Editors Note: this blog is written as a supplement to the St. Louis Nine Network series Living St. Louis: Decades episode on the 1940s. I highly recommend this episode along with the others in the series.
As far as athletics go, Saint Louis University and Washington University pursued divergent paths a long time ago. But the Bears and Billikens once had a decades-long rivalry going back to the earliest days of basketball in St. Louis. By the 1930s, the schools had a fierce rivalry that culminated in a ten year period between 1937-1947.
The first official games between the teams go back to 1914-1915 when Washington University recorded back to back 29-22 and 20-7 wins over SLU. However, both schools were fielding club teams as early as 1901-1902 and may have played each other as part of the fledgling St. Louis Basketball League.
By the late 1930s, the two had become regular competitors and conference rivals after Saint Louis joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1937.
As the importance of the games increased, so did the rhetoric from the local newspapers. Note: it took a while before everyone settled on one spelling for the Billiken mascot.
The fans also understood the intensity of the rivalry. In 1937, for example, Saint Louis fans were responsible for a 5-minute delay of the game due to excessive booing and cheering. The fans were assessed a technical foul (true story!) with the Bears being the beneficiaries.
According to the Post-Dispatch, the “intense rivalry” made the game more difficult than usual to call.
SLU would lose the game from the free-throw line, shooting just 3-16.
In 1939, the Bears defeated the Billikens, 42-35 in front of of 2,500 fans. Dr. James Naismith was also reported to be in attendance.
The win tied the series 1-1, prompting a third, non-conference game to be scheduled the following week. Washington University won that game, 34-28 to capture yet another city championship.
In January 1940, the Post-Dispatch did its part to add fuel to the flames the rivalry by reporting that the Billikens were looking to bust the city championship monopoly. Saint Louis would go on to win that game 26-24, but the Billikens would ultimately split the series after falling to the Bears, 32-20.
Washington and Saint Louis would team up in 1940 to host consecutive double-headers with Drake and Washburn to kick-off Missouri Valley Conference play. The first of two games were played at the Field House with the following two games played at the West Pine Gym.
The rivalry would continue through the 1946-1947 season despite the decision by Washington University to leave the Missouri Valley Conference in 1942 and WWII-related scheduling challenges. The results were as follows:
1936-1937 Washington University 2, Saint Louis 1
1937-1938 Washington University 1, Saint Louis 2
1938-1939 Washington University 2, Saint Louis 1
1939-1940 Washington University 2, Saint Louis 1
1940-1941 Washington University 2, Saint Louis o
1941-1942 Saint Louis 2, Washington University 1
1942-1943 Washington University 2, Saint Louis 0
1943-1944 ——-
1944-1945 Saint Louis University 2, Washington University 0
1945-1946 Saint Louis University 2, Washington University 0
1946-1947 Saint Louis University 2, Washington University 0
It is unclear why the teams chose not to continue the series after the 1946-1947 season, though it may have been related to coaching changes at Washington University—the Bears had four coaches over a five year period heading in to the 1947-1948 season. It also could have been the rise of SLU basketball in the “tall boy” era of “Easy” Ed Macauley and Marvin Schatzman, a team that would win the 1948 NIT with a win over New York University.
Saint Louis and Washington University would play sparingly after 1947 leaving the 1940s as the last great decade of the rivalry. The record as it stands today favors Washington University, 37-29.
File Under: At Least He Cared Enough to Write a Letter to the Editor
Though unrelated to the rivalry, take a look at this letter to the editor of the St. Louis Star and Times published January 13, 1940 from a Washington University student who had experienced the “razzle-dazzle style of play of the eastern teams through movie newsreels” and was sure that his classmates wanted “fast, furious and wild” basketball.
