33 years later, Lobos hope to break chili cheese fries curse in George Washington rematch

Khari Jaxon has spoken.

To be clear, the 54-year-old former Lobo great has spoken about it pretty much every year since 1993 — telling friends, family, in more recent years his kids and girlfriend, Shawn Sims, every March about that damn junk food order he placed in Tucson more than three decades ago.

"It just comes back up in my mind every year when March Madness rolls around," Jaxon told the Journal on Saturday from his home in Atlanta, talking about the incident like some repressed trauma that surfaces every time tournament brackets start coming out.

"I tell them about it — tell my kids, tell my girlfriend about it, about how I used to play basketball and how I'll never touch chili cheese fries again."

This March is a tad different.

Yes, Jaxon told his girlfriend and kids and whoever else was around, and they politely smiled and nodded about that crazy chili cheese fries story he tells every year, but he's now hopeful healing is on its way.

Sunday night, the Lobos play George Washington in the second round of the NIT at 6 p.m. in the Pit. It's the first time since 1993 — when food poisoning from chili cheese fries the night before an NCAA Tournament game ended his college career — that the Lobos have played George Washington.

This time, the opposing team calls themselves the Revolutionaries (GW changed their moniker from the Colonials in 2023). And while this isn't an NCAA Tournament game, Jaxon is still looking for some closure.

"Definitely!" Jaxon said when asked if a Lobos win may offer healing. "If they beat George Washington, maybe that might help break the curse. But I’m still not ever touching no chili cheese fries again!"

The legend revealed

Jaxon and his Lobo teammates, seeded No. 5 in the 1993 NCAA Tournament fresh off of winning the first-ever WAC Tournament, were set to play No. 12 George Washington in a noon tip-off game in Tucson in the Round of 64.

With No. 13 Southern having beat No. 4 Georgia Tech, only a 12 seed and a 13 seed sat between the Lobos and the Sweet 16.

Instead, GW and superstar Yinka Dare upset the Lobos, 82-68.

"I'll tell you what really happened," Jaxon said. "I know some people think we went out partying or stayed out all night. Nothing like that."

The Lobos, confident as can be and with a fresh $22.50 in per diem burning a hole in their pockets — "some teams ate steak and lobster, we were out there eating junk food," Jaxon said — went out to a restaurant in the Old Pueblo.

And, as Jaxon recalls, he and several teammates ordered the chili cheese fries (chili with an "i", he verified, not some more New Mexico-centric chile pepper dish, but the more Texas-based beans and meat chili on a plate of fries.)

"I went to bed probably around 9 p.m. and by midnight, you can ask my roommate was (teammate) Ike Williams, I woke up just throwing up, diarrhea, sweating, everything," Jaxon said. "I called trainer, Larry, told him and I never went back to sleep. I was up throwing up and sick all night until the game. If it wasn't the NCAA Tournament, I wouldn't have even left the hotel."

One headline in the Journal the next day over an article penned by Rick Wright read, "GW, Cheese Fries Leave Bad Taste: Wobbly Jaxon, Lobos Feel Downright Ill About Defeat."

Jaxon says several teammates were sick, too, though his bout hit sooner than the rest. As articles the day after the game recount, Jaxon left the game twice to throw up — "Yup, I ran right off the court once, straight to the locker room, threw up, and went right back in the game because I didn't want to sit down on the bench."

After the game, he was sprawled out on the floor of the McHale Center locker room in Tucson while reporters interviewed the losing Lobos squad.

Jaxon ended up with 10 points, four blocks and three rebounds in 27 minutes. Dare, the future NBA lottery pick who Jaxon recalls as one of the strongest players he ever played against, had 17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.

"I felt weak and kind of slow," Jaxon told the Journal in 1993. "Dare's real strong and he's going to be a real good player. But if I'd felt better, I think I could have taken him every time with my quickness."

The Lobos lost, and GW advanced to the Sweet 16.

And 33 years later, Jaxon will take what he can get.

"I'm going to be pulling for them like crazy," he said of the Lobos game on Sunday night. "I don't want to think about the chili fries, but I'll always have that love for the Lobos.

Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.