The athletic teams at St. Louis University are called the Billikens. Just what is a "Billiken"?

The Billiken is an ancient Buddha-like Asian symbol of good luck that became a national craze in the early 1900s. An art teacher, Florence Pretz, received a patent for her version of the figure. The Billiken Company of Chicago was formed to manufacture the figurines, thus giving them their names. Billikens reached their peak of popularity in 1911.

How the name became associated with St. Louis U. is not entirely clear. It is accepted that the link dates back to 1910-11 at the height of the billiken craze. The generally accepted version of the story pinpoints two St. Louis sportswriters who thought the SLU football coach, John Bender, bore a striking resemblance to the impish creature. One of them drew a caricature of Bender as a Billiken and began referring to the team as "Bender's Billikens." When the fans took to the name, the school adopted it.

Some would say that the present Billiken basketball coach, Rick Majerus, also resembles the chubby cherub.

At halftime of Cincinnati's first-round game in the 2008 Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, the Bearcats and the Garden commemorated the 50th anniversary of Oscar Robertson's first game at the old Garden (8th Avenue and 48th Street). On January 9, 1958, Oscar, a 19-year old 6'5" sophomore G, scored 56 points against Seton Hall to set a Garden scoring record, college and pro. Oscar hadn't expected to play at Cincinnati. After leading his Crispus Attucks team from Indianapolis to an undefeated state title, he was named National Player of the Year for 1956. In his words, "I had always hoped to play for Indiana University but Coach Branch McCracken's racial attitudes intervened." Cincinnati coach Ed Jucker had no such hangups. The Garden was the sports equivalent of Broadway theater or Carnegie Hall for music. MSG hosted the NIT Final Four (and in the 1950s the NIT was every bit as prestigious as the NCAA Tournament), championship fights, the Rangers and the Knicks. "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere," to quote the song "New York, New York." Also there were very few basketball games on TV, college or pro. Few people had actually seen Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Jerry West, or Elgin Baylor. So Oscar's performance in the media capital of the world catapulted him and his team to national prominence. Cincinnati's 118-54 rout of Seton Hall was the nightcap of a doubleheader in which Cincy's crosstown rival, Xavier, defeated another New York area team, Iona. Xavier returned to the Big Apple later that season to win the NIT. Coming from basketball-crazed Indiana, Oscar was accustomed to playing before rabid crowds. However, he was surprised by New Yorkers' passion and knowledge of the game. "Although black players in major college basketball were still a rarity then, I also found a welcome absence of the racial invective that came with the territory when you played in Indiana in the mid-'50s." A strong argument can be made that "Big O" Robertson is the greatest player ever. (They say "pound-for-pound" in football. So this would be "inch-for-inch.") He is the only player to average a triple double (points, rebounds, assists) for an entire NBA season (1961-2). He could, and did, play every position on the court, including C. He could score in the post against much taller defenders. His ball handling was superb and his passing exquisite.

Oscar Robertson (R) with Coach Ed Jucker and a Bearcat teammate

"When the Big O First Played the Garden: 56 in '58," by Oscar Robertson, New York Times, 3/9/08

In late April 2008, Will Robinson died at age 96. Never heard of him? Well, let me tell you about this remarkable man. In 1970, Robinson became the first African-American to coach an NCAA Division I basketball team when he was hired by Southern Illinois. His best player during his five years with the Salukis was Doug Collins who, a month after his mentor's death, was hired for the second time by the Chicago Bulls as their head coach. In recent years, Collins said, "To this day, I love him as a father."

Born in a small town in North Carolina in 1911, Robinson attended Steubenville High School in Ohio. He earned 14 letters in five sports – football, basketball, baseball, track, and golf. In 1930, he became the school's first black QB. The team went undefeated and unscored on. He was also captain of the golf team. Will recalled: "We went to the state tournament in Columbus, and they wouldn't let me play with the others. I started alone at seven in the morning. I couldn't stay in the dormitory at Ohio State. I couldn't eat at the banquet they had that night. They gave me a sandwich. I finished second." Another tale he told illustrates the racial attitudes of the day even in the North. "I remember when I went to a school counselor and told her I thought I should take up typing, and she said: 'Typing? Why, you're going to be a janitor.'"

He attended West Virginia State College, then an all-Black school, where he earned 15 letters in four sports – football, basketball, baseball, and gymnastics. He captained each of those teams except basketball. After earning his degree in 1937, he coached in a YMCA basketball league in Pittsburgh before moving to Chicago, where he began his high school coaching career in 1943. In 1944, he began a 26-year tenure as a high school coach in Detroit. He coached basketball and football at Miller High for 13 years, winning six championships without the benefit of a gym or a home stadium. He did his best work at Pershing High where he won state basketball championships in 1967 and 1970. Five players from his 1967 team, including Spencer Hayward and Ralph Simpson, played pro sports.

While in Detroit, he was hired by the Detroit Lions as the first black scout in any pro sport. His job was to cover the traditionally black colleges in the South. His most famous discovery was Hall of Fame CB Lem Barney of Jackson State.

After being passed over for the University of Detroit head basketball post, he moved to Illinois State, where he compiled a 78-51 record in five years with no losing season. However, he still had to battle racism. Some suggested the school change its nickname from Redbirds to Blackbirds. He had trouble making a schedule and was often verbally abused at road games. Frustrated, he resigned to join the front office of the Detroit Pistons as a scout, a position he filled for 28 years. The players he found for the Pistons include Joe Dumars (now the GM), Dennis Rodman, and John Salley. He didn't retire until 2003 at age 92.

He was inducted into eight Halls of Fame in his lifetime in Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio. Although he spent five frustrating years at SIU, his selection opened the door for other black coaches such as George Raveling at Washington State in 1972 and Fred Snowden at Arizona.

Reference: Will Robinson – Struggles of a Black Athlete

Coach Craig Robinson

In April, Oregon State hired 46-year-old Craig Robinson as its basketball coach. He is the school's fifth coach since Hall of Famer Ralph Miller retired in 1989. The Beavers have had only one winning season out of the last 17. At least three coaches turned down the job before Robinson took it. Craig brings an interesting resumé to the task. After growing up in Chicago, he played at Princeton (another black and orange school like OSU) under the architect of the "Princeton Offense," Pete Carril. He led the Tigers to two Ivy titles and was selected by the 76ers in the fourth round in 1983. He played two years in England but not in the NBA. He returned to the U.S. and earned a master's degree in finance at the University of Chicago. He then worked eight years on Wall Street, eventually earning $1 million a year. He kept a connection to basketball, scouting high school games for Princeton and even coaching U. Chicago HS for a year. Never finding fulfillment in finance, he took a 90% pay cut to be an assistant to Carril disciple Bill Carmody at Northwestern. He made a name for himself as both a recruiter and a tactician. After six years in Evanston, Robinson took over the program at Brown, winning more games (30) in his first two years than any coach in the school's history. His 2007-8 squad won the Ivy League.

Robinson faces a daunting challenge in a job widely considered the most challenging in Division IA basketball.

• 59-year-old Gill Coliseum is badly in need of a thorough remake.
• Corvallis is an out-of-the-way city with 86% white population. Recruits must be driven two hours from the Portland airport.
• The Pac-10 is highly competitive. Last year's Beaver squad didn't win a conference game.

However, OSU thinks the enthusiasm with which Robinson turned around Brown will work out West also. And then there's one other fact about Craig that might help recruiting also.

His younger sister Michelle, who followed him to Princeton after high school, is Mrs. Barak Obama.

Reference: "The Unlikely Candidate", Sports Illustrated 6/9/08

This is the first of two related articles that take a trip through nearly one hundred years of basketball history.

In 1917, Eddie Gottlieb and two of his friends, all newly graduated from high school in Philadelphia, formed an amateur team sponsored by the Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA). When sponsorship transferred to the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association in 1921, the team became the Philadephia SPHAs, although they were often referred to as the "Hebrews" as they barnstormed across the East and Midwest playing in various semipro leagues, most notably the Eastern League in 1925-6 before it folded. The SPHAs cemented their reputation in 1926 when they defeated the Original Celtics (another team with numerous Jewish players) in three games and the New York Renaissance, an all-black team, in two games.

When the Eastern League was resurrected in 1929, the SPHAs won three championships in the first four years. This won them an invitation to join the American Basketball League in 1933. Coach Gottlieb's team promptly won three of the first four titles and seven in 13 years, finishing second two other times. The team's uniform shirts featured the four Hebrew letters spelling SPHA on the front and, to make sure the spectators got the point, had "Hebrews" on the back.

1922 Philadelphia SPHAs

When the Basketball Association of America, the immediate precursor of the NBA, was formed in 1946 to play in large arenas in major cities, Gottlieb became the coach and general manager of the Philadelphia Warriors in the new league and promptly won the first championship. His SPHAs continued as a minor league team in the ABL and also provided the opponent for the Harlem Globetrotters on their worldwide tours.

Article that discusses the stereotyping that Jewish players faced long before African-Americans were stereotyped