Muleriders coach benched the reserves

— A strong possibility exists that five Southern Arkansas University athletes set endurance records 60 years ago by playing 200 consecutive minutes across the span of five basketball games.

It sounds very much like a record - a school record, at least - but so far it remains an unofficial and virtually forgotten achievement. Can we go over it one more time?

As athletic director and head coach of both football and basketball, Elmer Smith spent 1946-1954 building a post-World War II program as the school started evolving from Magnolia A&M to Southern State and ultimately to SAU.

The 1952-1953 basketball Muleriders had a formidable regular unit with seniors Calvin Thomas of Russellville, W.T. Watson of Hampton, Sam Fricks of Texarkana, Clinton sophomore Jeff Williams and White Hall freshman Jimmy Culp.

Thomas, a 6-11 hook-shot artist, led the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference in scoring with a 26.5-point average. He had 31 to 40 points in nine games that season.

“He was good for 25-plus points per game,” Elmer Smith wrote in a privately published 1975 memoir, “but when you yelled ‘defense’ at Calvin, he thought you were relating to the national defense.”

Watson, later SAU’s basketball coach and athletic director, averaged 17 points that season as a 6-2 forward. Fricks was a tough 6-5 guard who specialized in rebounding rather than ball-handling and shooting.

“Point guard” wasn’t an established term in the early 1950s, but that essentially was Jeff Williams’ role. He could score from outside and, long before the shot clock became a factor, he could protect late leads with sustained dribbling exhibitions.

Culp was recently inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame for high-level versatility in football, basketball, track, baseball, etc. A 6-0 freshman forward, he came off the bench and scored 16 points in his first Muleriders’ basketball game. By the third game, he was a starter.

SAU had a thin bench, consisting mostly of freshman walk-ons. In February, though, it all blew up when SAU visited Hendrix.

“Our regulars built up about a 20-point lead in the first half,” Culp recalled recently. “We knew we’d be playing UCA the next night, so Coach Elmer sent in the subs with about eight minutes left in the first half. Hendrix almost tied the game before the half ended. Our starters built another nice lead in the second half, but the subs couldn’t hold that one, either. Coach Elmer put us back in to finish the game [an 83-76 victory] but he told the second unit right there on the court: ‘You fellows won’t be playing again.’ ”

“I knew he was mad, but we had four more games to play - I’m talking about playing on the road - and I didn’t think he could stick to it. But he did.”

The Muleriders defeated UCA 88-80 the next evening, with Williams executing a one-man freeze act in the closing minutes. Only five Muleriders played. Next they defeated Lyon (then called Arkansas College) 80-76, with only five SAU participants. The same five defeated Arkansas State 76-71.The same five finished the regular schedule by defeating Arkansas-Monticello 69-61.

Second to undefeated Arkansas Tech in the AIC with a 17-5 record, SAU drew Lyon in the opener of a four-team NAIA playoff at Little Rock. When the game against Lyon went into overtime, five Muleriders had played 200 minutes - the equivalent of five complete games.

Watson fouled out with six seconds remaining in overtime and Lyon leading 78-73. Curtis Pharr became the first reserve to get off the bench in almost three weeks.

Thomas made the first unit of the All-AIC squad. Watson was picked on the second unit, Culp and Williams the third. Fricks got honorable mention.

Before Smith settled on the five stalwarts, some of the reserves had played enough minutes in enough games to earn a varsity letter, if the normal order things had prevailed. Obviously with a point to make, Smith issued only five letter jackets.

“Most people couldn’t believe it,” Culp said. “But people wouldn’t have been so surprised if they had seen him that night at Hendrix when he made up his mind.”

Sports, Pages 16 on 11/13/2012

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