Particularly during Black History Month, every sports fan accepts the cultural significance of Jackie Robinson. But in the aftermath of a series of anniversary celebrations regarding Robinson beginning his major league baseball career, it is easy to forget there was a time when the now 80%-plus black National Basketball Association was 100% white. It's also easy to forget that Robinson was instrumental in college basketball's "civil rights" movement.

Before Robinson arrived on the scene in the National League, however, there was Columbia's George Gregory, who became the first African-American to gain college All-American honors in 1930-31. In an era of low scoring, he was the team's second-leading scorer with a 9.2-point average. But he was proudest of his defense, and a statistic that is no longer kept: "goals against." In 10 games, Gregory held rival centers to only eight baskets. "That's less than one goal a game," he told the New York Times. "I think they should have kept that statistical category. Nowadays, one guy scores 40 points but his man scores 45. So what good is it?

"It's funny, but even though I was the only black playing for Columbia, and there was only one other black playing in the Ivy League - Baskerville of Harvard - I really didn't encounter too much trouble from opponents. Oh, I got into a couple of fights. And one time a guy called me 'Nigger,' and a white teammate said, 'Next time, you hit him high and I'll hit him low.' And we did, and my teammate, a Polish guy named Remy Tys, said to that other player, 'That's how we take care of nigger callers.'"

But Gregory said the worst racial incident he encountered was at his own school. "After our last game in my junior year, the team voted me captain for the next season. Well, there was a hell of a battle when this came out. Columbia didn't want a black captain, or a Jewish captain, either, I learned. The dean was against it, and the athletic director was against it, and even the coach was against it.

"The coach told me, 'Get yourself together, Gregory, or I'll take your scholarship away.' They were worried that if we played a school in the South and met the other captain before the game, the guy would refuse to come out and it would embarrass the school. But the campus was split 50-50 on whether to have a black captain for its basketball team.

"The fight went on for three or four weeks. The school insisted that the team vote again. We did, and I won again. One of my teammates said, 'You forced the school to enter the 20th Century.'"

Harrison "Honey" Fitch, Connecticut's first black player, was center stage during a racial incident delaying a game at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for several hours in late January 1934. Coast Guard officials entered a protest against Fitch, arguing that because half of the Academy's student body was from southern states, they had a tradition "that no Negro players be permitted to engage in contests at the Academy." Eventually, UConn's coach kept Fitch on the bench the entire contest and never explained why.

The first black to appear in the NBA didn't occur until a couple of decades after Gregory graduated and Fitch transferred to American International. UCLA's first basketball All-American Don Barksdale, one of first seven African-Americans to play in NBA, was the first black U.S. Olympic basketball player (1948) as well as the first black to play in an NBA All-Star Game (as a rookie in 1952).

Inspired by the black labor movement in the 1930s, Barksdale said, "I made up my mind that if I wanted to do something, I was going to try to do it all the way, no matter the obstacles."

As a 28-year-old rookie with the Baltimore Bullets, he was paid $20,850 (one of the NBA's top salaries) to play and host a postgame radio show, but that notoriety also put extra pressure on him. Forced to play excessive minutes during the preseason, he sustained ankle injuries that plagued him the remainder of his four-year NBA career (11 ppg and 8 rpg).

Why play so many minutes? "It's Baltimore, which is considered the South," said Barksdale, who wound up back in the Bay Area as a well-known jazz disc jockey. "So the South finally signed a black man, and he's going to play whether he could walk or crawl."

Chuck Cooper, who attended Duquesne on the GI Bill after originally enrolling at West Virginia State College, was the first black player drafted by an NBA franchise. "I don't give a damn if he's striped or plaid or polka-dot," were the history-making words of Boston Celtics Owner Walter Brown when he selected Cooper, who averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in six pro seasons. In Cooper's freshman campaign, Duquesne was awarded a forfeit after refusing to yield to Tennessee's refusal to compete against the Dukes if Cooper participated in a game just before Christmas.

In the 1955-56 season, the Hazleton (Pa.) Hawks of the Eastern League became the first professional league franchise to boast an all-black starting lineup - Jesse Arnelle, Tom Hemans, Fletcher Johnson, Floyd Lane and Sherman White. Arnelle (Penn State) and White (Long Island) were former major-college All-Americans.

As for the multi-talented Robinson, UCLA's initial all-conference basketball player in the 1940s was a forward who compiled the highest scoring average in the Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with the Bruins (12.3 points per league game in 1939-40 and 11.1 ppg in 1940-41) after transferring from Pasadena (Calif.) City College. Continuing his scoring exploits, the six-time National League All-Star was the leading scorer for the Los Angeles Red Devils' barnstorming team in 1946-47.

Seven-time All-Star outfielder Larry Doby, the first black in the American League, was also a college basketball player who helped pave the way for minorities. He competed on the hardwood for Virginia Union during World War II after originally committing to LIU. The four-month lead Robinson had in integrating the majors cast a huge shadow over Doby, who was the first black to lead his league in homers (32 in 1952), first to hit a World Series homer and first to win a World Series title.

There are ramifications when assessing the issue of race and it would be nice if we were all color blind. Nonetheless, it's impossible to properly evaluate the history of college basketball without broaching the sensitive topic.

Julian Abele, a 1902 Penn graduate considered the first major African-American architect in the U.S., designed Duke's famous Cameron Indoor Stadium, which hosted all-white teams and games for decades after opening in 1939. Nonetheless, Cameron's doors were closed to minority players for an extended period as Duke's roster didn't include a black athlete at the varsity level until C.B. Claiborne in 1966-67. The previous year, Maryland's Billy Jones became the first black player in the ACC. The all-white snack bar at the downtown train depot in Durham, N.C., refused to serve the Terrapins' black players following a game at Duke, and the entire squad went hungry.

"You just learn to deal with that stuff," Jones told Barry Jacobs, the author of Across the Line. "It taught me an awful lot in terms of just plain perseverance, just hang tough, do what you have to do to stay focused."

It was difficult for Claiborne to concentrate amid the problems he encountered at school. Some older players harassed him during practice; he wasn't notified of an end-of-the-year athletic awards banquet at the notoriously segregated Hope Valley Country Club; an engineering professor told him it was impossible for him to earn an A in his class. And, perhaps most telling of all: Claiborne spent so much time at nearby North Carolina Central University, a historically black college, that he had his own meal card there.

Two decades before Robinson was UCLA's meal ticket, the first black to play for the Bruins was Ralph Bunche, who earned letters as a guard for three Southern California Conference champions. Legendary Bruins coach John Wooden acknowledged that Bunche, named UCLA's Alumnus of the Year in 1949, was instrumental in helping recruit New York City native Lew Alcindor to his alma mater for multiple national player of the year seasons in the late 1960s.

Bunche became the first black person to win the Nobel Peace Prize (in 1950 for his deft handling of the armistice negotiations as a U.N. envoy leading to the Arab-Israeli truce). In 1945, Bunche said he was "obsessed with a burning desire to excel in everything I undertake," and moved by "a calculated and deliberate interest to prove to (whites) that I am, despite their race, their equal if not their superior in intellect, ability, knowledge, and general savoir-faire."

In the early 1950s, Wayne State (Mich.) became the first non-historically black college to play five African-Americans together at the same time. They defeated major universities such as DePaul, Detroit, Duquesne, Georgetown, Marquette, Memphis State, Niagara, Penn State, St. Francis (Pa.) and St. Mary's (Calif.).

In the mid-1950s, only about 10% of basketball programs for predominantly white institutions recruited black players. "You could count the number of black players on West Coast teams on the fingers of one hand," said Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell, who guided San Francisco (NIT in 1950) and California (NCAA in 1959) to national tournament titles.

In 1954, the year of U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation decisions, the pressure escalated for coaches and players alike. No school excelled more than San Francisco, which won 55 consecutive games and back-to-back NCAA titles.

In 1957-58, blacks accounted for five of the six NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans - Seattle's Elgin Baylor, Kansas State's Bob Boozer, Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain, Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson and Temple's Guy Rodgers. All five played at least 11 seasons in the NBA.

USF '55 and fellow kingpin Cincinnati '62 were the first teams to start three and four black players, respectively, in the NCAA Tournament championship game. But Texas Western, now called Texas-El Paso, is credited most for putting the finishing touches on dismantling the prejudiced myth that black athletes couldn't play disciplined basketball by using seven players, all blacks, in winning the 1966 NCAA playoff final against all-white Kentucky.

"Young black players told me that it (the championship) gave them confidence and courage," said Harry Flournoy, a starter for Texas Western. "Some of them, before that game, had been afraid to go to white schools."

In 1956, Texas Western became the first school in the Southern half of the U.S. to integrate its athletic teams. Despite its relative openness, Texas Western did not yet permit blacks to live in campus dorms so the first two African-American basketball players - Air Force veteran Charlie Brown and his nephew, Cecil Brown - lived in a downtown apartment at first after transferring from junior college. George McCarty, the Miners' coach at the time, set aside an empty room in the athletic dormitory for the Browns to dress on game days.

"I wasn't allowed in the movies downtown and things like that, and there were a few minor (racial) incidents with professors," recalled Brown in the book And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. "But there were absolutely no problems with anyone in athletics there. I always said Texas Western was going through integration, I wasn't."

Although UTEP generated much of the integration buzz, Pan American was another school in the state employing numerous black starters while coach Lou Henson broke the color barrier at Hardin-Simmons in his inaugural season as a major-college coach in 1962-63. The next team to win an NCAA major-college title with five black starters was Louisville in 1980. In the first 20 years after the Miners captured their national title, the average number of blacks on college rosters doubled from three to six. About two-thirds of Division I basketball rosters currently are comprised of black players.

In the spring of 1961, Chicago area native Andy Hankins, majoring in medicine, was the first black man to pledge a white Iowa social fraternity before starting swingman was de-pledged six weeks later, apparently under pressure from the fraternity's national organization. Dr. Hankins went on to become a captain in the U.S. Air Force and director of radiology at facility in Detroit.

In 1966-67, Western Kentucky's Clem Haskins, Houston's Elvin Hayes and Louisville's Wes Unseld became the first African-Americans from Southern schools to be named NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans. Haskins, a three-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, and Dwight Smith were WKU's first two black players, sparking the Hilltoppers to a 66-15 record in their three varsity campaigns. "He (Dwight) needed me and I needed him," said Haskins, who is generally considered the first black to earn a league MVP honor while attending a Southern school. "We leaned on each other's shoulders. We had a lot of wars to fight then with the barrier just broken. The people will never know what we went through then. There were many nights where we cried ourselves to sleep."

In early 1966, Hayes and fellow Louisiana product Don Chaney led UH to a victory at Centenary, where the coach (Orvis Sigler) undertook extraordinary measures meeting the mayor and city council to schedule the game. Laws still on the books at the time in Shreveport, La., forbidding whites and blacks from competing against each other had to be rescinded.

A total of 13 of Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith's 22 All-Americans with North Carolina are African-Americans. Wrote Smith in his autobiography A Coach's Life: "To me, the presence of (All-American) Charles Scott on the court for us (from 1967-68 through 1969-70) was nothing to commemorate or remark on. It was simply past due." However, Scott was more fond of Lefty Driesell ("I was a kid who never had anything. He would give me anything I wanted.") and committed to attend Davidson before a racial slur while dining in Charlotte when the eatery owner said to Lefty: "Coach, I'm sorry but my wife and I don't serve n------ on this side of the restaurant."

Bigotry seemed to still persist in 1968-69 when Scott, the first African-American on Carolina's varsity roster, didn't receive his just due by failing to become a consensus All-ACC first-team selection (22.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg and 3.4 apg for regular-season champion). He also lost the conference player of the year vote to South Carolina's white sophomore guard John Roche (23.6 ppg and 2.6 rpg for league runner-up) by a significant margin. Scott, a first-team All-American by the NABC and USBWA, was left off a handful of first-team All-ACC ballots while Roche wasn't named an All-American by the coaches, writers and either of the national wire services. "I thought it was a slap in the face," Scott told Jim Sumner of theACC.com. "It definitely was a motivator for me. It's the only time in the ACC I felt slighted."

In the midst of perhaps Scott's greatest triumph, a 40-point performance (hitting 13-of-14 second-half field-goal attempts) in a come-from-behind victory over Duke in the 1969 ACC Tournament final, he could not escape the loneliness of his pioneer status. "You want to know what I did after I scored the 40 points?" Scott told Jacobs. "I was by myself. Who am I going to go out with? I was by myself after I did that. We had great fun in the locker room. After that, we walked out of the locker room; everybody went one way, and I went another way. I had to celebrate it myself."

Scott's final season with UNC was the last time a simple majority of the NCAA consensus All-American first-team selections were white (LSU's Pete Maravich, Purdue's Rick Mount and Kentucky's Dan Issel). Since Scott graduated, whites have accounted for only 20% of the NCAA consensus All-American first- and second-team selections.

In 1970-71, the first season that Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina featured an African-American on their varsity rosters, every member of the NCAA consensus All-American first team was black. In the next 10 years, Alabama (Leon Douglas), Clemson (Tree Rollins), Georgia (Dominique Wilkins) and Kentucky (Jack Givens) had blacks pass the test and become among their all-time best All-Americans.

Douglas' Bama club, coached by C.M. Newton, fielded the first all-back starting lineup in SEC history (also included Charles Cleveland, T.R. Dunn, Ray Odums and Charles Russell) on December 28, 1973, in a 65-55 win at Louisville. The groundbreaking game occurred just over nine years after the Boston Celtics fielded the NBA's first all-black lineup at St. Louis on December 26, 1964, when Willie Naulls replaced injured Tommy Heinsohn, joining regular starters K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Bill Russell and Tom "Satch" Sanders. The Celtics won 12 games in a row with Naulls starting in place of Heinsohn and featuring an all-white bench.

It should be acknowledged that Alabama beat liberal bastion New England to the milestone at the collegiate level. Connecticut, coached by Dee Rowe, became the first New England major college to field a starting lineup comprised of five African-Americans (game at Rutgers late in 1973-74 campaign).

A majority of ACC recruits were African-American by 1975 but it took until 1983 for an all-black starting five (North Carolina State) to win a conference title.

Amid burning crosses and waving Confederate flags, prejudice probably prevented the ACC and SEC from becoming the nation's premier conferences in the 1960s and first half of the 1970s. Blacklisting almost certainly kept the SWC as a "football-only" league. All-Americans, future NBA standouts, Harlem Globetrotter greats, small-college sensations and prize postseason performers who attended high school in Southern states and might have enrolled at universities in the ACC, SEC or SWC if not for being deemed second-class citizens included:

Alabama - Harold Blevins (attended Arkansas AM&N), Tom Boswell (South Carolina State/South Carolina), Dave Bustion (Denver), Carver Clinton (Penn State), Danny Crenshaw (Alabama State), Jimmy Dew (Alabama State), Claude English (Rhode Island), Artis Gilmore (Jacksonville), Travis Grant (Kentucky State), Bill Green (Colorado State), Lamar Green (Morehead State), Elvin Ivory (Southwestern Louisiana), Willie "Hobo" Jackson (Morehead State), Larry Kenon (Memphis State), Bruce King (Morehead State), Sam McCamey (Oral Roberts), Thales McReynolds (Miles AL), Cal Ramsey (NYU), Willie Scott (Alabama State), Isaac "Bud" Stallworth (Kansas), Bennie Swain (Texas Southern) and Bob Veale (Benedictine KS).

Arkansas - Herbert "Geese" Ausbie (Philander Smith), Jim Barnes (Texas-El Paso), Frank Burgess (Arkansas-Pine Bluff/Gonzaga), Larry Ducksworth (Henderson State/Arkansas AM&N), brothers Oliver/Melvin/Wilbert Jones (Albany State GA), Eddie Miles (Seattle), Tom Patterson (Ouachita Baptist), Jackie Ridgle (California), Reece "Goose" Tatum (Harlem Globetrotters) and Jasper Wilson (Southern LA).

Florida - Luke Adams (Lamar), James Mack "Red" Allen (Arkansas AM&N), Johnnie Allen (Bethune-Cookman), Cyril Baptiste (Creighton), Waite Bellamy (Florida A&M), Joe Brunson Jr. (Furman), Pembrook Burrows (Jacksonville), Joe Bynes (Arkansas AM&N), Carl Fuller (Bethune-Cookman), Johnny Jones (Villanova), Greg Lowery (Texas Tech), Sam McCants (Oral Roberts), Stan McKenzie (NYU), Otto Moore (Pan American), Howard Porter (Villanova), Leonard "Truck" Robinson (Tennessee State), Harry Singletary (Florida Presbyterian), Joe Strawder (Bradley), Levern Tart (Bradley), Johnny Thornton (South Carolina State), Walt Wesley (Kansas) and Bob Williams (Florida A&M).

Georgia - Don Adams (Northwestern), Al Beard (Norfolk State), Curtis Bell (Morris Brown), Chuck Benson (Southern Illinois), Mack Daughtry (Albany State GA), Leonidas Epps III (Clark GA), Walt "Clyde" Frazier (Southern Illinois), Walt Gilmore (Fort Valley State GA), James Green (Paine GA), Charles Hardnett (Grambling), Garfield Heard (Oklahoma), Merv Jackson (Utah), Ed Johnson (Tennessee A&I), Julius Keye (South Carolina State/Alcorn A&M), George Knighton (New Mexico State), Lewis "Bubba" Linder (Kentucky State), Lloyd Neal (Tennessee State), Johnny Mathis (Savannah State), Larry "Gator" Rivers (Missouri Western), Elmore Smith (Kentucky State), Pete Smith (Valdosta State GA), Larry Strozier (Morehouse GA), Roman "Doc" Turman (Clark GA), LeRoy Walker (Benedict GA), Butch Webster (New Orleans), Joby Wright (Indiana) and Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State GA).

Kentucky - Henry Bacon (Louisville), Alfred "Butch" Beard (Louisville), Bill Bradley (Tennessee State), Bobby Carpenter (Iowa), Whaylon Coleman (Idaho), Ralph Davis (Cincinnati), Clarence Glover (Western Kentucky), Joe Hamilton (North Texas State), Clem Haskins (Western Kentucky), Carl Helem (Tennessee A&I), Lou Herndon (Jackson State), Charlie Hunter (Oklahoma City), Max Jameson (Kentucky State), Lou Johnson (Kentucky State), Bobby "Toothpick" Jones (Dayton), Ron King (Florida State), Jim McDaniels (Western Kentucky), Jerome Perry (Western Kentucky), Bob Redd (Marshall), Mike Redd (Kentucky Wesleyan), Jim Rose (Western Kentucky), Dwight Smith (Western Kentucky), Garfield Smith (Eastern Kentucky), Greg Smith (Western Kentucky), George Stone (Marshall), Tom Thacker (Cincinnati), Ron Thomas (Louisville), Dallas Thornton (Kentucky Wesleyan), Felix Thruston (Trinity TX), George Tinsley (Kentucky Wesleyan), Rich Travis (Oklahoma City), Jim Tucker (Duquesne), Ruell Tucker (Rockhurst MO), George Unseld (Kansas), Wes Unseld (Louisville), Bobby Washington (Eastern Kentucky), Jerry Lee Wells (Oklahoma City), Clarence "Cave" Wilson (Tennessee State) and Willie Woods (Eastern Kentucky).

Louisiana - Charlie Anderson (Grambling), Thurman "Zeke" Baptiste (Grambling/Northwestern State), Jerry Barr (Grambling), Charles Bloodworth (Southern/Northwestern State), Emanuel Cannon (Grambling), Don Chaney (Houston), John Comeaux (Grambling), Jim Duplantier (Grambling), Wilbert Frazier (Grambling), Willie Hart (Grambling), Elvin Hayes (Houston), Fred Hilton (Grambling), James Hooper (Grambling), Bob Hopkins (Grambling), Luke Jackson (Texas Southern/Pan American), Aaron James (Grambling), Rich Johnson (Grambling), James Jones (Grambling), Edmond Lawrence (McNeese State), Theodis Lee (Houston), Bob Love (Southern), Tyronne Marioneaux (Loyola of New Orleans), Jesse Marshall (Centenary), Bob McCoy (Grambling), Surry Oliver (Stephen F. Austin State), Cincy Powell (Portland), Willis Reed (Grambling), Bill Russell (San Francisco after moving to California), Melvin Russell (Centenary), Leslie Scott (Loyola of Chicago/Southwestern Louisiana), James Silas (Stephen F. Austin State), Curtis St. Mary (McNeese State), Henry Steele (Northeast Louisiana), Rex Tippitt (Grambling), Dale Valdery (Xavier LA), Abram Valore (Grambling), Hershell West (Grambling) and Howard Willis (Grambling).

Mississippi - Tommie Bowens (Grambling LA), Eddie Brown (Houston Baptist), Cleveland Buckner (Jackson State), Harvey Catchings (Hardin-Simmons TX), E.C. Coleman (Houston Baptist), Rowland Garrett (Florida State), Earl Glass (Mississippi Industrial), Mike Green (Louisiana Tech), Spencer Haywood (Detroit after moving there), Cleveland Hill (Nicholls State LA), A.W. Holt (Jackson State), Joel "McCoy" Ingram (Jackson State), George T. Johnson (Dillard LA), Arvesta Kelly (Lincoln MO), Earnest Killum Sr. (Stetson FL), Sam Lacey (New Mexico State), LyVonne "Hoss" LeFlore (Jackson State), Jesse Leonard (St. Louis), Plummer Lott (Seattle), Nate Madkins (Hardin-Simmons TX), Ed Manning (Jackson State), Jerry Nickens (Tougaloo), Willie Norwood (Alcorn A&M), John "Pete" Perry (Pan American), Aaron Sellers (Jackson State), James Ware (Oklahoma City), Cornell Warner (Jackson State), Donald "Slick" Watts (Xavier LA) and Levi Wyatt (Alcorn A&M).

North Carolina - Walt Bellamy (Indiana), Fred Bibby (Fayetteville State), Lee Davis (North Carolina Central), Larry Dunn (North Carolina Central), Reginald "Hawk" Ennis (North Carolina Central), Herm Gilliam (Purdue), Paul Grier (North Carolina A&T), Harold "Happy" Hairston (NYU), Harvey Heartley (North Carolina Central), Lou Hudson (Minnesota), Harold Hunter (North Carolina Central), Sam Jones (North Carolina Central), George "Meadowlark" Lemon (Florida A&M), Henry Logan (Western Carolina), Allen McManus (Winston-Salem State), Fred "Curly" Neal (Johnson C. Smith), Willie Porter (Tennessee State), Oscar Smith (Elizabeth City State), Jimmy Walker (Providence), Bobby Warlick (Pepperdine), Willie Watson (Oklahoma City) and Harthorne Wingo (junior college).

South Carolina - Leon Benbow (Jacksonville), Theodore Chaplin Jr. (Voorhees), Larry Doby (LIU/Virginia Union), Gene Gathers (Bradley), Erwin "Chip" Johnson (Augusta), Lee Monroe (Shaw NC), Lindberg Moody (Morgan State MD/South Carolina State), Clifford Ray (Oklahoma), Art Shell (Maryland-Eastern Shore) and Kenny Washington (UCLA).

Tennessee - Willie Brown (Middle Tennessee State), James Douglas (Memphis State), Jerry Dover (LeMoyne-Owen), L.M. Ellis (Drake/Austin Peay State), Larry Finch (Memphis State), Richie Fuqua (Oral Roberts), Joe Gaines (Belmont), Carl Hardaway (Oral Roberts), Albert Henry (Wisconsin), Paul Hogue (Cincinnati), Les Hunter (Loyola of Chicago), James Johnson (Wisconsin), Rich Jones (Illinois/Memphis State), Ron Lawson Sr. (UCLA/Fisk), Ted McClain (Tennessee A&I, Charlie Paulk (Tulsa/Northeastern Oklahoma State), Ken Riley (Middle Tennessee State), Rick Roberson (Cincinnati), Vic Rouse (Loyola of Chicago), Willie Shaw (Lane), Robert "Bingo" Smith (Tulsa), Dwight Waller (Tennessee State) and Henry Watkins (Tennessee State).

Texas - John Barber (Cal State Los Angeles), Zelmo Beaty (Prairie View A&M), Nate Bowman (Wichita), Charlie Brown (Texas Western), Leroy Chalk (Nebraska), Willie Davis (North Texas State), Henry Dooley (Wiley College), Mitchell Edwards (Pan American), Charles "Tex" Harrison (North Carolina Central), Robert Hughes Sr. (Texas Southern), Eddie Jackson (Oklahoma/Oklahoma City), George E. Johnson (Stephen F. Austin State), David Lattin (Texas Western), Charles Lindsey (New Mexico State), Wilbert Loftin Jr. (Southwestern Louisiana), Guy Manning (Prairie View A&M), Joe Billy McDade (Bradley), Elton McGriff (Creighton), McCoy McLemore (Drake), Howie Montgomery (Texas Southern/Pan American), Billy Joe Price (New Mexico State), Nolan Richardson II (Texas Western), Willie Rogers (Oklahoma), Rubin Russell (North Texas State), John Savage (North Texas State), Dave Stallworth (Wichita), Nate Stephens (Creighton/Long Beach State), Fred Taylor (Pan American), Ernie Turner (New Mexico State), Gene Wiley (Wichita), Leroy Wright (Pacific) and John Henry Young (Midwestern State).

Virginia - Leroy Banks (Virginia State), Walker Banks (Western Kentucky), Charles Bonaparte (Norfolk State), Al Bumbry (Virginia State), Bob Dandridge (Norfolk State), Jesse Dark (Virginia Commonwealth), Roy Ebron (Southwestern Louisiana), Bill English (Winston-Salem State NC), William Franklin (Purdue), Bernard Harris (Virginia Commonwealth), Wheeler Hughes (Kansas State), Junius Kellogg (West Virginia State/Manhattan), Earl Lloyd (West Virginia State), James "Bones" Morgan (Maryland State), Rudolph Peele (Norfolk State), Curtis Pritchett (St. Augustine's NC), Reggie Roach Sr. (Virginia State), Bruce Spraggins (Virginia Union), Harley "Skeeter" Swift (East Tennessee State), Jerry Venable (Kansas State), Walter "Fuzzy" Ward (Hampton Institute) and Charles "Jabo" Wilkins (Fayetteville State NC/Virginia Commonwealth).

Willis Reed (21.7 ppg) and Walt Frazier (20.9), the top two scorers for the New York Knicks' 1969-70 NBA champion, could have helped rewrite SEC basketball history in the mid-1960s if they had been allowed to compete in the league. In 1969-70, Florida State's starting lineup under coach Hugh Durham featured one white player (All-American Dave Cowens) and four black players (Ron Harris/Ken Macklin/Willie Williams/Skip Young). Memphis and FSU were joined by Virginia Commonwealth and Western Kentucky in 1970-71 to comprise group of majority-white Southern universities fielding all-black starting lineups. Contrary to the depictions by some naysayers, the influx of black talent showed it could handle pressure by helping Memphis coach Gene Bartow win more than 70% of the Tigers' games decided by fewer than eight points during his four-season tenure. At his debut, the city was only 2 1/2 years removed from perhaps its lowest point, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of a local hotel. "Memphis State and the rest of the city was racially divided," said Maxine Smith, former executive director of the NAACP. "Sport played such an overwhelming part in our community breaking down barriers."

As for coaches, it took the ACC, SEC and SWC an extended period to embrace their first African-American bench bosses. In 1974-75, Arizona's Fred Snowden became the first African-American coach to have a major-college team finish in a final wire-service Top 20 poll (17th in UPI with a 22-7 record). Two years earlier, Snowden became the first African-American head coach in the Western Athletic Conference and at a major university. Snowden was 26 games above .500 in WAC competition after his first five seasons, but was 18 games below .500 in his last five years. He won a stunning 70% of his games decided by fewer than four points in his first seven campaigns with the Wildcats (33-14 mark in those close contests during that span). In opening round of 1976 West Regional, Snowden defeated John Thompson-coached Georgetown to earn distinction as initial black coach to win an NCAA playoff contest.

Will Robinson had become the nation's first black major-college head coach in 1971-72 when Illinois State moved up to the NCAA Division I level. It was 10 years before the Redbirds joined the Missouri Valley Conference, where Drake's Gus Guydon is generally considered to be the first African-American assistant at a major university. Guydon was a two-time All-MVC first-team swingman for Drake under coach Maury John in the early 1960s as almost 80% of the first-team choices in "The Valley" during that decade were black. The MVC was dubbed a "black" league when a minimum of four first-team selections annually were African-Americans in 12-yearspan from 1961-62 through the season (1972-73) Mississippi State became the last SEC school to integrate at the varsity level. Guydon was an assistant at his alma mater before leaving with John for Iowa State following the 1970-71 campaign.

The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the following head coaches break the color barrier in major conferences: Harvard's Tom Sanders (Ivy League in 1973-74), Wisconsin's Bill Cofield (Big Ten in 1976-77), Arkansas' Nolan Richardson Jr. (SWC in 1985-86), Oklahoma State's Leonard Hamilton (Big Eight in 1986-87), Maryland's Bob Wade (ACC in 1986-87) and Tennessee's Wade Houston (SEC in 1989-90). It was largely overlooked in 1996-97 when three black coaches won or shared divisional titles in Conference USA (Tulane's Perry Clark, Memphis State's Larry Finch and UNC Charlotte's Melvin Watkins).

By 2008-09, eight of the 12 head coaches in the Mid-American Conference were black. However, just barely over 20% of the head coaches nationwide at the time were minorities.

In 1982, Georgetown's Thompson took umbrage to depictions of him as the initial African-American coach to direct a team to the Final Four. But the injustices in the past against his race were sufficient reason for placing emphasis on Thompson's achievements with predominantly black rosters.

Dr. John Edgar Wideman, a novelist who was the first black player for Penn in the early 1960s, said: "(Thompson's) a talented man and a great coach, but the reason he's the first (Final Four) black coach is not because of his unique and individual talent; it's because he was allowed to be. We always have to keep that in mind when we look at firsts, and bests, among black people in any endeavor."

The integration of college basketball, waiting primarily on the South to emerge from the "Jim Crow" dark ages, wasn't complete until the mid-1970s. For instance, Coolidge Ball didn't become the first black athlete to sign a basketball scholarship with Ole Miss until eight years after James Meredith became the initial black student at the university in 1962. Although overt racism probably wasn't quite as pervasive as in professional sports, many of the African-American players who broke the color barriers at colleges post-World War II faced more than their share of hardships and hostility.

"They (opposing fans) were all just rabid," recalls Perry Wallace, Vanderbilt's standout forward who became the first black varsity player in the all-white Southeastern Conference in 1967-68. "I'm talking racial stuff, people threatening your life ... calling you nigger, coon, shoe polish. The first time I played Ole Miss I got spat on at halftime by four generations of one family."

Wallace, a local product from Nashville who went on to become a law professor at the University of Baltimore and American University, encountered raucous road trips throughout the Deep South, where belligerent spectators drenched him with their drinks and cheerleaders led crowds in racist chants. In Mississippi, he was punched in the eye by an opposing player whom he knew he couldn't fight back.

Wallace, overshadowed in the SEC by Maravich's scoring exploits, told the Nashville Business & Lifestyles that "I'm not one of these historical revisionists who tries to claim he was all-smart and all-seeing back in those days. Everybody knew that what was happening was important. You've got to understand that this was post-legal segregation, but it was de facto segregation."

In an interview with The Tennessean, Wallace spoke of also feeling alienated from classmates at Vandy when being informed by older members of the campus church that elders there would withhold contributions and write the congregation out of their will if he continued to attend.

"I can't say it any other way," confided Wallace, an All-SEC second-team selection as a senior in 1969-70. "I have been there by myself. It's been a very lonesome thing. People knew my name but weren't interested in knowing me. They respected my basketball ability but still considered me as a person who sweeps floors."

In The Walls Came Tumbling Down, Wallace said: "There were times when I felt close to a nervous breakdown. They weren't the worst four years any black man ever had experienced, but it took me a while to learn to deal with the pain. The fact that I did is a credit to my parents. They had eighth-grade educations and they worked as servants and what not. But they emphasized education, decency, and morality. I grew up poor but with strong values. My parents wouldn't let me hate back. They used to say, 'No matter what is done to you, you don't get the chance to hate back.'"

Wallace told the St. Petersburg Times that during his first varsity game at Ole Miss, the crowd cheered when he was punched in the eye and injured going for a rebound.

"Both of the Mississippi schools and both of the (SEC's) Alabama schools - those were the worst," Wallace said. "In other places, you still had prejudice, at Louisiana (State) and the University of Tennessee, those could be bad. But the Mississippi and Alabama schools were the worst. Those people were mobsters, like Klansmen, and were people right from that world. They knew how to destroy a black person. And that's what they tried to do to me. They did what they could to try to induce fear in me and basically make me fail. I had to make sure that I did not succumb to that."

Vandy failed to produce a black All-American until swingman Shan Foster was honored in 2008. Elsewhere in the SEC, hate mail didn't arrive just from whites for Alabama's Wendell Hudson, who earned All-American accolades as a senior. "Some of the mail I got was from black people, that was, 'I can't believe you're going to Alabama. You sold out. You should go to a black school,'" said Hudson, a two-time All-SEC first-team selection. "In my mind, this is what the marching was all about. This is what equality was all about. So now you're mad at me?"

Henry Harris, an All-SEC third-team selection in 1971-72 and Auburn's first black athlete, was for a while the only black Wallace played against in the league. Harris took his own life in the spring of 1974 by jumping from a dormitory window at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he'd been a JV coach and intramural supervisor. And Tom Payne, who broke the color barrier at Kentucky a year after Wallace graduated, was imprisoned an extended period for assaulting females.

"Tom Payne had a tragic life and it wasn't all owing to playing in the SEC, but it didn't help," Wallace asserts. "You have to take the time that it requires to recover from an experience like that. You have to heal right. And fortunately, I think I have. I'm not destroyed. I've wrestled with the emotional effect that experience has had on my life. That was a process that was not easy those first few years, but I did it."

Payne, the son of an Army sergeant, went from pioneer to pariah in the wake of incurring rape convictions in three states (Georgia, Kentucky and California). Some might contend that his view is a convenient crutch. But after growing up in the integrated atmosphere of Army bases, he says that the racism he experienced during his one tumultuous season with UK led him to detest white people and abuse women. Threatening phone calls, broken car windows and eggs smashed on his front door became routine.

"That's the kind of abuse I went through," Payne said. "And people think that's not supposed to affect you? Before I went to college, nothing in my life said I was going to be a criminal. My whole life took a turn going to UK and getting damaged so much. My anger and hatred toward white society came up, and I lashed out."

Elsewhere in the SEC, ugly sentiments expressed in various ways were handled infinitely better. Collis Temple Jr., the son of two educators, never wavered in his determination to rid the stain of Jim Crow from LSU's campus. He insists that, despite being recruited by a "very racist" Press Maravich, his college career was a generally positive experience and, in the process, allowed him to help pave a smoother route for those who came after him - including two sons (Collis III and Garrett) who starred for the Tigers.

"It's the best decision I could have made," Collis Jr. said. "If I had to make that choice again, my choice would be the same."

Choices made by Brigham Young's administration probably would be different if it could make them all again. As late as 1969, BYU administrators discouraged blacks from attending the university, fostering numerous problems with Western Athletic Conference opponents. When BYU played at Arizona in 1970, a group of demonstrators tried to force their way onto the court, resulting in a 10-minute brawl with security police. The Cougars' game at New Mexico was delayed nearly one hour after protestors threw eggs and kerosene-filled balloons onto the court. At Colorado State, BYU's team was met by students carrying "Bigot Young University" signs before protestors hurled eggs, a flaming molotov cocktail and a piece of angle-iron onto the court.

Sports Illustrated observed that BYU was no longer certain whether an opponent would "throw a man-to-man defense, a zone, or a grenade." Cougars coach Stan Watts complained that the team was unable to concentrate because they had to keep "one eye on the crowd and one eye on the game."

Race problems weren't restricted to major universities. Two-time NAIA Tournament MVP Al Tucker, who went on to become an NBA first-round draft choice after averaging 28.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game in three seasons for Oklahoma Baptist, played one year with the College of Knoxville before going home to Ohio because of racial issues. Said Tucker about the last straw that sent him home: "We had what they called the Tennessee Theatre and we would give the lady a dollar or whatever it cost to get in and she said 'Sorry, we don't allow Negroes in.' Next thing they're going to call the paddy wagon and take us to jail."

The old bigotry of the South fades virtually every day, but former Mississippi/Arizona State coach Rob Evans thought the lessons in perseverance shouldn't be forgotten. Every year when Evans coached Ole Miss, he took his players to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

"I just think it's important to expand kids' knowledge, but I also wanted my kids exposed to what happened in the '60s, and why things are like they are now," Evans said. "I've had a tremendous amount of my white kids say, 'Coach, did this really happen?' They say, 'How did you take this?' I think it bonds the kids together."

In the early 1990s, Michigan's all-black "Fab Five" generated extensive national headlines with back-to-back NCAA Tournament championship game appearances. But their chest-pounding "me generation" era introducing baggy shorts, sullen stares and hip-hop attitudes might have been more style than substance because they never won a Big Ten Conference championship. At that time, the Center for the Study of Sport in Society supplied the following statistics: More than 55% of the varsity Division I players were black; 7% of the students on campus were black, and 1 1/2% of the faculty was black. The dropout rate after four years of eligibility for blacks was three times higher than the 10% for whites. Whether or not soft bigotry still exists, a 2007 report found that only 43% of black male college players graduate.

To be sure, things in society have changed immeasurably for minority groups since slavery and cotton were king. Gregory, Robinson and Wallace among others could only do so much in venturing into unchartered territory. Prejudice dies hard. Among everyone, actually, as lunatic leftists Don Lemon (formerly at CNN) and Rev. Al "Not So" Sharpton plus Joyless Reid (MSNBC) appear as if they hoped the first five Memphis police officers fired in repulsive beating death several years ago turned out to be white cops in black face similar to former VA governor Ralph Northam, Joyless Behar trying to impress colleague "Cloudy" (a/k/a Sunny), ex-comedian Jimmy "Mailman" Kimmel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as Colon Krapernick, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-honor shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoop selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players Julius Peppers and Rodney Harrison making a name for themselves on February 1 in Super Bowl XXVIII:

FEBRUARY 1

• New England Patriots SS Rodney Harrison (averaged 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3 apg and 1.6 spg for Western Illinois in 1992-93) registered a team-high eight solo tackles in 32-29 win against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXVIII following 2003 season. Panthers LDE Julius Peppers (averaged 5.7 ppg and 3.7 rpg while shooting 60.7% from floor for North Carolina in 1999-00 and 2000-01) provided two solo tackles.

Four Indiana standouts (Archie Dees, Trayce Jackson-Davis plus twins Dick Van Arsdale and Tom Van Arsdale) are among a striking number of 12 All-Americans born on 22nd of February. Two Kansas All-Americans (Ben McLemore and Jacque Vaughn) were born on the 11th but North Carolina has the most A-As born this month with six. Saint Joseph's Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay was born 100 years ago this month. Following is a day-by-day calendar of All-Americans and HOF coaches born in February:

FEBRUARY

1: All-Americans Theodore "T.R." Dunn (born in 1955/Alabama), Malik Sealy (1970/St. John's), Dick Snyder (1944/Davidson) and Robert "Tractor" Traylor (1977/Michigan).
2: All-Americans Dan Callandrillo (1959/Seton Hall), Sean Elliott (1968/Arizona), Ed "Moose" Krause (1913/Notre Dame), Bill Ridley (1934/Illinois) and Orson "Kent" Ryan (1915/Utah State).
3: All-American Darnell Valentine (1959/Kansas).
4: All-Americans Vern Fleming (1962/Georgia), Malik Monk (1998/Kentucky) and Blake Stepp (1982/Gonzaga).
6: All-Americans Shawn Respert (1972/Michigan State) and Carlos Rogers (1971/Tennessee State).
7: All-Americans Juwan Howard (1973/Michigan), James "Banks" McFadden (1917/Clemson), Mike O'Koren (1958/North Carolina) and Ed Shaver (1913/Purdue).
8: All-Americans Rui Hachimura (1998/Gonzaga), JaJuan Johnson (1989/Purdue), Marques Johnson (1956/UCLA) and Alonzo Mourning (1970/Georgetown).
9: All-Americans Kenny Fields (1962/UCLA), Phil Ford (1956/North Carolina), Ricky Frazier (1958/Missouri), Jameer Nelson (1982/St. Joseph's) and John Wallace (1974/Syracuse).
10: All-Americans Cornell Green (1940/Utah State), Tom LaGarde (1955/North Carolina), Bobby Portis (1995/Arkansas) and John "Cat" Thompson (1906/Montana State) plus Hall of Fame coach John Calipari (1959/Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky).
11: All-Americans Eric "Hank" Gathers (1967/Loyola Marymount), Ben McLemore (1993/Kansas), Alando Tucker (1984/Wisconsin) and Jacque Vaughn (1975/Kansas).
12: All-Americans Arthur James "A.J." Guyton (1978/Indiana), Larry Nance (1959/Clemson), Bill Russell (1934/San Francisco) and Ralph Vaughn (1918/Southern California).
13: All-American Jaden Ivey (2002/Purdue) and Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski (1947/Army and Duke).
14: All-Americans Richard "Rip" Hamilton (1978/Connecticut), Walter "Wali" Jones (1942/Villanova), Reggie King (1957/Alabama) and Carl McNulty (1930/Purdue).
15: All-Americans Nate Blackwell (1965/Temple), Jimmy Hull (1917/Ohio State), Mark Price (1964/Georgia Tech) and Tony White (1965/Tennessee).
16: All-Americans Larry Finch (1951/Memphis State), Dave Gambee (1937/Oregon State), Hasheem Thabeet (1987/Connecticut), Kelly Tripucka (1959/Notre Dame) and Herb Williams (1958/Ohio State).
17: All-American Michael Jordan (1963/North Carolina) plus Hall of Fame coach Rick Majerus (1948/Marquette, Ball State, Utah and Saint Louis).
18: All-Americans Jimmy Hagan (1936/Tennessee Tech), Maurice Lucas (1952/Marquette), Roland Minson (1929/Brigham Young) and James "Fly" Williams (1953/Austin Peay State).
19: All-Americans Elliott Loughlin (1910/Navy), Durand "Rudy" Macklin (1958/Louisiana State), John Pinone (1961/Villanova) and Mark Sears (2002/Alabama).
20: All-Americans Charles Barkley (1963/Auburn), Ambrose "A.L." Bennett (1924/Oklahoma A&M), Jarrett Culver (1999/Texas Tech), Stephon Marbury (1977/Georgia Tech) and Frank Oleynick (1955/Seattle).
21: All-Americans Steve Francis (1977/Maryland) and Julius McCoy (1932/Michigan State) plus Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay (1925/St. Joseph's).
22: All-Americans Dennis Awtrey (1948/Santa Clara), Archie Dees (1936/Indiana), Julius Erving (1950/Massachusetts), Devonte' Graham (1995/Kansas), Trayce Jackson-Davis (2000/Indiana), George Kaftan (1928/Holy Cross), Adam Keefe (1970/Stanford), Lewis Lloyd (1959/Drake), Lee Nailon (1975/Texas Christian), twins Dick Van Arsdale and Tom Van Arsdale (1943/Indiana) plus Chester "Chet" Walker (1940/Bradley).
23: All-Americans Mal Graham (1945/NYU), Gary Gray (1945/Oklahoma City), Roger Kaiser (1939/Georgia Tech), Vic Molodet (1933/North Carolina State), Jamal Murray (1997/Kentucky), Phil "Red" Murrell (1933/Drake), D'Angelo Russell (1996/Ohio State), Lee Shaffer (1939/North Carolina) and Andrew Wiggins (1995/Kansas).
24: All-Americans Charley Brown (1936/Seattle), Tommy Burleson (1952/North Carolina State), Mike Robinson (1952/Michigan State) and Al Tucker (1943/Oklahoma Baptist).
25: All-Americans Vernon Carey Jr. (2001/Duke), Jimmer Fredette (1989/Brigham Young), Matt Guokas (1944/St. Joseph's), E'Twaun Moore (1989/Purdue), Joakim Noah (1985/Florida), Fred VanVleet (1994/Wichita State), Malcolm "Sparky" Wade (1910/Louisiana State) and Frank Williams (1980/Illinois) plus Hall of Fame coach Fred "Tex" Winter (1922/Marquette, Kansas State, Washington, Northwestern and Long Beach State).
26: All-Americans Rolando Blackman (1959/Kansas State), Joe Capua (1934/Wyoming), Tom Churchill (1907/Oklahoma), Joe Holup (1934/George Washington), Bob McCurdy (1952/Richmond) and Robert "Bingo" Smith (1946/Tulsa).
27: All-Americans Johnny Davis (2002/Wisconsin), Gus Doerner (1922/Evansville), Charles "Chick" Halbert (1919/West Texas A&M), Devin Harris (1983/Wisconsin), Lloyd Sharrar (1936/West Virginia), Terence Stansbury (1961/Temple) and James Worthy (1961/North Carolina) plus Hall of Fame coach Mike Montgomery (1947/Montana, Stanford and California).
28: All-Americans Luther "Ticky" Burden (1953/Utah), Adrian Dantley (1956/Notre Dame), Chuck Hyatt (1908/Pittsburgh), Tayshaun Prince (1980/Kentucky), Tom Riker (1950/South Carolina), Jamaal Tinsley (1978/Iowa State), Max Williams (1938/Southern Methodist) and Cassius Winston (1998/Michigan State) plus Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith (1931/North Carolina).

Birthdays in January for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in February for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in March for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in April for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in May for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in June for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in July for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in August for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in September for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in October for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in November for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches
Birthdays in December for All-Americans and Hall of Fame Coaches

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before spurring politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on January 30 in football at the professional level (especially Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII):

JANUARY 30

• St. Louis Rams MLB London Fletcher (started two basketball games as St. Francis PA freshman in 1993-94 before transferring home to Cleveland to play hoops for John Carroll OH in 1995-96) recorded a game-high seven solo tackles in 23-16 win against the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season.

• Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy (earned hoops letter with Coe IA in 1949-50) lost his fourth consecutive Super Bowl game (30-13 against Dallas Cowboys in XXVIII following 1993 season). Bills TE Keith McKeller (starting center for Jacksonville State's 1985 NCAA Division II championship team led Gulf South Conference in rebounding each of his first three seasons and finished second as senior) had at least one pass reception in his fourth straight Super Bowl while teammate Pete Metzelaars (1982 NCAA Division III Tournament MOP for Wabash IN in 1982) did likewise in his third consecutive SB.

• George Starke (averaged 2.9 ppg and 3.7 rpg for Columbia in 1968-69 and 1969-70) was starting RT for Washington Redskins in their 27-17 win against the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII following 1982 season.

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following are former college basketball players making a name for themselves on January 28 in Super Bowl competition:

JANUARY 28

• Baltimore Ravens TE Ben Coates (Livingstone NC hooper) caught three passes for 30 yards in a 34-7 victory against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV following 2000 season. Ravens backup LB Brad Jackson (Cincinnati hooper in 1997-98 under coach Bob Huggins) collected one solo tackle and one fumble recovery. Giants RCB Jason Sehorn (averaged 12.5 ppg and 6 rpg for Shasta Community College CA in 1990-91) tied for team high with six solo tackles.

• San Francisco 49ers FS Ronnie Lott (Southern California hooper in 1979-80) contributed a solo tackle in 55-10 victory against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV following 1989 season. Starting LT for the Broncos was Gerald Perry (averaged 2.8 ppg and 2.3 rpg for South Carolina in 1983-84 under coach Bill E. Foster before transferring and averaging 2 ppg and 1.5 rpg with Southern LA in 1986-87 under coach Ben Jobe).

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before spurring politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players Keith McKeller and Tommy Polley starting for teams on January 27 in NFL postseason:

JANUARY 27

• Buffalo Bills TE Keith McKeller (four-time All-Gulf South Conference selection for Jacksonville State averaged 12.5 ppg and 10.1 rpg from 1982-83 through 1985-86) caught two passes for 11 yards from QB Jim Kelly in 20-19 setback against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV following 1990 season.

• St. Louis Rams rookie LB Tommy Polley (played in one basketball game for Florida State in 1996-97 under coach Pat Kennedy) provided seven solo tackles in 29-24 win in NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles following 2001 campaign.

What goes around comes around. Detroit, which posted an abysmal 1-31 record last season, extended Green Bay's losing streak to 19 in a row in early February. Elsewhere, it was difficult for fans of Arkansas (lost first five SEC assignments) and Indiana (dropped back-to-back Big Ten outings by 25 points apiece) to deny things could get any more demonstrably dismal. But win deprivation can happen to the best among us and has been even worse for such premier programs.

For instance, Patrick Ewing was unable to come anywhere close to duplicating as coach his All-American success with Georgetown in the mid-1980s. In fact, the Hoyas set an all-time school record of 21 defeats after bowing in 2022 Big East Conference Tournament (only four of setbacks by fewer than seven points). At least they didn't match or surpass the all-time longest losing streak by a current power-conference member - 27 by Syracuse in the early 1960s. Hoya Paranoia reached 29 consecutive Big East competition reversals until GU prevailed against DePaul. Ewing's longest losing streak while manning the middle four seasons for GU was three setbacks in a row midway through his freshman season in 1981-82 (at Syracuse/home game vs. Connecticut/at Providence). Despite Ewing's departure, the Hoyas are bound for their ninth straight non-winning record in league competition. As for DePaul, the Blue Demons set a new losing streak record by the end of the regular season this campaign.

Jim O'Brien was the only individual to coach two current power-league members (Boston College and Ohio State) when they incurred their longest existing losing streak until BC dropped 20 in a row extending to the opener several seasons ago. Former Big East Conference rival Rutgers incurred 15 consecutive reversals to end the 2014-15 season before St. John's bowed in 16 straight decisions in 2015-16. In the middle of previous decade, Missouri wasn't the only Tigers' program in SEC sidelined by tranquilizing-inducing losing streak (13). LSU dropped 15 consecutive contests when former Tigers coach Johnny Jones frequently looked as strategically befuddled as a chief recruiter losing a satchel full of cash on a recruiting trip. Mizzou broke its all-time losing mark in 2023-24 by dropping all 18 of the Tigers' SEC regular-season outings.

Miserable season five years ago for North Carolina (14-19) included seven straight ACC setbacks en route to registering 12 reversals in a 14-game span. But at least the Tar Heels didn't set a school standard for most defeats in a row. Utah also set a new mark for futility three years ago, leaving the following list of elite basketball schools such as Creighton, Duke, Iowa, Kentucky, Carolina, Purdue, UNLV and West Virginia never reaching double figures in consecutive setbacks:

School (Longest Losing Streak)	Coach(es)	Date Started	Date Ended	Opponent Beaten Ending Streak	Score
Alabama (15)	C.M. Newton	1-11-69	12-1-69	Southern Mississippi	104-74
Arizona (16)	Fred Enke	12-19-58	2-14-59	Hardin-Simmons	66-64
Arizona State (15)	Herb Sendek	12-22-2006	2-18-2007	Southern California	68-58
Arkansas (10)	Lanny Van Eman	1-9-71	2-20-71	at Texas	88-87 in OT
Auburn (13)	V.J. Edney	12-13-46	2-8-47	Florida	36-30
Baylor (17)	Harry Miller	1-2-99	11-20-99	Eastern Washington	68-61
Boston College (20)	Jim Christian	1-2-2016	11-15-2016	Maryland-Eastern Shore	73-57
Brigham Young (21)	Roger Reid/Tony Ingle	12-13-96	11-14-97	at San Diego State	73-59
Butler (14)	Joe Sexson	1-31-81	12-12-81	Valparaiso	85-76
California (16)	Wyking Jones	12-29-2018	2-28-2019	Washington	76-73
Cincinnati (10)	Mick Cronin	1-24-2007	2-28-2007	Seton Hall	70-67 in OT
Clemson (15)	Banks McFadden	12-14-54	2-21-55	Georgia	105-94
Colorado (17)	Tom Apke	1-8-86	11-28-86	Weber State	73-57
Connecticut (10)	John Donahue	1918	1919	Boston College	46-27
Connecticut (10)	Burr Carlson	11-30-68	1-8-69	Syracuse	103-84
Creighton (9)	Dana Altman	1-23-95	2-23-95	at Wichita State	50-47
Creighton (9)	Greg McDermott	12-21-2014	1-28-2015	St. John's	77-74
DePaul (21)	Tony Stubblefield/Matt Brady	1-2-2024	11-4-2024	Southern Indiana	80-78 in OT
Duke (8)	James Baldwin	2-13-22	3-?-22	Durham YMCA	37-26
Florida (14)	Don DeVoe	1-17-90	2-27-90	Louisiana State	76-63
Florida State (13)	Don Loucks	1-10-48	2-21-48	Florida Southern	55-48
Georgetown (21)	Patrick Ewing	12-18-2021	11-8-2022	Coppin State	99-89 in OT
Georgia (13)	Harbin "Red" Lawson	12-28-51	2-6-52	Georgia Tech	72-64
Georgia Tech (26)	John "Whack" Hyder	2-7-53	2-18-54	South Carolina	58-53
Gonzaga (10)	Dan Fitzgerald	1-19-90	2-23-90	at San Francisco	76-75
Houston (13)	Alvin Brooks	12-7-93	2-5-94	at Rice	69-67
Illinois (11)	Harv Schmidt	1-12-74	2-23-74	Iowa	91-84
Indiana (11)	Harry Good	1-8-44	2-19-44	at Minnesota	48-47
Indiana (11)	Tom Crean	1-24-2010	3-6-2010	Northwestern	88-80 in OT
Iowa (8)	Rollie Williams	2-15-30	12-23-30	at Creighton	28-22
Iowa (8)	Dick Schultz	1-7-74	2-11-74	Purdue	112-111 in 3OT
Iowa State (14)	Louis Menze	1-2-37	12-3-37	Simpson IA	41-37
Kansas (10)	Phog Allen	1-21-48	3-12-48	Iowa State	61-54
Kansas State (15)	E.C. Curtiss	2-28-22	2-17-23	at Nebraska	17-14
Kentucky (9)	George Buchheit	1-25-23	2-23-23	Sewanee TN	30-14
Louisiana State (15)	Johnny Jones	1-7-2017	3-1-2017	Tennessee	92-82
Louisville (19)	Laurie Apitz	2-18-39	2-22-40	Berea TN	56-55
Marquette (15)	Eddie Hickey	1-8-64	3-7-64	at Xavier	98-95
Maryland (22)	Howard Shipley	3-1-40	2-22-41	Washington College MD	26-18
Memphis (20)	Zach Curlin	1-7-38	1-26-39	Arkansas State	53-45
Miami FL (17)	Leonard Hamilton	1-8-94	11-25-94	Northeastern Illinois	66-48
Michigan (11)	Bill Frieder	12-12-81	1-28-82	Ohio State	62-60 in OT
Michigan State (11)	Forddy Anderson	1-9-65	3-1-65	Purdue	110-92
Minnesota (17)	Clem Haskins	1-10-87	11-30-87	Western Illinois	84-52
Mississippi (16)	Robert "Cob" Jarvis	12-30-75	3-1-76	Vanderbilt	81-72
Mississippi State (14)	Paul Gregory	1-7-55	2-26-55	at Louisiana State	84-80
Missouri (20)	Dennis Gates	1-6-2024	11-8-2024	Howard University	77-62
Nebraska (17)	Fred Hoiberg	1-11-2020	11-25-20	McNeese State	102-55
North Carolina (8)	Tom Scott	12-20-50	1-11-51	Wake Forest	65-56
North Carolina State (9)	Les Robinson	1-25-92	2-22-92	at North Carolina	99-94
North Carolina State (9)	Sidney Lowe	2-9-2008	11-15-2008	at New Orleans	65-59
Northwestern (20)	Maury Kent	3-3-23	12-22-24	Michigan State	26-17
Notre Dame (13)	Johnny Dee	12-18-65	2-9-66	Butler	84-61
Ohio State (17)	Jim O'Brien	12-28-97	2-25-98	at Wisconsin	61-56
Oklahoma (10)	Bob Stevens	1-6-64	2-21-64	Missouri	86-84
Oklahoma State (13)	James Pixlee	1-24-20	1-14-21	Oklahoma Baptist	34-19
Oklahoma State (13)	John Maulbetsch/George Roddy	1-12-29	1-7-30	Oklahoma	28-22
Oklahoma State (13)	George Roddy	1-10-30	1-5-31	Grinnell IA	23-16
Oregon (22)	George Bohler	12-22-21	2-20-22	Nevada	33-29
Oregon State (25)	Jay John/Kevin Mouton/Craig Robinson	12-22-2007	11-30-2008	at Fresno State	62-54
Penn State (17)	Bruce Parkhill	1-21-84	12-5-84	Navy	66-63
Pittsburgh (10)	Charles "Buzz" Ridl	12-7-68	1-28-69	West Virginia	90-87
Providence (12)	Lawrence Drew	2-5-49	3-9-49	Clark MA	46-45
Purdue (8)	Ray Eddy	1-12-52	2-11-52	Wisconsin	78-67
Purdue (8)	Ray Eddy	1-5-63	2-4-63	Michigan State	103-81
Rutgers (16)	Craig Littlepage	12-23-87	2-18-88	Penn State	65-61
St. John's (16)	Chris Mullin	12-18-2015	2-17-2016	DePaul	80-65
Seton Hall (15)	John Colrick/Honey Russell	2-5-36	1-22-37	St. Peter's	30-23
Seton Hall (15)	P.J. Carlesimo	1-2-85	3-2-85	Connecticut	85-80
South Carolina (15)	Absalon "Rock" Norman	1-12-31	1-8-32	Clemson	31-23
Southern California (16)	Bob Boyd	1-8-76	12-1-76	Idaho	104-64
Southern Methodist (16)	Forrest "Whitey" Baccus	1945-46	12-12-46	Missouri at Kansas City	56-53
Stanford (11)	John Bunn	1-15-32	12-23-32	at Utah	41-37
Syracuse (27)	Marc Guley	2-22-61	3-3-62	at Boston College	73-72
Temple (11)	Don Casey	12-10-75	1-26-76	Dickinson PA	89-55
Tennessee (14)	W.H. Britton	2-21-27	12-28-28	South Carolina	29-20
Texas (15)	Thurman "Slue" Hull	12-4-54	2-5-55	Arkansas	75-74
Texas A&M (17)	Melvin Watkins/Billy Gillispie	1-10-2004	11-19-2004	North Carolina A&T	89-56
Texas Christian (24)	Johnny Swaim/Tim Somerville	12-11-76	12-3-77	Wayland Baptist TX	67-53
Texas Tech (20)	Gerald Myers	1-4-90	11-25-90	Nevada	81-69 at Anchorage
UCLA (14)	Pierce "Caddy" Works	12-28-37	1938-39 opener	L.A. City College	44-28
UNLV (9)	Michael Drakulich	12-5-58	1-14-59	at Nellis AFB	52-47
Utah (10)	Craig Smith	12-30-21	2-3-22	Oregon State	84-59
Vanderbilt (14)	Josh Cody	2-15-35	1-9-36	Auburn	47-27
Villanova (10)	John "Rube" Cashman	1927-28	season finale	Alumni at Rosemont	33-18
Virginia (13)	Billy McCann	1-9-60	2-27-60	Washington & Lee VA	86-59
Virginia Tech (18)	Gerald "Red" Laird	12-29-54	2-21-55	The Citadel	88-53
Wake Forest (22)	Murray Greason	1-26-43	1944-45	Catawba NC	41-38
Washington (13)	Lorenzo Romar	1-21-2017	11-10-2017	Belmont	86-82
Washington State (18)	Kelvin Sampson	12-30-89	11-28-90	BYU-Hawaii	112-81
West Virginia (9)	Marshall Glenn	1-12-37	2-17-37	Penn State	36-31
West Virginia (9)	Gale Catlett	12-28-2001	1-30-2002	Providence	89-81
West Virginia (9)	Drew Catlett/John Beilein	2-2-2002	11-22-2002	Delaware State	59-46
Wichita State (14)	Kenneth Gunning	1-10-50	12-5-50	Oklahoma Baptist	53-45
Wisconsin (14)	John Powless	1-8-76	3-1-76	at Ohio State	91-79
Xavier (13)	Dick Campbell	1-29-73	12-1-73	Aquinas MI	88-48

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before spurring politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on January 24 in NFL (especially receivers in both conference championship contests following 2015 season):

JANUARY 24

• QB Ken Anderson (swingman finished Augustana IL career in early 1970s as fifth-leading scorer in school history with 1,044 points) accounted for all three of the Cincinnati Bengals' touchdowns (two passing/one rushing in second half) in a 26-21 setback against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XVI following 1981 season. Bengals WR David Verser (Kansas hooper in five games in 1977-78 under coach Ted Owens) returned five kickoffs for 52 yards. Niners LCB Ronnie Lott (Southern California hooper in 1979-80) contributed three solo tackles.

• Green Bay Packers LB Fred Carr (played for defending NCAA champion Texas Western in 1967 playoffs under coach Don Haskins) shared the NFL Pro Bowl MVP award following 1970 season.

• Arizona Cardinals TE Darren Fells (averaged 10.2 ppg and 6.3 rpg from 2004-05 through 2007-08, leading UC Irvine in rebounding each of last three seasons) caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer in 49-15 setback against the Charlotte Panthers in NFC championship game following 2015 season.

• Green Bay Packers TE Marcedes Lewis (collected nine points and four rebounds in seven UCLA basketball contests in 2002-03 under coach Steve Lavin) caught three passes for 28 yards from Aaron Rodgers in a 31-26 setback against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in NFC Championship following 2020 season.

• Denver Broncos WR Jordan Norwood (Penn State hooper in four games in 2006-07) caught two passes from Peyton Manning and returned three punts for 21 yards in a 20-18 win against the New England Patriots in AFC Championship following 2015 season.

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on January 22 in football at the professional level (especially Green Bay Packers defense in NFC championship contest following 2016 season):

JANUARY 22

• Baltimore Ravens PK Billy Cundiff (played in nine basketball contests with Drake in 1999-00 and 2000-01) converted two field goals but missed a 32-yard attempt with 15 seconds remaining that could have knotted the score in 23-20 setback against the New England Patriots in AFC championship game following 2011 season.

• San Francisco 49ers FS Ronnie Lott (Southern California hooper in 1979-80) contributed four solo tackles in a 20-16 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII following 1988 season.

• Oakland Raiders RB Greg Pruitt (freshman squad hooper for Oklahoma in 1969-70) rushed five times for 17 yards, returned one kickoff for 17 yards and returned one punt return for eight yards in a 38-9 victory against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII following the 1983 season. George Starke (averaged 2.9 ppg and 3.7 rpg for Columbia in 1968-69 and 1969-70) was starting RT for the Redskins.

• Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antwaan Randle El (member of Indiana's 1999 NCAA Tournament team coached by Bob Knight) caught four passes for 52 yards in a 34-17 win against the Denver Broncos in AFC Championship following 2005 season.

• Green Bay Packers CB Quinten Rollins (led Miami OH in steals all four seasons from 2010-11 through 2013-14 including Mid-American Conference as senior) had four tackles in a 44-21 setback against the Atlanta Falcons in NFC championship game following 2016 season. Packers LB Julius Peppers (averaged 5.7 ppg and 3.7 rpg while shooting 60.7% from floor for North Carolina in 1999-00 and 2000-01) chipped in with two tackles.

• Denver Broncos WR Rod Smith (swingman was Missouri Southern State hoops letterman as sophomore in 1990-91) caught four passes for 61 yards in a 34-17 setback against the Pittsburgh Steelers in AFC Championship following 2005 season.

Long before kneeling knuckleheads such as GQ cover boy #ColonKrapernick tried to pinpoint where Iran is on a map before politicized multiple anthems and hug-a-thug NFL funding anti-cop activist groups, the NCAA Tournament commenced in 1939, which was one year after the NIT triggered national postseason competition. An overlooked "versatile athlete" feat occurring in 1938 likely never to be duplicated took place at Arkansas, where the quarterback for the football squad (Jack Robbins) repeated as an All-SWC first-team basketball selection, leading the Razorbacks (19-3) to the league title. After the season, Robbins became an NFL first-round draft choice by the Chicago Cardinals (5th pick overall) and senior football/basketball teammates Jim Benton (11th pick by Cleveland Rams) and Ray Hamilton (41st pick by Rams) went on to become wide receivers for at least six years in the NFL. Yes, they created a kneeling-in-admiration shatterproof achievement - three members of a league championship basketball squad who promptly were among the top 41 selections in the same NFL draft.

Two years later, All-SWC first-team hoop selection Howard "Red" Hickey was instrumental in Arkansas reaching the 1941 Final Four before becoming an end for the Cleveland Rams' 1945 NFL titlist. Two-sport college teammate and fellow end O'Neal Adams scored five touchdowns for the New York Giants the first half of the 1940s. Another two-sport Hog who played for the Giants in the mid-1940s was Harry Wynne. An earlier versatile Razorback was Jim Lee Howell, who was an All-SWC first five hoops selection in 1935-36 before becoming a starting end for the Giants' 1938 NFL titlist and Pro Bowl participant the next year. Adams, Benton, Hamilton, Hickey and Howell combined for 77 touchdowns in an 11-year span from 1938 through 1948 when at least one of the ex-Razorback hoopers scored a TD in each of those seasons.

Hickey and ex-Hog All-SWC second-team hooper in 1929-30/NFL end Milan Creighton each coached NFL franchises. Many other ex-college hoopers also displayed their wares on the gridiron. Following is exhaustive research you can tackle regarding former college basketball players who made a name for themselves on January 21 in football at the professional level (including touchdown catches by tight ends Billy Joe Dupree and Marcedes Lewis):

JANUARY 21

• TE Marcedes Lewis (collected nine points and four rebounds in seven UCLA basketball contests in 2002-03 under coach Steve Lavin) opened the Jacksonville Jaguars' scoring with a touchdown reception in 24-20 setback against the New England Patriots in AFC Championship following 2017 season.

• Dallas Cowboys QB Roger Staubach (Navy varsity hooper in 1962-63) threw three touchdown passes in a 35-31 setback against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIII following 1978 season. One of the TD passes was in fourth quarter to TE Billy Joe Dupree (scored four points in total of four basketball games for Michigan State in 1971-72). Cowboys RB Preston Pearson (averaged 5.2 ppg and 3.6 rpg for Illinois from 1964-65 through 1966-67) rushed once for six years and caught two of Staubach's passes for 15 yards, LDE Ed "Too Tall" Jones (averaged 1.7 ppg and 2.6 rpg for Tennessee State in 1969-70 and 1970-71) registered five solo tackles plus recovering a fumble and Rayfield Wright (All-SIAC hooper with Fort Valley State GA) started at RT for them. Steelers DB Tony Dungy (averaged 2.6 ppg with Minnesota in 1973-74) recorded a solo tackle.

Wanna commence countdown to winning your first bar bet in 2025? Did you know a former Notre Dame defensive tackle (Jay Ziznewski) outrebounded basketball All-American teammate Austin Carr, 26-24, in three 1970 NCAA playoff games when Carr erupted for a total of 158 points (all-time single tourney scoring average record of 52.7 ppg)? Ziznewski was a DT in 1968 under coach Ara Parseghian, a former hooper with Miami (Ohio).

Another legendary UND gridiron coach was Knute Rockne. The subject of his "Win One For the Gipper" speech was George Gipp, who led the Fighting Irish in rushing and passing yardage from 1918 through 1920 while also earning a basketball letter in 1919. One of the famous "Four Horsemen" of UND's backfield in 1924 was Don "Midnight" Miller, who led the Irish in rushing and receiving yardage in back-to-back years while also earning letters in hoops.

But in an era of specialization, two-way athletes are becoming a dying breed. In the "good old days," a striking number of versatile athletes participated in both college basketball and football. Amid this multi-sport mosaic, sports history buffs might want to know football players who also played hoops for the two participants in this year's College Football Playoff National Championship since the start of national postseason competition in basketball in late 1930s:

NOTRE DAME

FB-BKB Player	Summary of Football Career	Summary of Basketball Career
Steve Bagarus	Back rushed for 343 yards and one touchdown, caught 80 passes for nine TDs and had five interceptions with Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Rams in four years from 1945 through 1948. The 6-0, 170-pound led the NFL as a rookie in punt returns (21 for 251 yards).	Member of Irish basketball squad in the early 1940s.
John Carlson Jr.	Tight end was a second-round choice in 2008 NFL draft (38th pick overall). Caught 210 passes for 2,256 yards and 15 touchdowns with the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals in six years from 2008 through 2014 after catching 100 passes for 1,093 yards and eight TDs for the Fighting Irish.	The 6-5 Carlson converted both free-throw attempts he had over three basketball games in 2003-04 under coach Mike Brey. "From a football standpoint, playing basketball is going to make me quicker, jump higher, and be a little more athletic," Carlson said. "From a basketball standpoint, being a football player will probably make me stronger - I am used to pushing around big bodies."
George Connor	Member of College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame was Outland Trophy winner (outstanding interior lineman) as a tackle on 1946 national championship team. Consensus All-American football choice in 1946 and 1947. Earned All-America honors as a tackle at Holy Cross in 1943 before transferring to Notre Dame. First-round draft choice by the New York Giants in 1946 (5th pick overall). Played offensive/defensive tackle and linebacker with the Chicago Bears for eight years from 1948 through 1955, earning All-NFL first-team honors from 1949 through 1953.	Averaged 2.5 ppg as a 6-3, 225-pound center on the Irish's 1946-47 basketball team. Hoops letterman with Holy Cross in 1943 and 1944 before transferring.
Bernie Crimmins	All-American guard in 1941. Intercepted one pass for a touchdown in six games with the Green Bay Packers in 1945. Compiled a 13-32 record as Indiana's coach in five seasons from 1952 through 1956.	Fighting Irish hooper in the early 1940s.
Joe Gasparella	Quarterback was a fourth-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1948 NFL draft, completing 23-of-54 passes for three touchdowns with them in 1950.	The 6-4 Gasperella played hoops in 1944 under coach Moose Krause.
Oliver Gibson	Defensive tackle was a fourth-round draft choice by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995. Played four seasons with the Steelers before finishing his nine-year NFL career with five campaigns for the Cincinnati Bengals.	Collected eight points and five rebounds in seven games for the Irish's basketball team in 1990-91. His lone field goal was a three-pointer.
Kevin Hardy	Defensive end and tackle for four seasons (1968 through 1972) in the NFL with three different teams (San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers). First-round draft choice of the New Orleans Saints (7th pick overall). Two-time All-American with the Irish, including 1966 as a junior on the school's national championship football team.	The 6-5, 260-pound forward-center averaged 2.1 ppg and 2.3 rpg in his lone basketball season (1964-65).
Paul Hornung	Member of College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame earned All-American honors as a quarterback in 1955 and 1956. Only Heisman Trophy winner to play for a losing team (2-8 as a senior when he passed for 917 yards and rushed for 420). First pick overall in the NFL draft as a bonus selection. Played nine seasons as a halfback/placekicker with the Green Bay Packers, leading the NFL in scoring in 1959, 1960 and 1961. He rushed for 3,711 yards and 50 touchdowns and caught 130 passes for 1,480 yards and 12 touchdowns. Played in five NFL championship games and two Pro Bowls (1960 and 1961).	Played varsity basketball for the Irish as a sophomore, averaging 6.1 ppg in 10 contests. Wrote Hornung in his autobiography Golden Boy: "(Coach Johnny) Jordan liked to tip a few, and sometimes, on the road, he'd take me out drinking with him. He could do that because I wasn't on basketball scholarship."
Joe Howard	Wide receiver hooked up with Blair Keil on a school-record 96-yard touchdown pass in a 35-3 victory over Georgia Tech in 1982. Caught 85 passes for 1,663 yards and seven TDs while returning 47 punts for 344 yards from 1981 through 1984.	Part-time starter for NIT runner-up in 1983-84 when averaging 5.5 ppg and 3.3 apg.
Johnny Lattner	Consensus All-American halfback won Heisman Trophy in 1953 after finishing fifth in the Heisman voting the previous year. Member of College Football Hall of Fame helped the Irish compile a 23-4-2 record in his three varsity football seasons (1951 through 1953). First-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1954 rushed for 237 yards and five touchdowns before suffering a career-ending knee injury while in military service.	Scored 12 points in four games for the 1951-52 basketball team as a 6-2 forward. He supplied the game-winning basket with nine seconds left in overtime in a 75-74 victory over NYU at Madison Square Garden.
Johnny Lujack	Heisman Trophy winner in 1947 after finishing third in voting the previous year. In his three years as quarterback, the member of the College Football Hall of Fame helped the Irish win a national championship each season and a 26-1-1 record overall. First-round draft choice of the Chicago Bears in 1946 played quarterback, defensive back and kicker for them from 1948 through 1951, leading them in scoring all four years. He intercepted a team-high eight passes as a rookie and holds the franchise record for most passing yards in a game with 468 in a 1949 contest.	Averaged 3.4 ppg as a starting guard for basketball team in 1943-44.
George Ratterman	Quarterback passed for 10,473 yards and 91 touchdowns in 10 years (1947 through 1956) with Buffalo in the All-America Football Conference and the New York Yankees and Cleveland Browns in the NFL before playing for the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL. Played in AAFC championship game in 1948 and NFL championship games in 1953, 1954 and 1955. Selected by Boston in the 16th round of 1948 NFL draft. Second-team QB for Notre Dame's 1946 national championship football team.	Third-leading scorer with 11.7 ppg as 6-0 forward on 1944-45 Irish basketball team compiling a 15-5 record and 8.6 ppg on 1945-46 squad that went 17-4. Scored 4.9 ppg as a senior reserve. In 1945-46, he scored Notre Dame's last 11 points in a 56-47 upset of a Kentucky club finishing with 28-2 mark and NIT title. Sketch in school guide: "Considered one of the 'slickest' players in college ball."
Mike Townsend	Defensive back was a consensus All-American as one of three captains for the 1973 national championship football team. He led the nation in pass interceptions the previous season with a school-record 10. Fourth-round draft choice by the Minnesota Vikings in 1974 opted to play in World Football League with Florida Sharks.	Averaged 2.9 ppg and 2.8 rpg for the Fighting Irish basketball squad in 1971-72 (coach Digger Phelps' first team) and 1972-73 as a walk-on with his brother (WR Willie).
Willie Townsend	Final wide receiver selected in 1974 NFL draft (440th pick by Los Angeles Rams in 17th round). Notre Dame's leading receiver in 1972 with 25 receptions for 369 yards and four touchdowns, including a 62-yard TD pass against Purdue.	Averaged 9.3 ppg and 6.9 rpg for the Fighting Irish basketball squad in 1971-72 and 1972-73 as a walk-on with his brother (DB Mike).
Jim White	Tackle was consensus All-American and national champion in 1943 (finishing ninth in Heisman Trophy voting). After serving in U.S. Navy during WWII, he started with the New York Giants for five years from 1946 through 1950. All-Pro selection as a rookie returned a recovered fumble 26 yards for touchdown in 1947.	The 6-2 forward was member of hoops squad in 1941.
Jay Ziznewski	Defensive tackle in 1968 under coach Ara Parseghian, a former Miami of Ohio hooper.	The 6-6 Ziznewski averaged 3.1 ppg and 3.4 rpg from 1967-68 through 1969-70. He outrebounded All-American teammate Austin Carr, 26-24, in three NCAA playoff games as senior when Carr erupted for a total of 158 points (all-time single tourney scoring average record of 52.7 ppg).

OHIO STATE

FB-BKB Player	Summary of Football Career	Summary of Basketball Career
Warren Amling	Member of College Football Hall of Fame is one of few athletes to earn consensus All-American honors at two positions (guard in 1945 and tackle in 1946). Member of 1944 Ohio State football team finishing with a 9-0 record, won the Big Ten Conference title and ranked second behind Army in the final Associated Press poll. He finished seventh in 1945 Heisman Trophy voting.	Three-year letterman for the Buckeyes' basketball team from 1944-45 through 1946-47. Starting guard on Final Four squads in 1945 and 1946. Second-team All-Big Ten selection in basketball in 1945-46.
Ralph Armstrong	Wide receiver caught 23 passes for 358 yards and five touchdowns from 1949 through 1951 (10 receptions for 173 yards and one TD with 1949 Rose Bowl game winner). As a senior, he had two TD catches for the Buckeyes in Woody Hayes' inaugural campaign as their coach.	The 6-4 Armstrong averaged 5.5 ppg from 1949-50 through 1951-52. Teammate of Fred Taylor for 1950 NCAA tourney team coached by Tippy Dye.
Rickey Dudley	Tight end was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round (9th pick overall) of the 1996 NFL draft. Scored 29 touchdowns in five seasons with the Raiders before hooking on with the Cleveland Browns in 2001 and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002. Caught a TD pass for the Bucs in the playoffs following the 2002 campaign. Played two seasons of football for the Buckeyes, catching nine passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns as a junior in 1994 and 37 passes for 575 yards and seven TDs as a senior in 1995. Offensive MVP in the 1996 Florida Citrus Bowl.	In four seasons as a 6-7, 240-pound forward for OSU's basketball team, he started 47 of 100 games. Dudley averaged 13.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg as a senior in 1994-95 when leading the Buckeyes in rebounding and finishing third in scoring. In 1992, he collected three points and five rebounds in a 78-55 victory over Connecticut in second round for the Buckeyes' Southeast Regional runner-up.
Jack Dugger	Consensus All-American end on the 1944 OSU football team that finished second behind Army in the final AP poll. Second-round NFL draft choice by Pittsburgh in 1945. Played pro football with three different franchises from 1946 through 1949.	Three-year letterman in basketball was a 6-4, 205-pound starting forward for the Buckeyes' Final Four teams in 1944 and 1945. Played briefly for Syracuse in the National Basketball League in 1946-47.
Tony Eisenhard	Played first several seasons as defensive end (starting four Big Ten Conference games in 1997 en route to 18 tackles) before switching to tight end as senior in 1999 and playing on special teams.	The 6-7 Eisenhard averaged 1.7 ppg and 1.1 rpg over seven of the Buckeyes' last eight basketball games in 1996-97.
Eugene Fekete	Fullback/linebacker for the Buckeyes' first national championship club in 1942 had an 89-yard touchdown run against Pittsburgh en route to leading Big Ten Conference in scoring and rushing. Sixth-round pick by the Detroit Lions in 1945 NFL draft. Rushed 26 times for 106 yards and one TD with AAFC's Cleveland Browns in 1946.	Member of OSU's basketball squad in 1943 before serving in U.S. Army during WWII.
Dick "Sonnie" Fisher	Halfback was on Big Ten Conference titlist in 1939 and became an all-league second-team choice in 1941 in first OSU season under coach Paul Brown. Fisher was a 17th-round choice by the Detroit Lions in 1942 NFL draft.	He was an All-Big Ten first-team selection as a hoops forward in 1940-41.
Jack Graf	Back was a three-year letterman before selected in 18th round by the Cleveland Rams in 1942 NFL draft.	Hoops letterman from 1939-40 through 1941-42 was senior captain.
Thomas Hague	Led Woody Hayes-coached 1953 club in pass receptions (19), receiving yards (275) and touchdown receptions (four).	Averaged 1.3 ppg in 1951-52 and 1952-53.
Rex Kern	Standout college quarterback played four years as a safety in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts and Buffalo Bills. Tenth-round draft choice in 1971 intercepted two passes in 1973. MVP of the 1969 Rose Bowl finished among the top five in Heisman Trophy voting in 1969 and 1970.	The 5-11, 190-pounder averaged 8.4 ppg as a guard for the Buckeyes' freshman basketball squad in 1968-69.
William "Dave" Leggett	Quarterback-defensive back was Rose Bowl MVP for undefeated 1954 team under coach Woody Hayes. Selected in seventh round by Chicago Cardinals in 1955 NFL draft before playing in four games for them.	Averaged 1.7 ppg in 19 basketball games from 1951-52 through 1953-54.
John Lumpkin	Two-year starting tight end caught four touchdown passes as a senior in 1998. The previous season, he scored the Buckeyes' lone touchdown (50-yard pass reception) in the Sugar Bowl against Florida State.	The 6-7, 250-pounder collected 92 points and 120 rebounds in two seasons in the mid-1990s.
Jim McDonald	Back rushed 25 times for 80 yards and caught seven passes for 112 yards with the Detroit Lions in 1938 and 1939. First-round choice by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1938 NFL draft (2nd pick overall) after earning All-Big Ten Conference first-team acclaim. Coached Tennessee to a 5-5 record in 1963.	The 6-1, 190-pounder was a three-year basketball letterman with the Buckeyes, serving as their captain as a senior in 1937-38.
Rick McFadden	Began college career at OSU as a redshirt quarterback on the Buckeyes' 2001 scout team before transferring to Akron.	The 6-7 McFadden averaged 6.6 ppg for the Zips in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Set the school single-season record for three-point field-goal percentage, hitting 48% from beyond the arc in 2003-04.
Nate Salley Jr.	Safety played two years in NFL following selection in fourth round of 2006 draft by the Carolina Panthers.	Collected eight points and four rebounds in 10 basketball games in 2002-03 under coach Jim O'Brien.
Art Schlichter	Quarterback was a first-round draft choice of the Baltimore Colts in 1982 (4th pick overall), but had only three touchdown passes in three years before his career was curtailed by gambling-related problems. He wound up in a couple dozen different jails and prisons. Finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1979 after leading OSU to the brink of a national title. OSU's career (7,547) and single game (458 vs. Florida State as senior) leader in passing yards was instrumental in the offensive diversification of Buckeye football after the program previously was known as "three yards and a cloud of dust" under coach Woody Hayes. Lost three straight bowl games (Gator, Rose and Fiesta) before throwing his 49th and 50th college career TD passes in a 31-28 Liberty Bowl win over Navy. Also finished among top six in Heisman balloting in 1980 and 1981.	Scored 18 points in 11 basketball games for the Buckeyes in 1978-79 and 1980-81. The 6-2, 210-pounder converted all six of his free-throw attempts.
Dick Schnittker	End caught 10 passes for 163 yards and one touchdown for the Buckeyes' squad defeating California, 17-14, in Rose Bowl following 1949 football campaign.	Averaged 17.9 ppg from 1947-48 through 1949-50 under coach Tippy Dye. Ranked among the nation's top 22 scorers all three of those seasons, finishing among top 12 in field-goal percentage as sophomore and junior. Two-time All-Big Ten Conference selection and All-American was fourth pick overall in NBA draft.
Don Scott	Two-time All-American as left halfback in single-wing formation offense, essentially making him the Buckeyes' primary ball handler (quarterback). Scott completed 58% of his passes (48-of-93) for 991 yards and 11 touchdowns. He rushed for 657 yards on 74 carries. As a sophomore, Scott was a tackle on offensive and defensive lines while also punting and kicking extra points. He was ninth overall selection in 1941 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears but chose to volunteer to fight in Europe during World War II (died in fall of 1943 when bomber he piloted crashed in England while training).	Scott made a free throw for NCAA Tournament runner-up in inaugural national championship contest in 1939.
Bob Shaw	End was 10th-round choice by the Cleveland Rams in 1944. Caught 81 passes for 1,569 yards and 20 touchdowns with the L.A. Rams in 1946 and 1949 plus Chicago Cardinals in 1950. Pro Bowler in 1950 when becoming the first player to catch five TDs in a single game and led the league in receiving TDs with 12 for the Cardinals. All-American on OSU's 1942 national titlist. CFL coach of the year in 1976 with Hamilton Tiger-Cats.	The 6-4 Shaw was a hoops starter in 1942 and 1943.
John "J.T." White	Played for national titlists in 1942 and 1947 (college career interrupted by serving in U.S. Army during WWII). Second-team All-American center in 1947 participated in 1948 College All-Star Game. He was selected by Detroit Lions in 21st round of 1947 NFL draft.	Hoops letterman in 1943.
William Wilks	Quarterback letterman in 1951 in Woody Hayes' first season as coach, completing 5-of-10 passes for 52 yards. Completed his only pass for 45 yards in 1952.	Averaged 8.2 ppg from 1950-51 through 1952-53, finishing runner-up to All-American Paul Ebert in scoring average as a senior.