A multi-sport Historical Dynasty with a twist

[Tiger Fan]

Here is a bit more on Tulane and LSU basketball, as I found it interesting how their paths diverged after both reached the Final Four in 1942-43. (Year by Year records are attached two posts up if interested)

A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS

Both LSU and Tulane reached the Final Four in March of 1943 in what was clearly the greatest moment for college basketball in the state of Lousiana. 1943 was actually a great year for all college athletics in the state as it would be the beginning of the Tigers rise to promience in college football culminating in a National Title in 1948. Although the Tigers did lose the Sugar Bowl that year (actually Jan 1, 1944) it was the first time they won the SEC title, an act they would repeat 4 of the next five seasons. Over the final six years of the 1940's LSU would land a large number of top 100 football recruits including several of the best running backs in the nation.

However, while the gridiron Tigers were on an upward swing, the LSU cagers fell off a cliff. Entering the 1942-43 LSU had not made the Final Four since 1902-03, and only qualified for 6 tournaments during that span. The seeds were planted a year earlier when LSU won 21 games for the first time in a decade including a win in the opening round of the tournament. Their SEC record was a disappointing 5-6 in both of those years but they made the most of their at-large invitation to the tournament in 1943 - going all the way to the National Title game before falling to the George Mikan led NYU Violets in the finals.

Meanwhile in New Orleans, just down the road from LSU's Baton Rogue campus, Tulane University's basketball team was also making waves. The Green Wave have no football team in this universe as I restricted the college football world to 82 schools, so basketball was 'the' sport at Tulane. Unfortunately the Green Wave were rarely any good at. The school has been around since 1901 but did not make it's first NCAA tournament appearance until 1922-23 and did not win a tournament game until the 1933-34 season.

1942-43 saw both Tulane and LSU win over twenty games for the second consecutive season, but also just the second time ever. Neither was especially impressive in conference play as Tulane was fifth with a 6-5 record while LSU was 5-6 in SEC action including a 52-42 Tigers win over the Green Wave in January. The Southeastern Conference was very good that year and 6 schools from the SEC made the 32 team field. Tulane, entering the tournament with a 22-7 record, drew the third seed in the Midwest Region while LSU, limping in on a 3 game losing streak at 18-11, was given the fifth seed in the South Region.

The Tigers team was entirely comprised of fictional players with the best of them being Bill Carlile, a junior forward out of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana who would earn third team All-American status that season after originally being #278 in his recruiting class. Tulane would have some 'real' players on their roster but no one on the club made the SEC all-league team. It was a dominant time for SEC basketball with future NBA legend Chet Strumillo playing for the Crimson Tide while Alabama Poly (Auburn) relied on Bob Doll, Berrnie Voorheis and future MLBer Hank Biasatti. Mississippi State had a two sport star as well in Frankie Baumholtz. So while there was plenty of talent in the conference, not a lot of it was in Louisiana.

The Tigers opened with a 49-45 win over Texas as Carlile scored 15 points while Tulane barely survived Bradley 43-42 with sophomore Dick O'Keefe leading the way with 14 points while another two-sport star in senior center Jim Konstanty had 8 rebounds. Next up for Tulane was the regions #2 seed in South Carolina - a team that featured future MLBer Gil Hodges. Dick O'Keefe led the way once again with 14 points in a 45-44 nailbiter. LSU did not have it any easier in the second round as they squared off with SEC rival Alabama Poly. Carlile had another 14 point game while Strumillo, still a sophomore at this time, led Alabama Poly with 10. The final was 54-53 in favour of LSU's verison of the Tigers.

So both Louisiana schools reached the Elite Eight, along with fellow SEC schools Georgia Tech and Kentucky. Tulane would face Kentucky, a school that they beat 43-34 during the season while LSU would meet Notre Dame in the South Regional Final. Both, of course would win, as the Tigers got 11 points from guard Lou Brashers and 10 from Carlile in a 48-37 victory while Tulane stopped Kentucky 50-44 with Dick O'Keefe leading the way with 16 points. Georgia Tech would beat Washington to make three SEC teams in the final four and they would be joined by NYU as the Violets were looking for their second straight National Title and third in four years.

The semi-finals saw LSU beat the Yellow Jackets 51-41 as Carlile scored 15 points and Brashears along with Bill Romine added 10 each. The dream of an All-Louisiana National Championship came to an end in the second game as Mikan, despite being just a freshman, led the way with 14 points and 9 boards as NYU eliminated the Green Wave 55-47 with the sophomore O'Keefe scoring a game high 15 points. Two nights later the dream season would also end for LSU as the Tigers fell short in a 49-41 loss to NYU.

At the point it appeared both LSU and Tulane seemed to have a very bright future, but that would end up only being the case for one of them. Each received a nice prestige bump from the tournament run and while Tulane continued to build on it with a string of strong seasons and tournament appearances, LSU fell off a cliff the following season by posting an 8-21 record. The Tigers righted the ship briefly with another tournament appearance two years later but they failed to land any top recruits and now seem to be sliding into mediocrity.

Tulane on the other hand has recruited exceptionally well and seems to be on the verge of perhaps fianlly winning a National Title. The difference is recruiting as here is how each has done since they both made the 1942-43 Final Four.

 RECRUITING CLASS RANKINGS
YEAR  TULANE	LSU		JUST AN FYI #1 WAS
1949	 9	 68		North Carolina
1948	44	 12 		South Carolina
1947	11	103		South Carolina
1946	42	 81		South Carolina
1945     8       43		Wisconsin
1944     3	 33		UCLA
1943	43       65		Alabama Poly
1942    64       24		Mississippi State
1941	10  	 86		New York University
1940	14	155		Alabama Poly

TOP   100 RECRUITS LANDED BY LSU AND TULANE
YEAR	 #   SCHOOL	NAME/POS
1949     4   Tulane	Bob *Petit  	 F
	16   Tulane	Gene *Shue  	 G
1948     1   LSU	Jim *Fritsche    F
1947    47   Tulane     John *McConthay  F
	48   Tulane	Jack *Stone	 G
1946    22   Tulane     Earl *Lloyd  	 F
1945    12   Tulane	Dike *Eddleman   F
	14   Tulane	John *Hagis	 G
	26   LSU	Kid Patten	 G
1944     2   Tulane     Andew *Levane    F
        10   Tulane     Ray *Lumpp	 G
	36   LSU        Esty Harnish     G
1943		NONE
1942    61   Tulane	Chet *Aubuchon   G
	81   LSU	Dick *Fitzgerald F 
	99   LSU  	Rollie *Seltz    G
1941    16   Tulane	Al *Bennett	 F
	49   Tulane	Larry *Killick   G
	85   Tulane	Hank *O'Keefe	 G
1940    10   Tulane	Dick *O'Keefe	 G
	69   Tulane	Phil *Faberman	 F

	1949-50 SEC Recruiting Rankings
      # Team                         Conference         Best Player    Rtg  5*  4*  3*  2*  1*
     7. Alabama Polytechnic Insti           SEC     C  Bob *Mattick   ****   0   2   2   0   0
     9. Tulane                              SEC      PF Bob *Pettit  *****   1   1   1   0   0
    16. Georgia Tech                        SEC    SG Whitey *Skoog   ****   0   1   3   0   0
    19. Kentucky                            SEC     PG Gabe Rathbun   ****   0   1   3   0   0
    36. Mississippi State                   SEC    C  Wally Knisley    ***   0   0   1   2   0
    65. Georgia                             SEC      C  Fred Thomas    ***   0   0   2   1   0
    68. Louisiana State                     SEC      PG Ollie Zabel    ***   0   0   1   2   0
    72. Alabama                             SEC     PG Ernie Kucera    ***   0   0   2   1   0
    88. Vanderbilt                          SEC    PG Wish Bartlett    ***   0   0   2   1   0
    96. Florida                             SEC   SG Foster Thaxton    ***   0   0   1   0   0
    98. Tennessee                           SEC  C  Jesse *Priscock    ***   0   0   1   0   1
   144. Mississippi                         SEC      C  Art Whetzel     **   0   0   0   1   1

[StLee]

You are the Windsor Wiseman! (No offense if you aren't from Windsor. I had a co-worker from Windsor who said people there were Tigers fans while the rest of Ontario was all Jays.)

I have been awfully busy with work, so I have not had much of a chance to lurk on the site. I did read this on my phone while up in the middle of the night, so I wanted to check in when I had a chance today to say thank you. I appreciate the breakdown of the LSU-Tulane hoops rivalry.

And, hey, it's OK for Tulane to get a little taste of success in the SEC when they never did that before. I looked it up, and they actually were decently successful in the 1940s in real life. However, for a school of smart people, they're only about a decade away from making a really dumb decision and leaving the SEC. Then what?

[Tiger Fan]

Born in Toronto but grew up about an hour and a half from Windsor. Became a Tigers fan prior to Jays existing. Was 11 years old in summer of '76 and it was because of Fidrych. Jays were a novelty but Whitaker and Tram cemented my allegiance to the Tigers. Hate the Red Wings though, Leaf fan all the way.

Thanks for following along and I appreciate you commenting and asking about LSU. Questions about players/teams are always welcome as it gets me looking at things within the sims I might not otherwise have delved into very much. I knew Tulane had been recruiting well lately but did not realize LSU had struggled as much as they have on the court. Football, as you have seen, is a much different situation for the Tigers.

[StLee]

Here in 2021, the LSU basketball team brings fear to other SEC teams. #6 in the SEC Ole Miss vs #3 LSU in the SEC tourney tomorrow.

[Tiger Fan]

1950 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The big off-season signings focused on running backs with former Heisman Trophy winner Bill Dudley leading the way as the ex-Los Angeles Ram has joined the New York Giants. Dudley was the NFL's MVP in 1947 and has twice rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season in his 8 year NFL career. He was released by the Rams last summer after being injured in the pre-season. Among the other signings were ex-LSU back George Gulyanics leaving Washington to join the Philadelphia Eagles. The 2 year veteran has averaged 810 yards rushing a season in the NFL. Washington looks to replace Gulyanics with the addition of former Cleveland Brown running back John Kimbrough, who returns to the game after sitting out last season following his release from the Browns at training camp. The former Texas A&M back is an 8 year pro who has rushed for 5,573 yards in his career.

NFL FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
 1  DET   Chuck Bednarik    LB   Iowa
 2  WSH   Jim Champion	    LB   South Carolina
 3  LA    Thurman McGraw    DT   Tennessee
 4  NY    Bob Oristaglio    TE   Arkansas
 5  PIT   Don Moselle	    SS   Texas
 6  BAL   Ken Cooper	    G    USC
 7  CHB   Joe Sutton	    CB   Tennessee
 8  PHI   Harry Dowda	    SS   Iowa
 9  GB    Jim Wade	    CB   UCLA
10  CLE   Don Paul	    LB   Texas
11  CHC   Gerry Krall	    CB   Texas
12  SF    Bill Svoboda	    LB   UCLA

   OTHER NOTABLES
2-2  WSH  George Blanda	    QB    Iowa
3-3  LA   Toy Ledbetter	    RB    Oklahoma
4-4  NY   Tom Landry        CB    Mississippi State
7-10 CLE  Clay Matthews Sr  DE    Michigan

1950 REGULAR SEASON

After missing the playoffs last season the Chicago Bears reverted to the form that led them to an NFL title in 1948, setting a franchise record for wins with a 10-2 season. This seasons edition of the Bears was not dominant in any one facet of the game, but both their offense and defense ranked among the best in the league. In his fifth season in the league Bears quarterback Bob Hoernschemyer, the former LSU star, had the best season of his career while two-time Heisman Trophy winner Jules Rykovich led the Bears ground game with a career best 834 yards rushing but the Bears success came largely from an uncanny ability to pull out victories in tight ball games. Despite their lofty record Chicago only scored 31 points more than it allowed this season but 7 of their 10 victories were by 4 points or less.

The rest of the West Division wallowed in mediocrity but it was the San Francisco 49ers, at 6-6 thanks to a season ending 24-20 win over Detroit, that claimed the second playoff spot. As has usually been the case the 49ers relied on their ground game and a seemingly interchangeable collection of backs. This year it was a pair of second year pros in Wally Triplett, with 1002 yards, and ex-Notre Dame back George Taliaferro, with 932 yards, that carried the mail for San Francisco.

The New York Giants claimed first place in the East Division to end a 4 year playoff drought. Veteran Sid Luckman, who joined the Giants a year ago after stops with the Eagles and Cardinals, led the NFL with 9 touchdown passes while linebackers Tommy Thompson and Roger Harding were the stars of a punishing defense. Philadelphia and the Chicago Cardinals tied for second place with the Eagles getting the playoff spot thanks to a win and a tie vs the Cards.

  1950 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE STANDINGS
EAST DIVISION  W  L  T  PCT   WEST DIVISION   W  L  T  PCT
New York       8  4  0 .667   Chicago Bears  10  2  0 .833
Philadelphia   6  5  1 .542   San Francisco   6  6  0 .500
Chi Cardinals  6  5  1 .542   Baltimore       5  6  1 .458
Cleveland      6  6  0 .500   Los Angeles     5  7  0 .417
Pittsburgh     5  6  1 .458   Detroit         5  7  0 .417
Washington     4  8  0 .333   Green Bay       4  8  0 .333

        LEAGUE LEADERS
     PASSING YARDS
Paul Governali     GB    1820
Norm Cox	   CLE   1790
Otto Graham	   BAL   1772
Bob Hoernschemeyer CHB   1724 
Chick DeShane      DET   1721
Irv Comp	   CHC   1495
Sid Luckman	   NY    1494
Charlie Conerly    PIT   1106
Jim Blumenstock    PHI   1065
George Blanda	   WSH   1027

     RUSHING YARDS
Frankie Sinkwich   BAL   1104
Ray Mathews	   LA    1045
John Kimbrough     WSH   1010
Wally Triplett     SF    1002
Earle Parsons      GB     944
Stan Stascica      DET    942
George Taliaferro  SF     932
Forest Hall	   PIT    919
Marion Motley      PHI    909
Jules Rykovich     CHB    834
 
     RECEIVING YARDS
Fred Meyer	  CLE   758
Joe Abbey	  BAL   705
Ray Coates	  GB    628
Alyn Beals	  CHC   619
Al Olszewski      DET   597
Cloyce Box	  PIT   589
Jim Lukens	  SF    554
Steve Pritko      NY    554
Alan Leavitt      CLE   541
Hal Thompson	  CHB   469

       TACKLES
Fred Naumetz	  CHC   145
Tommy Thompson    NY    115
Ted Cremer 	  GB    106
Lavern Torgeson	  LA    105
Bob Odell	  CHC   102
Roger Harding	  NY     99
Duke Iverson      PIT    97
Bill Paulman      SF     94
Barney Poole      DET    94
Chuck Bednarik    DET    91

       SACKS
George Weeks	    PIT   7
Glen Burgeis        SF    5
Alf Bauman	    CHC   4
Bruiser Kinard      CHB   4
Frank Kosikowski    LA    4
Gil Meyer	    CLE   4
John Prchlik        LA    4
Ed Sharkey	    SF    4

PLAYOFFS

The New York Giants had all they could handle in Philadelphia but a late touchdown pass from Sid Luckman to running back Tank Younger lifted the Giants to a 27-21 victory at home over Philadelphia in the East Division Final. Younger, who had just two touchdowns all season, scored on a 10 yard pass from Luckman with 5:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. It came just 2 minutes after the Eagles Marion Motley had rumbled 28 yards for a score to put Philadelphia in front. Luckman had a big afternoon for the winners, throwing for 213 yards and a pair of scores.

The 10-2 Bears were favoured to win the West Final but their two regular season meetings with second place San Francisco were both tight. Chicago won them both but by scores of 10-6 and 13-9. Don Ettinger set the tone early for the visitors has he intercepted a Bob Hoernschmeyer pass just 6 minutes into the contest and streaked 44 yards for the game's first score. Ettinger, a second year safety who was a 6th round pick out of Wisconsin, would be the star of the game when he picked off Hoernschmeyer again in the third quarter and returned this one 31 yards to put San Francisco up 17-9 at the time. The Bears would dominate the total yardage and time of possession but the two picks and Chicago's inability to convert on third down did them in and the 49ers returned to the NFL title game for the third time in four years with a 27-24 victory.

The NFL Championship would be a rematch of the 1938 game when the 49ers doubled the Giants 20-10. New York had only played in one title game since then, losing to Detroit in 1940. Meanwhile the 49ers would go on to win two more championships including last season when they beat the Chicago Cardinals in the first title game to require overtime. The Giants and 49ers did not meet during the regular season this year and overall they have played just 5 times with San Francisco winning 3 of them including the '38 Championship Game.

New York got out to an early 10-0 lead thanks to a 92 yard punt return for a touchdown by end Paul Kern and a John Henderson field goal. San Francisco focused on it's two pronged running attack led by backs George Taliaferro and Wally Triplet, who would combine for 189 rushing yards on the day. Taliaferro ran for a 10 yard score early in the second quarter to cut the New York lead to 3. It would remain at 3 at the break as the two clubs traded field goals giving the Giants a 13-10 lead at the half.

As much as the Niners relied on their running game it was quarterback Paul Collins, who took over as the 49ers starter midway through the season replacing the aging Frank Patrick, that was the hero as San Francisco came from behind to win 24-20 and claim it's second straight NFL Title, becoming the first NFL team to repeat as champions. Trailing 20-10 early in the third quarter the 49ers were forced to pass the ball and Collins came up big, throwing for 119 of his 148 yards in the game after they fell behind by 10 points. The big plays were an 8 yard touchdown pass to end Bob McChesney late in the third to cut the New York lead to 3 points, and then a 37 yard pass to Jim Lukens in the closing minutes of the ballgame that set up the game winning two yard touchdown plunge by Jimmy Strausbaugh.

Here is the boxscore of the NFL Title game.

NFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME HISTORY
1937  Baltimore     20  Philadelphia  10
1938  San Francisco 20  New York      10
1939  Baltimore     27  Washington    17
1940  Detroit       18  New York       0
1941  Bears         34  Cardinals      9
1942  Detroit       17  Pittsburgh     9
1943  San Francisco 34  Cleveland     12 
1944  Detroit       19  Washington     0
1945  Cleveland     27  Detroit       13
1946  Washington    21  Detroit        0
1947  Cleveland     36  San Francisco  7
1948  Bears         20  Washington    10 
1949  San Francisco 20  Cardinals     16 (OT)
1950  San Francisco 24  New York      20

AWARDS

Despite a long history of producing very strong running backs the San Francisco 49ers have not had won win the NFL MVP award since Frank Maznicki earned the accolade in 1943. That changed this season when Wally Triplett claimed it following a 1003 yard rushing season. Triplett, who was taken third overall in the 1949 draft out of Virginia, but lost out on offensive rookie of the year to teammate George Taliaferro, was named MVP but fellow San Francisco back Taliaferro claimed the playoff MVP award. The top defensive player for the second year in a row was Chicago Cardinals linebacker Fred Naumetz. The 8th year pro, who played 5 seasons for Philadelphia before joining the Cardinals, led the NFL in tackles for the second straight year. He played his college ball at Miami was taken 5th overall by the Eagles in 1943.

The real-life Triplett was the Jackie Robinson of football, being the first drafted African-American to play in the NFL.

	     1950 NFL AWARDS
NFL MVP -       Wally Triplett	   RB  San Francisco 49ers      	 
Offensive MVP-  Wally Triplett	   RB  San Francisco 49ers  
Defensive MVP-  Fred Naumetz	   LB  Chicago Cardinals
Off ROY-        Ray Mathews  	   RB  Los Angeles 
DEF ROY-        Dan Dworsky        LB  San Francisco
Playoff MVP -   Geoege Taliaferro  RB  San Francisco

Next up the 1950 College Football Season.

[Jamee999]

How did Byron White go in this universe?

[Tiger Fan]

Originally Posted by Jamee999

How did Byron White go in this universe?

WHIZZER WHITE

A 1938 6th round pick out of Colorado, Whizzer White spent 9 years in the NFL with Cleveland and Baltimore. The Browns drafted him and he would start all 12 games as a rookie, rushing for what would turn out to be a career high 923 yards, good for the 8th highest total in the league that season. He would miss one game the following season but started the other 11, rushing for 789 yards but that off-season signed with the Baltimore Colts. White would spend the next 7 seasons with the Colts but be nothing more than a spare part, never gaining more than 300 yards in a season as a third stringer on a team that had Paul Miller, who rushed for over 1,000 yards four times in his career, as the main rushing option. White retired following the 1947 season.

His only playoff action came in 1941 when the Colts, despite finishing first in the East Division that year, lost 25-3 to the Chicago Bears in the semi-finals. White only carried the ball twice in the game for a total of -1 yard.

White's college career was short but productive. I started my sim in 1937 so he was a senior at Colorado in the opening season. He started all 11 games for the Buffaloes, rushing for 852 yards and 9 touchdowns while adding a 10th score as one of his 13 catches on the season. Colorado struggled to a 3-8 record that season with White's best coming being a 120 yard rushing, two touchdown effort in a 45-10 win over Missouri.

In real life White did play college basketball (and baseball) at Colorado but I did not include him in the basketball portion of my sim.