Holy Cross Crusaders

1. Before Chief Wahoo, there was Chief Sockalexis. Roughly 12 years before Jim Thorpe became the most famous Native American athlete ever, a Penobscot Indian named Louis Sockalexis was starring in football, track and baseball at College of the Holy Cross. After batting over .400 in college, Sockalexis defied racism and became the first Native American to play in the major leagues. Ironically, he played for the Cleveland Spiders, who renamed themselves the Indians in 1915.

2. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Coach Wooden. Woodrow Wilson lookalike William J. Casey coached the 1920 Holy Cross basketball to an undefeated record. Back then the season was a grueling two games, and the Crusaders won both. In 1947, Holy Cross won its only NCAA championship with the legendary Bob Cousy. The Cooze only contributed two points, both from the line, in the 58-47 win over the Oklahoma Sooners.

3. Holy Cross loves Simmons. Keith Simmons, that is. He and backcourt buddy Torey Thomas bring senior leadership to a team that went 13-1 in the Patriot League this year. A low-scoring loss at Bucknell was the only blemish on their conference record and was one of only two games that Thomas fouled out of during the season. Despite playing an average of 35.5 minutes per game, top scorer Simmons has not fouled out once in the '06-'07 season. — Eric Angevine