Bay Area Billiken

SLU really needs to be proactive re this IMO. The only things Duquesne can bring that SLU cannot are that Duquesne could potentially replace Pitt in that market, and of course, Pittsburgh is much closer to the East Coast. If these shifts to the Big East happen, with Xavier and Dayton moving there, then I don't see how SLU could ever stay in the A-10. If this happens, the remaining options could be a choice between the Horizon League and the MVC. SLU needs to try to be ahead of the game, lobbying on its own behalf. Does anyone know if SLU is doing that?

Was that at the famous ice storm hockey game? At that game, some of my then fellow freshmen friends from 6G ran the penalty box. I think Taj remembers that game. Also, for what it's worth, I had a typo in an above post- my recollection is that Monte Poole lived on 5G, not 5C. 5G was our arch-rival in the intramural battles.

Thanks. I knew a member of the Jazz Band, and a member of the Rent-a-Band. After the renegade band started playing at the basketball games, sometimes the Rent-a-Band would join in playing the song at the other end. But the renegade band only was able to play a few songs- When the Saints Go Marching In, Eat 'em Up, and that pep song where the fans chant at the end, "Let's go Bills" or "S-L-U." At Michigan, they chant "Let's go Blue" to the same song. For some reason the Rent-a-Band sat clear at the other baseline of the court, far away from the students, who sat on the floor on the baseline at the other end. When I was a freshman, Ernie Hays played the organ at both the SLU basketball and hockey games. Marquette came to town that year with a great team led by Bernard Toone and Sam Worthy, and coached then by Hank Raymonds, a former SLU player. Marquette was 2 years removed from winning the National Championship. Marquette brought its Band to the game, which was on a Saturday night and drew over 10,000. Marquette won 71-51. The Marquette Band was playing the Marquette Fight Song, "Ring Out a Hoya" after the game. Ernie Hays cranked up the organ in the rafters and drowned out the Marquette Band with his organ version of "When the Saints Go Marching In." Re the reported incident, see the NY Times archive story in Post #52 above in this thread. The reported incident was over Christmas Break, on the same trip after the Butler game in Indianapolis (a SLU win no less). And when we returned for the second semester at SLU, all Hades had broken loose. I had been apprised of it before we returned to SLU for that second semester.

Billy Lou was a pathetic looking guy dressed in something like a Barbershop Quartet member's outfit. He had a mascot type head of a human with one of those flat type straw hats. He was supposed to be akin to the leader of a dance team, the Billy Lou Strutters. The Billy Lou Strutters replaced the cheerleaders. I know at least one of the Billy Lou Strutters was a Football Cardinal cheerleader (known then as The Big Red Line). The worst of all was when that female SLU student sang to Billy Lou over the PA system before the games: "Billy Lou, we love you, SLU ..." Good grief that was sad. The singer had a good voice, but the song was about as corny as could be. Can you imagine guys like Darrell Griffith, Keith Lee out there with that song being sung?

Was it the Maid Rite? It is a Quincy institution on 12th and Oak. The newer one that was on East Broadway has closed and a Mexican restaurant is at that site. Maid Rite was on the Food Channel a year or two ago. When I was a kid, Maid Rites were 12 cents. Whenever Quincy expatriates return home, we have to make a visit, or two or more, to the Maid Rite.

I've often said that I could write a book about the Ekker Era, with a couple of chapters devoted to his last year alone. But, on the other hand, it might be better to let those days drift away into history.

The visits by the Soccer Billikens to Quincy, every other year, were big deals. The Billikens were at the very top of NCAA Soccer in those days. Quincy was the power of the NAIA, whereas SLU was the power of the NCAA. Quincy played the role of the underdog, and yes, most of the Hawks players were from St. Louis, including the current Mayor of St. Louis, Francis Slay, who was then known as Fran Slay. Re the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees, I was once at a Quincy-St. Ambrose basketball game at Memorial Gym. A good number of QC students suddenly marched into the premises chanting "Old Bald Leo," in "honor" of the St. Ambrose coach. It was quite a spectacle for a young guy growing up in the Midwest to see.

SLU did have David Burns, who was later drafted by the NBA. That McKendree game was one of those aberrations. They came in all fired up. The SLU team acted like it could just show up and turn it on. I agree that SLU was outmanned in the Metro, except for Tulane. We could beat Tulane. Earlier in his tenure at SLU, Ekker had a reputation as a good coach, at least that's what we heard. Bob Costas raved about Ekker's great coaching job in the Mizzou game in his second year at SLU. In retrospect, Ekker probably should not have taken on the AD duties and just stuck to being the basketball coach. Once he became AD, there were issues with the other SLU sports, as SLU athletes from other sports often felt slighted vis-a-vis the basketball team. And there were issues with the students. Ekker was trying to have an NBA type show in terms of the Billy Lou Strutters. It wasn't the college basketball atmosphere that most of us wanted. We always heard that the SLU Jazz Band didn't want to play at the Basketball games, even though my recollection is that they did before Ekker's arrival. In any event, putting the Billiken mascot into mothballs in favor of the regrettable Billy Lou, not having a student band, but rather having that rent a band, and not letting the Billy Lou Strutters cheer at the soccer games, to say nothing of the embarrassing losing by the team, especially to McKendree, did not help Ekker with the students. He brought in all those JUCO's in his last year, SLU started off strong in the non-conference part of the schedule, even winning a road game at Butler, but then came the Incident with the Center at about New Year's, and the season completely unraveled after that. Ekker resigned as Basketball Coach effective at the end of the season. That team won only 1 game after the Incident, ironically on the road at Cincinnati, and finished 6-21. Ekker was replaced as AD during that second semester of his last year at SLU. I can tell you that we feared that SLU was going to drop to D-2. We were so relieved when we went to that press conference at Busch Center in which it was announced that SLU was staying in D-1, but moving to the then Midwestern City Conference (now Horizon League). SLU hired Rich Grawer as coach, he resurrected the program from the deep abyss, and the rest is history.

Yes- 6G was known as Cellblock Six back then. We had some great SLU athletes on that floor- Basketball- Curtis Hughes, LaTodd Johnson; Soccer- Larry Hulcer, Don Huber, Ty Keough was a de facto resident, Mark Fredrickson (in my class); Hockey- Chris Valentine, Pierre, Luc, Guz Gazzola, Terry Kitching (sp.?), Mike Denk. I know I've got to be missing some guys. John Hayes was often on our floor. LaTodd was a real good guy; he used to come in our room often to watch Sanford and Son. LaTodd played 2B and hit leadoff on our intramural softball team and used to have personal softball battles with Monte Poole, a 6'5" basketball player in his same class, who lived on arch-rival 5C. Poole looked like Dave Parker at the plate and hit a memorable, massive homer against us at the old Channing Field.

Agreed. I was at that McKendree debacle my Junior year at SLU. It was impossible to fathom that a Division 1 Billiken team from the Metro Conference, and led by David Burns, could lose to McKendree College. If we changed this thread to one's worst Billiken memory as an undergraduate at SLU, that McKendree game would have to be it.

Indeed. I've been to the Tower of Pizza many, many times, along with its cousin, Gem City Pizza. Jeff's Special is perhaps my favorite pizza of all. The then Quincy College played SLU at The Checkerdome on a Friday night, I think it was my soph. year. Quincy's Eric Karg had a huge game for the Hawks. But Ekker's Billikens were the beneficiaries of some rare home cooking from the zebras at crunch time and survived. I can tell you that had SLU lost that game, I would never, ever have heard the end of it. I still hear about it, but at least it went in the record books as a SLU win. SLU and Quincy had some great soccer battles over the years. When I was growing up and before I was at SLU, we knew that the Billiken game was the big one. We used to sit right behind Eric Delabar in the goal at old Q-Stadium. He could really punt the soccer ball.

Ekker came from West Texas State, then D-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference (now D-2 West Texas A&M). Ekker really lobbied hard to get the SLU job. I remember some SLU students from St. Louis (I grew up in Quincy) thought the job should have gone to Rich Grawer instead of Ekker. We couldn't stand the old Ekker offense of players playing in a shell away from the basket and holding the ball over their heads, making weak passes around the perimeter. We often thought the best SLU offense was the four corners, which allowed David Burns to penetrate, as Burns was fast and tough to guard. This was pre-shot clock days. Remember the old SLU cannon fodder, Roosevelt University from Chicago? The Billikens used to run up the score big time on Roosevelt. But many opponents were powerhouses- SLU didn't get close to Louisville. But SLU gave games to Memphis State, Florida State, and Cincinnati (which was not that great then). I remember one debacle in which the Billikens blew something like a 7 point lead with 30 seconds left against Florida State. FSU pressed and SLU was passing the ball under its own basket right to FSU players for layups. We were sitting mere feet away from it on the baseline and would have gone out there to help if we could. DePaul, ranked very highly, perhaps #1, came to town my Senior year. That DePaul team had Mark Aguirre, Terry Cummings, etc. I remember a local TV station asked Ray Meyer if he feared St. Louis (this was before it was Saint Louis), and he deadpanned that he did. Another classic was when SLU played at Notre Dame my sophomore year. We had 27 guys in our little dorm room on 6G watching that Saturday night game. We went bonkers when Kelvin Henderson dunked on Kelly Tripucka. SLU tied the score at something like 27 and then collapsed and got blown out. The TV game analyst was John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood himself. I still remember Wooden talking about the "Billikens."

Re your moniker/name, Ekker brought in a JUCO recruit in his last year- a guard by the name of Kevin Strozier. Stro was part of a class of 4 JUCO's that year, the last year of Ekker's contract, with the others being shooting guard Isaiah Singletary, Center Wallace Robinson, and Center/Power Forward Andre Craig. Craig played only 1 year of JUCO before coming to SLU with his JUCO Coach, Mickey Englett. Englett, who started as an Assistant Coach, eventually became the Interim AD that last year of Ekker. Ekker was the AD after Dick McDonald, with Ekker still being the Men's Basketball Coach. The Ekker Era players included Kelvin Henderson (the first 2 years), David Burns (the middle 2 years), Mark Rohde (the first 2 years), Craig Shaver (the first year), LaTodd Johnson (the last 3 years), Bob Mueller and Dick Missavage (all 4 years), holdover guards Jim Glass and Everne Carr (the first year), and Willie Becton and Darryl Anderson later. LaTodd Johnson roomed on 6G and played 2B and hit leadoff on our intramural softball team. Dick Missavage roomed on 3C. Kelvin Henderson, a 6'7" Center, and David Burns a lighting quick 6'2" guard with flowing hair, were very good players. Both were drafted by the NBA, and Burns played a bit for the New Jersey Nets. They almost led SLU to an incredible upset of Mizzou in Ekker's second year, that got away in OT after Henderson fouled out. Bob Costas was at the mike on KMOX and kept praising the great coaching job of Ron Ekker. All these names should spark some memories of my contemporaries on this Board. Those were the days (37-71), but treasured memories.

The renegade pep band had at least 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, and someone banging a drum. There were not a lot of fans in the stands, but the SLU basketball games in Ekker's last year had 2 bands (Ekker's rent a band) and the renegade band, playing at opposite ends of the floor.

We finally forced Ekker's hand and brought back the Billiken our Senior year. Ekker had gotten rid of the Billiken and replaced him with Billy Lou, who looked like the Mayrose Meat Man. A female student would sing a song to Billy Lou before the games. It was totally embarrassing. SLU was playing national powers like Louisville, Memphis State, DePaul, and a song is sung to Billy Lou before the games. When we were sitting in Ekker's office pleading to get back the Billiken, he told us that he had spent a lot of money (from the budget) for Billy Lou. SLU did not have a student pep band then, rather Ekker hired a rent a band that sat at the other end, away from the SLU students. So we formed our own renegade pep band in the dorm. Its first appearance was also at that Bronze Boot Game, and continued into basketball season. Our band sat with the students. They could play a few songs, but at least they were played with pep, and they could play When the Saints Go Marching In. Ekker replaced the cheerleaders with the Billy Lou Strutters. The Alumni Trumpeteers were actually resurrected by Rich Grawer. Those guys were solid; they wore Billiken beanie type hats. They even played during the game when SLU was bringing the ball up the court. Grawer retained the Billiken that we brought back, and also brought back the cheerleaders. And the SLU team under Ekker had some good players- Kelvin Henderson, David Burns. But SLU was in the Metro Conference then with the likes of Louisville (Darrell Griffith) and Memphis State (Keith Lee, William Bedford), Florida State, Virginia Tech, etc. SLU was able to hold its own with Tulane back then. Ekker came to SLU from West Texas State, and lobbied hard to get the SLU job. Some SLU students from St. Louis thought that SLU should have hired Rich Grawer then (as in 4 years earlier), instead of Ekker. Grawer was at DeSmet HS at the time.

B-Roy, did the SLU student re the Wiley Brown incident wear a huge cowboy hat? If so, I'm pretty sure I know who he was. If he is that guy, he was known as the Phillie Phanatic. We sat perpendicular to the opponent's bench and talked to the players. With those great Louisville teams, we implored Denny Crum to put Marty Pulliam, the proverbial U of L benchwarmer, into the game. "Hey Coach, put this guy in the game." With the sparse crowd, even for Louisville, there's no doubt that Crum heard us, but he always acted like he didn't and and kept the serious face, as he kept the full court press on with a huge lead. We had the Louisville bench players in stitches. (It was great when Spoon got to SLU and was able to defeat Crum and Louisville.) For the Tulane game, we upgraded and could hear then Tulane Coach Roy Danforth in the huddle. Danforth said, "Watch that Miscarriage guy (Dick Missavage), he can shoot."

I was also at that DH at the Checkerdome on that Sunday afternoon, seated high above in some type of "box." I looked down between games and saw then Mizzou Assistant Coach Rich Grawer exiting toward the tunnel, and then SLU Coach Ron Ekker entering. The two of them crossed paths and shook hands. I remember wondering if that was a foreshadowing of the proverbial passing of the torch (which it turned out to be). The Mizzou-Louisville game was a sellout. The official attendance for the SLU-Tulane game went in the books at "10,000." Some of the Mizzou fans stayed for awhile, and filtered out as the SLU game progressed. Another true story from that year or near it- there was some study about SLU v. Jesuit University X, which we all knew was Marquette. A SLU student from Milwaukee, whom I think wrote for the U-News, advocated way back then that SLU hire a certain Marquette assistant- Rick Majerus!

My 4 undergraduate years at SLU coincided with the 4 Ekker years. I think my favorite memory of all was when my roommate and I sat in Ekker's office our Senior year (in the Fall of 1981) and refused to leave until he let us restore the Billiken mascot. We took custody of the old Billiken head, convinced a friend to serve as the Billiken, and dressed him in an old SLU Hockey Jersey for the Bronze Boot Game at Busch Stadium II against SIUE. Then we kept the "Head" and had another dormmate serve as the Billiken at the Basketball games, wearing a tuxedo. Dave Dorr, the basketball writer for the STL Post-Dispatch, wrote an article about the return of the "Head." As for the games themselves, the one that stands out for me is early in the 1978-79 season, my Freshman year, in which a young fellow freshman, Willie Horne, from New York City, hit a huge late in the game basket to take down SIUC at the then Checkerdome (aka St. Louis Arena).

Correct- Dayton was in the MCC from 1987-1993 and in the Great Midwest from 1993-1995.

Yes. Marquette also left the MCC, with SLU, after the 1991 season to go to the Great Midwest.

SLU was a charter member of the Great Midwest in 1991, leaving Xavier and Dayton in the MCC, but Dayton joined the Great Midwest 2 years later in 1993. Then when the Great Midwest merged with the Metro to form C-USA, with play starting in 1995, Dayton was not invited. Dayton and Xavier joined the A-10 in 1995. DePaul was a driving force behind the formation of the Great Midwest, and in both cases (Great Midwest and C-USA), SLU was more along for the ride. Part of the deal with Dayton not going to C-USA was that SLU and Dayton continued to play each year in hoops. There were some reported hard feelings for SLU at the MCC Tournament in 1991, when it was known that SLU was leaving the league. But I really don't think SLU, itself, was doing anything against either Xavier or Dayton in either case. Cincinnati probably did not want Xavier in the Great Midwest and likely did not want Dayton in C-USA, ditto for Louisville in the latter case.

Yes, SLU played and won at Loyola. I remember watching the game on TV. SLU also won the game in St. Louis.

If they are mutually exclusive, I'd pick March Madness. There is nothing like it when SLU is playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Everything seems to hinge on Notre Dame. Really, Notre Dame should be in the Big Ten IMO. However, there are old wounds of Big Ten long ago rejection of Notre Dame and Notre Dame more recent rejection of the Big Ten. Notre Dame alumni are said to be in favor of maintaining Independent status in football. It seems that Notre Dame sees itself as an East Coast school in the Indiana cornfields. Academically, although Notre Dame is ranked #20 in the US News & World Report college rankings and is the highest ranked Catholic school, Notre Dame is not a member of the Association of American Universities, of which all Big Ten schools are members, and of which Mizzou, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Pittsburgh are all members. That AAU is said to be of some importance to the Big Ten. But frankly, AAU membership would be deep sixed as any criterion to get ND to join the Big Ten IMO. If ND joins the Big Ten, the Big Ten could stop at 12. It would have its 12 schools for a football playoff game. It would only have to divide the TV revenue one more way. But the Big Ten may also be looking at Mizzou to bring the Missouri markets, where the Big Ten Network, per 810 AM in Kansas City, is offfered on basic cable to very few of over 7 million residents living in Missouri TV markets. Academically, though ranked #102 overall by US News & World Report, Mizzou is in that AAU and has a nationally known and respected Journalism school. Mizzou football and basketball are both competitive, and Mizzou has good facilities. And, of course, Missouri borders both Illinois and Iowa. Nebraska would bring a very strong football tradition, and is ranked #96 (ironically tied with Kansas, among others) by US New & World Report. Rutgers, to an extent, would bring the mega-New York City market.

Agreed. With Utah and Colorado being in the Mountain Time Zone, there is only a 1 hour time difference, as oppposed to 2 with Texas. I know some say geography no longer matters, but I think it does in the case of Texas and the Pac-10. That's at least a 3 hour flight from California, longer from the Great Northwest. Also, geography was a negative in the earlier Texas to the Big Ten talk, which appears to be on the backburner. Re Colorado, there has been some thought re Colorado having more in common with the Pac-10 than with the Big XII. Colorado and Utah bring with them the Denver and Salt Lake City TV markets.