Historical NCAA #1- Alternative history
(Author’s note: The railroad system in the nineteenth century opened travel across the U. S. This series of associations will slightly alter history in two ways:
1. It will assume that basketball was invented in 1845.
2. It will assume that the rail system would have allowed travel throughout the U. S. beginning in 1870, the year the NCAA began in this alternate timeline, in a timely enough manner to get teams to their games.
Also, teams placed in Alaska and Hawaii are moved to Montana [I think that’s just U. of Hawaii].
Given that this is a historical association, players will not leave college early. If I could get rid of the three pointer I would, but… I will start at a team with 0 Team Prestige, or as close as I can get. Given that on May 1 of each year I can change conferences, as the team gets better I will move it up to a better conf. If and when I change schools I will continue to upgrade conferences when I think the team is ready for that. Other explanations as I go.)
May 1, 1870: Buck Jones here. I was born in 1842 way back east in rural eastern Connecticut. My daddy was a railroad man an’ there was better opportunities for him in the middle a the country an’ out west, so we moved around some.
He started as a brakeman, moved up to engineer, an’ eventually became a conductor, so we weren’t poor for long. By the time the war started in ‘61 we was livin’ in Arizona, which was pretty out a the way in them days, and ya had ta watch out for Indians. Daddy figured I could continue in college here at Grand Canyon without the war dragging me, or him, into it. He was right.
I’d visited our old home in CT a few times as a kid, an’ even as a teenager. Daddy’s job with the railroads meant we could travel either free or real cheap so we visited our relations every couple years. There was somethin’ about that place that jus’ drew me. Maybe it was family, I don’t know, but if I ever get the chance, that’s where I’d like ta end up.
Anyway, the game a basketball was invented in 1845, or so I’m told, an’ daddy, who was always the athletic type, took a likin’ to it. He started teachin’ it to me as soon as I was big enough ta dribble an’ shoot the ball. I was about 8, I think.
I liked it as much as daddy, an’ jus’ took to it. I had a good shot right off the bat, which helped. Nobody knew a lot about technique or nuthin’ like that in them early days, but daddy knew consistency was important so he watched me real close an’ made sure I shot usin’ the same motion every time. He done that right through my high school an’ college career. He also talked about playin’ defense with yer feet, which made no sense ta me at first but did once he explained it, an’ it really helped me a lot. He was one a the assistants on my high school team. He woulda been head coach but his railroad job had him travellin' too much for that so he just helped the team when he was in town. Me havin’ that consistent shot, an’ knowin’ more than most folks about good D, well that got me playin’ time.
I was first off the bench as a SG an’ a SF my 1st year in high school, an’ I started at one a those 2 spots after that. We won the state title both a my las’ 2 years.
They wasn’t no athletic scholarships in them days so I went here to GC, and same thing, I was 1st off the bench in my 1st year, an’ started after that. My senior year we won the conference title and went to a brand new tournament called the NIT. We won our 1st 2 games, then got beat in the round of 8. Pretty good! The NCAA an’ some other tournaments come along later on.
I graduated with a degree in engineerin’. I didn’t want ta travel like daddy done. I got a job right here in , an’ Red Banks, my old coach at GC asked me if I wanted ta be his assistant. I sure did! It only paid $100 a year but I didn’t care about that.
I made arrangements with my boss at work to be able to travel with the team, sayin’ I’d make up the time by bringin’ work with me, and workin’ weekends when I was at home. Mr. Billings was a great boss. Not many woulda done that for me.
Anyway. It stayed like that until a month ago when Coach Banks had a bad heart attack, an’ died 2 days later. The A. D. an’ head football coach, Mack Towns said if I wanted the job it was mine. It paid about half a what I was makin’ as an engineer but I’m still single, an’ I still live at home with my folks, so I took it.
Turns out Mr. Billings said if I wanted part time contract work he could use me. Well, I knew that’d keep me pretty busy, but it made sense to say yes, so I did. I told him I couldn’t do but about 10 hours a week durin’ the season, an’ maybe 20 in the offseason, an’ he said that was jus’ fine.
Well, I had the job, now I had ta figure out how ta do it! I started by hirin’ my assistants- nowadays most teams have 3 of ‘em. Still pay ‘em about $100 apiece. Anyway, Nat Jones is my #1 an’ he’ll recruit, Keith More is #2 an’ he’ll scout, an’ Dan James is #3 an’ he’ll help with practice an’ be my bench coach, an’ help with plannin’ an’ strategy an’ such.
We also got the local doctor ta agree ta sit the bench at our home games in case of injury. When he can’t make it cuz he’s off deliverin’ a baby or fixin' a busted leg or somethin’ his nurse or another nurse sits with us. That ain’t as good but it’s better than nuthin’. On the road we gotta depend on the other team’s doc or nurse.
We play our games durin’ the day a course. An’ we play ‘em in gymnasiums with huge windows to let the sunlight in. There’s all kinds a chandeliers way high up that burn whale oil lamps in ‘em, an’ maybe even candles, but it ain’t really bright on cloudy and rainy days. Ya kin see the hoop, but not all that good.
Now I gotta tell about how a scoutin’ assistant gets ta scout teams, an’ how a recruiter gets ta recruit, an’ how a team travels an’ all that, so I guess I better tell more about transportation here in 1870.
Well, there’s 2 choices, the railroad, an’ horseback. The railroad goes most everywhere ya wanta go, an’ that’s what the team an’ the assistants use most all the time, but if it’s local or fairly local a man might use his horse.
Thank goodness for the telegraph. We communicate with recruits that way, an’ we let ‘em answer collect. We use letters too, but the telegraph is best. We gotta limit it due ta cost. The big schools got the money ta use it as much as they want, a course. If the guy ain't real far away we might visit, or even bring him here, but they gotta be a day's train ride or less from here.
NCAA teams have agreements ta send every opponent scheduled for the season the box score of all their games by 24 hours after the game ends, either by mail or telegram (usually mail for the small schools), until the last game or games between ‘em in the regular season is done. That includes minutes played (about), points, RBs, assists, TOs, an’ fouls. They ain’t always 100% accurate cuz it all happens fast an’ it’s a reporter or maybe even a kid keepin’ the numbers, but it helps some.
In the post season, which is a big thing now, ya ask for the box scores a three games- you pick the three, an’ for the season averages of each player, an’ ya get that. They ain't 100% accurate but most temas give ya what they got in a honest way.
As ta how the teams travel ta games, it’s all by railroad, an’ that takes some tellin’!
The trains got sleeper cars now, an’ we pack 6 guys into a car, stacked 3 up on each side. So we travel with 12 players, no more. Then I put my three assistants in their own car- or as many as can come, like I did they all got other jobs, and I get my own. If the A. D. comes along, which he won’t very often, he’ll get his own car, too. But if it's just one assistant an' me we get a 2 person sleepin' car. That's got bunks on one side a the car an' 2 small desks on the other so's ya kin work right there. We get out an' check on the kids regular though. Near all of 'em are good kids but they're kids, an', well, you know.
Now, the rich teams jus’ book their own train, but we can’t afford that so we go with a public train. We get an express if there’s any way ta do it. The diner cars have pretty darn good food, an’ it ain’t that expensive, but we all eat at the same time or the players would eat everything in sight an’ we’d go broke.
Trains are dusty. We bring our own panels so we can open windows an’ get a little air without all the dust in the world comin’ in. They're made of a porous material that lets the air in an’ keeps most a the dust out, but not all of it.
The engines give off a lot a smoke an’ soot an’ stuff so the smell ain’t great, but hey, it gets us where we’re goin’. Not every ride is an overnight ride, but most are, an’ some take two nights. In the post season it might even be a 3 or even a 4 day ride. Some day it’ll be quicker, I’m sure, but not yet. But it’s mostly real safe, and it gets the job done. I’ll tell more about the trains as we go along.
My folks’ house is close to the school so I just ride my horse in ta work, leave it at the agriculture department at the school. The students take care of it an’ I ride it home at night. They got these new fangled things called bicycles, but I never seen one, an’ from what I hear ya can’t really travel very far with ‘em. Still, I look at the Sears Roebuck catalog every year, like everybody else, and that’s the first thing I look for. If they ever get it where ya can peddle it a ways, I’ll get one an’ retire my horse. No tellin’ how soon that will be.
Okay, now you have the basic idea. I’ll take this along, tellin’ about my coachin’, but tellin’ about what’s goin’ on in the world, too.