Billiken Greats honored

It was a fun night in Billikenland last Saturday.
Watching the Billikids knock off highly-regarded Richmond in the Atlantic 10 opener was exciting enough, but it was only part of the story.
It was just as thrilling to several of the former SLU greats from 1989 and 1990 return to campus to be honored for their wonderful accomplishments and contributions to the SLU program.
In past games, the SLU administration has honored the great teams from 1948 (the National Champions), 1957 and 1971. On Saturday, the '89 and '90 teams were honored as was former coach Rich Grawer, who made his first appearance at a SLU game since his departure from the program after the '91 season.
It was great to see Coach Grawer back on the scene once again. He did such a tremendous job of bringing the SLU program back when it looked like it was headed for obscurity, never to return.
His work ethic and love for his home town helped bring winning basketball back to Saint Louis U. He was greeted with a big ovation and that was nice to see. It was also well-deserved because the work he put in so many years ago has laid the foundation for what this program has a chance to become in the very, near future. I'm just glad that Rich came out to witness some of the fruits of his labor, which started nearly 30 years ago in a tiny, little office at the West Pine Gym.
Of course, Rich had a little help from guys such as Anthony Bonner (pictured, center), Monroe Douglass and Roland Gray (pictured, left). The talented trio of former Public High League All-Stars were the linchpins of some great basketball in town for a stretch of five years, which included two trips to the NIT championship game.
All three local heroes were present to be honored along with other former local stars such as Jeff Luechtefeld, Anthony and John Duff. Kevin Footes, Jorge Wallace and Don Braun and former assistant coach Jeff Schimburg also came into town to be a part of the special ceremony.
Rammer and I were giddy at the sight of these men, who did so much to make SLU basketball a viable and exciting program. They created a program, which made it possible for the great years of Spoonball we witnessed with Highmark, H, Claggs and then Larry Hughes.
Bonner, Douglass, Gray and Co. had the old Kiel Auditorium rockin' every night with some great basketball, whether it was Monroe on an alley-oop dunk, Bonner being a monster on the boards or Roland backing down a helpless defender with the old-school turnaround.
It was a fantastic time to be a Billiken fan then as it was on Saturday when all of these greats were back for one special day. It gave us all a chance to re-live some very special moments in Billiken history.
I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Judging by the ovation in the Chaifetz. I think you did.