February 19, 1948: Less than a year earlier, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in major league baseball with the Dodgers. Now professional basketball would experience integration – at least temporarily. Abe Saperstein, founder of the African-American Harlem Globetrotters in 1927 and still their coach and manager, signed an agreement with Max Winter, general manager of the all-white Minneapolis Lakers, to play an exhibition game at Chicago Stadium. The game would be a prelim to the regularly scheduled game between the Chicago Stags and New York Knicks of the BAA (Basketball Association of America).

The Globetrotters had never played in a league. Instead, they toured the nation and the world playing local teams and demonstrating the showmanship and trickery that made them fan favorites. Arch Ward, respected Chicago sportswriter (who had conceived the idea for both the baseball all-star game and the college-pro football all star game), wrote that "the Trotters are still the best team in the world." Going into the game with the Lakers, Saperstein's club had a 103-game winning streak, although very few of the victories were over other pro teams.

The Lakers were the reincarnation of the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League. Upon moving to Minneapolis, the franchise used the first pick in the 1947 draft to select 6'10" George Mikan, who had dominated the Professional Basketball League of America for the Chicago Gears until that league folded. With Big George in the pivot, the Lakers quickly established themselves as the best team in the NBL. It is interesting that the Globetrotters-Lakers game was considered such a draw that the Chicago team of the rival BAA agreed to the doubleheader in their building. A Chicago Stadium record crowd of 17,823 turned out for the doubleheader. They were not disappointed by the first game, which is what most came to see.

Like a comet that roars across the sky before burning out, Bevo Francis needed only two seasons to become a basketball legend. The 6'9" sharpshooter still holds the NCAA record for most points in a game (113). His 46.5 average in 1953-4 remains the Division II high. And these marks were set long before the 3-point shot.

Born in 1932 in Hammondsville OH 55 miles west of Pittsburgh, Clarence Francis was nicknamed "Bevo" like his father, who liked that brand of beer. Young Bevo missed two years in grade school because of illness. When he regained his strength, he shot hoops eight hours at a time. By high school, he was a "beanpole with a deadly jump shot." He was ruled ineligible for his first two years because of suspicion (without proof) that he had been illegally recruited by Coach Newt Oliver of Wellsville High. When he finally got on the court, Bevo averaged 30.6 ppg his junior year on a 23-2 team. However, because he had turned 20, Bevo sat out his senior year.

Nevertheless, 64 colleges offered him a scholarship but he chose tiny Rio (Rye-o) Grande College in SE Ohio because its new coach was Oliver. Newt had led the nation in scoring in 1947-8 while playing for Rio Grande. The NAIA school had only 92 students, 38 of them male. The gym had no showers or bleachers, a tile floor, and a leaky roof. Folding chairs were set up to accomodate fans. Already married with an infant son, Bevo received a full scholarship and housing.

In 1952-3, Francis led Rio Grande to a 39-0 season. This win total still ranks as the most by a college team. Two victims were Dayton and Cincinnati. However, 27 opponents were teams that did not represent degree-granting institutions (junior colleges and military bases). Bevo averaged 50.1 ppg, including 116 points on January 19, 1953, in a 150-85 victory over Ashland (KY) JC. However, the NCAA refused to recognize his feat because the competition was a two-year school. (The NAIA does acknowledge all his games.)

Tom Gola

San Francisco Dons 1956 NCAA Champions

Bob Pettit

An online visit to the La Salle University Basketball Media Guide for 2006-7 gives the date for a game the Explorers played in New Orleans: Sunday night, December 5, 1954. The occasion (not mentioned in the Guide) was the dedication of the Loyola Field House on Freret Street uptown in the Crescent City. La Salle, a Christian Brothers school in Philadelphia, was coming off an NCAA championship in the spring of 1954 (and an NIT crown in 1952 when the NIT had as much prestige as the NCAA). They easily defeated the host Wolfpack 85-71. The Explorers' All-American player was 6'6" Tom Gola, who could play every position on the court. He started his pro career with the Philadelphia 76ers when the NBA allowed territorial picks. He played with the Knicks from 1962-66. He coached at his alma mater and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1974. The school's arena is named for him.

Returning to the game in New Orleans, a 13-year-old boy attended with his father. They arrived early and sat midway up the low-sloping seats in the gym, which was touted as employing the same "theater-seating" design as arenas at Minnesota, Vanderbilt, and other prestigious universities. The court was raised so that the fans in the first few rows looked up at the action. The rows of seats actually angled down from the court until they started to rise. The result was that, even in row 25, you were already a long way from the court. The team benches were at the ends of the court. The boy was taking in the scene when he looked to his right and saw an African-American couple come in and sit next to him! This was a first. Segregation ruled 1954 Louisiana. However, the Jesuits who ran Loyola defied state law by having integrated seating in their new Field House. The boy's father, sitting to his left, said nothing and certainly didn't grab his son and move to another location or demand his money back. The boy said nothing to the couple, and they said nothing to him. No comments were made by spectators in the area that he remembers.

The following year, the boy and his father watched in awe as the new defending NCAA champions, the San Francisco Dons (a Jesuit school), led by 6'10" Bill Russell, played Loyola. The game added integration on the court to integration in the stands – multiple violations of Louisiana law. The boy remembers counting the number of steps Russell took to get from one end of the court to the other: only 10. Never had anyone seen a player so tall who was so quick off his feet. He blocked Wolfpack shots clear into the audience. The score at halftime was 45-16 as the home team was no match for the visitors.

Also in the mid-50s, the St. Louis Hawks, with LSU's great Bob Pettit, played the Fort Wayne Pistons in a regular season NBA game at the Field House. The boy remembers passing Bob as he walked to the locker room after the game.

In the 1960s the boy, now grown, watched many games of the New Orleans Buccaneers of the ABA at Loyola Field House (1967-1969). Larry Brown and Doug Moe, more famous later as coaches, played for the Bucs. The ABA featured the red-white-blue ball.

Another memorable game at the Field House featured Pistol Pete Maravich. December 2, 1968: LSU won easily 109-82. The last few minutes Pete entertained the packed house with Globetrotter-like antics, such as inbounding the ball at midcourt by throwing it off the backboard, stepping in and taking the ball on a big bounce, then swishing a long set shot. Pete later played for the New Orleans Jazz at the Field House (with netting strung across the sides of the court to keep players from careening into the crowd) before the Superdome opened.

As you've probably guessed, the boy was the writer, and these are his fond memories of great players and ground-breaking events at Loyola Field House. It was demolished in 1986, many years after Loyola had ceased playing Division I basketball in the mid-70s.