Osler's Razor

True Baylor Basketball fans will well remember that wonderful, cold day in New York in 1929, when Baylor knocked off the #1 team in the country, New York University. NYU’s teams were at the time called the “Violets,” which tended to make them tough. (The name was changed several times since then—in 1940 to the Jerrys, then in 1942 to the Sandmen, in 1953 to the Linkletters, 1958 to the Sobriquets, 1962 to the Falafel Hounds, 1969 to the Washington Square Stoners, 1972 to the Stone Cold Sobriquets, 1973 to the Greenwich Village Shaftmen (during this period the women’s teams were known as the Bad Mothers), 1975 to the Huggy Bears, 1982 to the Power Rangers, 1992 to the NYU-Tang Clan, 1993 back to the Violets, and finally, in 1998, to their current moniker, the N.Y.U. Violents.).

At the time of their January meeting, NYU was 11-0, led by forward Lon Delancey Merriweather III. He had range from 20 feet in, and was a strong defender. At the time, eastern teams wore uniforms composed of suits with vest, ties, matching pocket squares, pennyloafers or dusty bucks and spats. Baylor, in the more traditional western garb of singlets and buttless chaps, was somewhat intimidated by the NYU finery and the rude comments of the Greewich Village crowd.

The Baylor team starred George Hickey. Hickey, as many of you may remember, played with a very unusual crew of teammates. He was recruited by B-Ball coach Gary (“Golllllleeee”) Gutterman, who was a recruiting genius. Gutterman chose to pursue a small but select group of boys who wanted to pursue both basketball and a high-profile program in fashion merchandising at the same time. His initial group of recruits, later identified as the “effeminate five,” included guards Hickey (not his real name, but a nickname) and Tony (“Swish”) LaVell, Forwards Larry (“Lay-Up”) Le Tigre, Ephraim (“Showtime!”) Davis, and the future playwright Tennessee Williams, who liked to refer to his position as “post.”

The team started the season slowly; in fact, the first two games were cancelled because the group could not agree on a uniform. Le Tigre and Davis favored an “Oriental Destiny” design which featured silk fabrics and large conical hats. LaVell promoted an outfit entirely made of glove leather, including a pull-up hood. Hickey and Williams had come up with a “Cowboy Moderne” look, featuring chaps, ten-gallon hats, riding boots and spurs. In the end, the cowboy look proved the most practical, though the spurs made walking and running difficult, and opposing teams often complained about the gouges left in their floors.

Once settled on a uniform, however, the team played quite well. They opened with a 39-37 victory over Texas Tech, a team which later adopted the Cowboy Moderne look as their own. Many of us students were put off at first by the team’s look, mannerisms and unusual reputation, but once they began to win, attendance leapt into the hundreds. The Baylor hoopsters were aided by an early-season schedule which included matches against Sweet Briar, Wellesley, Smith, Vassar, Radcliffe, Virginia Millinery Institute, the Rhode Island School of Design and Madonna College (Mich.).

Against NYU, Baylor led 32-20 at the half, when NYU played a nasty trick. As the teams were in the locker room, a Zamboni was brought into the arena and laid down a thin veneer of ice over the court. The NYU players, in on the trick, changed into golf shoes, but the Baylor players were helpless on the ice. They quickly lost their lead and were down by five before one of the Baylor bench-riders thought to bribe four workmen with jackhammers to come in and not only break up the ice, but to create several potholes underneath the basket Baylor was defending. Baylor ultimately prevailed by a point, and drew wisdom from the experience, purchasing the first Zamboni in Texas the next week.