Gale, Elizabeth City State (N.C.)
Earl Glass, Mississippi Industrial College
Charles Hardnett, Grambling (La.)
Fred Hilton, Grambling (La.)
Harold Hunter, North Carolina College
Lewis Jackson, Alabama State
Aaron James, Grambling (La.)
Jerome James, Florida A&M
Ben Jobe, Fisk (Tenn.)
Avery Johnson, Southern (La.)
Clemon Johnson, Florida A&M
Ed Johnson, Tennessee A&I
George T. Johnson, Dillard (La.)
Rich Johnson, Grambling (La.)
Caldwell Jones, Albany State (Ga.)
Charles Jones, Albany State (Ga.)
Earl Jones, District of Columbia
Major Jones, Albany State (Ga.)
Wil Jones, Albany State (Ga.)
Arvesta Kelly, Lincoln (Mo.)
Harry "Machine Gun" Kelly, Texas Southern
Julius Keye, South Carolina State/Alcorn A&M (Miss.)
Richard "Pee Wee" Kirkland, Norfolk State (Va.)
Bobby Lewis, South Carolina State
Earl Lloyd, West Virginia State
Johnny Lloyd, Southern (La.)
Kevin Loder, Kentucky State/Alabama State
Ed Manning, Jackson State (Miss.)
Bob McCoy, Grambling (La.)
Maurice McHartley, North Carolina A&T
Porter Merriweather, Tennessee A&I
Tony Murphy, Southern (La.)
Ronald "Flip" Murray, Shaw (N.C.)
Lloyd Neal, Tennessee State
Audie Norris, Jackson State (Miss.)
Sylvester Norris, Jackson State (Miss.)
Willie Norwood, Alcorn A&M
Kyle O'Quinn, Norfolk State
Joe Pace, Maryland-Eastern Shore/Coppin State (Md.)
Bobby Phills, Southern (La.)
Timothy Pollard, Mississippi Valley State
Willie Porter, Tennessee A&I
Marlbert "Spider" Pradd, Dillard (La.)
Carlos Rogers, Tennessee State
Steve Rogers, Alabama State
Frankie Sanders, Southern (La.)
Bruce Seals, Xavier (La.)
Willie Shaw, Lane (Tenn.)
Eugene Short, Jackson State (Miss.)
Tal Skinner, Maryland-Eastern Shore
Larry Spriggs, Howard University (D.C.)
Larry Stewart, Coppin State (Md.)
Bennie Swain, Texas Southern
Carlos Terry, Winston-Salem State (N.C.)
Willis Thomas, Tennessee A&I
Henry Ward, Jackson State (Miss.)
Ben Warley, Tennessee A&I
Cornell Warner, Jackson State (Miss.)
Thomas "Trooper" Washington, Cheyney State (Pa.)
Donald "Slick" Watts, Xavier (La.)
Hershell West, Grambling (La.)
Earl Williams, Winston-Salem State (N.C.)
Kenny Williams, Elizabeth City State (N.C.)
Milt Williams, Lincoln (Mo.)
*Transferred with coach Ben Jobe to South Carolina and played for the Gamecocks in 1974-75 before becoming a first-round NBA draft choice as an undergraduate.

Perhaps Hill's bruised ego can (first) take time away from petty feud with former ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith, who played sparingly (if at all) for Winston-Salem State in the late 1980s and early 1990s under legendary coach Clarence "Bighouse" Gaines reportedly because of a knee ailment. Of course, that's unless former ESPN colleague Jason Whitlock has unearthed definitive end-of-bench facts in another Screamin' A. Stiff disagreement stemming from his self-absorbed memoir. At any rate, Smith graduated college in 1991 and played more as if "Screamin' Like Schoolgirl" than next "Earl the Pearl." Quite Frankly, he was not a "Straight Shooter" if the 6-2 Steve Smith listed in 1990-91 WSSU stats for 10-14 Rams team and him are one in the same individual (made anemic 5-of-25 attempts from floor in 10 games with 22 of the shots coming from three-point range). He may have missed 17 in a row.

For what it's black-privilege worth to anyone as conceited as Smith and Hill, following is an assortment of additional trivia tidbits if grievance-industry hucksters are interested in becoming an authentic HBCU expert rather than mob-rule associate:

  • Football coaching legend Eddie Robinson won more than 70% of his games as Grambling's basketball bench boss from 1942-56.

  • North Carolina College's Rocky Roberson scored 58 points in a game against Shaw (N.C.) during the 1942-43 season for what was believed to be a college record at the time.

  • CIAA champion West Virginia State was the nation's only undefeated college team in 1947-48, finishing with a 23-0 record. The squad, coached by Mark Cardwell, included future NBA players Bob Wilson and Earl Lloyd.

  • Tennessee A&I, coached by Henry A. Kean, was the nation's only undefeated team in 1948-49 with a 24-0 record. The Tigers' leading scorers, Clarence Wilson and Joshua Grider, were both eventually longtime standouts with the Harlem Globetrotters.

  • Florida A&M won the 1952 SIAC Tournament final against host Alabama State, 71-67, despite having just four players on the court the final 13-plus minutes (including two overtimes) because of players fouling out.

  • The first predominantly black college to take the floor in an integrated national collegiate tournament was Tennessee State (then Tennessee A&I) in 1953. Hall of Famer John McLendon coached Tennessee State to three consecutive national titles (1957-59). Oddly, the '53 Tennessee State team defeated McLendon-coached North Carolina College for the opportunity to go to Kansas City. Seven years earlier, McLendon led North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central) to a 64-56 triple-overtime victory over Virginia Union in the final of the first Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament. The CIAA Tournament blossomed into one of the premier postseason events in the country, including major-college tourneys.

  • The governor of Louisiana threatened McNeese State to pull out of 1956 NAIA Tournament if HBCU institutions were allowed to participate. The Cowboys ultimately defied the governor's wishes and defeated HBCU powerhouse Texas Southern in national final.

  • Western Illinois missed an opportunity to become the nation's only undefeated college team in 1957-58 when it lost to Tennessee State, 85-73, in the NAIA Tournament championship game. Western had defeated Tennessee State, 79-76, earlier in the season. It was one of three consecutive NAIA titles won by Tennessee State, which boasted future pros Dick Barnett, John Barnhill and Ben Warley.

  • In 1959, North Carolina A&T became the first predominantly black institution to participate in NCAA Division II national playoff competition. The Aggies finished third in the tourney.

  • The 1961-62 All-SWAC first-team selections included three frontcourters who later played at least 10 seasons in the pros - Prairie View's Zelmo Beaty, Southern's Bob Love and Grambling's Willis Reed. Grambling finished in the top 10 of the first 76 weeks of College Division/Division II polls from January 5, 1961 through the end of the 1966-67 campaign. The Tigers, coached by Fred Hobdy, placed in the top five 40 consecutive weeks from March 2, 1961, through January 28, 1965. Grambling supplied seven top 20 NBA draft choices in a 20-year span from 1957 through 1976 before moving up to the NCAA Division I level - Bob McCoy (10th in 1957), Hershell West (16th in 1963), Reed (10th in 1964), Wilbert Frazier (12th in 1965), Jimmy Jones (13th in 1967), Fred Hilton (19th in 1971) and Larry Wright (14th in 1976).

  • North Carolina A&T's Hugh Evans, a 12th-round draft choice by the St. Louis Hawks in 1963, went on to become a long-time NBA referee. Evans, a high school teammate in New York with Connie Hawkins and a college teammate of Al Attles, hit .288 as an INF-C in the San Francisco Giants' farm system in 1963.

  • Longtime Harlem Globetrotter Fred "Curly" Neal was an All-CIAA selection for Johnson C. Smith (N.C.) in 1962-63.

  • The first family of small-college basketball, if not all of hoopdom, could be the six brothers Jones from McGehee, Ark., all 6-8 or taller, who became the top six rebounders in Albany (Ga.) State history during the 1960s and 1970s. Oliver and Melvin were borderline pro prospects before Wil (nine), Caldwell (17), Major (six) and Charles (15) each played a minimum of six ABA/NBA seasons. Major Jones, 6-9, led NCAA Division II rebounders in 1974-75 with an average of 22.5 per game. He is the last Division I or Division II player to average at least 20 per game.

  • Elmore Smith, a 7-0 center for 1970 NAIA champion Kentucky State, was called for goal tending 12 times in a 116-98 defeat against Eastern Michigan. Smith went on to lead the NBA in blocked shots in 1973-74 (4.85 per game) while Caldwell Jones paced the ABA in rejections the same season (4 per game) in the first of back-to-back years atop defunct league in that category.

  • Louisiana College is the first predominantly white school to play a home-and-home season series against a HBCU (Grambling in 1971-72 when Aaron James was the Tigers' prize player before becoming first-ever draft selection of New Orleans Jazz in 1974). Center Clarence Hall, who broke the color barrier for LC, was the first African-American hooper for a predominantly white institution to compete at Grambling.

  • In 1970, with an enrollment under 650 students, three Maryland State College players from a 29-2 team were selected in the NBA draft - Jake Ford (2nd round), Levi Fontaine (5th) and James "Bones" Morgan (7th). Four years later, the school (now known as Maryland-Eastern Shore) featured three more players chosen from a 27-2 squad - Rubin Collins (2nd), Talvin Skinner (3rd) and William "Billy" Gordon (4th).

  • Tennessee State edged Oglethorpe (Ga.), 7-4, on February 16, 1971, in what is believed to be the lowest-scoring college game since the center jump was eliminated prior to the 1937-38 season. Tennessee State had overwhelmed Oglethorpe, 82-43, earlier in the season.

  • Less than seven hours after returning to campus following a quarterfinal defeat against eventual 1971 NAIA champion Kentucky State, Grambling's Charlie Anderson died as a result of injuries suffered in a hit-and-run auto accident. Anderson, who averaged 18.3 ppg and 17.8 rpg, provided the game-winning basket in the Tigers' overtime win against Glassboro State (N.J.) in second round.

  • Kentucky State's Travis "Machine Gun" Grant set the single-game NAIA Tournament scoring record with 60 points against Minot State in 1972. Grant finished his four-year college career with 4,045 points and a 33.4-point average.

  • Mississippi high school products Donald "Slick" Watts (Xavier LA) and George T. Johnson (Dillard LA) attended small HBCU colleges based in New Orleans in the early 1970s. Watts, known for wearing a headband off-center on his bald head, went on to lead the NBA in assists and steals in 1975-76 while Johnson paced the league in blocked shots three seasons in a five-year span (1978-81-82).

  • Dave Robbins, who is white, became coach at Virginia Union in 1978-79 in the predominantly black CIAA. Robbins went on to win more CIAA Tournaments than any coach in league history. VUU finished in the Top 10 of final national rankings nine consecutive seasons from 1987-88 through 1995-96 and 12 of 13 beginning in 1983-84.

  • Alcorn State, competing in the Braves' second season at NCAA Division I level in 1978-79, went unbeaten during the regular season. They won at Mississippi State, 80-78, in first round of NIT before bowing at Indiana, 73-69, in second round. Bob Knight-coached IU went on to capture the championship.

  • North Carolina A&T guard James "J.J." Miller is the only HBCU player to score the most points in a single game against the eventual NCAA DI kingpin that season (34 at Duke in 2000-01).

  • Texas Southern's Aaric Murray is the only HBCU player to crack the 30-point plateau in an NCAA Division I playoff game (38 against Cal Poly in 2014 First Four). Murray is one of 10 different HBCU players to score more than 25 points in a single NCAA DI Tournament contest after Prairie View's Gary Blackston tallied 26 in 2019 First Four. Texas Southern transfer Zach Lofton set New Mexico State's existing NCAA playoff single-game scoring record with 29 against Clemson in 2018 first round.

  • Numerous HBCU hoopers were so versatile they eventually excelled professionally in other major sports. Earning acclaim as MLB All-Stars were George Altman (Tennessee State), Al Bumbry (Virginia State), Larry Doby (Virginia Union), Chuck Hinton (Shaw NC) and Monte Irvin (Lincoln PA). Ex-hoopers among NFL/AFL Pro Bowl selections included Buck Buchanan (Grambling), Harold Carmichael (Southern LA), Ben Coates (Livingstone NC), Len Ford (Morgan State), Ed "Too Tall" Jones (Tennessee State), Jacoby Jones (Lane TN), Cy McClairen (Bethune-Cookman FL), Zeke Moore (Lincoln MO), Art Shell (Maryland-Eastern Shore), Otis Taylor (Prairie View A&M) and Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State GA). Ex-hoopers joining many of these Pro Bowlers in participating in the Super Bowl were Gerald Perry (Southern LA) and Charles Philyaw (Texas Southern).

  • Former ABA/NBA players who went on to coach HBCUs at the NCAA Division I level include Butch Beard (Howard University/Morgan State), Juan Dixon (Coppin State), Jerry Eaves (North Carolina A&T), Tommy Green (Southern LA), Bob Hopkins (Southern LA/Grambling/Maryland-Eastern Shore), Lindsey Hunter (Mississippi Valley State), Aaron James (Grambling), Clemon Johnson (Florida A&M), Gene Littles (North Carolina A&T), Larry Smith (Alcorn State), Mo Williams (Alabama State) and Larry Wright (Grambling).

  • Former HBCU hoopers going on to make a name for themselves in film entertainment industry included Southern's Ray Ray Chase (Good Girls/Bad Comic/Murder in the Thirst), Alcorn State's Michael Clarke Duncan (Armageddon/Breakfast of Champions/The Whole Nine Yards/Sin City/The Green Mile/Planet of the Apes/The Scorpion King/Daredevil) and Timon Kyle Durrett (Queen Sugar) plus Norfolk State's Keedar Whittle (Hell Date/Inglorious Kill Dogs/Future Man/Life After Beth/The Walking Dead/One Tree Hill).

Hill's hackneyed handiwork isn't exactly a novel concept. Doubt she realizes "trend," but the following alphabetical list of HBCU players didn't need her "tunnel-vision" encouragement to shift from a power-conference member:

Transfer Pos. Power-League Member HBCU Destination
Jonathan Aku F-C Texas A&M 20-21 Grambling 23-24
Galen Alexander F Louisiana State 18/Georgetown 20 Texas Southern 21
Andre Allen F Arizona State 20 Southern 21
Yuat Alok C-F Texas Christian 19 Coppin State 21
Richard Anderson G Oklahoma 17 Florida A&M 19
Ebuka Anyaorah G Georgia 10 North Carolina Central 12-14
Wayne Arnold G Georgia 03 Tennessee State 05-06
A.J. Astroth F-G Vanderbilt 13 Hampton 17-18
Kent Auslander G Maryland 16 Coppin State 18-19
Herb Baker C Baylor 92 Texas Southern 94
D'Ante Bass F Georgetown 23 Alabama State 24
David Beatty G South Carolina 18 North Carolina A&T 22
Fred Benjamin C Vanderbilt 88-91 Norfolk State 92
Deverell Biggs G Nebraska 14 Texas Southern 15
Karl Binns C Georgia Tech 72 Morris Brown GA
Carl Blair G Oklahoma 11-12 Prairie View 13
Brandon Bolden C-F Georgetown 13/Kansas State 15 Southern 17
Dustin Braddick F Clemson 99-01 South Carolina State 03
Christian Brown F Georgia 20-21 Tennessee State 22-24
Jimmy Brown G Southern California 81 North Carolina A&T 83-85
Jon Brown F Georgia Tech 18 Tennessee State 20-21/Bethune-Cookman 22
Derrick Bruce G Oregon State 16 Texas Southern 18-19
Stanley Caldwell F-C Tennessee 93-95 Tennessee State 96
Arthur Carlisle F South Carolina 96-97 South Carolina State 99-00
Grayson Carter F Georgetown 19 Texas Southern 23
Jason Carter F Alabama 11 Texas Southern 15
Kevin Chamberlain F Maryland 90-91 North Carolina A&T 93
Darryl Cheeley G Wake Forest 89 North Carolina A&T 92-93
Quinton Chievous G Tennessee 13-14 Hampton 15-16
Austin Colbert F Illinois 14-15 Hampton 18-19
Adrien Coleman G Nebraska 10 Bethune-Cookman 12-13
Jeremy Combs F Louisiana State 18 Texas Southern 19
Gregory Davis F Syracuse 01 North Carolina A&T 04-05
Keith Davis F-C Texas A&M 11-13 Southern 15
Denim Dawson G Nebraska 23 Tennessee State 24
Dajour Dickens C Providence 18 Hampton 21-22
Hayes Dickens G Florida 81 Tennessee State 83
Aric Dickerson G West Virginia 13 Delaware State 15-16
Cassin Diggs C Pittsburgh 08 Bowie State MD
Marcus Dockery G Maryland 21-22 Howard University 23-24
Kris Douse F Nebraska 07 Delaware State 08-10
Emmanuel Dowuona C Purdue 20 Tennessee State 22-24
Nojel Eastern G-F Purdue 18-20 Howard University 21
Moses Edun F Auburn 04-06 Alabama State 07
Eden Ewing F Purdue 18 Texas Southern 19-20
Ed Farmer F Maryland 83 University of District of Columbia 85
Cedric Fears F Houston 03 Texas Southern 05
Jamal Ferguson G Marquette 13 North Carolina Central 15-16
Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey G Mississippi 16-17 Tennessee State 19
Rod Flowers C Cincinnati 01-03 Tennessee State 05
Kevin Galloway F Southern California 07/Kentucky 09 Texas Southern 11
Vincent Garlick G Penn State 83-84 Delaware State 86-87
Chucky Gilmore F Clemson 99-00 South Carolina State 03
John Gilmore C Oklahoma State 99 Tennessee State 01
Derrick "Big Daddy" Glanton F Kansas 73 Bishop College TX
Calvin Godfrey F Iowa State 11 Southern 14
Carte'are Gordon C DePaul 20 Grambling 21
Ty Graves G Boston College 17 North Carolina Central 20
Jimmy Gray G Vanderbilt 80-81 Tennessee State 83
Zion Griffin F Iowa State 19-20 Tennessee State 23
Blake Harris G Missouri 18/North Carolina State 19 North Carolina A&T 21
Wesley Harris F West Virginia 18-19 Tennessee State 20
Marvin Haynes G-F Florida State 80 South Carolina State 82-84
Harrison Henderson C Southern California 17-18 Southern 21
Darius Hicks F North Carolina State 17-18 Jackson State 21
Willie High G Louisiana State 76 Alabama State 77
Elijah Holifield G St. John's 16-17 Prairie View 19
Joell Hopkins F Florida State 14 Southern 15
Demetrius Houston F Mississippi State 15-16 Alabama State 17-18
Jerrell Houston F Mississippi State 06 Tennessee State 07-09
LaSean Howard F-G Syracuse 97-98 Hampton 00-01
Jimmy Hudson F Clemson 04-05 Bethune-Cookman 07-08
Ron Jackson F Wisconsin 61-62 Clark GA 65-66
Wesley Jones F Mississippi 08 Alabama State 09
Marquise Kately F California 04-05 Morgan State 08-09
Zach Kent F-C Tennessee 18-20 Delaware State 21-22
Eric King F St. John's 02-03 Tennessee State 05
Ben Kone F Oregon State 17-18 Tennessee State 20
Justin Leemow G South Florida 10 North Carolina Central 11-12
Troy Lewis G Baylor 94-95 Coppin State 97-98
Wendell Lewis C Mississippi State 10-13 Alabama State 15
Gerald Liddell F Texas 19-21 Alabama State 22
Zach Lofton G Minnesota 15 Texas Southern 17
Samarr Logan F Miami (Fla.) 90-92 Bethune-Cookman 94
Cam Mack G Nebraska 20 Prairie View A&M 21
Moses Malone Jr. G Texas Tech 00 South Carolina State 02-03
Leonel Marquetti F Southern California 79-80 Hampton 81
Jerron Martin G Mississippi 14 Texas Southern 16-17
Dundrecous Massey G Mississippi 11-12 Jackson State 13
Aaron Matthews F Villanova 00-01 Delaware State 03-04
Josh "Cookie" Miller G Nebraska 08-09 West Virginia State 10
Mike Milligan G-F Florida 79-81 Tennessee State 83
Kris Monroe F Providence 19-21 North Carolina Central 22
Bill Moody G Florida 73 Dillard LA
Brandon Moore C Arkansas 09 Southern 13
Christian Morris C Rutgers 09 Norfolk State 10
Victor Morris F Georgetown 83-86 Alcorn State 87
Bawa Muniru C Indiana 10 Tennessee State 12
Aaric Murray C West Virginia 13 Texas Southern 14
Leon Murray F Pittsburgh 97 Tennessee State 99
Zach Naylor F Mississippi 19 Texas Southern 21
Julysses Nobles G Arkansas 10-12 Jackson State 14
Dan Oladapo F Pittsburgh 22 North Carolina Central 23
Shawn Olden G Texas Christian 18 Texas Southern 19
Jordan Omogbehin C South Florida 13 Morgan State 15
Derrick Patterson F-G Georgetown 92-93 South Carolina State 95-96
James Ratiff F Tennessee 78 Howard University 80-82
Trayvon Reed C Auburn 15 Texas Southern 18-19
Quincy Roberts G-F St. John's 09-11 Grambling 12
Eric Sanders F Virginia Tech 87-89 South Carolina State 91
Maurice Searight G Michigan 01 Grambling 04-05
Sam Sibert F Texas Tech 71 Kentucky State 72
Al Smith G-F Florida State 73 Jackson State 75-77
Harrison Smith G Texas 07-09 Texas Southern 11
Shaun Smith G Mississippi State 11-12 Alcorn State 14
Chris Sodom C Georgetown 18 Delaware State 20
Howard Spencer F Auburn 84-85 Howard University 87-88
Elijah Staley F-G Mississippi State 16 Morgan State 18
Dimingus Stevens G Seton Hall 21 Florida A&M 22
Dominique Sutton F Kansas State 08-10 North Carolina Central 12
A.J. Taylor F North Carolina State 20 Grambling State 22
Vandale Thomas F Mississippi State 93-95 Southern 96-97
Malachi Thurston G Southern California 00 Prairie View 03
Seth Towns F Ohio State 21 Howard University 24
Malique Trent G Texas Christian 16-17 Hampton 18
Jethro Tshisumpa F-C Arizona State 17 Texas Southern 20
Larry Turner C Oklahoma 03-05 Tennessee State 06-07
Keith Valentine G North Carolina 76 Virginia Union 78-80
John Walker III F Texas A&M 19 Texas Southern 20-23
Steve Walston C Arizona State 96 Tennessee State 97
Michael Weathers G Oklahoma State 19 Texas Southern 21
Vincent Whitt G Clemson 97-99 South Carolina State 01
Brian Williams G Oregon 95-96 Tennessee State 98-99
Ray Willis G Oklahoma 09-10 North Carolina Central 12-13
Mohamed Woni F-C Clemson 97-99 Hampton 00
Seventh Woods G North Carolina 17-19/South Carolina 21 Morgan State 22
Terrence Woods G Tennessee 00-01 Florida A&M 03-04

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling February 3 NFL Super Bowls

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on February 3 in postseason competition (especially in Super Bowl XLII following 2007 season):

FEBRUARY 3

  • New York Giants rookie TE Kevin Boss (averaged 3 ppg and 2.7 rpg while shooting 51.9% from floor for Western Oregon in 2004-05 and 2005-06) caught a game-long 45-yard pass from Eli Manning to fuel fourth-quarter touchdown drive in 17-14 win against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII following 2007 season. Giants CB R.W. McQuarters (averaged 2.1 ppg for Oklahoma State in 1995-96 and 1996-97 under coach Eddie Sutton) returned three punts for 25 yards. The Patriots incurred their first defeat of campaign despite SS Rodney Harrison (averaged 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3 apg and 1.6 spg for Western Illinois in 1992-93) providing 11 solo tackles and LB Adalius Thomas (averaged 2.9 ppg and 1.9 rpg for Southern Mississippi in 1996-97 and 1997-98) supplying two sacks and five solo tackles.

  • Baltimore Ravens WR Jacoby Jones (part-time starter averaged 3.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg for Lane TN in 2004-05 and 2005-06) caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco and opened second half with 108-yard kickoff return for TD in 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII following 2012 season.

  • St. Louis Rams rookie LB Tommy Polley (played in one basketball game for Florida State in 1996-97 under coach Pat Kennedy) provided team-high seven solo tackles in a 20-17 setback against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI following 2001 campaign. Rams MLB London Fletcher (averaged 3 ppg for St. Francis PA as freshman in 1993-94 before transferring home to Cleveland at John Carroll OH) chipped in with a pair of solo tackles.

Pioneers: Hoopers Breaking Color Barrier at Predominantly White Schools

Particularly during Black History Month, every sports fan accepts the cultural significance of Jackie Robinson. But in the aftermath of a series of anniversary celebrations regarding Robinson beginning his major league baseball career, it is easy to forget there was a time when the now 80%-plus black National Basketball Association was 100% white. It's also easy to forget that Robinson was instrumental in college basketball's "civil rights" movement.

Before Robinson arrived on the scene in the National League, however, there was Columbia's George Gregory, who became the first African-American to gain college All-American honors in 1930-31. In an era of low scoring, he was the team's second-leading scorer with a 9.2-point average. But he was proudest of his defense, and a statistic that is no longer kept: "goals against." In 10 games, Gregory held rival centers to only eight baskets. "That's less than one goal a game," he told the New York Times. "I think they should have kept that statistical category. Nowadays, one guy scores 40 points but his man scores 45. So what good is it?

"It's funny, but even though I was the only black playing for Columbia, and there was only one other black playing in the Ivy League - Baskerville of Harvard - I really didn't encounter too much trouble from opponents. Oh, I got into a couple of fights. And one time a guy called me 'Nigger,' and a white teammate said, 'Next time, you hit him high and I'll hit him low.' And we did, and my teammate, a Polish guy named Remy Tys, said to that other player, 'That's how we take care of nigger callers.'"

But Gregory said the worst racial incident he encountered was at his own school. "After our last game in my junior year, the team voted me captain for the next season. Well, there was a hell of a battle when this came out. Columbia didn't want a black captain, or a Jewish captain, either, I learned. The dean was against it, and the athletic director was against it, and even the coach was against it.

"The coach told me, 'Get yourself together, Gregory, or I'll take your scholarship away.' They were worried that if we played a school in the South and met the other captain before the game, the guy would refuse to come out and it would embarrass the school. But the campus was split 50-50 on whether to have a black captain for its basketball team.

"The fight went on for three or four weeks. The school insisted that the team vote again. We did, and I won again. One of my teammates said, `You forced the school to enter the 20th Century.'"

Harrison "Honey" Fitch, Connecticut's first black player, was center stage during a racial incident delaying a game at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for several hours in late January 1934. Coast Guard officials entered a protest against Fitch, arguing that because half of the Academy's student body was from southern states, they had a tradition "that no Negro players be permitted to engage in contests at the Academy." Eventually, UConn's coach kept Fitch on the bench the entire contest and never explained why.

The first black to appear in the NBA didn't occur until a couple of decades after Gregory graduated and Fitch transferred to American International. UCLA's first basketball All-American Don Barksdale, one of first seven African-Americans to play in NBA, was the first black U.S. Olympic basketball player (1948) as well as the first black to play in an NBA All-Star Game (as a rookie in 1952).

Inspired by the black labor movement in the 1930s, Barksdale said, "I made up my mind that if I wanted to do something, I was going to try to do it all the way, no matter the obstacles."

As a 28-year-old rookie with the Baltimore Bullets, he was paid $20,850 (one of the NBA's top salaries) to play and host a postgame radio show, but that notoriety also put extra pressure on him. Forced to play excessive minutes during the preseason, he sustained ankle injuries that plagued him the remainder of his four-year NBA career (11 ppg and 8 rpg).

Why play so many minutes? "It's Baltimore, which is considered the South," said Barksdale, who wound up back in the Bay Area as a well-known jazz disc jockey. "So the South finally signed a black man, and he's going to play whether he could walk or crawl."

Chuck Cooper, who attended Duquesne on the GI Bill after originally enrolling at West Virginia State College, was the first black player drafted by an NBA franchise. "I don't give a damn if he's striped or plaid or polka-dot," were the history-making words of Boston Celtics Owner Walter Brown when he selected Cooper, who averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in six pro seasons. In Cooper's freshman campaign, Duquesne was awarded a forfeit after refusing to yield to Tennessee's refusal to compete against the Dukes if Cooper participated in a game just before Christmas.

In the 1955-56 season, the Hazleton (Pa.) Hawks of the Eastern League became the first professional league franchise to boast an all-black starting lineup - Jesse Arnelle, Tom Hemans, Fletcher Johnson, Floyd Lane and Sherman White. Arnelle (Penn State) and White (Long Island) were former major-college All-Americans.

As for the multi-talented Robinson, UCLA's initial all-conference basketball player in the 1940s was a forward who compiled the highest scoring average in the Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with the Bruins (12.3 points per league game in 1939-40 and 11.1 ppg in 1940-41) after transferring from Pasadena (Calif.) City College. Continuing his scoring exploits, the six-time National League All-Star was the leading scorer for the Los Angeles Red Devils' barnstorming team in 1946-47.

Seven-time All-Star outfielder Larry Doby, the first black in the American League, was also a college basketball player who helped pave the way for minorities. He competed on the hardwood for Virginia Union during World War II after originally committing to LIU. The four-month lead Robinson had in integrating the majors cast a huge shadow over Doby, who was the first black to lead his league in homers (32 in 1952), first to hit a World Series homer and first to win a World Series title.

There are ramifications when assessing the issue of race and it would be nice if we were all color blind. Nonetheless, it's impossible to properly evaluate the history of college basketball without broaching the sensitive topic.

Julian Abele, a 1902 Penn graduate considered the first major African-American architect in the U.S., designed Duke's famous Cameron Indoor Stadium, which hosted all-white teams and games for decades after opening in 1939. Nonetheless, Cameron's doors were closed to minority players for an extended period as Duke's roster didn't include a black athlete at the varsity level until C.B. Claiborne in 1966-67. The previous year, Maryland's Billy Jones became the first black player in the ACC. The all-white snack bar at the downtown train depot in Durham, N.C., refused to serve the Terrapins' black players following a game at Duke, and the entire squad went hungry.

"You just learn to deal with that stuff," Jones told Barry Jacobs, the author of Across the Line. "It taught me an awful lot in terms of just plain perseverance, just hang tough, do what you have to do to stay focused."

It was difficult for Claiborne to concentrate amid the problems he encountered at school. Some older players harassed him during practice; he wasn't notified of an end-of-the-year athletic awards banquet at the notoriously segregated Hope Valley Country Club; an engineering professor told him it was impossible for him to earn an A in his class. And, perhaps most telling of all: Claiborne spent so much time at nearby North Carolina Central University, a historically black college, that he had his own meal card there.

Two decades before Robinson was UCLA's meal ticket, the first black to play for the Bruins was Ralph Bunche, who earned letters as a guard for three Southern California Conference champions. Legendary Bruins coach John Wooden acknowledged that Bunche, named UCLA's Alumnus of the Year in 1949, was instrumental in helping recruit New York City native Lew Alcindor to his alma mater for multiple national player of the year seasons in the late 1960s.

Bunche became the first black person to win the Nobel Peace Prize (in 1950 for his deft handling of the armistice negotiations as a U.N. envoy leading to the Arab-Israeli truce). In 1945, Bunche said he was "obsessed with a burning desire to excel in everything I undertake," and moved by "a calculated and deliberate interest to prove to (whites) that I am, despite their race, their equal if not their superior in intellect, ability, knowledge, and general savoir-faire."

In the early 1950s, Wayne State (Mich.) became the first non-historically black college to play five African-Americans together at the same time. They defeated major universities such as DePaul, Detroit, Duquesne, Georgetown, Marquette, Memphis State, Niagara, Penn State, St. Francis (Pa.) and St. Mary's (Calif.).

In the mid-1950s, only about 10% of basketball programs for predominantly white institutions recruited black players. "You could count the number of black players on West Coast teams on the fingers of one hand," said Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell, who guided San Francisco (NIT in 1950) and California (NCAA in 1959) to national tournament titles.

In 1954, the year of U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decisions, the pressure escalated for coaches and players alike. No school excelled more than San Francisco, which won 55 consecutive games and back-to-back NCAA titles.

In 1957-58, blacks accounted for five of the six NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans - Seattle's Elgin Baylor, Kansas State's Bob Boozer, Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain, Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson and Temple's Guy Rodgers. All five played at least 11 seasons in the NBA.

USF '55 and fellow kingpin Cincinnati '62 were the first teams to start three and four black players, respectively, in the NCAA Tournament championship game. But Texas Western, now called Texas-El Paso, is credited most for putting the finishing touches on dismantling the prejudiced myth that black athletes couldn't play disciplined basketball by using seven players, all blacks, in winning the 1966 NCAA playoff final against all-white Kentucky.

"Young black players told me that it (the championship) gave them confidence and courage," said Harry Flournoy, a starter for Texas Western. "Some of them, before that game, had been afraid to go to white schools."

In 1956, Texas Western became the first school in the Southern half of the U.S. to integrate its athletic teams. Despite its relative openness, Texas Western did not yet permit blacks to live in campus dorms so the first two African-American basketball players - Air Force veteran Charlie Brown and his nephew, Cecil Brown - lived in a downtown apartment at first after transferring from junior college. George McCarty, the Miners' coach at the time, set aside an empty room in the athletic dormitory for the Browns to dress on game days.

"I wasn't allowed in the movies downtown and things like that, and there were a few minor (racial) incidents with professors," recalled Brown in the book And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. "But there were absolutely no problems with anyone in athletics there. I always said Texas Western was going through integration, I wasn't."

Although UTEP generated much of the integration buzz, Pan American was another school in the state employing numerous black starters while coach Lou Henson broke the color barrier at Hardin-Simmons in his inaugural season as a major-college coach in 1962-63. The next team to win an NCAA major-college title with five black starters was Louisville in 1980. In the first 20 years after the Miners captured their national title, the average number of blacks on college rosters doubled from three to six. About two-thirds of Division I basketball rosters currently are comprised of black players.

In the spring of 1961, Chicago area native Andy Hankins, majoring in medicine, was the first black man to pledge a white Iowa social fraternity before starting swingman was de-pledged six weeks later, apparently under pressure from the fraternity's national organization. Dr. Hankins went on to become a captain in the U.S. Air Force and director of radiology at facility in Detroit.

In 1966-67, Western Kentucky's Clem Haskins, Houston's Elvin Hayes and Louisville's Wes Unseld became the first African-Americans from Southern schools to be named NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans. Haskins, a three-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, and Dwight Smith were WKU's first two black players, sparking the Hilltoppers to a 66-15 record in their three varsity campaigns. "He (Dwight) needed me and I needed him," said Haskins, who is generally considered the first black to earn a league MVP honor while attending a Southern school. "We leaned on each other's shoulders. We had a lot of wars to fight then with the barrier just broken. The people will never know what we went through then. There were many nights where we cried ourselves to sleep."

In early 1966, Hayes and fellow Louisiana product Don Chaney led UH to a victory at Centenary, where the coach (Orvis Sigler) undertook extraordinary measures meeting the mayor and city council to schedule the game. Laws still on the books at the time in Shreveport, La., forbidding whites and blacks from competing against each other had to be rescinded.

A total of 13 of Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith's 22 All-Americans with North Carolina are African-Americans. Wrote Smith in his autobiography A Coach's Life: "To me, the presence of (All-American) Charles Scott on the court for us (from 1967-68 through 1969-70) was nothing to commemorate or remark on. It was simply past due." However, Scott was more fond of Lefty Driesell ("I was a kid who never had anything. He would give me anything I wanted.") and committed to attend Davidson before a racial slur while dining in Charlotte when the eatery owner said to Lefty: "Coach, I'm sorry but my wife and I don't serve n------ on this side of the restaurant."

Bigotry seemed to still persist in 1968-69 when Scott, the first African-American on Carolina's varsity roster, didn't receive his just due by failing to become a consensus All-ACC first-team selection (22.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg and 3.4 apg for regular-season champion). He also lost the conference player of the year vote to South Carolina's white sophomore guard John Roche (23.6 ppg and 2.6 rpg for league runner-up) by a significant margin. Scott, a first-team All-American by the NABC and USBWA, was left off a handful of first-team All-ACC ballots while Roche wasn't named an All-American by the coaches, writers and either of the national wire services. "I thought it was a slap in the face," Scott told Jim Sumner of theACC.com. "It definitely was a motivator for me. It's the only time in the ACC I felt slighted."

In the midst of perhaps Scott's greatest triumph, a 40-point performance (hitting 13-of-14 second-half field-goal attempts) in a come-from-behind victory over Duke in the 1969 ACC Tournament final, he could not escape the loneliness of his pioneer status. "You want to know what I did after I scored the 40 points?" Scott told Jacobs. "I was by myself. Who am I going to go out with? I was by myself after I did that. We had great fun in the locker room. After that, we walked out of the locker room; everybody went one way, and I went another way. I had to celebrate it myself."

Scott's final season with UNC was the last time a simple majority of the NCAA consensus All-American first-team selections were white (LSU's Pete Maravich, Purdue's Rick Mount and Kentucky's Dan Issel). Since Scott graduated, whites have accounted for only 20% of the NCAA consensus All-American first- and second-team selections.

In 1970-71, the first season that Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina featured an African-American on their varsity rosters, every member of the NCAA consensus All-American first team was black. In the next 10 years, Alabama (Leon Douglas), Clemson (Tree Rollins), Georgia (Dominique Wilkins) and Kentucky (Jack Givens) had blacks pass the test and become among their all-time best All-Americans.

Douglas' Bama club, coached by C.M. Newton, fielded the first all-back starting lineup in SEC history (also included Charles Cleveland, T.R. Dunn, Ray Odums and Charles Russell) on December 28, 1973, in a 65-55 win at Louisville. The groundbreaking game occurred just over nine years after the Boston Celtics fielded the NBA's first all-black lineup at St. Louis on December 26, 1964, when Willie Naulls replaced injured Tommy Heinsohn, joining regular starters K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Bill Russell and Tom "Satch" Sanders. The Celtics won 12 games in a row with Naulls starting in place of Heinsohn and featuring an all-white bench.

It should be acknowledged that Alabama beat liberal bastion New England to the milestone at the collegiate level. Connecticut, coached by Dee Rowe, became the first New England major college to field a starting lineup comprised of five African-Americans (game at Rutgers late in 1973-74 campaign).

A majority of ACC recruits were African-American by 1975 but it took until 1983 for an all-black starting five (North Carolina State) to win a conference title.

Amid burning crosses and waving Confederate flags, prejudice probably prevented the ACC and SEC from becoming the nation's premier conferences in the 1960s and first half of the 1970s. Blacklisting almost certainly kept the SWC as a "football-only" league. All-Americans, future NBA standouts, Harlem Globetrotter greats, small-college sensations and prize postseason performers who attended high school in Southern states and might have enrolled at universities in the ACC, SEC or SWC if not for being deemed second-class citizens included:

Alabama - Harold Blevins (attended Arkansas AM&N), Tom Boswell (South Carolina State/South Carolina), Dave Bustion (Denver), Carver Clinton (Penn State), Danny Crenshaw (Alabama State), Jimmy Dew (Alabama State), Claude English (Rhode Island), Artis Gilmore (Jacksonville FL), Travis Grant (Kentucky State), Bill Green (Colorado State), Lamar Green (Morehead State), Elvin Ivory (Southwestern Louisiana), Willie "Hobo" Jackson (Morehead State), Bruce King (Morehead State), Sam McCamey (Oral Roberts), Thales McReynolds (Miles), Cal Ramsey (NYU), Willie Scott (Alabama State), Bud Stallworth (Kansas), Bennie Swain (Texas Southern) and Bob Veale (Benedictine KS).

Arkansas - Herbert "Geese" Ausbie (Philander Smith), Jim Barnes (Texas-El Paso), Frank Burgess (Gonzaga), Larry Ducksworth (Henderson State/Arkansas AM&N), brothers Oliver/Melvin/Wilbert Jones (Albany State GA), Eddie Miles (Seattle), Tom Patterson (Ouachita Baptist), Jackie Ridgle (California), Reece "Goose" Tatum (Harlem Globetrotters) and Jasper Wilson (Southern LA).

Florida - Luke Adams (Lamar), James Mack "Red" Allen (Arkansas AM&N), Johnnie Allen (Bethune-Cookman), Cyril Baptiste (Creighton), Waite Bellamy (Florida A&M), Joe Brunson Jr. (Furman), Pembrook Burrows (Jacksonville), Joe Bynes (Arkansas AM&N), Carl Fuller (Bethune-Cookman), Johnny Jones (Villanova), Greg Lowery (Texas Tech), Sam McCants (Oral Roberts), Stan McKenzie (NYU), Otto Moore (Pan American), Howard Porter (Villanova), Leonard "Truck" Robinson (Tennessee State), Harry Singletary (Florida Presbyterian), Joe Strawder (Bradley), Levern Tart (Bradley), Johnny Thornton (South Carolina State), Walt Wesley (Kansas) and Bob Williams (Florida A&M).

Georgia - Don Adams (Northwestern), Al Beard (Norfolk State), Curtis Bell (Morris Brown), Chuck Benson (Southern Illinois), Mack Daughtry (Albany State), Leonidas Epps III (Clark), Walt Frazier (Southern Illinois), Walt Gilmore (Fort Valley State), James Green (Paine), Charles Hardnett (Grambling LA), Garfield Heard (Oklahoma), Merv Jackson (Utah), Ed Johnson (Tennessee A&I), Julius Keye (South Carolina State/Alcorn A&M), George Knighton (New Mexico State), Lewis "Bubba" Linder (Kentucky State), Lloyd Neal (Tennessee State), Johnny Mathis (Savannah State), Larry "Gator" Rivers (Missouri Western), Elmore Smith (Kentucky State), Pete Smith (Valdosta State), Larry Strozier (Morehouse), Roman "Doc" Turman (Clark), LeRoy Walker (Benedict), Butch Webster (New Orleans), Joby Wright (Indiana) and Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State).

Kentucky - Henry Bacon (Louisville), Butch Beard (Louisville), Bobby Carpenter (Iowa), Whaylon Coleman (Idaho), Ralph Davis (Cincinnati), Clarence Glover (Western Kentucky), Joe Hamilton (North Texas State), Clem Haskins (Western Kentucky), Carl Helem (Tennessee A&I), Lou Herndon (Jackson State), Charlie Hunter (Oklahoma City), Max Jameson (Kentucky State), Lou Johnson (Kentucky State), Bobby "Toothpick" Jones (Dayton), Ron King (Florida State), Jim McDaniels (Western Kentucky), Jerome Perry (Western Kentucky), Bob Redd (Marshall), Mike Redd (Kentucky Wesleyan), Jim Rose (Western Kentucky), Dwight Smith (Western Kentucky), Garfield Smith (Eastern Kentucky), Greg Smith (Western Kentucky), George Stone (Marshall), Tom Thacker (Cincinnati), Ron Thomas (Louisville), Dallas Thornton (Kentucky Wesleyan), Felix Thruston (Trinity TX), George Tinsley (Kentucky Wesleyan), Rich Travis (Oklahoma City), Jim Tucker (Duquesne), Ruell Tucker (Rockhurst MO), George Unseld (Kansas), Wes Unseld (Louisville), Jerry Lee Wells (Oklahoma City), Clarence "Cave" Wilson (Tennessee State) and Willie Woods (Eastern Kentucky).

Louisiana - Charlie Anderson (Grambling), Thurman "Zeke" Baptiste (Grambling/Northwestern State), Jerry Barr (Grambling), Charles Bloodworth (Southern/Northwestern State), Don Chaney (Houston), John Comeaux (Grambling), Jim Duplantier (Grambling), Wilbert Frazier (Grambling), Willie Hart (Grambling), Elvin Hayes (Houston), Fred Hilton (Grambling), James Hooper (Grambling), Bob Hopkins (Grambling), Luke Jackson (Texas Southern/Pan American), Aaron James (Grambling), Rich Johnson (Grambling), James Jones (Grambling), Edmond Lawrence (McNeese State), Theodis Lee (Houston), Bob Love (Southern), Tyronne Marioneaux (Loyola of New Orleans), Jesse Marshall (Centenary), Bob McCoy (Grambling), Surry Oliver (Stephen F. Austin State), Cincy Powell (Portland), Willis Reed (Grambling), Bill Russell (San Francisco after moving to California), Leslie Scott (Loyola of Chicago/Southwestern Louisiana), James Silas (Stephen F. Austin State), Curtis St. Mary (McNeese State), Henry Steele (Northeast Louisiana), Rex Tippitt (Grambling), Dale Valdery (Xavier LA), Abram Valore (Grambling), Hershell West (Grambling) and Howard Willis (Grambling).

Mississippi - Tommie Bowens (Grambling LA), Eddie Brown (Houston Baptist), Cleveland Buckner (Jackson State), Harvey Catchings (Hardin-Simmons TX), E.C. Coleman (Houston Baptist), Rowland Garrett (Florida State), Earl Glass (Mississippi Industrial), Mike Green (Louisiana Tech), Spencer Haywood (Detroit), Cleveland Hill (Nicholls State LA), Joel "McCoy" Ingram (Jackson State), George T. Johnson (Dillard LA), Arvesta Kelly (Lincoln MO), Earnest Killum Sr. (Stetson FL), Sam Lacey (New Mexico State), LyVonne "Hoss" LeFlore (Jackson State), Jesse Leonard (St. Louis), Plummer Lott (Seattle), Nate Madkins (Hardin-Simmons TX), Ed Manning (Jackson State), Jerry Nickens (Tougaloo), Willie Norwood (Alcorn A&M), John "Pete" Perry (Pan American), Aaron Sellers (Jackson State), James Ware (Oklahoma City), Cornell Warner (Jackson State), Donald "Slick" Watts (Xavier LA) and Levi Wyatt (Alcorn A&M).

North Carolina - Walt Bellamy (Indiana), Fred Bibby (Fayetteville State), Lee Davis (North Carolina Central), Larry Dunn (North Carolina Central), Reginald "Hawk" Ennis (North Carolina Central), Herm Gilliam (Purdue), Paul Grier (North Carolina A&T), Happy Hairston (NYU), Harvey Heartley (North Carolina Central), Lou Hudson (Minnesota), Harold Hunter (North Carolina Central), Sam Jones (North Carolina Central), George "Meadowlark" Lemon (Florida A&M), Henry Logan (Western Carolina), Allen McManus (Winston-Salem State), Fred "Curly" Neal (Johnson C. Smith), Willie Porter (Tennessee State), Oscar Smith (Elizabeth City State), Jimmy Walker (Providence), Bobby Warlick (Pepperdine), Willie Watson (Oklahoma City) and Harthorne Wingo (junior college).

South Carolina - Leon Benbow (Jacksonville), Theodore Chaplin Jr. (Voorhees), Larry Doby (LIU/Virginia Union), Gene Gathers (Bradley), Erwin "Chip" Johnson (Augusta), Lee Monroe (Shaw), Lindberg Moody (Morgan State/South Carolina State), Clifford Ray (Oklahoma), Art Shell (Maryland-Eastern Shore) and Kenny Washington (UCLA).

Tennessee - Willie Brown (Middle Tennessee State), James Douglas (Memphis State), L.M. Ellis (Drake/Austin Peay), Larry Finch (Memphis State), Richie Fuqua (Oral Roberts), Joe Gaines (Belmont), Carl Hardaway (Oral Roberts), Albert Henry (Wisconsin), Paul Hogue (Cincinnati), Les Hunter (Loyola of Chicago), James Johnson (Wisconsin), Rich Jones (Illinois/Memphis State), Ron Lawson Sr. (UCLA/Fisk), Ted McClain (Tennessee A&I), Charlie Paulk (Tulsa/Northeastern Oklahoma State), Ken Riley (Middle Tennessee State), Rick Roberson (Cincinnati), Vic Rouse (Loyola of Chicago), Willie Shaw (Lane), Bingo Smith (Tulsa), Dwight Waller (Tennessee State) and Henry Watkins (Tennessee State).

Texas - John Barber (Los Angeles State), Zelmo Beaty (Prairie View A&M), Nate Bowman (Wichita), Charlie Brown (Texas Western), Leroy Chalk (Nebraska), Willie Davis (North Texas State), Henry Dooley (Wiley College), Mitchell Edwards (Pan American), Charles "Tex" Harrison (North Carolina Central), Robert Hughes Sr. (Texas Southern), Eddie Jackson (Oklahoma/OCU), David Lattin (Texas Western), Charles Lindsey (New Mexico State), Wilbert Loftin Jr. (Southwestern Louisiana), Guy Manning (Prairie View A&M), Joe Billy McDade (Bradley), Elton McGriff (Creighton), McCoy McLemore (Drake), Howie Montgomery (Texas Southern/Pan American), Billy Joe Price (New Mexico State), Nolan Richardson II (Texas Western), Rubin Russell (North Texas State), John Savage (North Texas State), Dave Stallworth (Wichita), Nate Stephens (Creighton/Long Beach State), Fred Taylor (Pan American), Ernie Turner (New Mexico State), Gene Wiley (Wichita), Leroy Wright (Pacific) and John Henry Young (Midwestern State).

Virginia - Leroy Banks (Virginia State), Walker Banks (Western Kentucky), Charles Bonaparte (Norfolk State), Al Bumbry (Virginia State), Bob Dandridge (Norfolk State), Jesse Dark (Virginia Commonwealth), Roy Ebron (Southwestern Louisiana), Bill English (Winston-Salem State NC), William Franklin (Purdue), Bernard Harris (Virginia Commonwealth), Junius Kellogg (West Virginia State/Manhattan), Earl Lloyd (West Virginia State), James "Bones" Morgan (Maryland State), Rudolph Peele (Norfolk State), Curtis Pritchett (St. Augustine's NC), Reggie Roach Sr. (Virginia State), Bruce Spraggins (Virginia Union), Harley "Skeeter" Swift (East Tennessee State), Walter "Fuzzy" Ward (Hampton Institute) and Charles "Jabo" Wilkins (Fayetteville State NC/Virginia Commonwealth).

Reed (21.7 ppg) and Walt Frazier (20.9), the top two scorers for the New York Knicks' 1969-70 NBA champion, could have helped rewrite SEC basketball history if they had been allowed to compete in the league. LSU wouldn't have been mired in mediocrity with a 24-25 record in 1962-63 and 1963-64 if the Tigers had successfully recruited Reed and fellow in-state products L. Jackson and Love to comprise one of the all-time premier frontcourts. Ditto anemic anemic marks in 1965-66 and 1966-67 for the Bayou Bengals if Elvin Hayes remained in-state. Elsewhere, Georgia most assuredly wouldn't have gone 19-32 in 1965-66 and 1966-67 with Frazier and M. Jackson in the Bulldogs' lineup. Similarly, Alabama wouldn't have struggled with an 18-34 mark in 1969-70 and 1970-71 if the Tide hadn't turn its back on Gilmore, Grant and B. Stallworth.

In the late 1960s, Memphis State could have boasted one of the foremost frontlines in history if it had successfully recruited hometown heroes Albert Henry (Wisconsin), Charlie Paulk (Northeastern Oklahoma State), Rick Roberson (Cincinnati) and Bobby Smith (Tulsa). But the Tigers missed out on the four eventual NBA first-round draft choices who left Memphis for other colleges with Roberson and Smith attending fellow Missouri Valley Conference members. Adding insult to injury, local product David Vaughn Jr. reneged on an oral commitment to the Tigers in the early 1970s and became a standout with Oral Roberts.

In 1969-70, Florida State's starting lineup under coach Hugh Durham featured one white player (All-American Dave Cowens) and four black players (Ron Harris/Ken Macklin/Willie Williams/Skip Young). Memphis and FSU were joined by Virginia Commonwealth and Western Kentucky in 1970-71 to comprise group of majority-white Southern universities fielding all-black starting lineups. Contrary to the depictions by some naysayers, the influx of black talent showed it could handle pressure by helping Memphis coach Gene Bartow win more than 70% of the Tigers' games decided by fewer than eight points during his four-season tenure. At his debut, the city was only 2 1/2 years removed from perhaps its lowest point, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of a local hotel. "Memphis State and the rest of the city was racially divided," said Maxine Smith, former executive director of the NAACP. "Sport played such an overwhelming part in our community breaking down barriers."

As for coaches, it took the ACC, SEC and SWC an extended period to embrace their first African-American bench bosses. In 1974-75, Arizona's Fred Snowden became the first African-American coach to have a major-college team finish in a final wire-service Top 20 poll (17th in UPI with a 22-7 record). Two years earlier, Snowden became the first African-American head coach in the Western Athletic Conference and at a major university. Snowden was 26 games above .500 in WAC competition after his first five seasons, but was 18 games below .500 in his last five years. He won a stunning 70% of his games decided by fewer than four points in his first seven campaigns with the Wildcats (33-14 mark in those close contests during that span). In opening round of 1976 West Regional, Snowden defeated John Thompson-coached Georgetown to earn distinction as initial black coach to win an NCAA playoff contest.

Will Robinson had become the nation's first black major-college head coach in 1971-72 when Illinois State moved up to the NCAA Division I level. It was 10 years before the Redbirds joined the Missouri Valley Conference, where Drake's Gus Guydon is generally considered to be the first African-American assistant at a major university. Guydon was a two-time All-MVC first-team swingman for Drake under coach Maury John in the early 1960s as almost 80% of the first-team choices in "The Valley" during that decade were black. The MVC was dubbed a "black" league when a minimum of four first-team selections annually were African-Americans in 12-yearspan from 1961-62 through the season (1972-73) Mississippi State became the last SEC school to integrate at the varsity level. Guydon was an assistant at his alma mater before leaving with John for Iowa State following the 1970-71 campaign.

The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the following head coaches break the color barrier in major conferences: Harvard's Tom Sanders (Ivy League in 1973-74), Wisconsin's Bill Cofield (Big Ten in 1976-77), Arkansas' Nolan Richardson Jr. (SWC in 1985-86), Oklahoma State's Leonard Hamilton (Big Eight in 1986-87), Maryland's Bob Wade (ACC in 1986-87) and Tennessee's Wade Houston (SEC in 1989-90). It was largely overlooked in 1996-97 when three black coaches won or shared divisional titles in Conference USA (Tulane's Perry Clark, Memphis State's Larry Finch and UNC Charlotte's Melvin Watkins).

By 2008-09, eight of the 12 head coaches in the Mid-American Conference were black. However, just barely over 20% of the head coaches nationwide at the time were minorities.

In 1982, Georgetown's Thompson took umbrage to depictions of him as the initial African-American coach to direct a team to the Final Four. But the injustices in the past against his race were sufficient reason for placing emphasis on Thompson's achievements with predominantly black rosters.

Dr. John Edgar Wideman, a novelist who was the first black player for Penn in the early 1960s, said: "(Thompson's) a talented man and a great coach, but the reason he's the first (Final Four) black coach is not because of his unique and individual talent; it's because he was allowed to be. We always have to keep that in mind when we look at firsts, and bests, among black people in any endeavor."

The integration of college basketball, waiting primarily on the South to emerge from the "Jim Crow" dark ages, wasn't complete until the mid-1970s. For instance, Coolidge Ball didn't become the first black athlete to sign a basketball scholarship with Ole Miss until eight years after James Meredith became the initial black student at the university in 1962. Although overt racism probably wasn't quite as pervasive as in professional sports, many of the African-American players who broke the color barriers at colleges post-World War II faced more than their share of hardships and hostility.

"They (opposing fans) were all just rabid," recalls Perry Wallace, Vanderbilt's standout forward who became the first black varsity player in the all-white Southeastern Conference in 1967-68. "I'm talking racial stuff, people threatening your life ... calling you nigger, coon, shoe polish. The first time I played Ole Miss I got spat on at halftime by four generations of one family."

Wallace, a local product from Nashville who went on to become a law professor at the University of Baltimore and American University, encountered raucous road trips throughout the Deep South, where belligerent spectators drenched him with their drinks and cheerleaders led crowds in racist chants. In Mississippi, he was punched in the eye by an opposing player whom he knew he couldn't fight back.

Wallace, overshadowed in the SEC by Maravich's scoring exploits, told the Nashville Business & Lifestyles that "I'm not one of these historical revisionists who tries to claim he was all-smart and all-seeing back in those days. Everybody knew that what was happening was important. You've got to understand that this was post-legal segregation, but it was de facto segregation."

In an interview with The Tennessean, Wallace spoke of also feeling alienated from classmates at Vandy when being informed by older members of the campus church that elders there would withhold contributions and write the congregation out of their will if he continued to attend.

"I can't say it any other way," confided Wallace, an All-SEC second-team selection as a senior in 1969-70. "I have been there by myself. It's been a very lonesome thing. People knew my name but weren't interested in knowing me. They respected my basketball ability but still considered me as a person who sweeps floors."

In The Walls Came Tumbling Down, Wallace said: "There were times when I felt close to a nervous breakdown. They weren't the worst four years any black man ever had experienced, but it took me a while to learn to deal with the pain. The fact that I did is a credit to my parents. They had eighth-grade educations and they worked as servants and what not. But they emphasized education, decency, and morality. I grew up poor but with strong values. My parents wouldn't let me hate back. They used to say, 'No matter what is done to you, you don't get the chance to hate back.'"

Wallace told the St. Petersburg Times that during his first varsity game at Ole Miss, the crowd cheered when he was punched in the eye and injured going for a rebound.

"Both of the Mississippi schools and both of the (SEC's) Alabama schools - those were the worst," Wallace said. "In other places, you still had prejudice, at Louisiana (State) and the University of Tennessee, those could be bad. But the Mississippi and Alabama schools were the worst. Those people were mobsters, like Klansmen, and were people right from that world. They knew how to destroy a black person. And that's what they tried to do to me. They did what they could to try to induce fear in me and basically make me fail. I had to make sure that I did not succumb to that."

Vandy failed to produce a black All-American until swingman Shan Foster was honored in 2008. Elsewhere in the SEC, hate mail didn't arrive just from whites for Alabama's Wendell Hudson, who earned All-American accolades as a senior. "Some of the mail I got was from black people, that was, 'I can't believe you're going to Alabama. You sold out. You should go to a black school,'" said Hudson, a two-time All-SEC first-team selection. "In my mind, this is what the marching was all about. This is what equality was all about. So now you're mad at me?"

Henry Harris, an All-SEC third-team selection in 1971-72 and Auburn's first black athlete, was for a while the only black Wallace played against in the league. Harris took his own life in the spring of 1974 by jumping from a dormitory window at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he'd been a JV coach and intramural supervisor. And Tom Payne, who broke the color barrier at Kentucky a year after Wallace graduated, was imprisoned an extended period for assaulting females.

"Tom Payne had a tragic life and it wasn't all owing to playing in the SEC, but it didn't help," Wallace asserts. "You have to take the time that it requires to recover from an experience like that. You have to heal right. And fortunately, I think I have. I'm not destroyed. I've wrestled with the emotional effect that experience has had on my life. That was a process that was not easy those first few years, but I did it."

Payne, the son of an Army sergeant, went from pioneer to pariah in the wake of incurring rape convictions in three states (Georgia, Kentucky and California). Some might contend that his view is a convenient crutch. But after growing up in the integrated atmosphere of Army bases, he says that the racism he experienced during his one tumultuous season with UK led him to detest white people and abuse women. Threatening phone calls, broken car windows and eggs smashed on his front door became routine.

"That's the kind of abuse I went through," Payne said. "And people think that's not supposed to affect you? Before I went to college, nothing in my life said I was going to be a criminal. My whole life took a turn going to UK and getting damaged so much. My anger and hatred toward white society came up, and I lashed out."

Elsewhere in the SEC, ugly sentiments expressed in various ways were handled infinitely better. Collis Temple Jr., the son of two educators, never wavered in his determination to rid the stain of Jim Crow from LSU's campus. He insists that, despite being recruited by a "very racist" Press Maravich, his college career was a generally positive experience and, in the process, allowed him to help pave a smoother route for those who came after him - including two sons (Collis III and Garrett) who starred for the Tigers.

"It's the best decision I could have made," Collis Jr. said. "If I had to make that choice again, my choice would be the same."

Choices made by Brigham Young's administration probably would be different if it could make them all again. As late as 1969, BYU administrators discouraged blacks from attending the university, fostering numerous problems with Western Athletic Conference opponents. When BYU played at Arizona in 1970, a group of demonstrators tried to force their way onto the court, resulting in a 10-minute brawl with security police. The Cougars' game at New Mexico was delayed nearly one hour after protestors threw eggs and kerosene-filled balloons onto the court. At Colorado State, BYU's team was met by students carrying "Bigot Young University" signs before protestors hurled eggs, a flaming molotov cocktail and a piece of angle-iron onto the court.

Sports Illustrated observed that BYU was no longer certain whether an opponent would "throw a man-to-man defense, a zone, or a grenade." Cougars coach Stan Watts complained that the team was unable to concentrate because they had to keep "one eye on the crowd and one eye on the game."

Race problems weren't restricted to major universities. Two-time NAIA Tournament MVP Al Tucker, who went on to become an NBA first-round draft choice after averaging 28.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game in three seasons for Oklahoma Baptist, played one year with the College of Knoxville before going home to Ohio because of racial issues. Said Tucker about the last straw that sent him home: "We had what they called the Tennessee Theatre and we would give the lady a dollar or whatever it cost to get in and she said 'Sorry, we don't allow Negroes in.' Next thing they're going to call the paddy wagon and take us to jail."

The old bigotry of the South fades virtually every day, but former Mississippi/Arizona State coach Rob Evans thought the lessons in perseverance shouldn't be forgotten. Every year when Evans coached Ole Miss, he took his players to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

"I just think it's important to expand kids' knowledge, but I also wanted my kids exposed to what happened in the '60s, and why things are like they are now," Evans said. "I've had a tremendous amount of my white kids say, 'Coach, did this really happen?' They say, 'How did you take this?' I think it bonds the kids together."

In the early 1990s, Michigan's all-black "Fab Five" generated extensive national headlines with back-to-back NCAA Tournament championship game appearances. But their chest-pounding "me generation" era introducing baggy shorts, sullen stares and hip-hop attitudes might have been more style than substance because they never won a Big Ten Conference championship. At that time, the Center for the Study of Sport in Society supplied the following statistics: More than 55% of the varsity Division I players were black; 7% of the students on campus were black, and 1 1/2% of the faculty was black. The dropout rate after four years of eligibility for blacks was three times higher than the 10% for whites. Whether or not soft bigotry still exists, a 2007 report found that only 43% of black male college players graduate.

To be sure, things in society have changed immeasurably for minority groups since slavery and cotton were king. Gregory, Robinson and Wallace among others could only do so much in venturing into unchartered territory. Prejudice dies hard. Among everyone, actually, as lunatic leftists Don Lemon (formerly at CNN) and Rev. Al "Not So" Sharpton plus Joyless Reid (MSNBC) appear as if they hoped the first five Memphis police officers fired in repulsive beating death several years ago turned out to be white cops in black face similar to former VA governor Ralph Northam, Joyless Behar trying to impress colleague "Cloudy" (a/k/a Sunny), ex-comedian Jimmy "Mailman" Kimmel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

On This Date: Former College Hooper Thomas Tackling February 2 Super Bowl

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as Colon Krapernick, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball player Julius Thomas making a name for himself on February 2 in football at the professional level:

FEBRUARY 2

  • Denver Broncos TE Julius Thomas (averaged 6.8 ppg and 4.3 rpg while shooting 66.3% from floor with Portland State from 2006-07 through 2009-10) had four pass receptions in a 24-13 setback against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLVIII following 2013 season.

On This Date: February Calendar For Magical Moments in NCAA Hoops History

The three all-time most high-octane outbursts came against small-college competition as highest-scoring games in history by NCAA Division I players occurred in first half of month of February - Furman's Frank Selvy (100 points vs. Newberry SC in 1954), Villanova's Paul Arizin (85 vs. Philadelphia NAMC in 1949) and Portland State's Freeman Williams (81 vs. Rocky Mountain MT in 1978).

Louisiana State's Pete Maravich, the NCAA's career scoring leader who became first player in history to score more than 2,000 points in his first two seasons of eligibility this month along with providing the highest output in a power-conference game (69 at Alabama in SEC play in 1970), wasn't the only prolific point producer in the Pelican State from the guard position. In February 1972, Southwestern Louisiana junior Dwight "Bo" Lamar erupted for 51 points in each of back-to-back Southland Conference road games at Louisiana Tech and Lamar during USL's inaugural season at the major-college level before the school changed its name to Louisiana-Lafayette. For the record, Maravich twice tallied more than 50 in back-to-back SEC contests away from home (end of junior campaign and midway through senior season). This month also featured a third still-existing single-game scoring record by an individual opponent when "Bo Knows (Scoring)" Lamar exploded for 62 points at Northeast Louisiana the previous campaign en route to becoming the only player in NCAA history to lead the nation in scoring average at both the college and university divisions.

Outside Louisiana, existing single-game scoring standards for Bradley (Hersey Hawkins) and Detroit (Archie Tullos) were set in the same February assignment in 1988. In 2017, Bogdan Bliznyuk and Jacob Wiley both established Eastern Washington's single-game scoring record against an NCAA DI opponent with 45 points apiece in same contest (130-124 win against Portland State in triple overtime). As for regal rebounding records, Alabama's Jerry Harper retrieved 28 missed shots in back-to-back SEC contests two days apart in February 1956 and Wayne Embry pulled down 34 boards in back-to-back games for Miami of Ohio in same time frame the next year. February 4 is a special day in South Carolina history as John Roche (56 points) and Lee Collins (33 rebounds) set school single-game standards against NCAA DI in-state opponents on that date. Following is a day-by-day calendar citing memorable moments in February college basketball history:

FEBRUARY

1 - Arkansas State's Don Scaife (43 points vs. Northeast Louisiana in 1975/tied his own mark), Coppin State's Fred Warrick (40 at Howard in 1999/tied standard), Hardin-Simmons' Nate Madkins (52 vs. West Texas State in 1964) and Tulane's Jim Kerwin (45 vs. Southeastern Louisiana in 1961) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . North Carolina State's school-record 38-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Maryland (98-97 in 1975). . . . SEC Eastern Division cellar dweller Florida upset NCAA Tournament champion-to-be Kentucky in 1998. . . . Rudy Tomjanovich (30 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1969) set Michigan's single-game rebounding record.
2 - Brown's Harry Platt (48 points vs. Northeastern in 1938) and Delaware State's Tom Davis (50 vs. Brooklyn in 1989) set school single-game scoring records at the Division I level. . . . Eastern Michigan's Raven Lee (46 vs. Miami OH in 2016) set school single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. Lee's output came in only 24 minutes of playing time. . . . In 2014, Oakland's Travis Bader set an NCAA Division I record for most career three-pointers, surpassing the previous mark of 457 established by Duke All-American J.J. Redick. . . . Arizona's Bob Elliott (25 vs. Arizona State in 1974) set school single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent (subsequently tied). . . . Eventual MLB shortstop and manager Don Kessinger scored a career-high 49 points for Mississippi vs. Tulane in 1963.
3 - Buffalo's Mike Martinho (44 points vs. Rochester NY in 1998), Dayton's Donald Smith (52 at Loyola of Chicago in 1973), Grambling State's Brion Rush (53 vs. Southern in overtime in 2006), Portland State's Freeman Williams (81 vs. Rocky Mountain MT in 1978) and Wyoming's Joe Capua (51 vs. Montana in 1956) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Andre Spight (41 vs. Montana State in 2018) established Northern Colorado's single-game scoring mark at NCAA Division I level. . . . Florida Atlantic's DeAndre Rice (39 at Troy State in 2007) and Long Beach State's Gabe Levin (45 vs. UC Davis in 2OT in 2018) tied school single-game scoring standards. . . . Walt Lysaght (35 vs. North Carolina in 1953) set Richmond's single-game rebounding record.
4 - La Salle's Kareem Townes (52 points vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1995), Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson (43 vs. St. Francis NY in 2001), Purdue Fort Wayne's Max Landis (44 at South Dakota in 2016), Rhode Island's Tom Harrington (50 vs. Brandeis MA in 1959/subsequently tied), South Carolina's John Roche (56 vs. Furman in 1971) and Western Michigan's Gene Ford (46 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1969) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Eastern Washington's Bogdan Bliznyuk and Jacob Wiley (both with 45 vs. Portland State in triple overtime in 2017) and Denver's Dan Cramer (50 vs. Southern Mississippi in 1974) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. . . . Illinois' school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Penn State (66-65 in 2006). . . . Alabama's Jerry Harper (28 vs. Georgia Tech in 1956/tied his own mark), Fordham's Ed Conlin (36 vs. Colgate in 1953), Georgia Tech's Eric Crake (27 vs. Georgia in 1953), South Carolina's Lee Collins (33 vs. The Citadel in 1956) and Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric (36 vs. Clemson in 1955) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
5 - Akron's Joe Jakubick (47 points vs. Murray State in 1983), UC Santa Barbara's Orlando Johnson (39 vs. UC Davis in 2011/tied), East Tennessee State's Tom Chilton (52 vs. Austin Peay in 1961), Kent State's Dan Potopsky (49 vs. Western Michigan in 1955), Prairie View A&M's Paul Queen (46 vs. Alabama State in 1994) and Troy State's Detric Golden (45 at Jacksonville in 2000) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Yale's Brandon Sherrod extended his NCAA record of consecutive successful field-goal attempts to 30 covering five 2016 games before misfiring against Columbia. . . . Kenny Davis (25 vs. Arizona State in 1977) tied Arizona's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB Hall of Fame OF Tony Gwynn (18 vs. UNLV in 1980) set San Diego State's single-game assists record against a DI opponent.
6 - Ernie McCray (46 points vs. Los Angeles State in 1960) set Arizona's single-game scoring record. . . . Southeast Missouri State's Tyler Stone (37 at SIU-Edwardsville in 2014), Southern Mississippi's John White (41 at Virginia Tech in double overtime in 1988) and Tulane's Calvin Grosscup (41 vs. Mississippi State in 1956) tied school single-game scoring records against a major-college opponent. . . . Virginia Tech sophomore guard Bimbo Coles set Metro Conference single-game scoring record with 51 points in a 141-133 double overtime victory against visiting Southern Mississippi in 1988. . . . Bradley's school-record 46-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Drake (86-76 in 1961). . . . Belmont erased an 18-point deficit with 3:22 remaining (75-57) to defeat Campbell, 87-84, in 2009. . . . Alabama's Jerry Harper (28 vs. Vanderbilt in 1956/tied his own mark), American University's Kermit Washington (34 vs. Georgetown in 1971), West Virginia's Jerry West (31 vs. George Washington in 1960/tied) and Wichita State's Terry Benton (29 vs. North Texas State in 1971) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
7 - Dartmouth's Jim Barton (48 points at Brown in overtime in 1987), Louisiana State's Pete Maravich (69 at Alabama in 1970) and South Dakota State's Nate Wolters (53 at IPFW in 2013) set school single-game scoring records. Maravich's output is also a SEC record in league competition. . . . Phil Hicks (41 at Samford in 1974) tied Tulane's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . In 1976, Purdue (25) and Wisconsin (22) combined to convert all 47 of their free-throw attempts, an NCAA record for two teams in a single game. . . . Duquesne's Dick Ricketts (28 vs. Villanova in 1955) and Southern's Jervaughn Scales (32 vs. Grambling in 1994) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
8 - Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson (62 points vs. North Texas State in 1960) and UNC Charlotte's George Jackson (44 at Samford in 1975) set school single-game scoring records. Robertson's output is also a Missouri Valley Conference record in league competition. . . . Buzz Wilkinson (45 vs. North Carolina in 1954) set Virginia's single-game scoring record against a major-college opponent. . . . Iowa State's Melvin Ejim (48 vs. TCU in 2014) set Big 12 Conference single-game scoring mark in league competition. . . . Kentucky established an NCAA single-game record by grabbing 108 rebounds against Mississippi in 1964. . . . Wofford set an NCAA three-point percentage single-game record (minimum of 20 attempts) by hitting 17-of-21 shots from beyond the arc (81% against VMI in 2016 game). . . . Niagara's school-record 51-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Syracuse (60-55 in 1950). . . . Boston College's Terry Driscoll (31 vs. Fordham in 1969), Davidson's Fred Hetzel (27 vs. Furman in 1964), Eastern Michigan's Kareem Carpenter (27 vs. Western Michigan in 1995), Harvard's Bob Canty (31 vs. Boston College in 1955), Long Island's Ty Flowers (27 vs. Merrimack in 2020), Marquette's Pat Smith (28 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1967), Oklahoma City's Willie Watson (32 vs. Denver in 1969) and Seattle's John Tresvant (40 vs. Montana in 1963) set school single-game rebounding records. Flowers' output is also a Northeast Conference contest mark. . . . Gene Estes (24 vs. Oklahoma City in 1961) set Tulsa's single-game rebounding record against a major-college opponent. . . . Utah State All-American Wayne Estes, after scoring 48 points vs. Denver to eclipse 2,000-point plateau, was electrocuted following home game in 1965 when the 6-6 forward brushed against downed high-power line upon stopping at scene of an auto accident near campus. . . . Dayton center Chris Daniels, who finished the season as nation's leader in field-goal shooting (68.3%), died in his sleep because of a heart ailment during 1995-96 campaign.
9 - UALR's Carl Brown (46 points at Centenary in overtime in 1989), Butler's Darrin Fitzgerald (54 vs. Detroit in 1987), Canisius' Larry Fogle (55 vs. St. Peter's in 1974), Clemson's J.O. Erwin (58 vs. Butler Guards at Greenville in 1912), Colorado State's Bill Green (48 vs. Denver in 1963), Hofstra's Justin Wright-Foreman (48 vs. William & Mary in 2019) and Loyola of Chicago's Alfredrick Hughes (47 vs. Detroit in 1985) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Brown's output is also an Atlantic Sun Conference record in league competition. . . . DePaul's Tom Kleinschmidt set the Great Midwest Conference single-game scoring record in league play with 37 points against UAB in 1994. . . . Charleston Southern's Tony Fairley set an NCAA single-game record against a DI opponent with 22 assists against Armstrong State GA in 1987. . . . Dartmouth ended Penn's Ivy League-record 48-game winning streak (54-53 in 1996) and Duke's school-record 46-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Maryland (98-87 in 2000). . . . Southern Mississippi's Wendell Ladner (32 vs. Pan American in 1970) and Syracuse's Frank Reddout (34 vs. Temple in 1952) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Canisius' Larry Fogle (22 vs. St. Peter's in 1974) and Idaho's Gus Johnson (31 vs. Oregon in 1963) set school single-game rebounding records against a major-college opponent.
10 - Morehead State's Brett Roberts (53 points vs. Middle Tennessee State in 1992), Ohio State's Gary Bradds (49 vs. Illinois in 1964), Larry Lewis of Saint Francis PA (46 vs. St. Vincent PA in 1969) and Savannah State's Alante Fenner (46 vs. Morgan State in overtime in 2018) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Detroit's school-record 39-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Wisconsin-Green Bay (65-61 in 2002), Oral Roberts' school-record 52-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Marshall (106-103 in 1973) and Virginia Commonwealth's school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Virginia Tech (71-63 in 1978). . . . Georgetown's Charlie Adrion (29 vs. George Washington in 1968), Houston's Elvin Hayes (37 vs. Centenary in 1968) and Rider's Jason Thompson (24 vs. Siena in 2008) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Eventual Chicago White Sox RHP Dave DeBusschere scored a career-high 44 points for Detroit against Dayton in a 1962 game.
11 - East Carolina's Oliver Mack (47 points vs. South Carolina-Aiken in 1978), Florida State's Ron King (46 at Georgia Southern in 1971), Hartford's Vin Baker (44 vs. Lamar in overtime in 1992), Southern California's John Block (45 vs. Washington in 1966) and Wisconsin-Green Bay's Tony Bennett (44 at Cleveland State in 1989) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Mal Graham (46 at Holy Cross in 1967) set New York University's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Morehead State (53) and Cincinnati (35) combined for an NCAA single-game record of 88 successful free throws in 1956. . . . Indiana State set an NCAA single-game record for most three-pointers without a miss by making all 12 attempts from beyond the arc (against Southern Illinois in 2012). . . . Weber State's school-record 44-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Idaho (68-67 in 1967). . . . Andrew Nicholson (23 vs. Duquesne in 2012) tied St. Bonaventure's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
12 - Marist's Izett Buchanan (51 points at Long Island University in 1994), Northern Iowa's Cam Johnson (40 at Drake in 1994) and Villanova's Paul Arizin (85 vs. Philadelphia NAMC in 1949) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Wake Forest's Len Chappell (50 vs. Virginia in 1962) set ACC single-game scoring record in league competition. . . . Gonzaga's school-record 50-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Santa Clara (84-73 in 2007). . . . Drake's Ken Harris (26 vs. Tulsa in 1977) and Navy's David Robinson (25 vs. Fairfield in 1986) set school single-game rebounding records.
13 - Colorado's Cliff Meely (47 points vs. Oklahoma in 1971), Furman's Frank Selvy (NCAA-record 100 vs. Newberry SC in 1954), Portland's Matt Houle (43 vs. San Francisco in 1993), St. Peter's Rich Rinaldi (54 vs. St. Francis NY in 1971) and San Francisco's Keith Jackson (47 at Loyola Marymount in 1988) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Alabama's Bob Andrews (46 vs. Tulane in 1965), East Carolina's Gus Hill (43 at Navy in 1988), UNC Asheville's Andrew Rousey (41 at Radford in 2014/tied) and Virginia's Buzz Wilkinson (45 vs. Georgetown in 1954/tied his own mark) set school single-game scoring records against a Division I opponent. . . . In 1985, Connecticut became the first school to be ranked No. 1 in the men's and women's national polls at the same time. . . . Syracuse's school-record 57-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Georgetown (52-50 in 1980). . . . Kentucky's Bill Spivey (34 vs. Xavier in 1951), New Mexico's Tom King (26 vs. Wyoming in 1960), Northwestern's Jim Pitts (29 vs. Indiana in 1965) and Western Michigan's Frank Ayers (25 vs. Loyola of Chicago in 1973) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Dan Roundfield (25 vs. Bowling Green State in 1974) set Central Michigan's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
14 - Auburn's John Mengelt (60 points vs. Alabama in 1970), Central Connecticut State's Kyle Vinales (42 at Wagner in 2013), College of Charleston's Grant Riller (43 vs. Hofstra in 2019), Coppin State's Larry Stewart (40 vs. South Carolina State in 1991/subsequently tied), Mount St. Mary's Sam Prescott (44 vs. Bryant in 2013), South Alabama's Eugene Oliver (46 at Southern Mississippi in 1974), Southwestern Louisiana's Bo Lamar (51 at Louisiana Tech in 1972/subsequently tied by him) and Tennessee's Tony White (51 vs. Auburn in 1987) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Lamar's output also set a Southland Conference record in league competition. . . . Villanova's Larry Hennessy (45 vs. Boston College in 1953) and Virginia's Buzz Wilkinson (45 vs. Clemson in 1955/tied his own mark) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. . . . William & Mary's Bill Chambers, standing a mere 6-4, grabbed an NCAA single-game record 51 rebounds against Virginia on Valentine's Day in 1953. . . . Miami of Ohio's Wayne Embry (34 vs. Eastern Kentucky in 1957/subsequently tied by him), Texas Tech's Jim Reed (27 vs. Texas in 1956), Towson's Dennis Tunstall (21 vs. Delaware in 2019/tied), Wagner's Mike Aaman (23 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson in 2015) and West Virginia's Mack Isner (31 vs. Virginia Tech in 1952/subsequently tied) set school single-game rebounding records against a major-college opponent. . . . Jacksonville junior-college recruit Artis Gilmore, the only player in major-college history to average more than 22 points and 22 rebounds per game in his career, had his only DI contest retrieving fewer than 10 missed shots (8 caroms at Loyola LA in 1970). . . . Massachusetts' school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by George Washington (80-78 in 1995). . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 600 victories the fastest with a 71-52 win over Notre Dame at Chicago in 1959 (705 games in 27th season).
15 - Coastal Carolina's Tony Dunkin (43 points vs. UNC Asheville in 1993), Columbia's Leonard "Buck" Jenkins (47 at Harvard in 1991), Maryland-Baltimore County's Derell Thompson (43 at Towson State in 1992) and Wake Forest's Charlie Davis (51 vs. American University in 1969) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Kentucky tied an NCAA record by erasing a 31-point, second-half deficit at Louisiana State (99-95 UK victory in 1994). . . . In 1969, Pete Maravich passed Bob Pettit (1,970 points from 1951-52 through 1953-54) to become LSU's all-time scoring leader and first player in NCAA history reaching 2,000-point plateau in his first two seasons of eligibility. . . . Princeton's Bill Bradley (51 points vs. Harvard in 1964) set Ivy League scoring record in conference competition. . . . Oregon State ended UCLA's Pacific-8 Conference-record 50-game winning streak (61-57 in 1974). . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 400 victories the fastest with a 90-50 win over Mississippi in 1950 (477 games in 20th season). . . . Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain (36 vs. Iowa State in 1958), Oregon State's Swede Halbrook (36 vs. Idaho in 1955) and Rice's Joe Durrenberger (30 vs. Baylor in 1955) set school single-game rebounding records. Halbrook also grabbed 32 rebounds the previous night against the Vandals. . . . Paul Millsap (29 vs. San Jose State in 2006) set Louisiana Tech's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB All-Star RHP Sonny Siebert scored a career-high 31 points for Missouri against Oklahoma in a 1958 game.
16 - Illinois' Dave Downey (53 points at Indiana in 1963), Tennessee Tech's Jimmy Hagan (48 vs. East Tennessee State in 1959) and Texas-Pan American's Marshall Rogers (58 vs. Texas Lutheran in 1976) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Dikembe Dixson (40 at Youngstown State in 2OT in 2016) set Illinois-Chicago's single-game scoring record against an NCAA Division I opponent. . . . Wichita State ended Cincinnati's school-record 37-game winning streak (65-64 in 1963) and South Carolina's school-record 34-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Notre Dame (72-68 in 1974). . . . Cincinnati's Connie Dierking (33 vs. Loyola New Orleans in 1957), Miami of Ohio's Wayne Embry (34 vs. Kent State in 1957), NYU's Cal Ramsey (34 vs. Boston College in 1957) and Texas Christian's Goo Kennedy (28 vs. Arkansas in 1971) set school single-game rebounding records. It was the second time in three days for Embry to corral 34 caroms. . . . Texas-El Paso's Jim Barnes (27 vs. Hardin-Simmons in 1963) and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (23 vs. Connecticut in 2009) set single-game rebounding records against major-college opponents. . . . Eventual 13-year N.L. LHP Joe Gibbon grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds for Mississippi against Georgia in 1957.
17 - George Washington's Joe Holup (49 points vs. Furman in 1956), Holy Cross' Jack Foley (56 vs. Connecticut in 1962), Quinnipiac's Cameron Young (55 at Siena in triple overtime in 2019), Southwestern Louisiana's Bo Lamar (51 at Lamar in 1972/tied his own mark) and Wofford's Fletcher Magee (45 at Chattanooga in 2018) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Young's outburst set a MAAC single-game standard and Lamar's output tied his own Southland Conference mark in league competition established three days earlier. . . . Antoine Gillespie (45 at Hawaii in 1994) set Texas-El Paso's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Dartmouth's school-record 38-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Army (44-36 in 1940). . . . Fresno State's Larry Abney (35 vs. Southern Methodist in 2000), Loyola of Chicago's LaRue Martin (34 vs. Valparaiso in 1971) and Toledo's Ned Miklovic (27 vs. Ohio University in 1958/subsequently tied) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent. Abney's total is the highest among all schools at the DI level since 1973.
18 - Scott Haffner (65 points vs. Dayton in 1989) set Evansville's single-game scoring record. Haffner's output is also a Horizon League record in conference competition. . . . Freeman Williams (50 at UNLV in 1978) set Portland State's single-game scoring record against an NCAA Division I opponent. . . . Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount each scored 86 points after intermission in 1989 to set an NCAA record for highest offensive output in a half by both teams (172). . . . Louisiana State's school-record 42-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Mississippi (23-22 in 1921). . . . Florida's Jim Zinn (31 vs. Mississippi in 1957), McNeese State's Henry Ray (27 vs Texas-Arlington in 1974), New Orleans' Ervin Johnson (27 vs. Lamar in 1993), Penn's Barton Leach (32 vs. Harvard in 1955), Southern Illinois' Joe C. Meriweather (27 vs. Indiana State in 1974) and Xavier's Bob Pelkington (31 vs. St. Francis PA in 1964) set school single-game rebounding records.
19 - Delaware's Liston Houston (52 points vs. Lebanon Valley PA in 1910), Liberty's Matt Hildebrand (41 vs. Charleston Southern in 1994/subsequently tied), Longwood's Tristan Carey (40 vs. Liberty in 2013), Mississippi Valley State's Alphonso Ford (51 vs. Texas Southern in overtime in 1990), Morgan State's Tiwian Kendley (41 vs. Bethune-Cookman in OT in 2018), Oral Roberts' Anthony Roberts (66 vs. North Carolina A&T in 1977), Stetson's Mel Daniels (48 vs. UNC Wilmington in 1977) and Texas Tech's Dub Malaise (50 at Texas in 1966) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer (45 at Pacific in 2015) and Lafayette's Bobby Mantz (44 vs. Lehigh in 1958) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. . . . Holy Cross' Rob Feaster (46 vs. Navy in overtime in 1994) set Patriot League scoring record in conference competition. . . . Creighton's Paul Silas (38 vs. Centenary in 1962), Northern Illinois' Jim Bradley (31 vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1973) and Purdue's Carl McNulty (27 vs. Minnesota in 1951) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell (24 vs. Seton Hall in 1977) set Charlotte's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
20 - Baylor's Vinnie Johnson (50 points vs. Texas Christian in 1979), Idaho State's Willie Humes (53 at Montana State in 1971), Illinois State's Robert "Bubbles" Hawkins (58 vs. Northern Illinois in 1974), North Florida's Parker Smith (46 vs. Mercer in 2012), San Diego State's Anthony Watson (54 vs. U.S. International in 1986) and South Carolina State's Jackie Robinson (40 at Morgan State in 1993) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Humes' output is also a Big Sky Conference record in league competition. . . . Delaware State's Tom Davis (47 vs. Florida A&M in 1989) set MEAC scoring record in league competition at DI level. . . . Rhode Island's Art Stephenson (28 vs. Brown in 1968) and Tennessee Tech's Jimmy Hagan (30 vs. Morehead State in 1959) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Kansas' 28-17 victory at Drake in 1924 triggered an NCAA-record 35-game road winning streak.
21 - Boston College's John Austin (49 points vs. Georgetown in 1964), Rutgers' Eric Riggins (51 vs. Penn State in double overtime in 1987) and Virginia Tech's Allan Bristow (52 vs. George Washington in 1973) set school single-game scoring records. Riggins' output is also an Atlantic 10 Conference record in league competition. . . . LSU's Pete Maravich (64) and Kentucky's Dan Issel (51) each scored more than 50 points in the same SEC game in 1970. . . . UCLA's school-record 98-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Oregon (65-45 in 1976). . . . Clemson's Tommy Smith (30 vs. Georgia in 1955) and North Carolina's Rusty Clark (30 vs. Maryland in 1968) set school single-game rebounding records.
22 - Bradley's Hersey Hawkins (63 points at Detroit in 1988), California's Ed Gray (48 at Washington State in 1997), Detroit's Archie Tullos (49 vs. Bradley in 1988), Manhattan's Bob Mealy (51 vs. CCNY in 1960), Missouri-Kansas City's Michael Watson (Summit League-record 54 at Oral Roberts in double overtime in 2003), Oklahoma State's Bob Kurland (58 vs. St. Louis in 1946) and Oregon State's Gary Payton Sr. (58 vs. Southern California in overtime in 1990) set school single-game scoring records. . . . High Point's Nick Barbour (44 vs. Campbell in 2012), Long Island's Antawn Dobie (53 vs. St. Francis NY in 2003), Mississppi State's Bailey Howell (45 vs. Louisiana State in 1958) and Western Illinois' Kobe Webster (40 vs. Omaha in 2020) set school single-game scoring records against a Division I opponent. Dobie's output is also a Northeast Conference record in league competition. . . . Drexel set NCAA record by erasing a 34-point deficit late in the first half (53-19) to defeat visiting Delaware, 85-83, in 2018. . . . Nebraska stunned Wilt Chamberlain-led Kansas, 43-41, in 1958 to avenge a 56-point defeat four games earlier. . . . Memphis' school-record 47-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Tennessee (66-62 in 2008). . . . Massachusetts' Julius Erving (32 vs. Syracuse in 1971) and Mississippi's Ivan Richmann (25 vs. Tulane in 1958) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Hakim Shahid (25 vs. Jacksonville in 1990) set South Florida's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
23 - Boston University's Jim Hayes (47 points vs. Springfield MA in 1970), Indiana's Jimmy Rayl (56 vs. Michigan State in 1963/tied his own mark), Louisiana Tech's Mike McConathy (47 vs. Lamar in 1976), Miami's Rick Barry (59 vs. Rollins FL in 1965), Providence's Marshon Brooks (52 vs. Notre Dame in 2011/tied Marvin Barnes' mark) and Texas Southern's Harry "Machine Gun" Kelly (60 vs. Jarvis Christian TX in 1983) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Brooks' output is also a Big East Conference record in league competition. . . . Los Angeles State's Raymond Lewis set Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now Big West) single-game scoring record with 53 points vs. Long Beach State in double overtime in 1973. . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach compiling 700 victories the fastest with a 99-79 win over Auburn at Montgomery in 1964 (836 games in 32nd season). . . . Jimmie Baker (26 vs. San Francisco in 1973) set UNLV's single-game rebounding record before transferring to Hawaii. . . . Eventual 13-year N.L. LHP Joe Gibbon scored a career-high 46 points for Mississippi in 1957 game against Louisiana State.
24 - Houston's Elvin Hayes (62 points vs. Valparaiso in 1968), Iowa's John Johnson (49 vs. Northwestern in 1970), Northwestern's Rich Falk (49 vs. Iowa in 1964), St. Bonaventure's Bob Lanier (51 vs. Seton Hall in 1969) and Utah's Billy McGill (60 at Brigham Young in 1962) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Alcorn State's DeCarlos Anderson (41 vs. Southern in 1996), East Tennessee State's Tom Chilton (47 vs. Western Kentucky in 1961), Florida A&M's Jerome James (38 at Delaware State in overtime in 1997) and Ohio University's Dave Jamerson (52 at Kent State in 1990) set school single-game scoring records against a DI opponent. . . . Washington & Lee's Jay Handlan hoisted up an NCAA single-game record 71 field-goal attempts vs. Furman in 1951. . . . Alabama A&M's Mickell Gladness set an NCAA single-game record with 16 blocked shots against Texas Southern in 2007. . . . Temple's school-record 33-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by West Virginia (64-61 in 1987). . . . Ed Corell (30 vs. Oregon in 1962) set Washington's single-game rebounding record.
25 - Detroit's Antoine Davis (46 points vs. Robert Morris in 2021 Horizon League first round) and Austin Peay's Bubba Wells (43 vs. Morehead State in 1997 Ohio Valley quarterfinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Alabama A&M's Desmond Cambridge (50 at Texas Southern in 2002), Central Florida's Jermaine Taylor (45 vs. Rice in 2009), Cleveland State's Frank Edwards (49 at Xavier in 1981), Indiana State's Larry Bird (49 vs. Wichita State in 1979), Texas' Raymond Downs (49 at Baylor in 1956/tied Slater Martin's mark), Virginia Military's QJ Peterson (46 vs. Mercer in 2016) and William & Mary's Jeff Cohen (49 vs. Richmond in 1961) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Lew Alcindor (61 vs. Washington State in 1967) set UCLA and Pac-12 Conference single-game scoring record. . . . Jim Christy (44 at Maryland in 1964) set Georgetown's single-game scoring record against a DI opponent. . . . Southwestern Louisiana's Sydney Grider set the American South Conference single-game scoring record in league competition (40 vs. Louisiana Tech in 1989). . . . St. Bonaventure's 99-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Niagara (87-77 in 1961). . . . Appalachian State's Tony Searcy (23 vs. The Citadel in 1978), Memphis' Ronnie Robinson (28 vs. Tulsa in 1971) and Northern Iowa's Jason Reese (21 vs. Illinois-Chicago in 1989) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
26 - Denver's Matt Teahan (61 points vs. Nebraska Wesleyan in 1979), Florida Atlantic's Earnest Crumbley (39 vs. Campbell in 2004/subsequently tied), Richmond's Bob McCurdy (53 vs. Appalachian State in double overtime in 1975), Texas' Slater Martin (49 vs. Texas Christian in 1949/subsequently tied by Raymond Downs) and Yale's Tony Lavelli (52 vs. Williams MA in 1949) set school Division I single-game scoring records. McCurdy established mark on his birthday in final home game. . . . Kansas' Isaac "Bud" Stallworth set Big Eight Conference single-game scoring record in league competition with 50 points vs. Missouri in 1972. . . . New Mexico's school-record 41-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Brigham Young (83-62 in 1998). . . . Cornell's George Farley (26 vs. Brown in 1960), Montana State's Doug Hashley (24 vs. Nevada-Reno in 1982), Old Dominion's Clifton Jones (23 vs. UNC Wilmington in 2001), Rutgers' George "Swede" Sundstrom (30 vs. Army in 1954) and Saint Joseph's Cliff Anderson (32 vs. La Salle in 1967) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
27 - Bowling Green's Jim Darrow (52 points vs. Marshall in 1960/tied his own mark), George Mason's Carlos Yates (42 vs. Navy in 1985), Georgetown's Jim Barry (46 at Fairleigh Dickinson in 1965), San Diego's Duda Sanadze (38 vs. Portland in 2016), Texas State's J.B. Conley (42 at Northwestern State in 2010/tied), Towson's Devin Boyd (46 at Maryland-Baltimore County in double overtime in 1993) and UAB's Robert Vaden (41 at Texas-El Paso in 2008/tied Andy Kennedy's mark) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Darrow's output is also a Mid-American Conference record and Boyd's output is a Big South Conference record in league competition. . . . Houston's Robert McKiver (52 vs. Southern Mississippi in 2008) set C-USA scoring record in league competition. . . . Connecticut's Toby Kimball (34 vs. New Hampshire in 1965), Maryland's Len Elmore (26 vs. Wake Forest in 1974) and Tulsa's Michael Ruffin (24 vs. Texas Christian in 1997/tied) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent. . . . Holy Cross' school-record 47-game homecourt winning streak snapped by Connecticut (78-77 in 1954).
28 - Army's Kevin Houston (53 points vs. Fordham in overtime of MAAC Tournament opener in 1987), Eastern Michigan's Ray Lee (50 at Central Michigan in 2017), Long Island's Sherman White (63 vs. John Marshall in 1950), Northern Illinois' Paul Dawkins (47 at Western Michigan in overtime in 1979) and Purdue's Rick Mount (61 vs. Iowa in 1970) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Houston's output is also a MAAC Tournament single-game record and Mount's uprising is a Big Ten Conference record in league competition. Lee's outburst was accumulated in only 26 minutes. . . . Ronshad Shabazz (47 at Louisiana-Monroe in 2019) set Appalachian State's single-game scoring record against an NCAA DI opponent. . . . The first basketball game telecast occurred when W2XBS carried a doubleheader from Madison Square Garden in 1940 (Pittsburgh vs. Fordham and NYU vs. Georgetown). . . . Ron Weilert (21 vs. Tulane in 1970) set Air Force single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent. . . . Eventual MLB All-Star 1B Joe Adcock contributed 15 field goals for Louisiana State in a 74-29 first-round victory against Tulane in 1946 SEC Tournament.
29 - Air Force's Bob Beckel (50 points vs. Arizona in 1959) and Florida's Tony Miller (54 vs. Chicago State in 1972) set school single-game scoring records. . . . Paul Marigney (40 vs. Pepperdine in 2004) tied Saint Mary's single-game scoring record against a major-college opponent. . . . Pittsburgh's school-record 40-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Syracuse (49-46 in 2004). . . . Bernie Janicki (31 vs. North Carolina in 1952) set Duke's single-game rebounding record. . . . Eventual eight-time N.L. All-Star SS Dick Groat scored a career-high 48 points for Duke against North Carolina in a 1952 game.

Memorable Moments in January College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in December College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in November College Basketball History

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling February 1 NFL Super Bowl

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as Colon Krapernick, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players Julius Peppers and Rodney Harrison making a name for themselves on February 1 in Super Bowl XXVIII:

FEBRUARY 1

  • New England Patriots SS Rodney Harrison (averaged 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3 apg and 1.6 spg for Western Illinois in 1992-93) registered a team-high eight solo tackles in 32-29 win against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXVIII following 2003 season. Panthers LDE Julius Peppers (averaged 5.7 ppg and 3.7 rpg while shooting 60.7% from floor for North Carolina in 1999-00 and 2000-01) provided two solo tackles.

Happy Birthday! February Celebration Dates For A-As & Hall of Fame Coaches

Four Indiana standouts (Archie Dees, Trayce Jackson-Davis plus twins Dick Van Arsdale and Tom Van Arsdale) are among a striking number of 12 All-Americans born on 22nd of February. Two Kansas All-Americans (Ben McLemore and Jacque Vaughn) were born on the 11th but North Carolina has the most A-As born this month with six. Oklahoma A&M All-American Ambrose "A.L." Bennett was born 100 years ago this month. Following is a day-by-day calendar of All-Americans and HOF coaches born in February:

FEBRUARY

1: All-Americans Theodore "T.R." Dunn (born in 1955/Alabama), Malik Sealy (1970/St. John's), Dick Snyder (1944/Davidson) and Robert "Tractor" Traylor (1977/Michigan).
2: All-Americans Dan Callandrillo (1959/Seton Hall), Sean Elliott (1968/Arizona), Ed "Moose" Krause (1913/Notre Dame), Bill Ridley (1934/Illinois) and Orson "Kent" Ryan (1915/Utah State).
3: All-American Darnell Valentine (1959/Kansas).
4: All-Americans Vern Fleming (1962/Georgia), Malik Monk (1998/Kentucky) and Blake Stepp (1982/Gonzaga).
6: All-Americans Shawn Respert (1972/Michigan State) and Carlos Rogers (1971/Tennessee State).
7: All-Americans Juwan Howard (1973/Michigan), James "Banks" McFadden (1917/Clemson), Mike O'Koren (1958/North Carolina) and Ed Shaver (1913/Purdue).
8: All-Americans Rui Hachimura (1998/Gonzaga), JaJuan Johnson (1989/Purdue), Marques Johnson (1956/UCLA) and Alonzo Mourning (1970/Georgetown).
9: All-Americans Kenny Fields (1962/UCLA), Phil Ford (1956/North Carolina), Ricky Frazier (1958/Missouri), Jameer Nelson (1982/St. Joseph's) and John Wallace (1974/Syracuse).
10: All-Americans Cornell Green (1940/Utah State), Tom LaGarde (1955/North Carolina), Bobby Portis (1995/Arkansas) and John "Cat" Thompson (1906/Montana State) plus Hall of Fame coach John Calipari (1959/Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky).
11: All-Americans Eric "Hank" Gathers (1967/Loyola Marymount), Ben McLemore (1993/Kansas), Alando Tucker (1984/Wisconsin) and Jacque Vaughn (1975/Kansas).
12: All-Americans Arthur James "A.J." Guyton (1978/Indiana), Larry Nance (1959/Clemson), Bill Russell (1934/San Francisco) and Ralph Vaughn (1918/Southern California).
13: All-American Jaden Ivey (2002/Purdue) and Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski (1947/Army and Duke).
14: All-Americans Richard "Rip" Hamilton (1978/Connecticut), Walter "Wali" Jones (1942/Villanova), Reggie King (1957/Alabama) and Carl McNulty (1930/Purdue).
15: All-Americans Nate Blackwell (1965/Temple), Jimmy Hull (1917/Ohio State), Mark Price (1964/Georgia Tech) and Tony White (1965/Tennessee).
16: All-Americans Larry Finch (1951/Memphis State), Dave Gambee (1937/Oregon State), Hasheem Thabeet (1987/Connecticut), Kelly Tripucka (1959/Notre Dame) and Herb Williams (1958/Ohio State).
17: All-American Michael Jordan (1963/North Carolina) plus Hall of Fame coach Rick Majerus (1948/Marquette, Ball State, Utah and Saint Louis).
18: All-Americans Jimmy Hagan (1936/Tennessee Tech), Maurice Lucas (1952/Marquette), Roland Minson (1929/Brigham Young) and James "Fly" Williams (1953/Austin Peay State).
19: All-Americans Elliott Loughlin (1910/Navy), Durand "Rudy" Macklin (1958/Louisiana State), John Pinone (1961/Villanova) and Mark Sears (2002/Alabama).
20: All-Americans Charles Barkley (1963/Auburn), Ambrose "A.L." Bennett (1924/Oklahoma A&M), Jarrett Culver (1999/Texas Tech), Stephon Marbury (1977/Georgia Tech) and Frank Oleynick (1955/Seattle).
21: All-Americans Steve Francis (1977/Maryland) and Julius McCoy (1932/Michigan State) plus Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay (1925/St. Joseph's).
22: All-Americans Dennis Awtrey (1948/Santa Clara), Archie Dees (1936/Indiana), Julius Erving (1950/Massachusetts), Devonte' Graham (1995/Kansas), Trayce Jackson-Davis (2000/Indiana), George Kaftan (1928/Holy Cross), Adam Keefe (1970/Stanford), Lewis Lloyd (1959/Drake), Lee Nailon (1975/Texas Christian), twins Dick Van Arsdale and Tom Van Arsdale (1943/Indiana) plus Chester "Chet" Walker (1940/Bradley).
23: All-Americans Mal Graham (1945/NYU), Gary Gray (1945/Oklahoma City), Roger Kaiser (1939/Georgia Tech), Vic Molodet (1933/North Carolina State), Jamal Murray (1997/Kentucky), Phil "Red" Murrell (1933/Drake), D'Angelo Russell (1996/Ohio State), Lee Shaffer (1939/North Carolina) and Andrew Wiggins (1995/Kansas).
24: All-Americans Charley Brown (1936/Seattle), Tommy Burleson (1952/North Carolina State), Mike Robinson (1952/Michigan State) and Al Tucker (1943/Oklahoma Baptist).
25: All-Americans Vernon Carey Jr. (2001/Duke), Jimmer Fredette (1989/Brigham Young), Matt Guokas (1944/St. Joseph's), E'Twaun Moore (1989/Purdue), Joakim Noah (1985/Florida), Fred VanVleet (1994/Wichita State), Malcolm "Sparky" Wade (1910/Louisiana State) and Frank Williams (1980/Illinois) plus Hall of Fame coach Fred "Tex" Winter (1922/Marquette, Kansas State, Washington, Northwestern and Long Beach State).
26: All-Americans Rolando Blackman (1959/Kansas State), Joe Capua (1934/Wyoming), Tom Churchill (1907/Oklahoma), Joe Holup (1934/George Washington), Bob McCurdy (1952/Richmond) and Robert "Bingo" Smith (1946/Tulsa).
27: All-Americans Johnny Davis (2002/Wisconsin), Gus Doerner (1922/Evansville), Charles "Chick" Halbert (1919/West Texas A&M), Devin Harris (1983/Wisconsin), Lloyd Sharrar (1936/West Virginia), Terence Stansbury (1961/Temple) and James Worthy (1961/North Carolina) plus Hall of Fame coach Mike Montgomery (1947/Montana, Stanford and California).
28: All-Americans Luther "Ticky" Burden (1953/Utah), Adrian Dantley (1956/Notre Dame), Chuck Hyatt (1908/Pittsburgh), Tayshaun Prince (1980/Kentucky), Tom Riker (1950/South Carolina), Jamaal Tinsley (1978/Iowa State), Max Williams (1938/Southern Methodist) and Cassius Winston (1998/Michigan State) plus Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith (1931/North Carolina).

Birthdays in January for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in February for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in March for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in April for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in May for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in June for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in July for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in August for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in September for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in October for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in November for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in December for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches

Hot Stove League: MLB February Transactions Regarding Ex-College Hoopers

Former Illinois college hoopers Tom Haller (Illinois), Cal Neeman (Illinois Wesleyan), Champ Summers (SIU Edwardsville) and Jay Ward (McKendree) were traded by major-league baseball franchises this month in a 15-year span from 1963 through 1977. Summers, a transfer from Nicholls State, also joined prominent ex-Louisiana college hoopers Joe Adcock (LSU), Zeke Bonura (Loyola New Orleans) and George Stone (Louisiana Tech) in MLB February transactions. They are among the following former college hoopers involved in MLB off-season transactions during the month of February:

FEBRUARY

1: OF Jim Lyttle (led Florida State in free-throw shooting in 1965-66 when averaging 12.4 ppg) traded by the Chicago White Sox to Kansas City Royals in 1973. . . . C Ebba St. Claire (Colgate hoops letterman in 1941-42) traded by the Milwaukee Braves to New York Giants in 1954.
2: INF Billy Harrell (averaged 10.3 ppg in three seasons for Siena in early 1950s) awarded on waivers from the Cleveland Indians to St. Louis Cardinals in 1959.
3: RHP Paul Hartzell (averaged 5.9 ppg and 3.4 rpg as Lehigh forward in 1972-73) traded by the California Angels to Minnesota Twins in 1979. . . . INF Larry Wolfe (Sacramento City College CA letterman in 1971-72 and 1972-73 scored juco game-high 33 points) traded by the Minnesota Twins to Boston Red Sox in 1979.
5: OF Ethan Allen (Cincinnati hoops letterman in 1924-25 and 1925-26) purchased from the St. Louis Cardinals to Philadelphia Phillies in 1934. . . . OF Sam Mele (NYU's leading scorer in 1943 NCAA playoffs) traded by the Chicago White Sox to Baltimore Orioles in 1954. . . . OF Leon Roberts (played in four basketball games for Michigan in 1970-71 under coach Johnny Orr) traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to Kansas City Royals for 1B Cecil Fielder in 1983.
6: INF Jake Flowers (member of 1923 "Flying Pentagon" championship hoops squad for Washington College MD) purchased from the Brooklyn Dodgers by Buffalo (International) in 1934.
7: INF Charlie Gelbert (scored at least 125 points each of last three seasons in late 1920s for Lebanon Valley PA) purchased from the Boston Red Sox by Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942. . . . 1B-OF Bud Sharpe (hoops letterman for Penn State in 1902) purchased from the Boston Rustlers by Buffalo (Eastern) in 1911.
8: RHP Elden Auker (All-Big Six Conference first five selection with Kansas State in 1931-32) purchased from the Boston Red Sox by St. Louis Browns in 1940. . . . RHP Ownie Carroll (Holy Cross hoops letterman in 1922) traded with INF Jake Flowers (member of 1923 "Flying Pentagon" championship hoops squad for Washington College MD) by the St. Louis Cardinals to Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933. . . . 2B-OF Davey Lopes (NAIA All-District 15 selection for Iowa Wesleyan averaged 16.9 ppg and 3.4 rpg as freshman in 1964-65 and 12.1 ppg as sophomore in 1965-66 before transferring with his coach to Washburn KS where he became All-CIC choice for 1968 NAIA Tournament team) traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to Oakland Athletics in 1982.
9: RHP Bobby Munoz (scored 35 points in game for Polk Community College FL in 1986-87) traded by the New York Yankees to Philadelphia Phillies in 1994.
10: LHP Al Downing (attended Muhlenberg PA on hoops scholarship but left before ever playing) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to Los Angeles Dodgers in 1971. . . . OF Les Mann (Springfield MA hooper in 1913 and 1914) purchased from the Chicago Whales by Chicago Cubs in 1916. . . . C-UTL Billy Sullivan Jr. (Portland hoops letterman in 1927-28) traded by the Cleveland Indians to St. Louis Browns in 1938.
11: INF Rob Sperring (averaged 8.7 ppg and 2.9 rpg for Pacific from 1968-69 through 1970-71) traded by the Chicago Cubs to San Francisco Giants in 1977.
12: 2B Jack Dittmer (Iowa hooper in 1949-50) traded by the Milwaukee Braves to Detroit Tigers in 1957. . . . SS Doc Lavan (Hope MI hooper from 1908 through 1910) purchased from the Philadelphia Athletics by St. Louis Browns in 1914. . . . LHP Joe Ostrowski (leading scorer for Scranton PA in 1942-43) purchased from the New York Yankees by Chicago Cubs in 1953.
13: INF Tim Cullen (starting guard for Santa Clara in 1962-63 when averaging 10 ppg and 3.4 rpg) traded by the Washington Senators to Chicago White Sox in 1968. . . . C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) traded by the San Francisco Giants to Los Angeles Dodgers in 1968.
14: C Cal Neeman (Illinois Wesleyan's leading scorer in 1947-48 and 1948-49) traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to St. Louis Cardinals in 1963.
15: 1B Zeke Bonura (best basketball forward for Loyola New Orleans in late 1920s and early 1930s) purchased from the Chicago Cubs by Minneapolis (American Association) in 1941. . . . OF Pip Koehler (Penn State hoops letterman in 1921-22 and 1922-23) shipped as player to be designated by the New York Giants to Toledo (American Association) in 1926 to complete swap made the previous summer.
16: 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading scorer in 1945-46 traded by the Cincinnati Reds to Milwaukee Braves as part of a four-team swap in 1953. . . . OF Bake McBride (averaged 12.7 ppg and 8.1 rpg in 21 games for Westminster MO in 1968-69 and 1969-70) traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to Cleveland Indians in 1982. . . . OF-DH Champ Summers (led SIU-Edwardsville in scoring in 1969-70 after doing likewise with Nicholls State in 1964-65) traded by the Chicago Cubs to Cincinnati Reds in 1977.
18: INF Owen Kahn (basketball letterman for William & Mary in 1924-25 and 1925-26) purchased from Manchester (New England) by the Boston Braves in 1930. . . . INF Jay Ward (attended McKendree IL for one semester as freshman in 1956-57) traded by the Cleveland Indians to Cincinnati Reds in 1970.
19: INF Billy Hunter (multi-sport athlete for Indiana PA post-WWII) traded with OF Irv Noren (1945 player of the year for California community college state basketball champion Pasadena City) and multiple additional players by the New York Yankees to Kansas City Athletics for multiple players in 1957.
20: 1B-OF Buddy Hassett (hooper for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive contests in 1930 and 1931) traded by the New York Yankees to Brooklyn Dodgers in 1936.
22: C Art Kusnyer (led Kent State in field-goal percentage in 1965-66 as team's third-leading scorer and rebounder) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to Kansas City Royals in 1978.
23: LHP Stan Baumgartner (hooper for Western Conference champion University of Chicago in 1914) traded by New Haven (Eastern) to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1924. . . . OF Jerry Martin (Furman's second-leading scorer in 1969-70 and third-leading scorer in 1970-71) traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to Chicago Cubs in 1979. . . . 1B Dick Siebert (Concordia-St. Paul MN hooper in 1929 and 1930) purchased from the Chicago Cubs by St. Louis Cardinals in 1937.
24: 1B Tony Lupien (Harvard hoops captain in 1938-39) purchased from the Philadelphia Phillies by Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946. . . . LHP George Stone (averaged 14.7 ppg and 6.5 rpg for Louisiana Tech in 1964-65 and 1965-66) traded by the New York Mets to Texas Rangers in 1976.

MLB OFF-SEASON WHEELING AND DEALING PREVIOUS THREE MONTHS
MLB January Transactions Involving Former College Hoopers
MLB December Transactions Involving Former College Hoopers
MLB November Transactions Involving Former College Hoopers

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling January 31 NFL Super Bowls

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before spurring politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on January 31 in Super Bowl competition:

JANUARY 31

  • Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy (earned hoops letter with Coe IA in 1949-50) lost his third consecutive Super Bowl (52-17 against Dallas Cowboys in XXVII following 1992 season). Bills TEs Keith McKeller (starting center for Jacksonville State's 1985 NCAA Division II championship team led Gulf South Conference in rebounding each of his first three seasons and finished second as senior) and Pete Metzelaars (1982 NCAA Division III Tournament MOP for Wabash IN in 1982) combined for three pass receptions. Bills WR Don Beebe (Aurora College IL junior varsity hooper in 1983-84) caught a touchdown pass in his second straight Super Bowl but is best known for his iconic hustle play chasing down and stripping Leon Lett of the ball just before the showboating Cowboys DE crossed the goal line following running more than 60 yards after fumble recovery.

  • Denver Broncos WR Rod Smith (swingman was Missouri Southern State hoops letterman as sophomore in 1990-91) caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from John Elway midway through second quarter in 34-19 win against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII following 1998 season. Broncos DL Marvin Washington (averaged 1 ppg and 1.3 rpg for Texas-El Paso in 1984-85 and 1985-86 under coach Don Haskins before transferring to Idaho and averaging 2.9 ppg and 5.7 rpg in 1987-88 under coach Tim Floyd) and Alfred Williams (briefly played hoops for Colorado in 1989-90) combined for three solo tackles. Falcons rookie Ephraim Salaam (scored 22 points in five games for San Diego State in 1996-97) started at RT in their first-ever trip to NFL title tilt.

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling January 30 NFL Super Bowls

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before spurring politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on January 30 in football at the professional level (especially Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII):

JANUARY 30

  • St. Louis Rams MLB London Fletcher (started two basketball games as St. Francis PA freshman in 1993-94 before transferring home to Cleveland to play hoops for John Carroll OH in 1995-96) recorded a game-high seven solo tackles in 23-16 win against the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season.

  • Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy (earned hoops letter with Coe IA in 1949-50) lost his fourth consecutive Super Bowl game (30-13 against Dallas Cowboys in XXVIII following 1993 season). Bills TE Keith McKeller (starting center for Jacksonville State's 1985 NCAA Division II championship team led Gulf South Conference in rebounding each of his first three seasons and finished second as senior) had at least one pass reception in his fourth straight Super Bowl while teammate Pete Metzelaars (1982 NCAA Division III Tournament MOP for Wabash IN in 1982) did likewise in his third consecutive SB.

  • George Starke (averaged 2.9 ppg and 3.7 rpg for Columbia in 1968-69 and 1969-70) was starting RT for Washington Redskins in their 27-17 win against the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII following 1982 season.

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling January 29 NFL Super Bowl

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is example of exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players making a name for themselves on January 29 in Super Bowl competition:

JANUARY 29

  • Bobby Ross (averaged 3 ppg as VMI freshman in 1955-56) coached the San Diego Chargers when they lost against the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX following 1994 season. Chargers SS Rodney Harrison (averaged 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3 apg and 1.6 spg for Western Illinois in 1992-93) recorded one solo tackle.

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling January 28 NFL Super Bowls

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following are former college basketball players making a name for themselves on January 28 in Super Bowl competition:

JANUARY 28

  • Baltimore Ravens TE Ben Coates (Livingstone NC hooper) caught three passes for 30 yards in a 34-7 victory against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV following 2000 season. Ravens backup LB Brad Jackson (Cincinnati hooper in 1997-98 under coach Bob Huggins) collected one solo tackle and one fumble recovery. Giants RCB Jason Sehorn (averaged 12.5 ppg and 6 rpg for Shasta Community College CA in 1990-91) tied for team high with six solo tackles.

  • San Francisco 49ers FS Ronnie Lott (Southern California hooper in 1979-80) contributed a solo tackle in 55-10 victory against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV following 1989 season. Starting LT for the Broncos was Gerald Perry (averaged 2.8 ppg and 2.3 rpg for South Carolina in 1983-84 under coach Bill E. Foster before transferring and averaging 2 ppg and 1.5 rpg with Southern LA in 1986-87 under coach Ben Jobe).

On This Date: Former College Hoopers Tackling January 27 NFL Postseason

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before spurring politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players Keith McKeller and Tommy Polley starting for teams on January 27 in NFL postseason:

JANUARY 27

  • Buffalo Bills TE Keith McKeller (four-time All-Gulf South Conference selection for Jacksonville State averaged 12.5 ppg and 10.1 rpg from 1982-83 through 1985-86) caught two passes for 11 yards from QB Jim Kelly in 20-19 setback against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV following 1990 season.

  • St. Louis Rams rookie LB Tommy Polley (played in one basketball game for Florida State in 1996-97 under coach Pat Kennedy) provided seven solo tackles in 29-24 win in NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles following 2001 campaign.

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