I do not ever recall reading this story. I thought maybe some of our older sports fans would enjoy this article. http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/121207aaa.html
That's a really nice article, Don. I was not aware of the story. The WW II years are interesting in college sports history. Many schools lost their best athletes to the war effort, and there were teams put together for different sports at military bases that were similar to college all-star teams in terms of the athletes playing for those teams. Also, many college teams following the war consisted of student-athletes in their mid-20s who had served their normal college years in the military then came back to continue their education and their athletic endeavors.
Remember Gene Conley jif? Only guy to win championships in 2 different sports. Braves in '57 and Celtics 59-60-61.
Wasn't it Conley who, when asked about what it's like moving from basketball to baseball without a break replied, "It takes me about six weeks to get out of shape"?
somewhere in the time of Conley, Celtics had a guy called Chuck Connors. Chuck went on to be THE RIFLEMAN in the made for TV weekly series.
I thought Chuck Connors played minor league baseball for the Dodgers??? Where is DodgerDog when we need him!!
From Wikipedia... Chuck left Seton Hall to sign on as a first baseman with the New York Yankee organization. This lasted only one season before the army claimed him. During his tour of duty Chuck moonlighted as a professional basketball player at night. Following his military discharge in 1946, he joined the newly formed Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America. Connors left the team for spring training with Major League Baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers. He played for numerous minor league teams before joining the Dodgers in 1949, for whom he played in just 1 game; and the Chicago Cubs in 1951, for whom he played in 66 games as a first baseman and occasional pinch hitter. In 1952 he was sent to the minor leagues again, to play for the Cubs' top farm team, the Los Angeles Angels. Connors was also drafted by the Chicago Bears, but never suited-up for the team. Chuck Connors is one of only twelve athletes in history to have played for both Major League Baseball and in the NBA. Connors is credited with being the first professional basketball player to break a backboard. The incident occurred on November 5, 1946, during a pre-game warmup at Boston Garden when Connors hit the basket rim with a two-handed shot.
\ Damn....now that's what I call a BRICK! Can't imagine what the dude would have been like around a putting green!
Did Ron Lee also play baseball and basketball? Ricks post said Connors was one of only 12 guys who played both MLB and NBA, I wonder who the others are?
1. Gene Conley 2. Dave Debusshre 3. Danny Ainge. 4. Mark Hendrickson ...this one suprised me. 5. Chuck Connors 6. Ron Reed ....a Notre Dame guy! 7. Cotton Nash ...Kentucky Colonels and White Sox. 8. Frankie Baumholtz.. Reds,Cubs,Phillies and Cleveland Rebels of the BAA which became the NBA.
I remember Gene Conley - had his baseball card - all 6'8" of him. I also remember Chuck Connors and the Rifleman. Question from Rick's wikipedia post: If the Los Angeles Angels club once was the top farm team of the Cubs, is that why there was a "Wrigley Field" in LA, where they filmed Home Run Derby?
It was, and the field on Catalina Island was also referred to as Wrigley Field. Terry - another WSU guy to add to your list of NBA/MLB players is Mark Hendrickson.
Rick, I knew that I had heard/seen that name before. I went back to Terry's post and it was already there. I realize that he had edited his post but the last edit appears to have happened about 2 hours before your post. I bring this up not to "correct" anyone. I am just curious if the board is posting the actual time in the member's time zone or a modified time based upon the board residing in the Eastern time zone. I believe the latter to be true. My profile is set for Central time zone. If I am logged in, time stamps are shown as one hour earlier than if I log out and look at the same message's time stamp.
I enjoyed the article about Illinois and the conversation about basketball and baseball players. Most of those names ring a bell with me but I didn't know all the trivia brought up/ :wink: