Philadelphia Big 5

By M. Earl Smith

In the "City of Brotherly Love," there are few things taken as seriously as local bragging rights. In a city that lives and dies with its sports heroes, basketball is no exception. This volume traces the lore and history behind Philadelphia's Big 5, an informal basketball league that features five of the area's most prestigious colleges: LaSalle University, Temple University, Saint Joseph's University, Villanova University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Formed in 1955, the Big 5 pulls teams from the Ivy League, the Big East, the American Athletic Conference, and, in the case of both LaSalle and Saint Joseph's, the Atlantic 10. With a round-robin format, each team plays the other once and best record takes home the trophy. In a sport that has become a nationwide sensation, the spirit of Philadelphia lives on, led by the most loyal and passionate fans in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Oct 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781439665657

M. Earl Smith

M. Earl Smith is a historian and author. He teaches at Somerset College in Kentucky. J. Huguenin studied history and government at the University of Connecticut and Smith College. She currently resides in Connecticut and north Idaho.

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INTRODUCTION

Unlike most of the books I have composed for Arcadia Publishing and their varied local history series, this one was on a subject that I had some personal experience with. No, I never played in the Big 5; my playing days for any sport ended during my high school years, and the thought of a plodder like me playing at the highest level that college basketball had to offer is laughable. My connection to the pageantry and lore of the Big 5 came as a student. In my first semester at Penn (2015–2016), I was introduced to one of the joys of being on campus: free tickets! I was struggling, at 32, to fit into an environment that consisted of a bunch of students who I claimed 10 years of seniority over, yet nothing brings people closer together than the triumph of a shared sports team. As I write this, Philadelphia fans are preparing to celebrate their first professional football championship since 1960, and all the Big 5 schools have canceled classes to take part.

On December 28, 2015, a group of fellow nontraditional students and I took a short road trip (I was the only one on campus with a car, so my decrepit Honda puttered us all down I-476) to see Penn take on the eventual national champion Villanova Wildcats at The Pavilion. The fact that we were playing Villanova puzzled me. Aside from being close in distance, there was little in common between the Catholic ballers who made up the Wildcats and the Ivy League kids known as the Quakers. Penn sits in the heart of West Philadelphia and lays claim to 24,000 students, along with Pennsylvania’s largest medical network, all while employing the largest workforce in the mid-Atlantic. Villanova, on the other hand, sits outside the consolidated Philadelphia area, boasts half the student body size of Penn… and yet lays claim to three times as many national championships.

Penn was of no benefit to Villanova in the area of exposure, nor could our paltry 11-17 record against admittedly inferior competition be of any benefit to Villanova’s RPI (rating percentage index). So why were we there? I asked one person in my group, who happened to be the son of a Penn employee, a long-termer who was also a graduate.

My friend laughed. It’s the Big 5! he exclaimed, as if that explained everything.

In this era of cell phones and instant information, I was quick to my phone (once, of course, I had stopped driving). What I read was fascinating. A local, round-robin tournament, played for little save bragging rights, that dated back almost 70 years? It reminded me of some of my high school football rivalries against either private schools that recruited or public schools that were in smaller districts than us, played for little more than local pride and bragging rights.

I fell instantly in love. Given how my Quakers are a non-scholarship program, the odds of us winning a national championship are thin, and, while the rivalries of the Ivy League are intense across all sports, the idea of playing for the championship of Philadelphia, given its status as the home of America’s independence, was appealing. No, it was more than appealing. It was exhilarating.

That thrill lives on in every Big 5 game. I have had the honor of seeing several now, games involving many different combinations of teams in each arena that can lay claim to hosting this hallowed tradition, and each and every Big 5 game has a little something extra. The players push harder, the fans cheer louder, the coaches pour every bit of passion and strategy into all 40 minutes of game time, almost desperate, it seems, to stake their claim as the best of Philadelphia.

In the modern era of big-money college sports, when state-run institutions hold an advantage because admission standards are lower and budgets are bigger, the Big 5 remains a unique jewel in the college sports landscape. If you think about it, aside from geography, what is the appeal? You have five private schools, three of which are Catholic, one Baptist, and one Quaker, finding common ground on the court. Every demographic of Philadelphia is represented: La Salle and Saint Joseph’s are truly modern titans of inner-city universities, Penn has its ivory towers and prime real estate, Temple provides a massive opportunity to a diverse population of students, and Villanova reminds the city that there are brilliant minds and athletes beyond its imaginary borders.

In short, these five schools represent the best of college sports. When athletes are unpaid, you tend to see the purest representation of the game, and this pure representation puts another notch in the belt of Philadelphia, one of the best cities in the world and one of the biggest sports towns in America. From Joe Frazier to the Phillies, from the world champion Eagles to the ghosts of Extreme Championship Wrestling, and from the Flyers, to the 76ers, to the Soul, to the Union, to Army-Navy, and, yes, to the Big 5, Philadelphia represents what is best about American sports.

As a Penn alum, I proudly say, Go Quakers! As a fan of the Big 5, I also say, Go Wildcats!, Go Owls!, Go Explorers!, and Go Hawks!

As long as they are not playing the Quakers.

One

THE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY

EXPLORERS

La Salle men’s basketball—for many in the Philadelphia Big 5 and college basketball world, it means a long-storied history with a strong tradition like few others. For many La Salle alumni, it means everything. They eat, sleep, and breathe Explorer basketball and are some of the most die-hard and passionate fans in college basketball.

And with good reason. Most agree that men’s basketball is what first put La Salle College on the map.

Since its inaugural 1930–1931 season, the history of La Salle basketball