On January 25, 1975, when I was in eighth grade, I got the chance to serve as an usher at the Bradley-Louisville game. This was a stroke of luck, as Louisville was ranked #2 in the country and all of the Field House’s 7,300 seats and then some were sold out.
The excitement and expectations were intense, as Bradley had nearly knocked off the Cardinals at their place three weeks earlier, losing by two points in overtime. The Braves were having an up and down kind of year, starting out the season 6-0 and garnering a ranking of 19th in the nation, only to fall to 8-6 a few weeks later.
The seniors on the team—Mark Dohner, Tom Les—had a taste of victory against Louisville their freshman year. They defeated the Cardinals 85-79. My husband, John Carroll, was on that team and had the unenviable job of helping guard Junior Bridgeman, Louisville’s future All-American, who was held to 10 points. John played two more years of JV basketball at Bradley. He was the most valuable player on the team his junior year, and also the leading scorer and rebounder, and still has the prettiest jumper this side of Jerry West. There wasn’t going to be much of a role for him on the varsity his senior year and medical school was on the horizon, so he still has one year of eligibility as a Bradley Brave.
Four years later, with Denny Crum’s talented, deep Cardinals coming into town, the seniors and other players had a chance to fulfill a little of the early season promise.
I don’t remember doing much ushering at the game, but what I do recall was the tension of the night. Bradley was down by only two points at halftime. The Braves were in the game! But, this would mean if victory slipped from their grasp at the end, the defeat would be even more painful.
The second half was a whip lasher. Bradley led 50-41 with 12:26 left to play. But then, the Braves would not score a basket again for more than eight agonizing minutes. Fortunately, they played defense, as exemplified by Tom Les’s three steals, and were only down by four points after this scoring drought.
How many times has the underdog team led for much of the game, only to go down to defeat in the waning minutes, a result caused at least partially by not truly believing they could win? Many, many times, I imagine.
Well, not this day. In the last 55 seconds of the game, Bradley scored seven points and defeated Louisville, 65-59 for the Braves biggest victory in my childhood career as a fan.
I had to recreate many of the above details of the game by reading Dick Lien’s account in the Peoria Journal Star. What I remember 32 years later are the tension of the game, and, for some reason, Jumpin’ Jimmy Caruthers, the Braves fearless guard, bouncing the basketball at the top of the key. He made four of those last seven points, including two at the charity stripe. As Lien wrote, “Caruthers is a money player who knows it.”
“Tom Les (older brother of the current Bradley coach) had a great game,” said my husband John. “I remember seeing him at church at St. Mark’s gym the next day.” Mass was held in the gym because the church had almost burned down and was being renovated.
So, finally, in a big time game, Bradley led at the only time the score really matters. The victory seemed unbelievable, but it was true: Bradley had beaten Louisville.
The excitement and expectations were intense, as Bradley had nearly knocked off the Cardinals at their place three weeks earlier, losing by two points in overtime. The Braves were having an up and down kind of year, starting out the season 6-0 and garnering a ranking of 19th in the nation, only to fall to 8-6 a few weeks later.
The seniors on the team—Mark Dohner, Tom Les—had a taste of victory against Louisville their freshman year. They defeated the Cardinals 85-79. My husband, John Carroll, was on that team and had the unenviable job of helping guard Junior Bridgeman, Louisville’s future All-American, who was held to 10 points. John played two more years of JV basketball at Bradley. He was the most valuable player on the team his junior year, and also the leading scorer and rebounder, and still has the prettiest jumper this side of Jerry West. There wasn’t going to be much of a role for him on the varsity his senior year and medical school was on the horizon, so he still has one year of eligibility as a Bradley Brave.
Four years later, with Denny Crum’s talented, deep Cardinals coming into town, the seniors and other players had a chance to fulfill a little of the early season promise.
I don’t remember doing much ushering at the game, but what I do recall was the tension of the night. Bradley was down by only two points at halftime. The Braves were in the game! But, this would mean if victory slipped from their grasp at the end, the defeat would be even more painful.
The second half was a whip lasher. Bradley led 50-41 with 12:26 left to play. But then, the Braves would not score a basket again for more than eight agonizing minutes. Fortunately, they played defense, as exemplified by Tom Les’s three steals, and were only down by four points after this scoring drought.
How many times has the underdog team led for much of the game, only to go down to defeat in the waning minutes, a result caused at least partially by not truly believing they could win? Many, many times, I imagine.
Well, not this day. In the last 55 seconds of the game, Bradley scored seven points and defeated Louisville, 65-59 for the Braves biggest victory in my childhood career as a fan.
I had to recreate many of the above details of the game by reading Dick Lien’s account in the Peoria Journal Star. What I remember 32 years later are the tension of the game, and, for some reason, Jumpin’ Jimmy Caruthers, the Braves fearless guard, bouncing the basketball at the top of the key. He made four of those last seven points, including two at the charity stripe. As Lien wrote, “Caruthers is a money player who knows it.”
“Tom Les (older brother of the current Bradley coach) had a great game,” said my husband John. “I remember seeing him at church at St. Mark’s gym the next day.” Mass was held in the gym because the church had almost burned down and was being renovated.
So, finally, in a big time game, Bradley led at the only time the score really matters. The victory seemed unbelievable, but it was true: Bradley had beaten Louisville.
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