The "The University Of Pennsylvania Quakers Basketball Team" Story

Preface - The Univer- sity of Pennsyl- vania has been known as the Quakers since their beginning.  Today they are the twentieth-winningest men's basketball program of all-time.  The Quakers play in the Ivy League in the NCAA Division I.  It was on March 20, 1897 that Penn and Yale played in the first basketball game with five players on a team.  Prior to the formation of the Ivy League in 1956, Penn was a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate League from 1903-1955.  My story today will give you a glimpse into basketball as it was at one time when six footers were just about unheard of and games when teams reached 100 points was unheard of.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article written by Ralph Morgan titled "National Basketball Title Won" that was in the April 2, 1920 "The Pennsylvania Gazette."  The more I read the more I was amazed at what I was reading.  The story told of the basketball season of 1919-20 at the University of Pennsylvania.  

The 1920 Championship University of Pennsylvania Quakers.

The team won the Eastern Intercollegiate League with a record of 10-0.  They played 19 games throughout the entire season and ended their season with a record of 18-1.  They played the winner of the Western Intercollegiate League, Chicago University, at the end of the season in a best-of-three series for the League Championship.  They lost the first game in the playoffs and came back to win the final two games to claim the Intercollegiate Championship.  But, what was so hard to believe, or should I say most astounding, were the total scores for the three games.  In three games the University of Pennsylvania scored a total of 76 points while Chicago scored 67 points.  That's 3 games!  Penn averaged slightly over 25 points a game while Chicago averaged about 22 points a game.  Today's teams score more than that in one half of one game!  The article, written by a Mr. Morgan, told of the final series against Chicago which started in Chicago.  On the eve of departure to Chicago, illness overtook the Pennsylvania squad and eliminated the centre (that's how it was spelled) Bill Grave.  

Team captain Raymond Peck.

The coaches switched team captain Raymond Peck to centre and inserted sub Milton Zucker.  The game drew a crowd of 200 loyal Pennsylvanians that Monday, March 22.  After 12 minutes of play the score was tied 6-6, but by halftime Chicago was winning 17-6.  At the start of the second half Pennsylvania coach Jourdet switched Huntzinger to centre and after a hard fought second half they lost 28-24.  The next morning the team boarded the Pennsylvania Rail Road Manhattan Limited and headed back to Philadelphia for the second game.  The coaches realized Chicago had a splendid offensive team, but that the Westerners had not perfected a team game, consequently optimism ran high.  Three days later the teams played once again in Philadelphia's Weightman Hall.  Huntzinger started once again at centre and the team began to pass the ball more.  The Quakers won 29-18.  Both teams agreed to play the final game at a neutral location.  So, on Saturday evening, March 29, the game was played at Princeton University with a packed house.  

The team's designated
foul shooter, George Sweeney.

The Quakers centre was Bill Grave who was back from his bout of Measles.  Penn lead 11-7 at halftime.  As the second half began, Penn increased their lead to 23-13 and began playing a defensive game.  The "booing" in the gym was said to have been unprecedented in Eastern basketball.  Chicago made a great comeback, but the Quakers held on for a 23-21 win.  Captain Raymond Peck, known as "Dutch" went down in school history as one of the greatest guards in Penn basketball history.  He started a Penn dynasty his sophomore year when he led the team to the first of three consecutive Eastern Intercollegiate League championships and to the League championship his senior year.  in 1920 "Dutch" was named to the very first college All-American basketball team as well as to the All-Collegiate, All-Star Quintet.  Peck eventually came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to work for Armstrong Cork Company where he became Vice-President and and General Manager of the building materials operation before retiring in 1963.  Another outstanding player on the Championship team was George Sweeney who was the team's designated foul shooter in the days when one player took all foul shots regardless of who was fouled.  He played professionally for Buffalo and holds the record for 47 consecutive foul shots made in three games.  Basketball will never be the same as it was in the early part of the 20th century.  May that be good or bad, the Quakers sure gave Pennsylvania collegiate basketball a lot of memories.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.