Bill Mayer, March 15, 2007
How heated was the competiton as Kansas and North Carolina struggled in the 1957 NCAA basketball title game in Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium?
The fact the game ended with a 54-53 score in Carolina’s favor after a third overtime clearly reflects the intensity of the conflict. Two incidents in particular drew special attention.
Regulation play ended with the scored tied at 46. Each team scored a basket in the first overtime, making it 48-all, then nobody scored in the second OT. Carolina missed four free throws in that scoreless stretch.
Late in that same period, however, KU’s Wilt Chamberlain and UNC’s Pete Brennan and Bob Cunningham got into a brief scuffle that resulted on a foul call favoring Wilt. The battered Chamberlain hurled some choice words at the Carolina bench, and KU coach Dick Harp said something to Cunningham. Frank McGuire of Carolina rushed onto the floor to confront Harp. The crowd got nasty, and police had to be called to get things back in order. Big Seven commissioner Reaves Peters was one of the leaders in restoring order.
McGuire said Harp told him to “shut up,” and McGuire said a Kansas assistant, Jack Eskridge, punched him in the stomach. After the game, Eskridge said McGuire had moved menacingly toward the Kansas bench, but “nothing happened … he just said something to coach Harp.”
Photo courtesy of Kansas University Spencer Research Library
A Kansas University player fights for a rebound with North Carolina’s Pete Brennan (35) and Bob Cunningham.
“The accusation is ridiculous,” Eskridge later told Journal-World reporters. “I wasn’t even within six feet of McGuire all night, let alone hit him. At one point when he came onto the court I was about six feet away from him. That’s as close as I ever got. It was heated, but I never hit anybody.”
McGuire still maintained he was punched, but those at courtside and the scorer’s table were unable to verify it.
“McGuire should sure be happy Jack didn’t hit him,” said an ex-teammate of the 6-4, 230-pound former Jayhawk player said. “I’ve seen Jack in action and if he had hit McGuire in the stomach like McGuire says, Frank probably wouldn’t have been able to straighten up for picture during the trophy presentation after the game.”