Xavier basketball: The Times-Picayune covers 175 years of New Orleans history

NEW ORLEANS  -  Xavier University has had success in most sports, but basketball is where it has soared above the competition.  The Gold Rush first played basketball in 1928-29, but school records for those seasons are incomplete. From 1928 to ’32, records show that the team finished with a combined record of 14-10 with no known coach and didn’t play again until the 1934-35 season.

In 1934, Theodore “Ted” Wright took over the men’s basketball program and led the squad to an 11-4 record. Wright’s teams went 43-11 over the next two seasons before winning the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship with a 35-4 mark in the 1937-38 season.

The following season, Xavier repeated as champions with a new coach — Ted’s brother, Giles, who would also lead the Gold Rush to its only undefeated season: 29-0 in his third season as coach.

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