Favorite Memory as an Undergrad Here at SLU

[billikenOHsix]

One of my favorites was my freshman year, 06-07, we had Xavier at home and during a timeout the flag runners were running so close to the Xavier huddle that the flags were grazing players. The coaching staff all went crazy, screaming at the refs and the student section, which was loving it. When the band played "Hey Baby", lyrics were replaced with "Hey, hey Xavier, we wanna knowwww, how you like our flags" and one assistant of theirs lost it, screaming "ZERO CLASS" to the students for like the next 10 mins.

The best part is, Bills won by 8 or 10 points.

[AGB91]

Ron Ekker's face after he got up close and personal with Wallace Robinson's fist!

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

Eastsidehoe-

you're weak. Im heading to Joey Bs for lunch right now.

Eastsidehoe-

I saw you hiding in your car at Joey Bs...weak. stay up in the 200s next season.

[eastsidejoe]

Eastsidehoe-

I saw you hiding in your car at Joey Bs...weak. stay up in the 200s next season.

i will be in section 108 next year backrammer. not to worry, you never go to the games anyway.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

i will be in section 108 next year backrammer. not to worry, you never go to the games anyway.

I definitely have nothing to worry about your posts...as always you have nothing creative to post. Glad to see you are up and off the canvas though.

[Box and Won]

I'm sure Coach Ekker would agree with you.

It sucks when the coach steals all the quality trim.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

Davola, you forgot to talk about our preparation for Kentucky at the bar that night.

"preparing" for the game by consuming father/son appletinis hardly counts

[eastsidejoe]

"preparing" for the game by consuming father/son appletinis hardly counts

the Backrammer can't post about his favorite memory because he was never at a game to have a favorite memory. Just another losing comment by a loser who never comes to the games. i will meet you at the Dirty Ricans as soon as the baby 's born and i will explain a few things to you about bb, like you have to GO to the games to appreciate the games. i want to see that baby. i am crashing that place.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

the Backrammer can't post about his favorite memory because he was never at a game to have a favorite memory. Just another losing comment by a loser who never comes to the games. i will meet you at the Dirty Ricans as soon as the baby 's born and i will explain a few things to you about bb, like you have to GO to the games to appreciate the games. i want to see that baby. i am crashing that place.

ES Hoe-

I hope your 6th grade CYO basketball team doesnt look to you for creativity or wit. Backhand will see you in 108 come the fall.

[Taj79]

My favorite memory was 1980 or 81 ... I think. Doubleheader at the Checkerdome --- first game Louisville versus then-No. 1 Mizzou with Stipo, Frazier, McCrary, Sundvold, Dressler. I'm in the second row of the end zone yellow seats for that game. INose-bleed, upper deck. ts on NBC or CBS, whomever was doing the games back then. Second game is SLU versus Tulane. The Mizzou/UofL game is national, with Dick Enberg and Al Maguire doing the game.

First game was a great one. Mizzou eventualy prevails. Game buzzer goes off and well over half the arena crowd leaves. We move down into the lower yellows, second section off the floor, right behind Maguire and Enberg. They do their post-game wrap as the Bills and Green Wave are warming up and when they wrap, they pack up their bags and throw their overcoats on and get ready to light out into the late afternoon. Our whole section starts going nuts, screaming at Al things like "Don't go Al!" "Stay and coach us Al, PLEASE!" "We need YOU, Al." All sorts of things like that. Al's waving and smiling --- but he keeps on walking ---- had to wait almost 30 years for the next ex-Marquette coach to come along. Wewerethiscloseto respectability ......... but alas, no Saint Al.

I think for the Bills game, we were one of the few remaining eight hundred or so that lasted through halftime. That was as good as it got during those "dark" years. You young-uns have no idea.

My favorite good memory was a few years later, we beat Hersey Hawkins and Bradley at the old Kiel. The crowd, about 6 or 7 thousand strong (which was huge for a SLU crowd), was going nuts and Bradley didn't score for like the last five minutes of the game. That's when I knew the program had a chance to not only survive but be good, if it got the care and attention it needed, plus a few breaks. Still took another 25 years or so.

[strozier]

One of my favorites was my freshman year, 06-07, we had Xavier at home and during a timeout the flag runners were running so close to the Xavier huddle that the flags were grazing players. The coaching staff all went crazy, screaming at the refs and the student section, which was loving it. When the band played "Hey Baby", lyrics were replaced with "Hey, hey Xavier, we wanna knowwww, how you like our flags" and one assistant of theirs lost it, screaming "ZERO CLASS" to the students for like the next 10 mins.

The best part is, Bills won by 8 or 10 points.

google "Mario Mercurio" for more info, poster....I love that one as well!

[SShoe]

This is easy for me, the night we defeated #2 Louisville. Incredible game, legit court rush, and bars were hopping, For at least that night, SLU felt like a state school after a big football game.

[DirtyRican]

Beating Cincinnati at home on Valentines Day in 1999 after losing to them every other time during the Undergrad Years.

That was one of my favorite moments as well. I rushed the court and jumped on Luechtefeld's back.

[strozier]

This is easy for me, the night we defeated #2 Louisville. Incredible game, legit court rush, and bars were hopping, For at least that night, SLU felt like a state school after a big football game.

I still have the UNews from that week hanging up on the old wall at home. That was magical, as Drew Barrymore would say.

[Bay Area Billiken]

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).

[Westy03]

This is easy for me, the night we defeated #2 Louisville. Incredible game, legit court rush, and bars were hopping, For at least that night, SLU felt like a state school after a big football game.

This would be mine as well. Rushing the court was awesome.

[Bay Area Billiken]

My favorite memory was 1980 or 81 ... I think. Doubleheader at the Checkerdome --- first game Louisville versus then-No. 1 Mizzou with Stipo, Frazier, McCrary, Sundvold, Dressler. I'm in the second row of the end zone yellow seats for that game. INose-bleed, upper deck. ts on NBC or CBS, whomever was doing the games back then. Second game is SLU versus Tulane. The Mizzou/UofL game is national, with Dick Enberg and Al Maguire doing the game.

First game was a great one. Mizzou eventualy prevails. Game buzzer goes off and well over half the arena crowd leaves. We move down into the lower yellows, second section off the floor, right behind Maguire and Enberg. They do their post-game wrap as the Bills and Green Wave are warming up and when they wrap, they pack up their bags and throw their overcoats on and get ready to light out into the late afternoon. Our whole section starts going nuts, screaming at Al things like "Don't go Al!" "Stay and coach us Al, PLEASE!" "We need YOU, Al." All sorts of things like that. Al's waving and smiling --- but he keeps on walking ---- had to wait almost 30 years for the next ex-Marquette coach to come along. Wewerethiscloseto respectability ......... but alas, no Saint Al.

I think for the Bills game, we were one of the few remaining eight hundred or so that lasted through halftime. That was as good as it got during those "dark" years. You young-uns have no idea.

My favorite good memory was a few years later, we beat Hersey Hawkins and Bradley at the old Kiel. The crowd, about 6 or 7 thousand strong (which was huge for a SLU crowd), was going nuts and Bradley didn't score for like the last five minutes of the game. That's when I knew the program had a chance to not only survive but be good, if it got the care and attention it needed, plus a few breaks. Still took another 25 years or so.

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!

[strozier]

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).

That's a great story!!

Rican, didn't you do a story on (the) "Head" for the UNews in 00?

[billikenOHsix]

google "Mario Mercurio" for more info, poster....I love that one as well!

+1

Haha, that's him. Thanks.

[strozier]

+1

Haha, that's him. Thanks.

no problem. He is PE #1 when X plays in STL. I think he auditioned for "Jersey Shore" season 2 the other day.

[Bay Area Billiken]

my favorite memory of billiken basketball while a student is tough since i was a student during the dark ages aka ron ekker days. those of you thinking billiken basketball was not good at any time over the last 20 years are clueless when you compare anything with grawer, spoon, romar soderberg or rickma to ekkertime.

The biggest positive was watching david burns. my gosh he was fast. i still say he was the quickest billiken i have ever witnessed.

as to one specific memory. we were playing the doctors of dunk from louisville who were going to win the national championship that year. i dont know exactly but we ended up losing the game by about 300 points. there were about 5 of us sitting in the student section (as usual) and maybe another 800 billiken fans in the entire checkerdome. everyone had a front row seat if they wanted one.

wiley brown was shooting a free throw. just as the ref handed brown the ball for the first free throw, one of my fellow students picked up his folding chair, held it over his head and charged the end line sceaming like a banshee warrior and cussing perfusely at wiley. air ball. i dont know what the kid's name was, but he should be the original blue crew hall of famer in my book. the rest of the game sucked as usual.

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."

[Box and Won]

I know you guys must have been miserable during the Ekker days, but the stories about him getting punched, the Billy-Lou and the Trumpeters totally crack me up.

[joe_davola]

Good stuff...I would just like to add that myself and the DirtyRican (along with a few other posters on this board) were the luckiest SOBs to go to SLU in terms of Billiken basketball and the success we had in going to the tourney. Two out of the 4 years we were there we were dancing. I think Box experienced that with Claggs/H/Highmark, so you can can include him in the SOB crowd as well.

[NH]

Good stuff...I would just like to add that myself and the DirtyRican (along with a few other posters on this board) were the luckiest SOBs to go to SLU in terms of Billiken basketball and the success we had in going to the tourney. Two out of the 4 years we were there we were dancing. I think Box experienced that with Claggs/H/Highmark, so you can can include him in the SOB crowd as well.

I bet well be saying that soon about the kids who go there now.

[For-DaLove]

I bet well be saying that soon about the kids who go there now.

Let's hope that is the case...