When I was 13 years old, in my mind the two greatest basketball players to ever live were…
1: Pistol Pete Maravich
2: Erwin Claggett
Seriously, these were the two greatest ever. Ever. There was zero argument or plea you could give to a pudgy faced me that would change my mind. You could drop the Rock of Gibraltar on my skull and scream about Chamberlain or Russell, and I would shake it off, and respectfully disagree.
Claggs is who took me from hoops lover to full-fledged basketball addict. Before Spoonball I loved basketball, but I was yet to obsessed with it. I shot around on my dirt court on the outskirts of Franklin County, Dave and I dominated the 2-on-2 game at Lonedell R-14, but I had yet to succumb to basketball addiction.
Then, I saw Claggett. He was effortlessly raining threes from everywhere, whenever he wanted, and my lifelong addiction I still can’t, nor want to shake, set in and took hold.
I had stacks of VHS’s that I would wear out about anything and everything basketball. Gathering dust in my Maplewood basement as I type this piece are my childhood copies of NBA Jam Session, Super Slams of the NBA 2 (Narrated by Dr. J), Hoosiers, and the documentary Larry Bird, A Basketball Legend. All the countless hours I have dedicated to playing, watching, reading about, and dreaming about basketball can be traced back to the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 Billikens.
Yes, Highmark was irreplaceable, Waldman made the engine go, Dobbs was an unrelenting force, but Claggs, he was the big name on the marquee.
I am fully aware that my personal hoops journey alone isn’t a reason to hang a jersey from the rafters of Chaifetz, so let me make a more complete case for Erwin Claggett.
As Kevin Bacon said in A Few Good Men, “These are the facts, and they are undisputed.”
1. Excitement, entertainment: The man could blow the roof off an arena. For example… 1/28/95, the night before Steve Young threw 6 TD’s in the Superbowl. The Billikens versus Cincinnati, at the Kiel. I have been to some amazing sporting events, Cards playoffs games, Peyton Manning in Arrowhead, Wrigley for the Redbirds and Cubs, but I have never been in a more electric arena than on that night, to see the Billikens drop the Bobby Huggins led Bearcats 75-68. I was just 1 of the 20,149 people in attendance, but to a man, we all felt it. Late in the second half number 13 dropped a three from the corner and I could swear then and there that the Kiel was going to shake loose from its foundation. To this day, nearly 22 years later I can close my eyes and see it as clear as my hand in front of my face. All net, take a seat, eat it Bearcats.
2. 1994 and 1995 NCAA Tournaments- The 1994 team was the first to make a tourney appearance since 1957. Since 1957! Eisenhower was president, that Social Studies books stuff. In 1957 there was no civil rights act, Kennedy was a senator, and Dr. King was years away from speaking on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Claggett and Dobbs were the first African Americans to play in a tourney game for SLU since the signing of the Civil Rights act. The Bills were one and done in 1994 losing to a Joe Smith led Maryland team. But, the 1995 team made it to the second round and was a couple bounces and threes away from knocking off Tim Duncan and Wake Forest.
3. Claggs owns the Great Midwest Conference record book: He’s the conference all-time leader in points, points per game, field goals, three-point field goals, three-point field goal percentage, 4th in steals, 6th in assists, and was First Team All-Conference three consecutive years. Simply put, the greatest player in the history of the conference.
4. Only Anthony Bonner has more ink in the SLU record book: Claggs is 2nd in points with 1,910, 1st in 3-pointers made with 295, 4th in 3-point percentage at .412 (the same as Steph Curry’s college career), 9th in assists with 347, 7th in steals with 145, 10th in minutes played, he owns the top two spots in 3’s made in a season with 103 and 87, and dropped 7 threes in a game twice…I can go on and on.
5. The Best Nickname in SLU History: The Venice Menace. You cannot top that.
There is far more that I can write. I could do a novella or a 13-part series on the case for the man now affectionately known as Coach Claggs, but we need to wrap this up. I know I’m not alone when I look up at the much-deserved retired numbers at the Jewel of Midtown and wonder why 13 isn’t up there as well.
So, I call on you, all of you Spoonball fans still out there. All of you who remember being part of a crowd of 20,000 in the STL watching the most exciting brand of hoops in the nation. I call on all of you now, to help me. Join the chorus until it’s deafening and undeniable. Let’s all call for the fine folks at St. Louis University to #RetireClaggs13
Follow Will on twitter @Will_KSDK
