Shockers’ all-decade team: Picking the best WSU basketball players of the ’50s and ’60s

Who are the best men’s basketball players in Wichita State history?

How about the best players from their respective eras? Instead of trying to rank all of the standout players spread across different eras, The Eagle examined players from the same era to select an all-decade team for each decade in the modern era of Shocker basketball.

Starting with the 1950s, The Eagle picked the best starting lineup — trying to adhere to a traditional lineup of two guards, two forwards and a center — complete with a bench of five players and a head coach.

The 1950s all-decade team

Joe Stevens

6-0 guard (1954-58)

Wichita (North)

Stevens was a tremendous scorer his three seasons for the Shockers, averaging 16.6 points for his career, the 10th-best mark in program history. His best season came when he averaged a team-best 18.1 points for an 15-11 WSU team, earning first-team all-Missouri Valley honors in the process.

Paul Scheer

6-2 guard (1950-54)

Wichita (Cathedral)

Played a crucial role during WSU’s run with Cleo Littleton, as Scheer serving as a reliable second scoring option. He averaged double-digits for all three of his seasons, including 11.7 points on WSU’s 27-4 team in 1953-54.

Cleo Littleton

6-3 forward (1951-55)

Wichita (East)

No one scored more or meant more for Wichita State than Littleton, who still is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,164 career points and broke the color barrier. WSU was 71-43 in four seasons with Littleton and 73-80 without him this decade, as the East graduate averaged 19.0 points and 7.7 rebounds for his career. Littleton’s finest season came in 1953-54 when he led WSU to a 27-4 record, second place in the Missouri Valley and a trip to the NIT for the first time — the only postseason berth of the decade — while averaging a team-best 18.2 points and 7. 7 rebounds.

Al Tate

6-5 forward (1956-60)

Coffeyville

Tate was the best player on WSU for his final two seasons, averaging 16.5 points and 10.7 rebounds in his junior year and 16.9 points and 10.0 rebounds in his senior year. Tate’s 774 career rebounds rank 10th all-time in program history.

Bob Hodgson

6-6 center (1952-56)

Weir

Hodgson averaged 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds his senior season and also played a key role (9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds) for WSU’s 27-4 team in 1953-54 that reached the NIT for the first time.

The bench: Gary Thompson (5-10 guard from Wichita); Jim McNerney (6-2 guard from McKeesport, Pa.); Don Woodworth (6-4 forward from Parsons); Ron Heller (6-6 forward from McKeesport, Pa.); Ev Wessel (6-9 center from Staffordville)

Ralph Miller

Head coach from 1951-64

Miller is one of the most successful coaches in WSU history and eventually in all of Division I, as his stints at Iowa and Oregon State after WSU led him to No. 23 on the all-time wins list with 674 career victories. After taking over in 1951, Miller led WSU to its first national postseason tournament in the 1954 NIT following a 27-4 campaign. Miller won 62.3% of his games during his 13 seasons at WSU, while the Shockers went 128-90 during the 50s under Miller.

The 1960s all-decade team

Kelly Pete (Mohamed Sharif)

6-1 guard (1962-66)

Wichita (East)

Pete was a reliable scorer and defender for some of WSU’s best teams of the decade, as the Shockers finished 64-25 in Pete’s three seasons. He averaged a career-best 17.3 points to go along with 7.0 rebounds on WSU’s Final Four team during the 1964-65 season.

Jamie Thompson

6-3 guard (1964-67)

Wichita (East)

Thompson was WSU’s leading scorer in the 1965 Final Four and averaged 17.7 points for his career. His best season came as a junior during the 1965-66 campaign when he averaged 22.0 points on 51.3% shooting with 8.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

Warren Armstrong (Jabali)

6-2 guard (1964-68)

Kansas City, Mo.

Despite standing just 6-2 and playing in just three seasons, Jabali ranks seventh all-time on WSU’s all-time rebounding list with 839 rebounds. His career average of 10.8 stands as fourth-best all-time in program history. Jabali was also a capable scorer, averaging 16.7 points for his career with his best season coming as a senior when he averaged 18.6 points and 11.6 rebounds.

Dave Stallworth

6-7 forward (1960-65)

Dallas

Arguably the greatest Shocker of all-time, “Dave the Rave” lit up the scoreboard during his time at WSU. His career scoring average of 24.2 points is more than four points better than anyone in Shocker history. Stallworth was a first-team All-American in the 1963-64 season when he averaged a career-best 26.5 points on 54.6% shooting to go along with 10.1 rebounds. In his senior season, Stallworth averaged 25.0 points, a career-best 12.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists.

Gene Wiley

6-10 center (1958-62)

Amarillo, Texas

Wiley remains one of the best defenders in Shocker history, as the 6-10 center was a shot-blocking force during his three years with the Shockers. He averaged a double-double in his final two seasons, notching 12.5 points and 12.1 rebounds as a junior and 13.1 points and 10.6 rebounds as a senior. Wiley is the only Shocker in history to record at least 10 blocks and did so five times, including a school-record 15 swats against Purdue in 1961.

The bench: Ernie Moore (5-10 guard from Kansas City); Lanny Van Eman (6-0 guard from McKeesport, Pa.); Melvin Reed (6-5 forward from Dallas); Dave Leach (6-5 forward from McPherson); Nate Bowman (6-10 center from Fort Worth).

Gary Thompson

Head coach from 1964-71

Miller could have easily been the choice to be the head coach of the 1960s, as guided the Shockers to three straight national postseason tournaments before leaving after the 1963-64 season. For the sake of variety, Thompson gets the nod here. After all, he did coach the Shockers to the program’s first and only No. 1 national ranking and the 1965 Final Four in his first season. The rest of his tenure wasn’t great (Thompson was 69-85 the next six seasons), but the former WSU player and Miller assistant will be remembered for making history in his first season as coach.

This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 11:10 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

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Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.