Exeter Black Knights remembered for their greatness half-a-century later
The Exeter Black Knights were like a meteor.
They burned brightly for a short time, then were gone. Never forgotten, though.
A half-century after they dominated their basketball opponents they are still spoken of in legendary terms.
Their roster included some of the biggest talents ever to grace Berks County courts — Ron Krick, Dick Graul, Dick Braucher — and they won a national amateur tournament in just their second season.
“People knew about the Black Knights,” John Scholl, a guard on the 1970 championship team, proudly reminds.
They were a collection of top players from local high schools — Reading High, West Reading, Kutztown, Daniel Boone, Gov. Mifflin — who came together and played as if they had grown up on the court together.
For a few magical weeks in March and early April in 1970 they were kings of the court, sweeping to the National Amateur Basketball Association Championship, which was played at Albright.
The Black Knights were down 10 points to Nelson Distributors of Denver, Co., in the title game but the 6-9 Krick — who set the Pennsylvania high school career scoring record during his legendary days at West Reading — would not be denied.
He scored 30 points, owned the boards and was named tournament MVP after the Black Knights’ 107-91 victory.
“It was a big deal for Reading,” Scholl, now 74, recalls.
The top players — Krick, who played at the University of Cincinnati; Braucher, who played at N.C. State; and Graul, who played at Seattle University — were the big local stars of their era.
They came together with other guys who played at smaller colleges — and one who didn’t even make his high school squad — to form a true team.
“It was a good group of fellas who all got along well, that had no issues,” said Jim Stocker, a 6-7 forward who played at Albright. “We played together well, and we ended up winning a lot of tournaments.”
They won eight that season, to be exact (out of nine they entered).
Guard Charlie Young recalled that they won two tournaments on the same night, one in Allentown, one in Lebanon. They split the team, with Krick, Graul and four others going to one venue, the remaining six to another.
“We said we’d meet up at the Suburban Tavern (on Perkiomen Ave. in Mount Penn) after the game,” Stocker recalled. “When (the second unit guys) walked in, we were hanging our heads, and the other guys were holding up their trophy. Then we pulled out our trophy; one of the guys was holding it behind him so they couldn’t see.”
It was strictly amateur basketball — no one got paid, unless you count the gas money that organizer Dick Giles handed out, or the post-game sandwiches and drinks he paid for.
They did it for the love of the game, and to be part of a unique basketball experience.
“It was a fun team,” said B.J. Ellison of Reading High, now 79. “We were very talented, but we had fun playing with each other. Fifty or so years later, I’m still part of the Black Knights; we were a special team.”
Wednesday night the Black Knights were remembered again when they are inducted into the Berks County Basketball Hall of Fame. They will be the first team accorded such an honor.
Ellison, Graul, Don Hadley, Jim Krick, Scholl, Stocker, Clayton Taylor and Young attended the Hall of Fame presentation, at Victor Emmanuel II Beneficial Society. Jim Aikens, Braucher, Ron Krick and Bruce Sadowskas are deceased.
The Black Knights were part of an induction class that includes individual selections Paul Harter, Dave Stafford, Harry Williamson and Tony Bonanno. Harter was present to accept; the other three are deceased.
The Black Knights existed for just three seasons. Giles put the team together for 1968-69 season. He served as general manager and helped coach along with Rod Hand, who went on to successful stints as a head coach at Exeter High School and Alvernia College.
“We had the top-notch players in that era,” Ellison said. “We had a real solid team: inside, outside, shooters, role players. The (second year) we picked up Scholl and Braucher, and they were outstanding. It was so much fun to play with them.”
“We had some big horses to pull us along,” Stocker, 74, said. “Ron Krick had a tremendous shot, a soft touch. Dick Graul could shoot from outside or drive to the inside; he was the same power guy that he was at Reading High.”
“(Krick) was 6-9 — which back then was a big man — and he could shoot the eyes out of the basket,” Scholl said. “That was unusual.”
“We had two scoring m achines on the court at all times,” Young said, referencing Ron Krick and Graul. “B.J. was ‘Mr. Inside.’ Nobody could stop him inside.”
Braucher, a Parade All-American along with Lew Alcindor and Pete Maravich, was a player ahead of his time.
“A 6-5 guard? Unheard of!” Scholl said. “He could handle the ball like a 5-10 guy.”
The Knights went 35-6, including 13-1 in the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Basketball League, where they competed against teams from Coatesville, York, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Pottstown and Harrisburg.
They averaged 111 points a game and won by an average of 18.
“It was pretty much a running game — run and shoot,” Stocker said.
In their first season, 1968-69, they qualified for the national tournament in Springfield, Mass., but lost both their games.
“We knew we had the players (to win),” Stocker said, “we knew we had a lot of talent. (Then) we added Braucher and Scholl to the mix (for the second season), and we had a tremendous team.”
Giles arranged for the 1970 tournament to played in Reading. It gave the Black Knights a certain home-court advantage, especially for Stocker, Scholl and the 6-10 Sadowskas, who played their college ball for Albright.
“We had no insight into the other teams,” Stocker of the tournament. “We knew the other teams were good, but we were good, also. We weren’t intimated by anybody.”
Ron Krick scored 37 points, Jim Krick 26, Graul 22 and Charlie Young 14 as the Black Knights opened the national tournament with a 126-119 win over Three Rivers Outlet, Mass.
“Everything clicked for us,” Scholl said. “Everything went right. Rod Hand played the right guys at the right time.”
Ron Krick had 28 points and 13 rebounds, Jim Krick scored 17, Graul 16 and Ellison 11 in the semifinals, a 93-73 win over Plywood Tacoma, of Washington.
Some 2,000 fans turned out for the championship game on a Saturday night.
“The city of Reading was behind us,” Ellison said. “We knew that. We were as confident as you could possibly be. We were playing at Albright, and had a packed house every game we played. We had ’em on their feet.”
In the championship game Graul scored 23 of his game-high 33 points in the second half to spark the comeback; Ron Krick had 30 points and 25 rebounds; Jim Krick had 16 points and Ellison 15.
Afterward, the players celebrated their championship at clubs throughout Reading; Giles later had a victory dinner and awarded all the players blue blazers, with the Black Knights’ seal on it.
“Guys from Reading winning a national championship? To me that was a great feat,” Scholl said.
“It was kind of a big deal, but not big a deal,” Stocker said. “It wasn’t one of those things where we expected a parade down Penn Street. We knew we won a national tournament; we got some publicity in the newspaper. We had fun.”
After the 1970-71 season the team disbanded. It lasted just three seasons, but memories of its meteoric rise have lived on.
Ellison said that when basketball fans meet his grandson Daryll Ellison Jr. and find out about the family connection they’ll tell him about the Black Knights and the aura surrounding that team.
“People mention to him how high I could jump,” Ellison said.
“It was a good group of fellas who got along well, that had no issues,” Stocker said. “We played together well, and we ended up winning a lot of tournaments.
“(The national championship) was frosting on the cake. When I think of the team, I have a lot of good memories.”
The Black Knights were a star-studded crew, only they didn’t play that way. Ron Krick, the biggest name on the roster, was selfless, a mindset that permeated the team.
“It’s an interesting feeling being in the Hall Of Fame as part of a team,” Stocker said. “That’s the nice thing; it’s not an individual thing. We played together as a team, and everything we accomplished we did as a team.”
