It was 1919 before basketball at Brown was revived through
the efforts of Louis A. R. Pieri ’20. In the 1920s there were three winning
seasons under coaches Wally Snell ’13 and Harold “Chick” Evans, 13-10 in
1922, and 10-6 in 1925 and 1926. The team of 1938-39, coach George “Eck”
Allen’s first team, was chosen to represent New England in the first
championship tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic
Association. That team, undefeated on the home court, won seventeen of its
twenty games, beat every New England opponent excepting Dartmouth and
including Providence College for the first time since 1922, but lost to
Villanova, 42-30, in the tournament. Harry Platt ’40 broke all of Brown’s
scoring records with a single game score of 48 points against Northeastern in
1938, a season scoring record of 404 in 1937-38, and a career record of 866. In
1945 the team, led by George “Woody” Grimshaw ’47, won the New England
title. Grimshaw, whose career record was 1,021, later coached at Tufts. After
1945 Brown basketball experienced a long run of losing seasons, but had its
star players. Francis “Moe” Mahoney scored 828 points in his
two-and-one-half seasons. The high point of the 8-11 season of 1950-51 was
Brown’s first victory on Rhode Island State’s home court in sixteen years,
a one-point win on a basket by Fred Kozak ’50 in the last three seconds of
the game. Stan Ward’s fifteen-year coaching record from 1954 to 1969 was
133-261. Joe Tebo ’58 set a career record of 1,319 points, which was broken
four years later by the 1,331 record of three-time All-Ivy Mike Cingiser ’62.
A low point in Brown’s basketball history was the 3-23 season in 1969-70.
Under coach James G. “Gerry” Alaimo ’58 the team improved slowly, and in
1972-73 had its first winning season since 1959-60, as five sophomores, Phil
Brown ’75, Jim Busam ’75, Vaughan Clarke ’75, Lloyd Desvigne ’75, and
Eddie Morris ’75, finished 14-12 and third in the Ivy League, and went on to
17-9 and a tie for second in the league in 1973-74, and 14-12 and a tie for
third in 1974-75. Alaimo left in 1978 with an 88-148 record, 57-59 in the Ivy
League. Joe Mullaney, successful coach at Providence College, took over and
coached until 1981, and was followed by Mike Cingiser ’62. The disappointing
seasons continued until 1985-86, when Brown, in its first winning season
(16-11) since 1975, won its first Ivy League championship, but lost to
Syracuse, 101-52, in the opening round of the regional NCAA tournament.
Cingiser’s ten-year record was 93-170.
Source: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=B0100
The Woody Grimshaw '47 Memorial Award is named in honor of
former Brown player Woody Grimshaw '47, who was also a long-time successful
basketball coach at Tufts. It is presented annually to that member of the team
showing the most positive attitude and the best spirit: Rob Humm '04, manager
of the team from Barrington, RI.
Source: http://brownbears.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/050703aaa.html
