2016: A year of Wichita sports stars
A Wichitan medals in Rio
Nico Hernandez’s journey to a medal took him from a north Wichita boxing club to the U.S. team as a light-flyweight. The 20-year-old was a mild surprise winner in his first two bouts before winning his quarterfinal match to ensure America’s first men’s boxing medal in eight years. Hernandez’s semifinal loss meant a bronze medal, the first medal for a Wichitan since 1984 — first individual medalist since 1968 — and he became the sixth Wichitan to become an Olympic medalist. Returning to parades and honors in his name, Hernandez now contemplates a professional career.
So long to two stars
It’s impossible to think of Fred VanVleet without Ron Baker and vice versa. The All-Missouri Valley and All-American duo were part of so many Wichita State basketball memories since the 2013 NCAA Tournament, which culminated with the university’s second Final Four appearance. Along with scrappy teammate Evan Wessel, they led WSU to two NCAA wins before their senior years ended. Baker and VanVleet’s determination after going undrafted landed them on NBA rosters this fall.
K-State wins Texas Bowl
The Wildcats’ 33-28 victory over Texas A&M on Wednesday night in the Texas Bowl was a good capper to a 9-4 season that saw them finish fourth in the Big 12 after being predicted to finish eighth. More importantly, it was a sign of how good K-State can be in 2017 with so many returners, particularly on offense.
Kansas ends in Elite Eight
Wichitan Perry Ellis saw his career end so agonizingly close to his first Final Four. No. 1 Kansas turned the ball over in the final seconds with a chance to tie. Ellis, an All-Big 12 pick from Heights High, ended with a season-low four points on 1-of-5 shooting.
South sets a record
South’s girls basketball team left its mark on Class 6A with a fourth straight state championship, the first four-peat for a 6A girls program. Seniors Ericka Mattingly and Kendrian Elliott left for Division I schools with a 12-0 record in the state tournament.
Derby defends
Even by Derby football standards, the Panthers were dominant in become repeat Class 6A champions. None of their first 12 games before the state final were decided by less than 26 points, and that included two wins over Hutchinson and others over Free State, Eisenhower, Carroll and Northwest. Faced with a fourth-quarter tie against Blue Valley in the final, Blayten Tullis’ 21-yard field goal brought home another trophy.
Playoff winners
In January, the Chiefs ended a 22-year drought of NFL playoff wins by beating the Texans in Houston. A loss at New England the following week ended Super Bowl hopes, but this season’s Chiefs are again in the playoffs and have a good chance of overtaking the Raiders for the AFC West and, more importantly, the second seed and first-round bye in the playoffs.
Big 12 stays put
A Houston-Colorado State conference game maybe just didn’t sound right to Big 12 presidents, who decided after a lengthy and public feeling-out process not to expand beyond 10 members. Eleven prospective members were interviewed and as many as 20 were mentioned by the conference.
Football talk
Wichita State president John Bardo in February titillated Shocker fans when he posted photos of a mock WSU football helmet, marching band uniform and football equipment truck on social media. It had some thinking a return of the sport to campus after 30 years was imminent, but by the end of the year, WSU was sitting back and studying conference affiliation options. Options didn’t improve when the Big 12 decided to stay at 10 members, though an online story quoted sources as saying the American Athletic Conference considered WSU basketball an attractive option.
Kansas Stars take the field
Was Chipper Jones really coming? Can Roger Clemens still throw? The anticipation surrounding a team of major-league alumni landing in Wichita to play in the NBC World Series was a terrific boost to the 81-year-old tournament. The Stars’ first game was played before a late-night sellout with a definite buzz unlike any NBC in decades. The Stars reached the semifinals before bowing out, but plan to be back in 2017.
A new Big Daddy Dumont
Wichita’s 82-year-old downtown baseball facility, Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, is on the road to being torn down and rebuilt after the City Council in December voted to expand the boundaries of the river-area STAR bond district, which would pay for a new $40- to $60-million stadium through sales tax revenue coming from the project. The state must approve the project. It’s hoped that a new ballpark can help lure a Double-A Texas League team that is affiliated with a major-league organization.
Kemnitz takes off the uniform
Brent Kemnitz spent 38 seasons on the Wichita State baseball staff before resigning to take another job in the athletic department. Kemnitz was pitching coach to 20 All-America pitchers and 16 who reached the major leagues.
Garden City is a national champ
Garden City Community College football made news in the summer when its coach led a movement to ease scholarship restrictions in the Jayhawk Conference. It ended the season as the national champion, beating Arizona Western 25-22 in the final minute Dec. 3 to claim the NJCAA crown. Coach Jeff Sims and other proponents of easing scholarship rules eventually got their way, overhauling a decades-old system for restricting out-of-state scholarships for football and basketball.
The Force is a champion, too
Wichita’s indoor football team changed quarterbacks in midseason when the starter moved up to the Arena League. Didn’t matter by June, though, as the Force won the Champions Indoor Football title in June over Amarillo.
Nationally…
The Cubs won the World Series
We should end there.
The end of the curse was just the beginning of the drama. Chicago trailed Cleveland, the American League’s version of the cursed, 3-1 before winning Game 5 at Wrigley Field and Game 6 in Cleveland.
The Cubs led 6-3 in the eighth inning of Game 7 before Rajai Davis’ game-tying home run. Tied after nine. A short, Hollywood-scripted rain delay, then Chicago scored two in the 10th and held off a Cleveland rally. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo recorded the final out at 12:47 a.m. local time and put the ball in his back pocket. History.
LeBron James made Cleveland a winner.
The Cavaliers and Warriors played six NBA Finals routs, winning three each, before a mesmerizing Game 7. The highlight of the NBA season came with 1:50 left, with the score tied at 89, when James ran the length of the court to block Andre Igoudala’s attempt at a go-ahead layup. The Cavaliers won 93-87, James brought his hometown its first pro sports title since 1964, and the block now has its own Wikipedia page. Golden State was left with a consolation prize on an NBA-record 73-9 regular season.
The NCAA championship game’s greatest finish
Had the game gone into overtime, and had North Carolina pulled out the win, then Marcus Paige’s game-tying, double-clutch 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in regulation would have gone down as one of the greatest in NCAA history.
Instead, Villanova called timeout, coach Jay Wright called the play – “Wildcat” – Kris Jenkins took an underhanded flip from Ryan Arcidiacono and calmly spotted up and swished the game-winning three at the buzzer. Villanova 77, North Carolina 74 . That the tight game ended with the underdog beating the blue blood only added to the magic and the tradition of March Madness.
Internationally…
A golf duel to remember
In the final round of the British Open, Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson put on a show reminiscent of the “Duel in the Sun” that Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson waged a generation earlier . Mickelson shot a bogey-free round of 65 and it wasn’t enough. Stenson shot 8-under 63 to beat Mickelson by three and win his first major. No other player was within 10 shots. “Our final round was really good,” Nicklaus said, “but theirs was even better.”
Biles completes a shining Olympics
American Simone Biles won four golds, tying an Olympic gymnastics record, en route to stardom in Rio de Janeiro. At 19, she was the leader of a dominant U.S. women’s team.
Phelps finishes with five more golds
American swimmer Michael Phelps won five golds and a silver in the Rio Olympics to bring his four-Olympic total to 28 medals, 23 of them gold. At 31, he says he’s done.
Bolt reaches the pinnacle
The 29-year-old Jamaican completed an unbelievable triple-triple: Gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 and 400 relay for a third straight Olympics. Tied with Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi for most Olympic track golds, Bolt said he has no plans to run in Tokyo in 2020.
In memoriam
A year with seemingly so many notable deaths didn’t spare the sports world. The four most notable deaths — Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Gordie Howe and Pat Summitt — were kings and queen of their sports. Then the death of Miami Marlins star pitcher Jose Hernandez, 24, in a high-speed boating accident cast a pall over a portion of the major-league season.
Kansans who died
Randy Canfield, basketball, 65
Bruce DeHaven, football, 68
Clyde Lovellette, basketball, 86
Greg Gorrell, boxing, 58
Chris Kauffman, official, 61
Lonnie Kruse, basketball, 67
National, international sports deaths
Muhammad Ali, boxing, 74
Andy Bathgate, hockey, 83
Ralph Branca, baseball, 80
Dennis Byrd, football, 50
Bobby Chacon, boxing, 64
Bryan Clauson, motorsports, 27
Bud Collins, journalist, 86
LaVell Edwards, football, 86
Jose Fernandez, baseball, 24
Sam Foltz, football, 22
Bill Foster, basketball, 86
Joe Garagiola, baseball, 90
Dennis Green, football, 67
Gordie Howe, hockey, 88
Monte Irvin, baseball, 96
Bill Johnson, skiing, 55
John Johnson, basketball, 68
Ted Marchibroda, football, 84
Joe McKnight, football, 28
Jim McMillian, basketball, 68
Arnold Palmer, golf, 87
Milt Pappas, baseball, 76
Lawrence Phillips, football, 40
Tony Phillips, baseball, 56
Aaron Pryor, boxing, 60
Sean Rooks, basketball, 46
Buddy Ryan, football, 82
Rashaan Salaam, football, 42
Craig Sager, journalist, 65
John Saunders, journalist, 61
Kimbo Slice, MMA, 42
Andrew Smith, basketball, 25
Will Smith, football, 24
Pat Summitt, basketball, 64
Nate Thurmond, basketball, 74
Pearl Washington, basketball, 52
This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 1:56 PM with the headline "2016: A year of Wichita sports stars."