The Terre Haute Terror

Having been working the majority of the time at home over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the late afternoon has become quite an exciting time for me…because that’s when the mailman rolls up to my house! Hell yeah!

I’ve had my eye on snagging a copy of this for quite some time — and finally found one in excellent condition (they’re often in fairly rough shape) for what I thought was a good price. It’s got a great cover featuring Don Schlundt and Bobby Leonard.

I started reading through this today and learned that before Bobby became “Slick”, he had a previous moniker — “The Terre Haute Terror”…number II. This name appears to have been coined by writer James Enright of the Chicago Herald-American in the article he wrote for this book, titled The Official Collegiate Basketball Record Book, where he previewed the upcoming 1954 basketball season. The first terror — according to him — was Bud Taylor, a boxer from back in the day who also hailed from Terre Haute. Later in the article, he would predict that IU would win back-to-back titles with essentially the full cast returning from the ‘53 team — who wouldn’t have? As for Leonard, Enright was bold in proclaiming him “the greatest individual player in basketball…pound for pound, dribble for dribble, pass for pass, and shot for shot”.

And there you have it…the Terre Haute Terror II.