The mention of them over in the Football forum got me to thinking some, or many, of you might be asking why a 14-0 SEC Champion with an overall record of 22-3 didn't play in the NCAA tournament. Answer is that Johnny Dee brought the five starters in and played them for four years. Having played as freshmen made them ineligible for the tournament. However, they did enter the AAU tournament under the banner of a Mobile oil distributor and lost out to the defending and 8 time AAU champion Phillips 66ers.
The Rocket 8
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My mom and dad were at Bama during the Rocket 8 days and they always talked fondly of them. They were a great team.
I thought only those of us who were around at the time would know, and that there would be no recorded proof. But I found it! The following link shows the roster for ADA Oilers-Mobile, Alabama on page 11. Forward to the next page and you will see they beat U.S.A.F. in the first round. Although the bracket is not filled in on the next page (13), ADA beat Goodyear Tires-Akron, Ohio in the second round and Vickers Oilers-Wichita, Kansas in the quarter-finals before losing to Phillips 66 in the semi-finals. Page 16 shows Phillips 66 as the defending and nine time AAU champion. I remembered them as 8 time champions at the time. They would go on to win two more before disbanding in 1968.
http://www.buchansbread.com/1956 AAU Program Page 11.htm
ALA2262, thanks for the legwork and the memories, and for reiterating that the oil companies were well-oiled AAU machines back in the day, esp. the Phillips 66ers. Would like to know of the disparity between them (66ers), the Mobilean Crimson Tide entry and the "Loyola University Freshmen" and Arkansas State Teachers College, and how the latter two got into the AAU championships under an academic aegis. The pre#MeToo footnote from here would be that Arky St. Teachers is now the University of Central Arkansas, with their male athletes are known as the Bears while the women are called the...Sugar Bears.
Just made a fantastic find! And somewhat answers your question about the admittance of college teams. Appears it was because 1956 was an Olympic year. Starting on Pg. 162
and through the end of the chapter gives the full story of the 1956 AAU tournament. Here are some excerpts from 'THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMATEUR BASKETBALL: THE AAU TOURNAMENT, 1921-1968'
"Although an encore seemed impossible, the 1956 tournament matched the 1955 Dribble Derby for surprises and excitement.To begin with, the tournament introduced Johnny Dee to Denver and his starting five from the University of Alabama, playing under the banner of Alabama’s Mobile Ada Oilers. Dee’s Crimson Tide had just completed the most successful basketball season in Alabama’s history. In 1956 Alabama won the Southeastern Conference with a perfect 14-0 record, including a 101 to 77 triumph over Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats, the first time a team had scored 100 points against Rupp. As the conference champion, Alabama had an automatic bid to the ncaa tournament but refused to accept it when the ncaa ruled that Alabama’s seniors were ineligible because the Southeastern Conference had allowed them to play as freshmen. Since 1956 was an Olympic year, the Denver tournament offered Dee’s seniors a shot at the Olympic tournament and a chance to play on the Olympic basketball team. Bud Adams, the son of Boots Adams, had sponsored the Houston Ada Oilers in past tournaments and had a branch office in Mobile, Alabama. When Adams offered to sponsor the Crimson Tide in the national aau tournament, Dee accepted and took his starting five, all from the Midwest, to Denver: Jerry Harper, George Linn, Leon Marlaire, Dennis O’Shea, and Dick Gunder."
"The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots was the second nibl team to get knocked out of the tournament when they fell to the Alabama team, the Ada Oilers, 85–77. Alabama’s Jerry Harper scored 30 points, three more than his teammate George Linn."
'Mobile’s Ada Oilers surfaced as another tournament spoiler when they hung on to beat the Wichita Vickers. All of the Alabama seniors scored in double figures, while Dick Boushka topped Wichita with 18."
"In the semifinals, which would determine the two aau representatives to the Olympic tournament, Alabama’s bubble finally burst. Before seven thousand fans, most of whom rooted for the underdog collegians, Johnny Dee’s team fell to Phillips by two points, 71–69. Dee chose to play his seniors for the entire game and they climbed within 2 points of a tie with thirty-five seconds left before Phillips successfully froze the ball. Burdie Haldorson with 19 points and Bob Jeangerard with 12 , who had led the University of Colorado to the 1955 aau finals, played important roles in defeating the Alabama collegians."
LINK
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Interesting that the best players were from out of state; Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky... Averaged 88 points per game in 1955-56 season; no shot clock and no three point shot.
Yeah, but they had the one-legged flamingo shot.
ETA:
Should have recruited Wyoming:
Kenny Sailors, forgotten star credited with inventing basketball’s jump shot
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Yes, and also the point-shaver team with Quindazzi, Cohen, etc. Kubiszyn married and stayed in Alabama, incidentally...
Yep, just missed them too, my first year being 1956, Dr. Lambert's first year as coach. The backups from the Rocket Eight were pretty decent though, Fulmer, Kubiszyn, Bratton, and Bogan come to mind. Nonetheless the Lambert years were kind of disappointing as I remember. I did get to see the Rocket Eight a few times during the 1955-56 season however and I've always been surprised that none of those players were able to carve out an NBA career, particularly Harper or Linn.
Wasn't E.B. Hamner on that '56 squad also? He became a friend in later years and died tragically young. By '57, I was playing intramural and Lambert came around recruiting players. That's where the point-shavers came from...
Yes, Lenny Kaplan and Dan Quindazzi. Quindazzi became a pro at it with other schools and later plead guilty...
https://newspaperarchive.com/sarasota-news-dec-06-1961-p-82/
You had one-semester overlap with my mom. She finished in December of '57. She was Betty Grimsley at the time.
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