Between 1972 and 1997 the Southeastern Conference in basketball grew in stature from just being a premier football conference.

During that time of conference growth of both prominence and popularity, the team most emblematic of that growth in national prestige was located in -- of all places-- Baton Rouge Louisiana. And the leader of this team from the sidelines hailed from the hinterlands of North Dakota.

In his episode of the Historically Speaking Sports Podcast, Co-hosts Dana Auguster and Charles Combs highlight the era of LSU Tigers basketball under the direction of Head Coach Dale Brown.

During his tenure with the Tigers, Brown didn't just coach basketball at LSU, he made it matter in a football crazed state and made it a national brand.

He took a program that had flashes of relevance and turned into a powerhouse that would go toe-to-toe with anyone in the country.

This was the era of superstars such as Chris Jackson who would later become Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, whose scoring brilliance electrified the country and garnered comparisons to Pete Maravich. It was also the era of the unstoppable force of Shaquille O'Neal, a once in a generation talent who turned LSU into must see TV.

And before them there was Rudy Macklin leading the Tigers to the final four, for the first time since the early 1950s

But the Dale Brown era wasn't just about wins and NBA draft picks .

It was about personality, passion and conviction.

Brown was outspoken, emotional, sometimes controversial -- a coach who wore his heart on his sleeve and fought fiercely for his players. He believed LSU could compete with the blue bloods of college basketball and for stretches from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s ... it absolutely did.

To contact the show please e-mail us at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com

The United States Hockey team just won its first gold medal in Men's Olympic Hockey in 46 years.

Almost to the day that team USA pulled off one of the greatest upsets in history, beating the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid New York.

In this short podcast bulletin, Historically Speaking Sports Podcast co-host Dana Auguster talks about the other two instances that team USA had won the gold in Olympic Hockey.

Please like and subscribe and to contact the show, please write to us at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com

Like any other pro sports league, the NBA is made up of players of different personalities, different perspectives and hale from different backgrounds.

They all come from different areas of the country and now the world as the NBA has now become truly a global game.

But in this episode, we will sharpen our focus to feature a special group of players and Hall of Famers that all have this one thing in common.

In this special Black History Month episode Dana Auguster and Charles Combs are celebrating Black History Month and will highlight star players and Hall of Famers that came from Historically Black Colleges and Universities that helped grow the NBA to its current standing on the sports landscape.

Those they will highlight include the greatest player in Chicago Bulls history......before Michael Jordan.

Also a diminutive point guard that led the San Antonio Spurs to their first NBA championship. Charles and Dana will talk about a member of the Boston Celtics who won 10 NBA championships. Also a man who was part of the Warriors organization in different capacities for over 60 years.

Also a player who was one of the most devastating scorers in NBA history during the 1970s who had a various amount of different nicknames and another player who authored not only one of the greatest moments of New York Knicks history, but the greatest sports moment in the history of Madison Square garden.

Later in the show we will send a shout out to a coach who we consider the Eddie Robinson of college basketball.

His coaching career spans nearly a half century at this Historically black college in North Carolina who compiled over 800 victories in his long career.

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To contact us email us at Historically.Speaking.Sports@gmail.com.