Early years
Luther Burleson coached the initial basketball team in Baylor in 1907 also doubling as the football coach. In Baylor’s second season of basketball afterward cross-town rival TCU started their program that the Bears defeated twice during the 1908–09 season. Ralph Glaze’s (1911–1914) .788 winning percentage ranks at the top all time in school history. Ralph Wolf (1927–1941) direct Baylor to its first SWC Championship in 1932 after surviving and beating one of the first great tragedies in college athletics in his first season as coach.
Immortal Ten
See also: List of accidents involving sports teams
On January 22, 1927, Coach Ralph Wolf’s Baylor Basketball team was traveling by bus to play the University of Texas. As the bus passed through Round Rock, Texas, it approached railroad tracks across the south side of the company district on a drizzly, cloudy day. As the bus crossed the tracks the natives failed to listen to the sound of the train whistle and ringing bell. The driver caught sight of the train in the last minute and attempted to maneuver clear of however, the Sunshine Special crashed to the bus at near 60 mph tearing off the roof and right side.
The Immortal Ten Museum Ten Baylor students and basketball players were murdered by the impact. [3] One participant, James Clyde“Abe“ Kelly, driven his buddy, Weir Washamout the window at the bus just moments before the impact, saving Washam’s lifetime but costing Kelly his very own. The bodies of Kelly and Robert Hailey were discovered horrifically stretched across the cow-catcher on the front of the train, with arms locked around each other and Kelly missing a leg. Ivy Foster Sr. of Taylor, Texas, had heard of the crash and rushed to the train station in Taylor to meet the train and help where needed simply to locate his son one of the deceased.
The deceased were Jack Castellaw, Sam Dillow, Merle Dudley, L.R. „Ivey“ Foster Jr., Robert „Bob“ Hailey, James Clyde „Abe“ Kelly, Willis Murrary, James „Jim“ Walker, and William Winchester.
The rest of the 1927 season was canceled. The catastrophe had reverberations over the entire state and nation and contributed to the building of the first railway overpass in Texas where the event occurred at Round Rock. Buses were later needed to come to a complete stop and open the door at all railway crossings to listen for trains. The Immortal Ten narrative was commemorated annually since 1927 at first in headquarters providers then afterwards at the Freshman Mass Meeting throughout Homecoming Week. In 2007, the event was also memorialized in bronze to the Baylor campus in Traditions Plaza.
On the 90th anniversary of this tragedy, January 22, 2017, the City of Round Rock held a memorial event to remember those who were murdered in the train-bus collision. At the event, the city committed the“Immortal Bridge,“ which arcs over the railroad tracks where the accident occurred. Green lampposts, green-and-gold paint and other markings honor the 10 students who were killed there. The event was open to the public, and attendees comprised Baylor administrators and student leaders, that the spirit squads, and Baylor’s Golden Wave Band.
Post World War II success Baylor men’s teams won five conference championships in the former Southwest Conference (1932, 1946, 1948, 1949*, 1950*; * denotes shared title). The Bears reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1946, and reached the Final Four in 1948 and 1950. Bill Henderson’s 1948 team progressed to play the Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA championship, but fell 58–42 to Adolph Rupp’s first national championship team. The group advanced into the NCAA Final Four in 1950 under Henderson dropping to the Bradley Braves 68–66. Bill Menefee (1962–1973) would lead the Bears into a national ranking in 1969 but failed to make the postseason that year. Menefee was the only coach during the next 50 years to have a career record of over .500, and might later serve as Baylor’s athletic director from the 1980s. Gene Iba’s 1988 NCAA tournament team would be the very first NCAA tournament appearance for the program in 38 decades.
2003 scandal
Main article: Baylor University basketball scandal
The men’s basketball program was plagued by a scandal in 2003. Patrick Dennehy, a participant for the group, was murdered by former teammate Carlton Dotson; then-coach Dave Bliss had been forced to resign amidst allegations that he had violated NCAA rules by making financial payments to four gamers and that he made improper statements to the press characterizing Dennehy as a drug dealer. The school placed itself on probation, restricted itself to 7 scholarships for two decades and imposed a post-season ban for a year. Additionally, the NCAA further punished the team by initiating a non-conference ban for the 2005–2006 season and expanding the probationary period during the school would have restricted recruiting privileges.
Decade Long Resurgence
The 2005 Bears were hindered by only having 7 scholarship players and listed only one win in conference play. In spite of these challenges, head coach Scott Drew managed to put together a 2005 signing class ranked No. 7 nationally by HoopScoop.
The basketball program experienced a resurgence under coach Scott Drew with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008 for the first time in 20 years with a 9–7 conference record and the team’s first national ranking in 39 years. The January 23, 2008 116–110 5OT win over Texas A&M at College Station officially became the longest game in Big 12 history. The 2008–09 team again was ranked early in the summer but stumbled on a 5–11 summit finish before heating in the Big 12 Tournament defeating both Kansas and Texas en route to the championship match versus Missouri, also lost by a score of 73–60. The 2008–2009 team listed the program’s first postseason victory since 1950 in its first round NIT victory within the Georgetown Hoyas in Waco.
The 2008–09 team went on to advance to the NIT Final where they fell to Penn State. The 2009–10 group was rated in both surveys and hauled off the biggest road win in school history over the then #6 Texas Longhorns at Austin 80–77 on Jan. 30th. The Bears closed out the season with a Big 12 age best 11–5 album and #1 in the Big 12 championship.
The 2009–10 team was picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 at the Big 12 Coaches Poll due to the graduation of several important players in the previous calendar year. On the other hand, the team ended the regular season 23–6 and tied for 2nd in the Big 12 standings. Following a 2–1 album in the Big 12 tournament, the Bears were rewarded with a #3 seed in the South Region of the NCAA tournament. The Bears defeated #14 seed Sam Houston State 68–59 at First Round actions and then defeated #11 seed Old Dominion 76–68 in Second Round play to advance to the Sweet 16 hosted at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The Bear’s Sweet 16 match-up was #10 seed Saint Mary’s, which had defeated #2 seed Villanova the previous week to advance to the Sweet 16. The Bears won handily over the Gaels, 72–49, after major 47–19 at the half. The Elite Eight was held in Reliant Stadium and the Bears‘ competition was the #1 seed Duke Blue Devils, the final #1 seed status at the NCAA tournament following the other three #1 seeds (Kansas, Syracuse, and Kentucky) were defeated by lower seeded teams. In front of quite a pro-Baylor audience of over 47,000, the Bears were defeated by the Duke Blue Devils, 78–71, to finish the magic run to the Elite Eight. It had been the best season in the Scott Drew age as defined by convention standing, overall standing, wins, and NCAA championship wins. The Bears finished the season ranked #10 from the final ESPN/Coaches Poll–the maximum ranking in program history at that moment.
The 2010–11 group began the season ranked 14th (according to the AP Preseason survey ). The Bears started 7–0, and climbed to 9th from the polls before falling to Gonzaga in a neutral court in Dallas. The group finished 18–13 total and 7–9 in league play. The highlight of this season was Lacedarius Dunn becoming the Big 12’s all-time leading scorer, and a sweep of this series versus rated Texas A&M. After freshman star Perry Jones III was suspended by the NCAA for six games, the Bears proceeded to shed their first-round game of the Big 12 Tournament against Oklahoma.
The 2012 season saw another historic effort for the Bears as they followed up the 2011 season with another successful seminar run which saw the Bears win 30 games and make it to the Big 12 tournament title game. The Bears were selected for the NCAA tournament and made it all the way into the Elite Eight, which ended in a loss to eventual national champion Kentucky.
The 2013 year witnesses another winning campaign for the Bears since they followed up the 2012 Elite Eight season with another successful seminar run which saw the Bears sweep both TCU and Texas Tech while only dropping one game to UT. The bears started out using a pre-season standing of #19 in the country. The Boys finish conference play .500 and were selected for the NIT tournament. The Bears made it all the way to the Closing, which finished in a win over Iowa, winning the championship in front of a large audience in Madison Square Garden and claiming the 2013 NIT Title.
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