How One of the Greatest Hogs Teams Ever Once Took Down That Generation's Version of the 90s Chicago Bulls

The Razorbacks are tied to the most dominant U.S. Basketball team of an entire generation as part of a basketball history that is nearly forgotten

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Jan 25, 2023 7:07 PM EST
Original:
Jan 24, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – If you're mid-40s or younger and grew up in Arkansas, the prevailing line about Razorback basketball is that it basically didn't start until Eddie Sutton rolled into town from Creighton in 1974.

No one ever speaks of anything before that time. Although, to be fair, pretty much anything before then is pre-integration, so it's hard for people these days to put a whole lot of stock into wins and losses from that time period.

However, to completely write it off would be to ignore one of the most feared teams in Arkansas history and its ties to a legendary period of post-college basketball that is now all but forgotten.

Back in 1940, Glen Rose put together a roster of young men from an array of tiny towns that now hold 1,100 people or less like Ash Flat and Emmet, Arkansas and Point, Texas.

They were innovators of the game. Forward Johnny Adams set the world on its head by scoring 36 against TCU using this strange shooting technique he called the jump shot that allowed him to garner the recognition needed to be named an All-American.

Center Gordon Carpenter and forward R.C. Pitts would go on to win gold medals as part of the 1948 U.S. Olympic team.

They were an unusually tall team for their time with the shortest player being Howard Hickey at 6'2".

However, what made them famous was their absolute dominance of college basketball and one unique win that no modern Razorback team will ever be able to claim.

Arkansas destroyed teams in a time when big blowouts really weren't a thing. With scores like 62-17, 68-33 and 71-45, they were an enigma in a world with no shot clock or 3-point line.

Not a single college team could beat them in the regular season. However, that doesn't mean they weren't without losses.

The Hogs lost twice that year, but both losses were to a team regarded as the best in the world at that time, which wasn't a college team.

They were the Phillips 66ers, the modern day equivalent of an NBA team except the players were able to maintain their amateur status.

The 66ers were based out of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, home of the Phillips Petroleum company. They were a member of the Amateur Athletic Union.

Yes, it's that AAU, but its mission was much closer to its 1888 founding as an organization in charge of overseeing preparation for potential Olympic athletes.

It remained that way until the Olympic Sports Act of 1978 created the U.S. Olympic Committee, freeing the AAU to morph into the beloved and hated monstrosity it has become today.

The 66ers played teams like the Akron Goodyears and Detroit Ford Mustangs among other teams owned by the likes of 20th Century Fox, Safeway, Cessna, Boeing and Caterpillar.

Even though the NBA wouldn't be established for another eight years, the Phillips 66ers took down the Denver Nuggets in the AAU championship game the year before and were regarded as the greatest team basketball had to offer when Rose lined up three games against them to test his Razorbacks.

Arkansas startled the basketball world by taking down the 66ers 38-24 in Little Rock just before Christmas.

To put that in perspective, this would be like Nolan Richardson deciding to see how good his 93-94 national championship team actually was, scheduling a 3-game series with the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen led Chicago Bulls, and then beating them in Game 1 in Memphis.

The two teams locked horns again right after Christmas break, this time on the 66ers home floor in Bartlesville. The 66ers barely held on, knocking off Arkansas, 35-33.

With the series tied 1-1, Arkansas left campus shortly after Valentine's Day for a drive over to Tulsa to determine which team truly was to be considered the best in American basketball.

It was another defensive struggle as a 66ers team that had already held Arkansas to its two lowest offensive performances of the season held the Razorbacks to their worst showing of the year.

The Phillips 66ers clawed out a 31-26 win as the organization came away with a healthy respect for the Razorbacks.

Both teams later came up short of perceived expectations.

Arkansas knocked off Wyoming in the Elite 8 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, setting up a showdown with Washington State in the Final Four the following day.

Anticipation of a Wisconsin vs. Arkansas battle in the finals that evening was high after the Badgers took down Pitt in the first game of the morning session.

However, the 24-5 Cougars pulled off the upset, 64-53, sending Washington State to the national championship game instead.

As for the 66ers, 1941 was the only year they weren't in the national championship game between 1939 and 1950;. Instead, 20th Century Fox took home the title with a 47-34 win over San Francisco Olympic Club.

The following year, 6'8" Arkansas center John Frieberger joined the 66ers. Eventually, so would Carpenter and Pitts.

Playing for Phillips meant a job with the company during the day while getting to play basketball at night. As one former player put it, those who stuck with the company almost all became millionaires.

Four team members went on to become presidents of the company.

As for Carpenter and Pitts, they owe their Olympic gold medals to those three games scheduled against the 66ers that year. It allowed them to be noticed and pave a path to Madison Square Garden where the Phillips 66ers took on Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats.

The two teams were to be combined to form a super team of the 10 best players America could muster. Carpenter and Pitts were chosen from that game.

Bud Browning, the 66ers coach, was named head coach of Team USA and Rupp was named his assistant.

Together they coached the U.S. team to a perfect 8-0 in the Olympics, knocking off France 65-21 in the championship game in Wembley Stadium where the first Olympics since before World War II were held.

Rose left as the coach of the team the following season with a 154-47 record to try his hand at a failed stint as the head coach of the Razorback football team.

He later turned the football team over to John Barnhill and eventually returned to coaching Arkansas basketball in Arkansas Fieldhouse, which would later be renamed to Barnhill Arena.

Rose finished his second run with a 171-154 record. His 14 seasons during this less successful part of his tenure was the longest consecutive stretch of any Arkansas basketball coach until Nolan Richardson topped him with 17 years.