In March 1941, Virginia Union scheduled a game against the Harlem Globetrotters. What followed was one of the most devastating losses in Union history, and the repercussions still can be felt today.
Before 1947, Virginia Union didn't have its own basketball court. The Panthers played at either the Municipal Recreation Center or on the stage of the Richmond Landmark Theatre, then known as The Mosque. They didn't have a bus, either. Fans would drive players from campus to the court, watch them play and drive them back.
The Belgian Building, the current home of Virginia Union's basketball team, wasn't built in Richmond. It was constructed in 1939 for the New York World's Fair. The federal government awarded the building to VUU in 1941.
But Virginia Union had to pay to move the building to Virginia. So the school decided to schedule a basketball game against one of the world's best-known teams, the Harlem Globetrotters.
It turned out to be a very close game.
The 1938-39 VUU basketball team was known as the "Dream Team." It won two CIAA titles, and if not for the Globetrotters, it could've won a third.
The only member of the Dream Team still alive today is Roland McDaniel. He turns 90 on Jan. 3. McDaniel didn't play a lot on the basketball team, but he was a standout in tennis. In 1940, McDaniel became the only VUU tennis player to win the CIAA individual championship.
On March 7, 1941, the Globetrotters arrived in Richmond. The game took place at the Blues Armory on Sixth Street, and a sellout crowd of 2,000 fans filled the stands.
Less than an hour before the game, Virginia Union got some bad news. The CIAA would not allow the Panthers to play the Globetrotters, calling them an "outlaw" team. If the game went on as planned, the conference said, the school would suffer.
But with the Globetrotters and fans already there, Virginia Union decided the game had to go on.
"They were tough," McDaniel said of the Globetrotters, who beat VUU 40-38 on a Bernie Price basket in the final seconds.
Two weeks later, the CIAA delivered its punishment: Virginia Union had to suspend all athletic activity for six months. The basketball team couldn't defend its title, and McDaniel, in his final year of eligibility, couldn't compete for another tennis championship.
"I didn't even get in the game. Why are you punishing me? "McDaniel remembered asking. "There was a big fuss."
Though the CIAA's punishment stood, the money was raised and the Belgian Building was brought to Richmond. Construction was completed in 1943 and the men's team played its first game there in January 1947.
Now, the school holds McDaniel in high esteem for making a sacrifice that brought the gymnasium to the campus.
Despite all the disappointment, McDaniel said, "It was a wonderful experience."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement