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January 25, 1972: Minnesota Brawl

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osugrad21

osugrad21

Capo Regime
Staff member
Dispatch

COMMENTARY
Brawl of 35 years ago serves as a warning today
Thursday, January 25, 2007
ROB OLLER


Dave Merchant cringes whenever thunder clouds of chaos roll into college basketball arenas, concerned that a second Perfect Storm could swirl across the court.
The former Ohio State guard has good reason to worry. Combine fan expectation and escalating player anger because of perceived disrespect and mix them in a 24/7 media hopper, and you?ve got a volatile cocktail.

Continued...
 
The Ohio State University should have pursued criminal charges against Corky Taylor, Ron Behagen, and the other thugs involved in this attack. Instead, the University and the Big Ten sat idly by and did nothing.

Fred Taylor told my mother that the lack of support gutted him and led to his eventual retirement, ending a golden era in Ohio State basketball. He retired greatly resenting Ohio State.

This incident was an abomination. It was purely assault and battery. It should have been punished in a court of law.

It left an impression that remains with me, of the University of Minnesota and of the former adminstration at Ohio State. This can never be repeated again and, if it is, administrators at Ohio State better realize that their jobs hang on their taking a tough stand in support of our players and coaches.
 
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That day basically ended Fred Taylor's career.

That brawl is the reason I smiled the day Bill Musselman died of cancer.

I was sickened by the amount of gratitude the guy was given on ESPN when he passed.
 
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I remember seeing Luke Witte on the cover of SI that week. I thought it was apalling that they would feature this horrific event. If I remember correctly the photo was a closeup if Witte with his head bloodied and he was in obvious pain. The headline read something like "Chaos in the Big Ten".

Does anyone remember this cover and article in SI? I looked on SI Covers web site and didn't see it. Maybe it was another sports magazine.
 
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I've heard the story a million times, but I've never actually seen it..
Click to expand...
You would not believe it if you saw it today. It is the worst thing I have ever seen in sports and I have been watching sports for a long long time.

When Minnesota came to Columbus the word was put out not to even acknowledge them by booing. Everyone was just supposed to be quiet but unfortunately not everyone was. They did not deserve to be acknowledged.
 
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The article didn't mention some items of interest.

Big Ten Commisioner Wayne Duke suspended Ron Behagen and Corky Taylor for the rest of the 1972 season.

Minnesota went on to win the Big Ten title in 1972.

Jim Brewer was drafted #2 overall by the Cavs in 1973 (who took Allan Hornyak in the second round), and Behagen was drafted #7 overall by the KC-Omaha Kings the same year.

Here's a picture of Witte from SI:

si.com.embarrassingmoments

Although some articles about Musselman claim that he was fired as a result of the incident, the 1971-72 season was actually the first of his 4 years at Minnesota.
 
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