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| Galesburg’s Armory |
To say the game of basketball has changed through the years would be a huge understatement. There have been changes to the ball itself and to many of the rules. Basic things have changed- the distance of a free throw line, how many points for a made basket, allowing dribbling, allowing more than two fouls, and not allowing players to stand under the basket on offense.
This was the strategy of Coach Schissler, except he was doing it in the full-court. Lombard would pass the ball into Swanson. Swanson would catch ball under the other team’s basket and start the “Wait” part of their offense. Lombard wanted the other teams to have to guard Swanson and the other guards the full length of the floor. Until the defense came up to guard him, he would just stand.
One of the biggest concerns in basketball has been about the speed and flow of the game. Throughout the history of basketball, it seems coaches have wanted to slow the game down and have more control. The latest attempt to force coaches to play faster has been the advent of the shot clock. Starting next year, high school’s will have a shot clock.
Basketball historians cite a game played at the Galesburg Armory on January 22, 1924 as being a game that started the movement to “modern basketball.”
Basketball had gained huge popularity as a fan sport in the 1920’s in Illinois. In Galesburg, the gyms on Knox College and Lombard College campuses were no longer large enough to handle the number of fans who wanted to see games. Any game in Galesburg that was going to be competitive, whether it was Knox, Lombard, Galesburg HS, or Corpus Christi- the games were moved to the Galesburg Armory. The Armory had a huge open area where they put a court and portable bleachers. By the late 1920’s, there were reports of crowds of over 3,000 for basketball games.
On January 22, 2024, Lombard College “Green Tornadoes” played the Knox College “Siwash” in the city rivalry game. Lombard featured one of the all-time great athletes of Galesburg, Evar Swanson. Swanson was the captain of Lombard, and by all accounts extremely quick and a good ball handler. Evar would later play both professional baseball and football. He still holds the major league record for running from home plate around the bases and back to home plate- 13.3 seconds.
The year before in 1923, Lombard had jumped out on Knox in the first half, building up a 15-3 lead at half-time. The lead was not enough as Knox had come back to win the rivalry game 22-20. That game still haunted Lombard players and the coach, Paul Schissler.
Coach Schissler had developed a style of play called, “Wait and Break.” By all accounts, it was a style designed to force teams to come out and guard Evar Swasnon.
At this time, there was no five second closely guarded rule in basketball. There was no 10 second line or rule that required bringing the ball up the court. And there was no over and back rule. So based on the rules of the time, once the ball was inbounded, a player could stand with ball forever.
Both college and high school teams from the 1940’s to the present, would sometime pull the ball out in the half-court. The idea was to make teams have to try to guard quicker players clear out to half-court. As soon as the defense did this, the quicker offensive player would dribble by for layups.
In this game in 1924, Knox did go up and guard Swanson at the beginning of the game. Lombard had a “3 man offense” meaning they had 3 players in the backcourt that had to be guarded. Until the defense guarded all three, Lombard would just stay in the backcourt. Lombard by their approach spread out Knox.
Once Knox went up the floor to guard them, Lombard flew up the court and with Knox spread out defensively, Lombard could attack the basket for easy layups. In the early minutes, Lombard jumped to an 11-1 lead.
Knox decided their strategy was not working. Knox realized if they kept going up in the full-court to guard them, they were going to get blown out. Instead of sending players up to guard in the backcourt, they decided it was better to keep all five defenders back to defend the basket. The idea was not to give the quick Lombard guards anymore layups.
Lombard inbounded the ball to Evar Swanson, he turned, and Knox did not come up. Swanson waited and waited and waited. Knox refused to go up to guard him, knowing it would result in layups for Lombard. For the last 13 minutes of the first half, Swanson stood in the backcourt and Knox stood under the other basket.
In the second half, Swanson stood with the ball for the first 17 minutes. According to the Knox Student (school paper), “Captain Swanson stood under the Knox basket for the next 17 minutes holding the ball and reminded one of a statue.”
Some accounts claim at a certain point Swanson sat on the ball, and other players also sat down on the floor. Fans became unhappy and expressed their unhappiness by yelling at the coaches, and many fans left.
According to the Knox Student, “The players were forced to stand when the Knox band played the Star Spangled Banner, but most of the time several were seen reclining peaceably on the floor.”
It was not until the last two minutes of the game when both teams began to play. The Knox Student described it, “the last two minutes of play the players seemed to receive an electric shock and commenced to play real basketball.” It was Lombard who decided to break ranks and play during the last two minutes.
The Galesburg newspaper reported, “The game was one of the most unique in history and did more to kill the basketball sport than anything yet conceived.”
When the horn went off, Lombard had won 11-1, no points were scored the last 33 minutes of the game. In total, the teams stood for 31 minutes and played for 9 minutes.
Coach John Van Liew of Knox commented,”I don’t think it was up to us to force the play.” While Coach Schissler said,”Holding the ball to gain an advantage is strictly according to the rules.” In short, Lombard felt it was up to Knox to come out and play, while Knox felt it was Lombard’s role with the ball to play.
The Galesburg paper saw it this way, “Loyal rooters of the two teams will stomach the exhibition of stalling. The general public or the real supporters of sports in Galesburg will resign itself to having been bunked.” The paper further commented that many left the game in “complete disgust.”
Later in the week after the game, the Galesburg paper received a letter to the editor that said in part, “Stalling under any circumstances is poor sportsmanship.”
It should be noted that when Knox and Lombard met for a second game in 1924, neither team stalled. Knox won the contest 23-22.
In less than a decade basketball came up with a rule to try to prevent games like Knox vs Lombard from occurring. In 1933 the 10 second line was put into basketball. This rule was one of the first attempts by rules makers to force coaches to let their players play. Teams were required to advance the ball past the half-court line in 10 seconds.
The 10 second line did not prevent stalling. One of the most successful coaches in Illinois high school basketball, Duster Thomas of Pinckneyville used slow down tactics for several decades starting in the 1930’s. Peoria girls and boys HS teams in the 1990’s thru the 2000’s became famous for “pulling it out” once they got a lead to spread the defense in the half court. Starting in 2026, Illinois HS’s will be joining most of the United States by instituting a shot clock.
The Knox vs Lombard game drew so much attention that it started the conversation about eliminating the stalling game. It can be said that game helped produce the 10 seconds line, and the eventual progression to a shot clock.
Whether you like the shot clock or not, it all started at the Galesburg Armory.
If you would like to celebrate Galesburg’s rich basketball history, click here for vintage shirts that celebrate the past….
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