Summer 2006 • Volume 12, Issue 3
Playing in Peoria
by Gayle Erwin McDowell ‘77
Local dignitaries paint Main Street red in front of the Robertson Memorial Field House.
It was a March like no other on the Hilltop as campus and community became one in their unwavering support of the home team. Fans stood in long lines to purchase Bradley gear at the campus bookstore, some driving more than 100 miles. Returning from spring break just in time to savor the Sweet 16 madness, some students were interviewed by reporters from national media outlets. Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis hoped to paint the city red. He and other city officials settled for painting a “red carpet” across Main Street on March 23, hours before Bradley played Memphis. “Peoria and the Bradley Braves are getting national press. People are learning who we are,” said Ardis.
By 6 p.m., Robertson Memorial Field House was packed with almost 3,000 cheering, wildly excited fans—all decked out in red shirts, caps, beads, and flashing jewelry. A noisy mix of students, alumni,
faculty and staff, and local residents filled the historic venue. Unlike spectators at hundreds of bygone
Bradley games, this crowd’s attention was on four giant projection screens broadcasting the Braves’ first appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16 in 51 years.
Patrick O’Bryant (left) and his Braves teammates expressed appreciation for the fans’ support.
Downtown at inPlay, a popular entertainment complex, an optimistic crowd of almost 200 alumni and friends cheered the Braves at a big-screen TV party sponsored by the Central Illinois Bradley Alumni Chapter. Some donned temporary BU tattoos and reminisced about the 2005-06 season, as well as stand-out teams and players from past decades.
“We’ve supported Bradley forever. I never give up on the Bradley Braves,” said Sherry Becker Vosberg, attending the CIBAC event with her husband Dick Vosberg ‘56. Season ticketholders Mike Dexter ’88 and Kelly Bennett Dexter ’92 brought their two daughters along. Thanks to watching the Bradley cheerleaders at the games, two-year-old Kaylee happily and correctly spelled Bradley: B-R-A-D-L-E-Y.
Back on campus, the deafening roar at the Field House prompted some fans to move to the fringes of the crowd. And even when the game’s outcome seemed clear, just a handful of fans trickled out before the final buzzer. Surprisingly, as the crowd dispersed, it wasn’t readily apparent that Bradley had just lost to Memphis. One student unknowingly spoke for many others when she told friends, “Oh, I just love the Bradley Braves.”
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