Georgetown Basketball History: Historical Narrative
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A narrative of the season-by-season story of Georgetown University is part of this historical project. Below is a work in progress on this narrative.

After an encouraging start for basketball at the Hilltop, the 1907-1908 season surpassed all expectations placed upon it. With the loss of all but two members of last year's team, coach Maurice Joyce was left with many key roles to fill for the squad. Coupled with a challenging and possibly prohibitive schedule arranged by student manager J.H. O'Neill, a losing season would have surprised few followers of Georgetown athletics. Yet the success of this team in spite of the long odds against them garnered Georgetown a tremendous campaign and some remarkable individual achievements.

Much of the credit to the 1907-1908 team can be given to the four newcomers who joined the squad. First and foremost on this list was Fred Rice, the George Washington star of a year ago, now enrolled at Georgetown Law School. Rice was joined by another experienced "rookie" in the Law School, John Crogan, who starred as an amateur in local circles of the YMCA, where many men who did not attend college displayed their skills in the new game. Finally, the team was rounded out by the brothers Colliflower, Jim and George. Though both were already Georgetown alumni (Jim received his degree in 1906, George in 1902) both were graduate students and thus eligible to play for the University.

As the season approached, Joyce still had some work ahead of him. His roster, numbering only six, offered no room for illness, injury, game disqualifications, or academic suspensions. The team had to be coached quickly before the season began. In addition, since five of the six players were natural forwards, a guard was needed as well as a capable center.

His solution was a surprising one. The coach moved Richard Downey, center from last year's team, to guard, and moved forward Fred Rice to center. In the switch, Joyce lost some height inside but gained deadly shooting in two critical positions. The results of this new combination in the season opener against Maryland at the Carroll Institute were, well, astounding.

Georgetown's 58-3 pounding of Maryland was historic in many ways. Its margin of victory would not be equalled by a Georgetown team for forty years, and would not be matched a second time until the 1983-84 season. Crogan and Rice set local scoring records with 24 and 20 points, respectively, for the contest. The game was so lopsided that the halves were reduced five minutes in each half, but it proved to be little consolation in the worst Maryland defeat ever to the Hilltoppers.

[Maryland does not recognize this game in its official records. What is known today as the University of Maryland was then the Maryland Agricultural College, which intermittently sponsored basketball, while University of Maryland's Baltimore campus (not UMBC) also sponsored a team. (The 1907 game was against the Baltimore campus.) Because of the fractured nature of the schools prior to its 1920 consolidation, Maryland does not recognize varsity games prior to 1923 even if Georgetown does.]

In its move to establish basketball as a premier sport at Georgetown and in the city, Athletic Association officials were able to persuade University officials to set up scheduling agreements with out of town teams, and to rent out Washington's spacious Convention Hall for games. Convention Hall was a massive two-block long structure at 5th and L Streets, NW, the site of the present . Its lower floor served as the Northern Liberty Market, an open-air farmer's market the size of a football field., Its upper level held as many as 5,000 until a fire damaged the upper floors in 1946. The building was razed in 1988.

The first game at the new surroundings saw Georgetown tangle with one of the top teams in all of college basketball, Columbia University. Columbia, coming off a 14-4 season in 1907 and a 5-1 mark to date, was generally regarded as one of the most talented teams among all colleges who were participating in intercollegiate basketball at this time. Traveling to Washington as part of a 4,500 mile barnstorming tour, Georgetown shocked the Columbians, 22-18.

In this contest, Joyce's men surprised the New Yorkers with crisp shooting and a relentless defense seldom seen in the early days of the game. John Crogan, the target of Columbia's defense against the Blue and Gray, turned the Columbia strategy into his advantage, using numerous fouls committed against him to score for the Blue and Gray. It was Crogan's shooting that earned many a headline in the East proclaiming Georgetown's prowess against a mighty foe.

While Columbia headed south en route to Atlanta, the Hilltoppers welcomed William and Mary. But W&M was no Columbia, and the G-men obliterated the Indians, 62-8. Behind 22 from Fred Rice, the Blue and Gray led 40-4 at the half and coasted to the victory. George Colliflower added a career-high 18 points in the rout.

A well respected unit from Fordham University arrived in Washington for the first game of the new year, but they too fell before the streaking Hilltoppers, 25-14. A home and home series with Virginia followed, with the winner earning the mythical "South Atlantic Championship". The G-men disposed of their rivals 42-19 on February 2nd at Charlottesville's Fayerweather Gymnasium, and took the second game and a new title-- "Champions of The South"-- with a 64-19 win at Convention Hall.

With six convincing victories behind them, Georgetown traveled to New York for a return engagement against Fordham. With no gym of their own, most New York teams played at a variety of sites, and this year's game with Fordham was held at the Savage School of Physical Education at 59th Street & Columbus Circle. In its first "road game" north of Washington, the Blue and Gray faced a difficult assignment. The rules and vagaries of early college basketball clearly favored the home team, especially the team that knew the configuration of the building or were familiar with the style of the officials. Both teams performed gamely throughout the contest, but Fordham's Johnny Siskind caged a last minute basket to edge the Blue and Gray, 31-29, for GU's first loss of the season. Fred Rice and Jim Colliflower combined for 20 points in a losing cause.

With the season nearing an end, coach Joyce's men accepted a last minute match versus the University of Pennsylvania as they returned to Washington via Philadelphia. Penn sported an incredible 22-1 mark on the year and would later finish as runners-up in a sportswriter's poll for the mythical college championship. No details exist of the contest, but both school's records indicate a 33-17 Penn victory, ending Georgetown's season at six wins and two losses.

While formal polls to determine the nation's best teams didn't begin until the 1930's, a retroactive series of polls conducted by St. Bonaventure professor James Premo placed Georgetown 16th in the nation for 1907-08, and sixth in the East. Among Catholic schools, only Notre Dame (12-4) had a higher national standing.

But two road losses against Fordham and Penn cannot dim the tremendous success earned by the 1907-1908 Georgetown team. In a season where newcomers had to assume leadership on the team, first year players accounted for 232 of the team's 252 points this year, elevating Georgetown to the 1908 South Atlantic basketball championship and a place among the nation's best of 1908.

"Last year, we put out a team that proved itself worthy to cope with anything that came along. This year, we have a better one." --Georgetown College Journal, December 1908

Given the experience and talent of the returning veterans from last year's championship quint, coach Joyce must have been optimistic about the team's chances this winter. Although star rookie John Crogan left school after the spring semester of 1908, law student Frank Schlosser , formerly of the local Second Regiment five, looked to be an capable replacement for Crogan alongside Richard Downey, Fred Rice, and the Colliflower brothers in the starting lineup.

An even more ambitious schedule by returning student manager Lou Murray was arranged for the season, and it began at home versus Penn State, who finished the previous season with ten wins in 14 games.

Once again, Convention Hall was selected as the home court of the Hilltoppers, and it was there that the Blue and Gray routed the Nittany five, 49-26, before a smaller than anticipated crowd. Frank Schlosser's debut for the G-men was evident from the opening tip-off, as he scored four points within the first minute of play. Penn State (1-1) trailed by nineteen at the half and never seriously challenged the Georgetown lead. Fred Rice led all scorers with 17 points, while Schlosser took floor honors with seven field goals for 14 points overall.

Two days later, on December 19th, the G-men traveled to Annapolis for their first meeting with the U.S. Naval Academy. Navy put on a great exhibition for its home crowd, led by their star forward, Louis Wenzell. Wenzell, who later coached the Mids to the mythical 1913 national title, led the Midshipmen to a 19-18 halftime advantage but saw his team fall behind 30-27 late in the game. Then, with about three minutes to play, Georgetown center Fred Rice was tagged with his fifth personal foul, which sent Rice to the bench. But in an unusual display of sportsmanship that would not be seen in today's game, Navy waived the five foul limit, allowing Georgetown to finish the game at full strength. But even Rice could not contain a number of well executed plays down the stretch as the Midshipmen came from behind to notch a 33-32 upset victory. Frank Schlosser led the Blue and Gray with 10 points, while Cadets Wenzell and Miller combined for 29 of the Academy's 33 points that afternoon.

Over the Christmas holiday of 1908, the financial problems of the basketball program at Georgetown University reached a breaking point, and were endemic of deficits that were enveloping of all Georgetown's three major sports. The move from the Light Infantry Armory to Convention Hall had sunk the program into red ink at the conclusion of last season, and it was hoped that a large crowd at the Penn State game would bring much needed funds into the team's coffers. The PSU gate receipts were next to nothing, and coupled with a sizable advance given the school for traveling to Washington, sank the program still deeper into debt.

Warned by the Georgetown University Athletic Association that the program must pay for itself, manager Lou Murray embarked on a series of steps to bring the program to some sense of financial responsibility. Games with teams from Vanderbilt and Swarthmore were abruptly cancelled, with exhibitions against Navy and the local YMCA chapter replacing those dates on the Georgetown schedule. In addition, the team cancelled its agreement with Convention Hall and moved its remaining home games to the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall at 8th and D streets in northwest Washington. The rent was considerably less, but seating was nonexistent.

The realignment of the schedule began a six game stretch where Georgetown played either the Naval Academy or the YMCA. The first of the YMCA meetings, held in the YMCA gymnasium, was a major upset in local basketball circles. The YMCA quint, led by former GU star John Crogan, stunned the Hilltoppers, 37-22. Frank Schlosser and Fred Rice combined for 16 of the Blue and Gray's 22 tallies in a losing cause. Returning to Annapolis, the two foes of a few weeks ago waged another close contest before Harold Douglass, the Middies' star center, fouled out late in the contest. While Navy had waived the foul rule against Georgetown's Fred Rice two weeks earlier when Rice had fouled out, the Hilltoppers chose not to extend a similar kindness--and Douglas was sent to the bench. In the end, it was reserve forward George Goggin who sank two clutch baskets for GU, and the Blue and Gray left Douglas and his men on the losing end of a 26-24 decision.

The YMCA was met again, this time under more favorable results. Georgetown conquered the Association, 29-21, behind a career high 14 points from reserve George Kelleher. Another win followed at Annapolis, 26-23, yet this would be the last victory by Georgetown over the Naval Academy for the next twenty years of intercollegiate basketball between the two schools.

The final YMCA meeting was filled with controversy. The Georgetown players were angry with the "Y" for their refusal to play outside their own gym, and both sides were at odds over whether college or AAU rules should apply to the series. Local dailies noted that ill will was prevalent throughout the match, with players and coaches having to be restrained from each other throughout the game. In spite of it all, the YMCA five coasted to a 33-23 win under AAU rules.

Georgetown's captain, Fred Rice, had been rather outspoken in local papers before the third and decisive game of the series, claiming that the refusal of the YMCA to play on a neutral court hurt GU's chances for a fair contest. In a commentary published after the game, the Washington Post agreed, headlining its article "Rice is Vindicated: His Stand For A Neutral Court Proves To Be The Proper Move". Proper or not, the Hilltoppers bid the YMCA adieu as their schedule returned to the colleges.

The second half of the schedule began at Charlottesville, where Georgetown held Virginia to six second half points in a 35-24 win. Traveling to New York to face Columbia, the Hilltoppers fell with ease, 23-10. In friendlier surroundings, the G-men proceeded to defeat Washington and Lee (60-15), Loyola (62-25), and Fordham (27-19). In the two games between W&L and Loyola, Schlosser averaged 24 points per game. A road game to Ithaca saw Cornell upset the Hilltoppers 23-22 on a pair of late free throws.

The season finale pitted Georgetown against the University of Virginia for the South Atlantic title. Whether in basketball, football, baseball, track, or even crew, a game between Mr. Jefferson's University and the college founded by Archbishop Carroll was always one of spirit and enthusiasm. As had been the case in their earlier meeting, the Hilltoppers had to overcome a first half deficit to prevail, 36-19, before the largest home crowd of the year at Odd Fellows Hall. Coach Joyce's decision to move center Richard Downey to guard helped shut down the Virginia attack in the second half, the same strategy he had used a year earlier in successfully upsetting Columbia. The move helped ensure the victory for the self-proclaimed "Champions of the South", winners of the mythic South Atlantic title for a second consecutive year.

Champions or not, the Athletic Association took a very dim view of the basketball program when it reviewed the team's ledgers at the conclusion of the 1908-1909 season. Student "subscriptions", or season tickets, were a meager $23.49, which, according to the Georgetown College Journal, was less than the sale of peanuts at varsity baseball games.

With a new president at the helm, Georgetown was undergoing a general de-emphasis of athletics, starting with basketball. By year's end, the crew team was disbanded (not to return until 1960) and football would be dropped, although it returned in diminished form the following season.

"Basketball received its death knell at Georgetown yesterday. The popular sport, which had served...to bring name and fame to the university on the heights, will no longer be pursued...The local varsity has turned out teams in the past two years that have ranked with not only the best teams in the South but also among the large Eastern Colleges. Notwithstanding, the game has proved a financial failure, the season providing a dead loss in each instance." --Washington Post, 5/21/09

The decision to abandon basketball was not unique to Georgetown--several schools were drooping the sport for financial reasons. Some schools, such as George Washington, had dropped the sport for altogether different reasons--the emergence of professionalism and "ringers" brought to school strictly to play basketball and little else. As teams folded, so did local support of the game.

And as the 1908-1909 season ended, it appeared as if the book on basketball at Georgetown University was about to close, too.

Of course, basketball at Georgetown did survive, but it was largely the effort of a student, not the University, that kept the program alive. That individual was third year law student James Colliflower.

How did Colliflower save the program? Conceding the fact that the program's indebtedness could not be tolerated by the Athletic Association, Colliflower proposed that the team's finances be removed from the Association's ledgers, to be replaced by an autonomous, self-supporting organization. If such a plan had been proposed at the May, 1909 meeting, it would have hardly stood a chance. But Colliflower proved convincing, and a compromise was in order. It was agreed that a group known as the "Georgetown University Basket-Ball Association" be entrusted with the upkeep of the program and the organization of an intercollegiate team to represent Georgetown University in formal competition. While not considered a true "varsity" sport (between 1910 and 1918, basketball varsity players were not awarded the coveted "G" letter), basketball was given a chance to return to the campus and survive its first major challenge at the University

Basketball was back at the Hilltop. Or was it? As undergraduates prepared for the new season, they realized that the Law School owned a virtual monopoly on the squad, with all but one roster position held by students of the professional school. Last year's manager and assistant manager, both men of the College, lost their posts to a third year law student with no previous experience. To many College men, it must have appeared that the 1909-1910 team hardly represented alma mater.

The varsity opened the 1909-1910 season with a 25-15 win over Baltimore Medical College, a school which was later absorbed into the University of Maryland. Local coverage of this game was minimal, as was the turnout. According to contemporary accounts, the men of the College chose not to attend the game in any numbers.

If the fans failed to show up for the Hilltoppers' season opener, than perhaps the team failed to show up for a New York-area road swing, dropping all four in convincing fashion. Carrying a sizable reputation garnered over the last two seasons, the Blue and Gray lost consecutive games to St. John's, Columbia, Seton Hall, and NYU. Averaging less than half the points per game than a year ago, the team showed none of the skills that earned Georgetown the unofficial regional titles they carried in 1908 and 1909.

The varsity's next scheduled game was some five weeks after the New York trip, in mid- January of 1910. Well before that contest, however, rumors spread across town that the team would discontinue operations. As talk of folding the team grew, a local paper announced the formation of a new intercollegiate team of undergraduates, known as the Georgetown "Collegians". Setting up a nine game schedule against local colleges early in January, it seemed apparent that the Collegians would step in if the Varsity suspend operations.

Included in the Collegians' roster were some well known Georgetown athletes of the day, including former varsity reserves Dick Kingsley, Dick Vlyman, and Billy Cogan, as well as future baseball star and Georgetown Hall of Famer Billy Sitterding. Ed Dilkes, the former varsity manager, completed the starting five. The Collegians also won campus support by scheduling home games at Ryan Gymnasium, where the varsity had never played a single game to date.

When the Varsity finally returned to play, its woes continued. While the Collegians played their schedule to winning results, the Varsity was rocked by Navy, 37-23, before returning with a 32-20 win over Virginia at Odd Fellows Hall. The Virginia game was a contest that was either very exciting, or very dull, depending on one's source of contemporary information. The Georgetown College Journal, which had enthusiastically supported the team the past three seasons, noted that the game was "one of the most spectacular games ever witnessed in Washington." But given reports of lackluster play in the local papers, the college monthly was prone to excessive cheerleading, a penchant for the mundane, or a combination of the two.

A defensive stalemate was certainly not what Georgetown found in store at West Point, where the Cadets mauled the former "Champions of the South", 48-17, the worst defeat in the program's young history. From this point, local and campus coverage of the team dwindled to almost nothing. Even the College Journal, a vocal athletics boosted since its founding in 1872, abruptly ended its coverage of the Varsity (the College Journal had not seen fit to cover Collegian games) at this point.

In its final four games, the Varsity handled the YMCA, 36-19, dropped a late verdict to Virginia, 27-26, and took a pair from Baltimore Medical and the YMCA by scores of 32-17 in both cases. The Evening Star, in an obvious display of grandstanding, proclaimed after the final YMCA game that "Georgetown Holds Its Championship Title", but clearly this was not the case. The team finished 5-7, capturing only one win over a legitimate college team.

Amidst the commotion of the GUAA, the Collegians, and a poor record, the season saw the passing of three great stars of the genesis of the sport at Georgetown: Richard Downey (the last member of the original 1907 team), Fred Rice, and James Colliflower. Downey faded from the scene, while Rice, with his eligibility exhausted at Georgetown, enrolled at Catholic University (his third school in five years) to continue his career. Rice played two years at Catholic before beginning an 18 year tenure as the Cardinals' basketball coach. Colliflower joined Joyce as a de facto assistant coach for the Georgetown team.

The accomplishments of these men are largely forgotten amidst a season best remembered as the only losing season among the first twenty years of basketball at the Hilltop.

Given the turbulence of the previous season, it was clear that changes were in order for the upcoming season. In terms of the roster, the schedule, and the program's philosophy, 1910- 1911 was a whole new game.

The first major change could be seen in the roster itself. The Law School's stranglehold of the roster was wiped away, as only Frank Schlosser remained from the downtown school. Seven underclassmen, three of which starred on the Collegians, won roster spots. Even Tom Fortune, who lost his managerial role to law student Morton Burdick, was back on the team, having overwhelmingly been elected student manager for the new season.

Another development lied in scheduling. Only three of the twenty scheduled games were outside the Washington area (including Annapolis), avoiding the costly and otherwise unsuccessful road trips of past years. And for the first time, some home games were played at Ryan Gym, returning Georgetown basketball to the college it represented. Though games continued to be played off-campus as well, the sign was a positive one for on-campus fans.

The opening contest in Ryan Gym saw the Hilltoppers overcome Baltimore Medical, 26- 24, in three overtimes.The team's December road trip to New York strived to avoid the whitewash that doomed last year's entire season. Last year's 0-4 trip was epitomized by poor Georgetown performances against capable but hardly superior opponents. This season's 0-2 performance can be blamed not so much on the team as their opponents. St. John's routed the Blue and Gray, 66-35, while Columbia administered a similar drubbing, 49-12. Yet both were among the nation's best, offering little solace to a Georgetown team that had yet to win a game north of the District of Columbia.

After the Christmas break, the Hilltoppers inaugurated their fourth off-campus home court, the Arcade Rink, located in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood at 14th and Park Road, N.W. In the opener, NYU spoiled the party, 29-16. This was a better GU team than a 1-3 record indicated, however, and a subsequent 66-33 triumph of Gallaudet proved as much. Frank Schlosser set a new scoring record with 28 points and added 26 more in a 54-19 rout of cross town rival Catholic University. Loyola (34-15) and Gallaudet (49-9) were thrashed as well on the home court. A road trip to Baltimore Medical was not as fortunate, 38-26, played under AAU rules.

Another rout followed another upset into the month of February. The G-men overcame a stingy Virginia five in a surprising 38-19 win, but fell unceremoniously fell to a prep team from Staunton Military Academy, 22-18. With losses to teams as Baltimore Medical and Staunton Academy, Georgetown must have known they were in trouble against Navy--and they were right. Leading 23-12 at halftime, the Midshipmen outscored the Blue and Gray 42-6 in a rout of epic proportions> Navy's 65-18 win is to this day the worst defeat in the history of college basketball at Georgetown.

Following the defeat at the hands of Navy, it would have been easy for the 1911 Hilltoppers to give up, but such was not the case for these Georgetown men. Returning to Ryan Gym, the G-men rolled past Maryland (31-23), Virginia (35-23). Baltimore City College (50-21), Loyola (23-17) and a pair from the YMCA (24-22 and 22-21). Completing their season at 13-7, the Hilltoppers finished second to Navy in regional honors.

Scoring honors went to third year ace Frank Schlosser, averaging 13 points per game en route to a scoring record of 247 points--a record that would not be broken until All-American John Mahnken in 1943. Valuable contributions also came from John Bariscillo (74 pts, 10.6 ppg), Billy Martin (5.7 ppg), and freshman Roy Waldron (6.3 ppg).

At season's end, Maurice Joyce resigned his post at Georgetown to accept the post of a United States Marshal, a career that would bring him much notoriety in his later years. Succeeding Joyce would be 28 year old James Colliflower, ensuring that the team would continue well into the new decade.

Narrative © 1987, 2003. All rights reserved.
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