A heartfelt tribute to Jayhawk legend Nolen Ellison

.                       KU Libraries Digital Collections/University Daily Kansan

It’s been said perhaps the greatest gift you can give someone is sharing your knowledge and time. Nolen Ellison, one of the greatest players in Kansas basketball history, one of the greatest educators America has ever produced, and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, definitely shared his knowledge and time with me during his lifetime. He also constantly called me by my first name during our talks, something all successful and kind people do. A person's first name has been called the most beautiful word in the world, and I always appreciated Nolen for repeatedly referring to me as "David." The last time we talked in April 2025, he even asked me the names of my beloved late parents. I told him: "Goody and Shirley."

Nolen, one of my true heroes, sadly passed on June 12, 2025 in Rosevile, Calif., at age 83. I got the devastating news two days later from Murray Anderson, a friend and colleague of Nolen’s and someone I met with for three hours at Panera restaurant in Lawrence a few months earlier. I was deeply pained and stunned over Nolen’s death; we just had a two and half hour phone call in April and he was full of life and vigor.

I first talked to Dr. Nolen Ellison on a Saturday March morning in 2002 at 9:30 for 90 minutes, which was a Where Are They Now? interview for Jayhawk Insider. He spoke about his KU experience, his life after basketball, and all he humbly accomplished in his professional career.  I’ve thought a great deal about Nolen since then and especially since his passing.

I told him at the time about my 82-page honors thesis on racial participation and integration in Kansas basketball history at the University of Kansas, that my Dad was a professor of social welfare at KU, and that he attended the historic March on Washington in 1963. Nolen said, “There’s a reason you called me.” He also urged, “You need to do more with this than Jayhawk Insider.” 

Nolen, who talked about mentoring me that morning, was one of seven African-American players on head coach Dick Harp’s revolutionary 1960-61 team, a squad that I became fascinated with after doing extensive research and writing my senior honors thesis in 1988.

 

Nolen told me during our interview he became a starter the fourth game of the season (against Michigan State), replacing Dee Ketchum, who injured his toe. Nolen never relinquished his starting position the remainder of season and his career, becoming the fourth black starter for Harp’s Jayhawks in 1960-61, a decision that broke the “gentlemen’s agreement,” an unwritten code about never starting more than three black players/playing more than three at one time. KU was a forerunner nationally in the recruitment of the Black athlete, led by their idealist and progressive young coach Harp. This was before Loyola of Chicago made history starting four black players in winning the 1963 NCAA title, and then when Texas Western, with its all-black starting lineup, beat all-white Kentucky (Rupp's runts) for the 1966 national championship.

Nolen (a Wigsman High School All-American at Wyandotte and two-time All-Big Eight player) and I met again in 2007 for three hours as I drove with giddy anticipation from my home in Lawrence to his house in Kansas City, Kan., where we then departed in Nolen’s car to the nearby Legends at Panera. He treated me to lunch while his older brother and former KU teammate, Butch, a Sumner High School graduate and JUCO All-American at Kansas City Kansas Community College. joined us during a large part of that talk, where Nolen and Butch shared their memories of playing for Dick Harp and many other topics. It was an afternoon I’ll never forget.

 

While we talked briefly a few times after this, I’m saddened that we didn’t connect and I wasn’t more active in reaching out until Nolen emailed me in March of 2025 after Murray had read my blog post on KU’s 1960-61 team and shared that with Nolen. I then soon saw Nolen and his lovely wife and junior high sweetheart, Carole, at a Zoom call at 11 a.m. that Murray initiated. Nolen, who smiled when saying he was "spry" at his age, talked for an hour that day, again sharing his time and knowledge with me. It was so great to see and talk to him after all these years!

 

I attended his memorial service in Kansas City, Kan., on August 9, 2025 at Thatcher Funeral Home, which was a beautiful tribute to this great man and his extraordinary life. Nolen, I treasure our time we shared together. I’m also forever grateful you took such a keen interest in me and my thesis (I made a copy for him), telling me in April you had recently re-read it and even calling me your “hero”  many years ago, a comment that deeply, deeply humbled me. We both shared a strong and deep conviction in racial equality and social justice, something my progressive parents instilled in me. I know countless people viewed you as their hero, including me, and your legacy will always be a rich one for making a profound difference on people’s lives and society!

 

RIP.

 

Here is that 2002 Where Are They Now? story on the great and legendary Dr. Nolen Ellison with a few updates.

 

By David Garfield

            

It was, quite simply, two of the sweetest events in Nolen Ellison’s life.

            

Flash back 40 years ago to Dec. 29, 1962 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. In one of the greatest Big Eight basketball games ever, Ellison’s Kansas Jayhawks upset Kansas State in a four-overtime thriller, 90-88, for the Big Eight Holiday Tournament Championship. It was a magical evening for senior Ellison, who scored a career-best 32 points and dished out nine assists while playing the full 60 minutes. Remarkably, he tied the score at the end of each of three overtimes, and made the game-winning assist in the fourth OT. 

            

“It was obviously the game of my career,” Ellison recalled recently from his home in Kansas City, Kan. “I got married the next day. My anniversary makes me remember that particular game. … Dick Harp (KU head coach) evidently thought I was doing the job out there on the court that night. That’s a game that will always stand out in my mind. Obviously, because of the anniversary, we get the chance to annually sort of commemorate that.”

            

Former Jayhawk teammate Harry Gibson will never forget Ellison’s commanding game, which one publication called at the time “arguably the most phenomenal performance ever by a Jayhawk.”

            

“He wouldn’t let the team lose,” Gibson told the Kansas City Star. “Every time we had a critical juncture, he made a key play.”

            

Indeed, he did. Ellison’s play that evening defined his sterling character and extreme competitiveness — both on and off the court. Yes, he was one of the best KU players of his generation, a two-time All-Big Eight selection (1962-63) who finished his memorable career as the No. 5 leading scorer (1,045 points) in school history (now No. 38). But Ellison achieved even greater heights after graduation from Mount Oread.

            

He eventually went on to become the president of a couple of urban community colleges in the country, and retired over a year ago as an endowed professor at UMKC. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Citation for outstanding contributions at KU in 1983, and in 1988, the Miller Co. identified Ellison as one of 12 outstanding educators for its "Calendar of Great Black Educators in the 20th Century.” Ellison credits his older brother, Butch (a KU teammate), junior high coach Jack Van Treece and Wyandotte high school coach Walt Shublom for helping him strive for greatness.

            

“(They) instilled this question clearly in my mind, in my motivation in athletics that was really part of the same motivation in life, that is to be the best “ Ellison said. “That issue came out clearly in that ‘62 game I’d like to believe that’s a part of my character and whom I am. “

            

The Kansas City native could do it no other way. Ellison, who was the first player in Kansas school boy history to play on three consecutive state high school championship teams, came to KU with great expectations. After coming off the bench for the first three games his sophomore year (1960-61), Ellison started the rest of the season. He averaged 7.9 ppg for Kansas, which went 17-8. It was a deeply talented team with people like 6-6 All-American center Bill Bridges and 6-8 forward Wayne Hightower.

            

“Those guys were phenomenal players,” Ellison said.

            

Unfortunately, KU struggled in Ellison’s junior and senior years. Without a legitimate big man, KU wound up going 7-18 in 1961-62 and 12-13 in 1962-63. Despite the losing records, Ellison flourished. He averaged 18.1 ppg during his junior season and 15.8 ppg his senior year. A quick guard who could shoot outside and take the ball to the hole, Ellison was also a defensive stopper. He only wishes his last two seasons would have been more successful.

            

“I missed playing with the truly big guys, and the truly big guys are what KU and every other team has needed to win the big games and national championships,” Ellison said.

            

Yet, he savors his time at KU and the relationships he built with former teammates and head coach Dick Harp. Ellison, 62, said he and Harp had an “exceptional relationship,” built in large part on their strong belief in racial equality and justice. A pioneer, Harp was an idealist with a deep social conscience. He recruited black athletes to Kansas at a time when the doors were closed in many programs throughout the country. Ellison was one of seven black players on the 1961 team, a number which was just unheard of in that era.

            

“Dick Harp was a wonderful human being,” Ellison said. “He was a good coach and a terribly tolerant coach who helped carry KU basketball into the 21st tradition, both with the recruitment of Wilt Chamberlain and opening for KU the real era of integrated basketball. He was a good shaper, molder of men, and he had a representative record there at the university.”

            

After graduating in 1963, Ellison was drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Zephyrs (No. 29 overall pick). He turned down a professional basketball career to enter the educational arena.  Ellison first taught at Sumner High School in Kansas City for five years. A lifetime activist, Ellison was then elected to public office on the first board of trustees in Kansas City, Kan., where he served for a year and a half while also working in the city planning department. After Martin Luther King was assassinated in April, 1968, Ellison decided to change directions and pursue his doctorate degree. He received a Ph.D. at Michigan State University in 1971, and a year later became president of Seattle Central Community College. At just 31, he was one of the youngest college presidents in the country.

            

In 1974, Ellison became the president and chancellor at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. He enjoyed 18 years of service there before returning to Kansas City in 1991. After dividing his time as a visiting professor in urban affairs at UMKC and as a consultant to the Samuel Rodgers Community Health Clinic, Ellison took an appointment at UMKC as a Schutte professor of urban affairs. He was the Schutte chair from 1994 until his retirement in 2001.

            

It is certainly an impressive resume for Ellison and “kind of rounds out I think an interesting life of a young kid born in 1941 before World War II in Kansas City.”  Ellison has worked tirelessly over the years trying to make a difference for young people.

            

“The belief that change in society that goes all the way back to early civilization, has rested upon our ability to provide the kind, I think, of spiritual growth and educational opportunity for citizens,” Ellison said.  “The fact is my commitment to education as a life work has been in the sense a wanting to help and work with other young people to give them the same opportunity in life that I had.”

            

The former Jayhawk standout is now at peace back home in Kansas City. Ellison stays busy with volunteer work (outreach ministry programs, among his efforts) and is active in his Trinity African Episcopal Church. He looks back with great fondness over his college career, and, of course, that unforgettable four-overtime classic against K-State in 1962. Ellison was part of an underdog team that night who “who knew what it meant to sacrifice and win.”  

            

Off the court, he feels blessed that he married his junior high sweetheart at KU and that he and his brother were the first two graduates of his family.

            

“I think the crowning achievement for me when I really look back on it, I was absolutely elated to walk out of the University of Kansas in four years with a degree and with the athletic achievements that I had, and with the prospects for the future,” Ellison said. “The university experience for Nolen Ellison and his young family at the end of my senior year was nearly storybook in character. I think that’s why the transfer of something called achievement, character, personal outlook on life, all that stuff that shapes who an individual is, I think that all came together for me at the university, and I’m thankful to the university for the experience.”

 

A Closer Look at Nolen Ellison:

Years at KU: 1959-63

Career Notables:  All-Big Eight in 1962 and ‘63...Career-high 32 points on Dec. 29, 1962...Led team in free throw percentage in 1962 (81.1)...Member of Big 8 Holiday Tournament Championship team in 1962-63...Ended career as No. 5 leading scorer in KU history (now No. 38)...captain of 1962-63 team.

Family: Wife, Carole, sons Marc, 40, Steven, 37, and four grandchildren.

Education: 1963, B.S. Education (history and psychology); 1971. Ph.D. Higher Education and Leadership. Michigan State.

Since Leaving KU: Ellison taught at Sumner High School in Kansas City for five years before being elected to public office on the board of trustees, where he served for a year and a half while also working in the city planning department. In 1968, he went to Michigan State to pursue a master’s and doctorate degree. He was president of Seattle Central Community College from 1972-73. In 1974, Ellison became the president and chancellor at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. He enjoyed 18 years of service there before returning to Kansas City in 1991. After dividing his time as a visiting professor in urban affairs at UMKC and as a consultant to the Samuel Rodgers Community Health Clinic, Ellison took an appointment at UMKC as a Schutte professor of urban affairs. He was the Schutte chair from 1994 until his retirement in 2001.

Currently:  Ellison is retired and living in native Kansas City, Kan.

Hobbies: Reading and watching sports.

Favorite Memories: Playing with his older brother, Butch. “We were only the second brother team to play at the same time at KU. That was really kind of a special occasion for me as I reflect back on my KU years. We were the first and only black brothers that played there during that period of time, and came early on the front end of minority players there at the university.  That sticks out in our minds. We talk about it today an awful lot, the desegregation of colleges and universities and athletics. That’s the kind of distinction that will probably be there forever.”...”The opportunity to be enculturated in the KU tradition after Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Bridges, Ron Loneski. The football greats like John Hadl, Doyle Schick, Curtis McClinton, Burt Coan. I think when I arrived at KU as a freshman to see Allen Fieldhouse and know you were going to play, these were the impressions that really motivated and spurred me on to want to make a contribution at the university.”

On the Jayhawks Today: “Roy Williams is a wonderful coach. He continues to recruit wonderful kids, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed at some point that his wonderful coaching and wonderful kids are going to end up with another national championship.”

 

Bob Lockley was the heroic forgotten pioneer and third Black KU basketball player in school history

After LaVannes Squires broke the racial barrier in Kansas and Big Eight basketball (along with Kansas State’s Gene Wilson) in 1951-52, African Americans began to find their way to Phog Allen’s and assistant coach Dick Harp’s Jayhawks. Next was Maurice King, KU’s first Black starter and a future NBA champion with the Boston Celtics who Harp recruited out of R.T Coles High School in Kansas City, Mo., in 1953. Most fans and observers think the third Black player at Kansas was Wilt Chamberlain, who they believe started the Philadelphia pipeline.

NOT SO.

The third African American basketball player at KU was a 6-foot-2, 160-pound forward from Northeast High School in Philadelphia named Robert “Bob” Lockley. Born in Saluda, Va., Wilson grew up in the “City of Brotherly Love” and attended Kansas on a basketball scholarship. KU sports publicity director Don Pierce described Lockley in the 1955-56 KU Media Guide as “Philadelphia sophomore who could become one of greatest jumpers in Kansas basketball history. Better than average defensive ability and attains aggressiveness to bid for playing time.”

Wilson played in eight games that 1955-56 season (KU went 14-9 in Allen’s last year as head coach), posting nine points (1.1 ppg) on 4 of 10 field goal shooting and 1 of 4 at the free throw line, while grabbing 11 rebounds (1.4 rpg). The 1956 Jayhawker Yearbook wrote about Lockley in previewing next year’s team: “Bob Lockley and John Cleland, two promising juniors-to-be, who were used often the last campaign, will have to be rated as highly potential material.”

Lockley, though, never played another game at Kansas. However, he seemed to lead a purposeful life after passing on Nov. 25, 2015 at age 85, according to his obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia Daily News.

 

“Robert, age 85, passed away peacefully …  He attended Northeast High School and the University of Kansas where he played basketball with the renowned Jayhawks. Robert was a faithful gov't. employee for 37 years. He is survived by his current wife Raquel, former wife, Patricia, son Robert Jr. daughters Robin and Ashley and many grands and great-grands.”

Lockley was one of two Black players on KU’s team with King, the 6-foot-2 junior guard who ranked second on the team in scoring behind Dallas Dobbs (academically ineligible second semester) with 14.0 points per game. Looking back at my 1988 KU senior honors thesis on Racial Participation and Integration in Kansas Men’s Basketball: 1952-1975, only 28 percent of the country’s basketball teams had Blacks on their roster in 1954 with 1.6 the average number of Blacks on integrated squads. From this data, KU was certainly far ahead of the national average with 72 percent of the country’s teams having no Black players.

We cannot forget about Robert “Bob” Lockley. He might not have the name recognition of LaVannes Squires and, of course, the Big Dipper, but he was a heroic figure who helped blaze the trail for Wilt and other Black players like fellow Philadelphians Wayne Hightower, Al Correll, and Ralph Heyward to follow at KU. Yes, Hightower, Correll and Heyward chose KU primarily due to Wilt, but it was Bob Lockley who started it all from Philadelphia. One can only imagine the deep racism and prejudice Lockley endured in being the third African American player at Kansas during the infested segregation in the mid-1950s in Lawrence and throughout America.

Sending much love to Robert’s family and all who knew this courageous pioneer!

Everett Dye of KU’s 1952 NCAA title team speaks about former beloved coach Dick Harp

Joyce Dye answers the phone this early August afternoon from she and her husband, Everett’s, retirement living home in Midland, Texas.

Everett, 92, one of two survivors (Bill Heitholt is the other) of the University of Kansas 1952 NCAA championship team, just had a fall and can’t come to the phone at this time.

“Age is taking its toll,” said Joyce, who was friends with Everett growing up together in Independence, where they attended elementary school through high school. They both remarried in 2005 after their first spouse passed; Joyce was actually good friends with Everett’s late wife, Helen.

 

“He’s just been having great trouble walking and we did have around the clock care,” Joyce said. “(Someone) was helping him walk and he just went down. We have some firemen close by that do this for security and they would come pick anybody up in this facility, which is nice. They’re on their way. I don’t know how long it will take.”

 

I had been emailing Joyce a few times to set up the interview and talk about Dick Harp, Everett’s beloved former assistant coach at Kansas. Joyce emailed that “Everett would love to be able to talk to you but has memory issues and carrying on a conversation is difficult. He remembers little of the past but does remember Dick. He often said Dick did not receive the recognition he deserved. He did speak of Dick often as someone he had admired and valued as a coach.”

 

When I called Joyce this afternoon and we began talking after his fall, she said it was “worth a try” for me to speak to Everett, a 6-foot-2 reserve guard/forward on the 1951-52 title team and ‘52-53 NCAA runner-up squad.

 

I’ve always been truly drawn and captivated by Everett since I had never forgotten a quote I once heard from him about my hero Harp. Everett said fondly with reverence: “He knew what he wanted. He knew how to communicate it and he did so that you wanted to listen. I have all kinds of affection for that man. Always have, always will.”

 

“I heard him say some years ago all the things you quoted him as saying,” Joyce said. “He was always remarking about him and always saying he didn't get enough recognition. I know that but he really does not remember much. He doesn't talk on the phone much because he just can't carry on a conversation, but those were his words for sure that you quoted. I do know how much he thought of him (Harp) and how much he would process this if he could process this. He would be so glad somebody is going ahead and giving him the recognition he’s due. 

 

“What he said was exactly what he would have said (now) in his right mind,” Joyce added. “He said that over and over to me and he knew what he meant exactly. He looked up to him so much (and) really did think a lot of him. In fact, he used to visit his wife (Martha Sue) every year (in Lawrence) after (Dick) passed (in 2000 at age 81). He kept up with her regularly because he thought so much of her husband.”

 

Martha Sue passed in 2009 at age 91.

 

Joyce continued talking about Everett and his KU days. She said Everett and future Hall of Fame North Carolina head coach Dean Smith roomed together at Kansas, and were “very close.” 

 

“Before (Smith) took that position (as UNC head coach in 1961), he asked Everett if he would come and be second man in command (assistant coach),” Joyce said. “Now this is what I know; I cannot prove that but he already was in the ROTC program (at KU) and had military time to serve and so he didn't accept that but he did ask him to do that.

 

“I don't know if I really should be telling you this,” Joyce added, “but he and Dean both really knew a lot about basketball. Both of them at one point in time, they thought they knew better on one play (than head coach Phog Allen) and did it. After that, neither one of them played a whole lot. I thought that was (his) undoing. But I know when he was playing in high school they said he was ‘poetry in motion’ and so he was a good player. But once you go against the orders of the coach you're in trouble. They both did that and I don’t know why. I don't know the real details of it but I just thought that’s why neither one of them played a whole lot.”

 

Everett was recruited by Allen to KU and also by K-State as an Independence High School star. 

 

“We had a very successful team,” Joyce said. “He really had a good reputation. I think he was the only basketball player from Independence that was chosen to be on the (KU) team.”

 

Everett played 23 games during his collegiate career (12 in 1951-52 and 11 contests in 1952-53) and averaged 0.5 points per game (12 total points, including nine in ’51-52). Statistics aside, he was a very hard worker, pushed the starters in practice, and soaked up great knowledge from Allen and especially Harp.

 

Everett did not play at KU his senior year in 1953-54; instead he took that year to focus on academics. 

 

“I think it was because he needed to devote more time to his college work,” Joyce said. “He wasn’t playing a whole lot and it was not so important at that time. He thought, ‘I better concentrate on my schooling here.’ I think that was the primary reason. We haven’t discussed that a lot, but I do remember that at the time.”

 

I asked Joyce how Everett felt about playing for Phog Allen.

 

“He never said much about Phog, it was always about Dick,” Joyce said. “How he really felt about Phog Allen, I'm not really sure. He didn’t express himself about him much.”

 

Everett now comes to the phone. I tell him that I’m sorry he had a fall.

 

“If I just listen to the people around me, like doctors,” Everett said softly, “it will be OK.”

 

Joyce asks him what he thought of Phog.

 

“He was a darn good coach,” Everett replied. 

 

The subject turns to Everett’s loyalty to Harp and his yearly visits to Martha Sue after Dick died. His voice lights up.

 

“I sure did,” he said about visiting Martha Sue. “I'm glad I talked to her. It was a very important thing to do.”

 

All for his deep admiration and love for Dick Harp and the priceless life lessons he taught.

 

“He knew what he was doing and he was doing it to the people he was working towards to help us,” Everett said. “I just happened to be one of them.”

 

Everett teamed with LaVannes Squires, the first black KU basketball player and also the first in the Big Seven, along with Kansas State’s Gene Wilson. Everett, who was in the same year as Squires, said Harp was color blind.

 

“He didn’t care whether the player was white or black, it didn't make any difference,” Everett said. “The other players accepted him fully. (Harp) just wanted to convey it to the players what he thought they needed to do as a coach.”

 

Everett was quite fond of Squires, a pioneer and the consummate team player.

 

“He was taking a huge step for the team,” Everett said. “He was always thinking of us, the players. I was very appreciative of it.”

 

While Everett was thrilled to win the national title in 1952, learning “a lot from it,” and enjoying returning to Lawrence for reunions and bond and reminisce with his former teammates and friends, Joyce said “he doesn’t talk about it (NCAA title). Many people don’t know.”

 

But there was one circumstance when the couple lived in Bartlesville, Okla., where some workers came over to their home and notice a framed reunion picture of the championship team in a bookcase with Everett and teammates like Clyde Lovellette and Dean Smith.

 

“They would come out and talk to Everett because they didn’t realize he was on that team until they saw that picture,” Joyce said.

 

Kansas returned to the national title game in 1953, when the Jayhawks lost a heartbreaking 69-68 defeat to Indiana. KU’s Jerry Alberts, a seldom-used reserve, who replaced star center B.H. Born after Born fouled out, barely missed a baseline jumper at the buzzer.

 

Everett, who related that Harp “did the coaching” when he played while Phog was the motivator, said he remembers that season and game “vaguely,” yet recalled the loss to IU “very discouraging.” 

 

After graduating from KU in 1954, Dye entered the Air Force and served 24 years, retiring in Denver as Colonel. Afterward, he and a “number of friends” started an Evangelical Presbyterian church in Cherry Hills Creek, Colo., which has now grown to about 8,000 members.

 

“They started it and it just grew and grew and grew,” Joyce said. “It moved from one place to another. Now, it’s in Highlands Ranch, a suburb of Denver. It’s large with a very big program. It’s been hugely successful. He did that for about eight years.”

 

Everett said thoughtfully that he fully appreciated Harp’s wisdom he taught him at KU years afterward, while serving in the Air Force and working with the church.

 

“I had to listen to what he had to say,” Everett said. “When I went into my work, it helped out immensely. I began to realize after I got into my job how much I had really learned from him. It kind of helped me form the foundation with the job I was given. It took me a while to realize how good it was, and that I could use that and grow within myself. That was very important. I didn’t realize how much it did help out until I began to use it.”

 

Joyce agrees.

 

“Everett was always a good listener,” she said. “That was one of the reasons he got along so well with the men beneath him in the service. That probably was reflective of what Dick taught about listening. That was a big part and probably had influence of the way he reacted.”

 

“That’s true,” Everett said. 

 

Joyce said Everett had great “influence in the church with his main job as visitation pastor (not ordained). He was quite loved by the parishioners there for that reason.” 

 

“He was very important there,” Joyce said. “That church was amazing. I’m very grateful I got to be there. He had a great part in the formation of that church. Very impressive. I’m sure whatever Dick shared with him or taught him had its influence on his relationships in that church. I’m sure he had a big influence on Everett because he talked about him so much. I know he was a big influence and influenced what he did later in life.”

 

The couple moved from Bartlesville to Midland three years ago after Joyce developed pneumonia, and knew they needed more help and be closer to family. Joyce has a sister and three grandchildren and six great grandchildren in Midland. She also has a son in Houston. 

 

“There was no family member close (in Bartlesville),” Joyce said, “and they just kind of moved us in the dark of night to Midland. And so that’s why we’re here. We just knew it would be better for us to be taken care of. It’s just hard to uproot and make a new life.”

 

But Everett and Joyce are making the most of their situation. It’s been a full life bettering society and meeting up and finding love again after their childhood friendship. 

 

Everett, who has two sons, five grandchildren, and four great grandchildren, still keeps a close eye on his beloved Jayhawks.

 

“Yes, I do,” he said as his voice rises. “I watch it very closely.”

 

Everett truly enjoyed watching KU beat North Carolina in 2022 on television for the national championship, just like he won an NCAA title 70 years earlier.

 

“I remember Everett was watching the game with his robe and ball cap,” Joyce said, laughing. “I just thought it was a funny picture.”

 

Now, it’s been 71 years since Everett had the once-in-a-lifetime honor to play for Harp. His love and reverence for Dick has never wavered.

 

How would Everett like Dick Harp to be remembered?

 

“The very top,” he said. “I had a high regard for him. I was just so pleased he was the coach. It meant so much not only to me, but all the players. He was a heckuva coach.”