Long Island University

(Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Men's Basketball

L.I.U. 43 Game Winning Streak

L.I.U. 42 Game Winning Streak

Clair Bee, LIU basketball coach. From the Nassau Daily Review-Star, December 25, 1941.
coach
Nicknames: “Blackbirds”, “Busy Bees”.
Home Court: Brooklyn College of Pharmacy Gymnasium (Lafayette & Nostrand)
MSG = Madison Square Garden #3

Forty-three game winning streak
	1934-'35 season:
	2/15/1935	L 25-30	Duquesne	MSG 15,000 (2nd game- NYU 47-19 Manhattan)
1.	2/16/1935	W 43-29	Catholic U.	(Home)
2.	2/20/1935	W 73-32	Lowell Textile	(H)
3.	2/23/1935	W 51-20	Ithaca College
4.	2/27/1935	W 74-30	Seton Hall
5.	2/28/1935	W 47-30	Marshall	(H)
6.	3/2/1935	W 56-24	Wagner	(Away)
7.	3/8/1935	W 56-19	Brooklyn Col. of Pharmacy	("Away")

	1935-'36 season:
8.	11/23/1935	W 56-13	Cooper Union	(H)
9.	11/30/1935	W 46-23	LIU Alumni	(H)
10.	12/7/1935	W 38-35	U. of Newark	(H)
11.	12/10/1935	W 49-23	Savage School	(H)
12.	12/13/1935	W 60-25	Dickinson	(H)
13.	12/17/1935	W 42-32	Springfield
14.	12/19/1935	W 47-22	Washington Col. (Md.)	(H)
15.	12/21/1935	W 63-18	West Virginia St. Tea.	(H)
16.	12/23/1935	W 35-30	St. Joseph's (Pa.)	(Away)
17.	12/31/1935	W 44-17	Geneva	(H)
18.	1/3/1936	W 73-33	Ogelthorpe
19.	1/8/1936	W 36-34	Duquesne	MSG 18,000 (2nd g.-NYU 41-28 Kentucky)
20.	1/10/1936	W 56-20	Alfred	(H)
21.	1/14/1936	W 48-25	Niagara	(H)
22.	1/17/1936	W 49-9	La Salle	(H)
23.	1/25/1936	W 36-20	St. John's (NY)	MSG 13,000 (1st g.-Temple 42-36 Manhattan)
24.	1/29/1936	W 31-23	St. Francis (NY)	(H)
25.	1/31/1936	W 60-27	Northeastern	(H)
26.	2/4/1936	W 69-35	East Stroudsburg St.	(H)
27.	2/8/1936	W 33-21	Brooklyn Col.	(H)
28.	2/11/1936	W 57-33	Catholic U.	(H)
29.	2/13/1936	W 46-31	Canisius	(H)
30.	2/15/1936	W 45-36	St. Thomas	(H)
31.	2/19/1936	W 45-39	Rice	MSG 13,000 (1st g.-Manhattan 36-26 NYU)
32.	2/22/1936	W 43-31	George Washington
33.	2/28/1936	W 46-21	Gallaudet	(H)
[Note: LIU rejects invite to Olympic Trials in protest of Berlin Olympics]

	1936-'37 season:
34.	12/1/1936	W 61-27	Princeton Seminary	(H) 2,000
35.	12/5/1936	W 56-13	U. of Newark
36.	12/9/1936	W 73-35	Montclair St. Tea.	(H)
37.	12/10/1936	W 40-14	LIU Alumni	(H)
38.	12/15/1936	W 63-29	Panzer Col.	(H)
39.	12/17/1936	W 49-24	Clarkson	(H)
40.	12/18/1936	W 63-41	Hamden-Sydney	(H)
41.	12/22/1936	W 41-33	Marshall	(H)
42.	12/23/1936	W 62-27	Seton Hall	(H)
43.	12/26/1936	W 41-29	Illinois Weslyan	The Hippodrome 7,000 (1st g.-CCNY 49-33 Marshall)
	12/30/1936	L 31-43	Stanford	MSG 17,623 (1st g.- Georgetown 46-40 NYU)
[Note: The 43 game winning streak was intercollegiate college record until surpassed by 44 straight won by Panzer College 12/20/1940]







Forty-two game unbeaten streak
[Note: This streak included pre-season & post-season games, and includes one tie. ]
	1938 National Invitational Tournament, 1st Round:
	3/9/1938	L 37-39	NYU	MSG 13,829 (1st g.- Temple 53-40 Bradley)
LIU AA (varsity and frosh) played in Metropolitan AAU tournament, winning 3 games and making the finals:
	3/31/1938	L 43-47	Union Temple of Brooklyn	Hippodrome (3rd place g.- Brooklyn Col. AA 33-31^O.T. Crescent AC)

	1938-'39 pre-season in Puerto Rico:
1.	9/9/1938	W 36-21	Bayamon	at San Juan
2.	9/11/1938	W 47-36	Rio Piedras	Puerto Rico
3.	9/15/1938	W 48-30	San Juan U.	at San Juan
4.	9/16/1938	W 40-30	Eagles	Puerto Rico
5.	9/18/1938	W 48-25	Puerto Rico Athletes	Puerto Rico
6.	9/19/1938	W 54-32	Tigers	Puerto Rico
	9/20/1938	T 20-20	Puerto Rico All-Stars	Puerto Rico; postponed.
7.	9/21/1938	W 27-10	Puerto Rico All-Stars	Puerto Rico
	1938-'39 season:
8.	12/3/1938	W 63-36	LIU Alumni	(H)
	12/5/1938	no scoring	Manhattan Col.	[scrimmage]
9.	12/7/1938	W 64-14	U. of Newark	(H)
10.	12/13/1938	W 41-35	Panzer	(H)
11.	12/15/1938	W 82-37	Princeton Seminary	(H)
12.	12/19/1938	W 69-33	East Stroudsburg	(H)
13.	12/21/1938	W 77-39	McGill	(H)
14.	12/23/1938	W 63-40	Montclair St. T.	(H)
15.	12/30/1938	W 33-18	USC	MSG 18,039 (1st g.-St. John's 39-37 Colorado)
16.	1/4/1939	W 52-34	Kentucky	MSG 11,671 (1st g.-Georgetown 27-25 NYU)
17.	1/11/1939	W 41-34	Marquette	MSG 12,483 (1st g.-St. John's 43-31 St. Joseph's (Pa.))
18.	1/18/1939	W 64-43	NYAC	(H)
19.	1/27/1939	W 46-39	Toledo	MSG 16,231 (1st g.-De Paul 40-26 St. John's)
20.	1/28/1939	W 48-39	Geneva	(H)
	2/1/1939	no game	New Mexico St.	at Chicago Coliseum (on orginal schedule)
	2/3/1939	no game	Mexico YMCA	(H) (on original schedule)
21.	2/8/1939	W 48-31	Duquesne	MSG 15,000 (1st g.-CCNY 51-35 Fordham)
22.	2/10/1939	W 65-43	Scranton	(H)
23.	2/14/1939	W 62-50	Canisius	(H)
24.	2/18/1939	W 61-20	St. Francis (NY)	(H)
25.	2/21/1939	W 70-31	St. Bonaventure	(H)
26.	2/23/1939	W 52-34	U. of Baltimore	(H)
27.	2/28/1939	W 28-21	John Marshall (Jersey City)
28.	3/3/1939	W 28-21	La Salle	Phil. Conv. Ctr. 6,000 (1st g.-Temple 42-38 St. Joseph's)
	1939 National Invitational Tournament:
1st Round:
29.	3/15/1939	W 52-45	New Mexico A & M	MSG 14,443 (2nd g.-St. John's 70-47 Roanoke)
Semi-Finals:
30.	3/20/1939	W 36-32	Bradley	MSG 18,206
(Above part of tripleheader; 1st g.-New Mexico A&M 55-52 Roanoke; 2nd g./Semi-final: Loyola (Chicago) 51-46^O.T. St. John's)
Championship:
31.	3/23/1939	W 44-32	Loyola of Chicago	MSG 18,038 (3rd place g.-Bradley 40-35 St. John's)
	Eastern States/Saratoga AAU Invitational Tournament at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.:
1st Round:
32.	3/24/1939	W 58-30	Hudson Falls Iroquois	(Vermont AAU champs)
Semi-Final:
33.	3/25/1939	W 50-38	Stillwater Collegians
Championship:
34.	3/26/1939	W 38-29	Amsterdam American-Lithuanians

	1939-'40 season:
35.	11/23/1939	W 59-41	LIU Alumni	(H)
36.	11/25/1939	W 72-28	Essex JC	(H)
37.	12/2/1939	W 94-31	Princeton Seminary	(H)
38.	12/6/1939	W 68-31	East Stroudsburg St. T.	(H)
39.	12/11/1939	W 60-37	John Marshall (Jersey City)	(H)
40.	12/16/1939	W 56-55^O.T.	Oregon	MSG 17,852 (1st g.-Oklahoma A & M 36-24 CCNY)
[Note that the above game matched the 1939 NIT champion LIU with the 1939 NCAA champion Oregon Ducks.]
41.	12/18/1939	W 67-50	Wittenberg	(H)
42.	12/20/1939	W 48-39	Dayton	(H)
	12/24/1939	L 49-57	USC	MSG 18,245 (1st g.- Texas 54-32 Manhattan)

[Note that the LIU team that played in 1939 Saratoga AAU Invitational included freshmen; but no seniors. The seniors continued play as professionals. Known at first as the LIU All-Stars, and then as the LIU Blackbirds. Long Island University objected to such a use of their name and disavowed its use.]

The following are partial records of some of these games:
L.I.U. Stars:
3/23/1939 L 28-36 Virginia Union, at New York
3/24/1939 W 61-50 Virginia Union, at Philadelphia
L.I.U. Stars:
3/25/1939 W 50-46 Philadelphia Sphas [4 additional wins v. unknown opponents]
L.I.U. Blackbirds:
3/26/1939 W 38-31 St. John's Redmen [similar senior pros]
3/28/1939 W 45-42 at Jewish Community Center of Schenectady
3/29/1939 L 25-42 American Professional Basketball League All-Stars, at Troy, N.Y. [6 wins before this loss]
3/30/1939 L 35-39 Kentucky State, at Olympia Hall, Philadelphia
3/31/1939 W 37-33 Kentucky State, at State Palace, Lenox & 142nd Street, Harlem
Long Island All-Stars:
4/8/1939 L 43-63 Philadelphia Sphas
Long Island Blackbirds:
4/10/1939 L 45-51 at Waterbury Brasscos, at the Phoenix Roller Skating Rink
4/11/1939 W 46-37 West Haven Red Devils, at the New Haven Arena, Connecticut
4/14/1939 W 50-38 Orange-Sullivan League All-Stars, at Middletown State Armory, N.Y.

Star players:
	William “Dolly” King ('37-'41) {“220 pound Negro Hercules” (NY Times)}
	Jules Bender ('33-'37)
	Marius Russo ('34-'36)
	Ossie Schectman ('38-'41)
	Irv Torgoff ('36-'39)

February 6, 1939

Article from the February 8, 1939 Burlington Daily News, Burlington,Vermont:'NEW YORK, Feb. 6. (NEA)-- Long Island University probably the outstanding basketball team in the East, benefits by the fact that the Brooklyn Pharmacy College court, which is used as Long Island's practice loor, is only two-thirds the size of the Madison Square GArden layout./ The floor is so small the Blackbirds learn to work the ball around at lightning speed in a confined area and thereby become accustomed o penetrating tight defenses. Then, too, because it becomes necessary to shoot from long range, Vlair Bee's hoopsters have become the sharpest long shots on the Atlantic seaboard./ Only disadvantage of their coop-like hardwood is that they must adjust themselves burriedly, and without error, when they step onto the Madison Square GArden floor for their big games..'