Bob Lutz: One last hurrah, maybe, for Shockers’ 1965 Final Four team

If this is the final time they see each other, the last time they laugh together as they remember funny stories from 50 years ago, it was a great last time.

Wichita State’s 1964-65 Final Four team was feted all weekend long by an adoring public. Those who remember the Shockers’ incredible run to Portland, Ore., and those who don’t honored 13 of the 15 players – Nate Bowman and Jamie Thompson are deceased – with a banquet Friday night and an introduction during halftime of Saturday night’s Wichita State-Missouri State game at Koch Arena.

The loudest ovation, of course, went to 6-foot-7 forward Dave Stallworth, who didn’t even play in the Final Four. He used up his eligibility during the first semester of the season, going out with a 40-point performance in a win over Louisville on Jan. 16, 1965.

All these years later, Stallworth is still regarded by many as the greatest Shocker player of them all. His simple presence still draws a crowd and it was obvious this weekend how much his former teammates still adore him and, no doubt, wish he had been in uniform for the Final Four.

Wichita State overcame long odds just to get to Portland, beating SMU and Oklahoma State in the Midwest Regional. A short lineup and thin bench finally caught up to the Shockers in the Final Four, where they lost to UCLA 108-89 in the semifinals and to Princeton 118-82 in the third-place game.

I’m not sure any of that was mentioned this weekend.

It was a bunch of old friends catching up on old times.

“Lots of ranges of emotions,” Tommy Newman, a reserve guard on the 1964-65 team, said. “Who knows what the future is going to hold. We are looking at it like quite possibility the last time we’ll get together as a group.”

But who knows. Some of the players who came back this weekend looked like they could still play, especially 6-1 guard Mohamed Sharif, formerly Kelly Pete, who played at East High.

“I still do play,” Sharif said. “If I see kids in a park somewhere, I go shoot around with them.”

Sharif said he prefers to think of it as 50 years since the Shockers’ first Final Four, not a half century.

“A half century makes it seem so much longer ago,” Sharif said. “This is such a cherished moment in all of our lives. When you’re young, you don’t project 50 years ahead. Then once you get to where we are today, the moment is really special. Some of these guys I haven’t seen in 50 years.”

Sharif spent significant time this weekend with Melvin Reed, a sophomore in 1964-65 who was attending his first reunion. None of the ex-Shockers except Sharif had seen him in 50 years.

Larry Nosich, a back-up forward on the Final Four team, had to be cajoled into attending the reunion weekend. Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall called Nosich and convinced him to come. Nosich said numerous times this weekend that he couldn’t imagine not being here.

Stallworth’s face lit up around his former teammates. He talked about how great it was to see guard Manny Zafiros, who played in just four games that season.

On Friday afternoon, as the players milled around the Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview, Dave Leach said he hoped the weekend would go slowly.

Of course, it didn’t.

The players packed a lot of activity into a little time.

“This the first time every living player from our team has been together,” said Leach, who is from McPherson and lives in Oregon. “It’s very special to get to see these guys.”

The Shockers went 21-9 in 1964-65 in an era when the Missouri Valley Conference was considered the toughest conference – the Valley of Death. WSU won the MVC title by two games, though the Shockers were just 6-4 in the first 10 games played without Stallworth and Bowman.

But sophomore forward Thompson was a revelation down the stretch. He scored 36 points in the national semifinals against UCLA and joined with his former high school teammate, Sharif, to give the team an offensive boost.

Zafiros, who is from New York and lives now in Bradenton, Fla., was emotional as he recalled his experience as a Shocker. And how he’s been a Shocker all these years.

“I wear my Shocker stuff in Florida,” he said. “I watch them on ESPN as much as I can.

“There’s some melancholy to this weekend, but we’re going to try and keep it upbeat.”

Because the games in Portland weren’t close, Zafiros played against both UCLA and Princeton.

“I see myself in those games and think, ‘Oh my, that’s me actually playing in a Final Four,’” Zafiros said. “I was playing against Bill Bradley when he was scoring 58 points against us. It’s a moment I’ll never forget in my lifetime.”

All of these guys have spent most of their lifetimes as members of a Final Four team. If that’s not worth a huge celebration, what is?

This story was originally published February 7, 2015 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: One last hurrah, maybe, for Shockers’ 1965 Final Four team."