Ted Owens made his mark in 19 years as KU head basketball coach

Ted Owens, along with Dick Harp, remains extremely unappreciated among the eight men who have had the prestigious honor of serving as KU head basketball coach in the 121-year rich history of the program. While Owens had some inconsistent years, he is the second-longest tenured coach in school history (19 years from 1964-83) behind legendary Phog Allen.

That must tell you about the good job he did at Kansas.

He was the winningest coach in Allen Fieldhouse history (206 games) before Bill Self broke his mark in 2016, led two teams to Final Fours in 1971 and ‘74, won six Big Eight titles and advanced to NCAA postseason play seven times. Owens was named Big 8 Coach of the Year five times and named National Coach of the Year in 1978 by Basketball Weekly. He also coached five All-Americans, including Darnell Valentine, Jo Jo White, Dave Robisch, Bud Stallworth and Walt Wesley.

In this multiple part series on Owens, I examine his basketball roots, his days at Kansas, and how he opened doors for African-American athletes.

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Ted Owens had a revelation when he was just 5 years old growing up in a cotton farm in Hollis, Oklahoma, during the Great Depression.

“I took a basketball and we had an outdoor goal and I had the ball between my legs, I couldn’t push it up any other way, had it between my legs and pitched it up and it went in,” Owens told John Hendel in his 1991 book, Kansas Jayhawks: History-making Basketball. “I’ve been in the love with the game ever since. I’ve been infatuated with it.

“It wasn’t necessarily the shot heard ‘round the world, but it was meaningful in my life. I’ve just always loved the game and always wanted to be part of the game.”

Owens’ love affair with hoops kept growing, becoming a high school star before earning a scholarship to Oklahoma. He played for coach Bruce Drake and was a three-year lettermen from 1949-51. Driven by a desire to coach and help shape young men, Owens eventually served as head coach at Cameron Junior College in Lawton, Oklahoma, from 1956-60, where he recruited Homer Watkins, the first African-American player in Oklahoma junior college history in 1958, whom Owens invited to stay at his home. 

Owens signed three more black players the following year. In my 82-page honors thesis in 1988 at the University of Kansas, I related an interview from Owens in the 1980s after he was fired from KU.

I wrote that “Owens was criticized by the white players’ parents, who did not like the fact that three blacks were playing ahead of their sons. However, Owens reiterated that he did not experience much outside pressure, as ‘we just didn’t let it become a problem.’”

Owens, who believed strongly in racial equality and justice, was very successful at Cameron as his teams never won fewer than 20 games in four seasons and three times advanced to the national junior college tournament semifinals with a third-place finish in 1960. His 1958 team was ranked No 1.

Owens, the second-longest tenured coach in KU basketball history behind the legendary Phog Allen (19 years from 1964-83), compiled a glossy 93-24 record at Cameron and coached four All-Americans, while also coaching the baseball team to the National Junior College championship in 1958.

Before becoming KU head coach, he served as Dick Harp’s assistant at Mount Oread from 1960-64. Owens remains extremely grateful for everything Harp did for his life.

“I remember him as the man who gave me an opportunity to coach at this level,” Owens said during his press conference before the 60 Year Celebration of Allen Fieldhouse in 2014. “He not only was a great mentor for me in the game of basketball, but personally. He shared his faith with me, a faith I’ve carried for the rest of my life. He made an enormous impact in my life. I’m really grateful I had the opportunity to spend four years with coach and many years after that with our association when he was with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.”

Owens replaced Harp as head coach in 1964 when Harp resigned after two straight losing seasons. Owens was the winningest coach in Allen Fieldhouse history (206 games) before Bill Self broke his mark in 2016, led two teams to Final Fours in 1971 and ‘74, while his ‘71 team went 14-0 in Big Eight play.

He also won six Big Eight titles and advanced to NCAA postseason play seven times. Also, in 1968, Owens’ Jayhawks lost to Dayton in the NIT finals. Owens was named Big 8 Coach of the Year five times and named National Coach of the Year in 1978 by Basketball Weekly. He coached five All-Americans, including Darnell Valentine, Jo Jo White, Dave Robisch, Bud Stallworth and Walt Wesley.

His 1966 team was arguably his best team and one of the top squads in KU hoops history with the likes of White, Wesley, All-Big Eight guard Delvy Lewis, Al Lopes, Riney Lochmann and Ron  Franz, all of whom played in the NBA or ABA, except Lewis and Lopes. Reserve forward Bob Wilson also played in the ABA.

That magical team, which Owens inserted White into the starting lineup at semester break when he became eligible, went 23-4 and lost in the Midwest Regional Finals in a heartbreaking game KU appeared to have won in overtime.

White swished a 25-footer by the sideline at the buzzer that should have won the game for Kansas, but the official ruled him out of bounds.

“We were celebrating. We were out on the court, we’re on the the way to the Final Four and a chance to win the national championship and I think a very good chance to win the national championship,” Owens said. 

“The official called it pretty late. Today, with all the camera angles you have, there would be no question whether he was in or out of bounds. Based on the sequence of shots, it looks like he pivoted but his heel never came down. It was above the plane, but his heel never came down and he never was out of bounds.

“But what the sequence of shots shows clearly that Rudy March, the official, never saw. His vision was up all the time. The whole sequence of shots shows his vision. Quite frankly, I think he saw where he landed. He floated after he landed, and he called it based on that.

“You only have so many chances to win national championships,” Owens added, “and we had a really great opportunity to do that.”

Texas Western won the game in double overtime, 81-80, and eventually won the national title over Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky team  (“Rupp’s Runts”), a KU squad that would have overpowered inside.

“We felt like if we had won against Texas Western, we would have gone on and won the national championship,” Lochmann told me in 2003. “It took me about a week to get out  of shock. I was really down in the dumps afterwards, from the standpoint to being totally depressed knowing that was your last college game. You don’t dwell on those things after a while, but that was a hurtful game. We kind of left our heart and soul out on on the court.”

Franz agreed. He said that was a magical team.

“That was probably one of the better teams that Kansas has had in its history,” Franz said in a 2001 interview. “We’ve had a lot of great teams, but that team could do a lot of different things and knew the fundamentals of basketball. We could shoot from the outside, rebound, and get up and down the floor. (Don, Texas Western) Coach Haskins said that was the toughest game they played all year.”

Despite the heartbreak, Owens and KU rebounded from that loss as the Kansas coach led the ‘Hawks to another 23-4 season, a Big Eight title and a No. 3 national ranking. However, Kansas lost in the first round to Houston in the NCAA Midwest Region.

Then, in 1967-68, KU got hot at the end of the year, winning 11 of 13 games, including six straight, before falling to Dayton in the NIT finals, 61-48. KU finished at 22-8 and ranked No. 19 nationally.

After two straight seasons of again failing to win the Big Eight championship, KU had a magical season in 1970-71, posting a remarkable 27-3 record, a 14-0 record in Big Eight play and Final Four berth, where the Jayhawks lost to John Wooden’s UCLA team, 68-60. KU, which entered the Final Four at 27-1, won 21 straight games before its loss to the Bruins. Kansas then lost the Final Four consolation game to Western Kentucky

That team had great talent, size, quickness, rebounding and true chemistry, led by Robisch (19.2 ppg), Stallworth (16.9 ppg), Roger Brown (11.2 rpg), Pierre Russell (10.3 ppg) and point guard Aubrey Nash (6.7 ppg).

“We were a good team because we won tough games,” Brown told me in 2001. “We won on the road.”

“We just jelled as a team,” Brown added. “Everyone pretty much got along with one another and we wanted to win. We all played hard. Everybody seemed to be on the same page. I think our team was about business. We knew we were going to win if we went out and did what we were supposed to do. And that’s what we did.

“Everything fell into place.”

Stallworth agreed that was a very special team.

“We were awesome,” Stallworth told me during a three-hour interview in 1990. “I thought we were the best team in the country. We were the cockiest team I had been around in a while. We felt we had a legitimate shot to win it all. ... We thought we were one of the best teams KU had ever put on the floor.”

Owens was so proud of that team, especially for unifying a campus and town in Lawrence that was going through political and racial unrest.

“The 1970-71 season was incredible, with the first Final Four for members of the team and the coaches, an undefeated conference season, and a winning streak of 21 games,” Owens wrote in his 2013 book, At The Hang-Up.

“As I look back, though, the team’s most remarkable achievement was unifying a campus and city in a common cause. Our players demonstrated that people from divergent backgrounds and ethnic groups can set aside their differences and, by loving and respecting one another, can exceed expectations. Today, the team continues their special bond, and they held a touching reunion in 2011.

After two down seasons (11-15 in 1971-72 and 8-18 in 1972-73), Owens’ Jayhawks made one of the best comebacks in college basketball history by going 23-7 in 1973-74 and advancing to the Final Four again. The pieces fit, the chemistry was superb, and this was a balanced attack with no true star.

With the addition of high school All-American Norm Cook and junior college standout Roger Morningstar, they helped propel the Jayhawks to the Big Eight championship and Final Four, where they lost to Marquette 64-51. KU finished the season ranked No. 7 nationally.

Center Danny Knight led five players in double-figure scoring (12.4 ppg), followed by Morningstar (12.3), Dale Greenlee (11.8), Cook (11.4) and Rick Suttle (11.3), my first KU basketball hero who sacrificed his game as “Super Sub” after leading KU in scoring the previous year at 16.3 points per game.

After a nailbiting win over Creighton (55-54) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region, KU faced ORU on its home court, the Mabee Center. A sign painted on the court read: 

“Expect A Miracle.”

And KU definitely did.

KU trailed 77-68 with 4:49 left in regulation and then by seven points with 3:19 left before rallying and sending the game into overtime and a 93-90 victory. Knight led six players in double figures with 19 points, while Kansas shot a scorching 55 percent from the field.

“Teams just didn’t come back like that,” Greenlee said of the era without a time clock and no three-pointers. “I’d look at (Tom) Kivisto. He’d look at me. We’d look at Roger and Danny and Rick and Norm. We didn’t feel we were out of the game. We figured we’d do what we had to do to get back in it.”

“The Comeback Kids” had a great habit of overcoming big deficits in winning games all year.

“We pretty much had a season when we’d come back a lot,” Greenlee said.

This team had a very strong identity and what Greenlee called a “really tight group. We kind of watched out for each other. Coach once said, ‘We played like brothers.’ No one really cared who scored.”

While the Marquette loss was painful, it was a season to remember for KU and all Jayhawk fans. Kansas also lost the consolation game to UCLA after up eight points at halftime.

“They finally worse us down,” Owens wrote in his book, “and we lost the last game of a miraculous season.’

KU returned to the Big Dance the following year, winning the Big Eight yet losing in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Region to a talented Notre Dame led by superstar Adrian Dantley, 77-71.

After two more down seasons (13-13 in 1975-76 and 18-10 in 1976-77), Owens again felt the hot seat with pressure to be fired.

But John Douglas, nicknamed “The Franchise” by voice of the Jayhawks Tom Hedrick who led KU in scoring in 1977 at 19.2 points per game (he scored 46 points at Iowa State on Feb. 16, 1977, which remains the third-most points in a game by a Jayhawk behind Wilt Chamberlain and Bud Stallworth), felt this criticism was extremely unfair.

“He’s the best coach in the Big Eight,” Douglas said in a wire story. “He shouldn’t be fired.”

Former KU standout Ron Franz helped propel Jayhawks back to national prominence

.                                                         KU Libraries Digital Collection
Ron Franz was a rangy and rugged 6-7 forward from Kansas City, Kan., who was heavily recruited out of Ward High School. Attracted to the KU business school and wanting to stay close to home, Franz became a Jayhawk and was a three-year starter from 1964-67. He was a pivotal part of the rebirth of KU basketball, helping Kansas to a 63-16 record during his standout career, which included two Big Eight titles and three Big 8 Holiday Tournament championships. Franz was part of one of the greatest teams in KU history in 1965-66, when KU advanced to the Midwest Regional final and finished at 23-4. The Jayhawks were also 23-4 the following year, when Franz posted career highs with 12.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while serving as senior captain.

He finished his career with averages of 9.3 points and 6.0 rebounds while scoring 737 points. Franz remains grateful he helped KU return to national prominence.

“We brought KU back to where it had been,” Franz told me from his home in Germantown, Tenn., in 2001 for a Where Are They Now? interview for Jayhawk Insider. 

“Knowing I had some small part in KU coming back from when they were down and knowing we helped get it reestablished playing with some really good quality guys, that’s what I’ll remember. He (Ted Owens) came in when a time KU basketball was down, and he put it on a path again. He got the enthusiasm going again.”

After concluding his KU career, Franz played six years in they ABA and thrived in the up-tempo, fast-break style. He guarded the likes of Dr. J (Julius Erving), and even had some success against the future Hall of Famer.

“He was phenomenal,” Franz said. “I know he scored a lot on me, but I think I scored a few on him, too. ... Man, it (ABA) was a hoot. If they had cable then, it would have pushed the NBA off the map. It was the game they play now. The speed of the game was the ABA. It was an interesting league. You didn’t really know if your check was good every day. You took your check and ran to the bank right away to make sure it was good.”

In this blog, I recall Franz’s high school days, where he starred at Ward High School, his battles on the playgrounds playing against star players, and his recruitment to Kansas. I also republish my Where Are They now? story. It was a very enjoyable interview and something I will always remember.

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“My senior year, they used to send the letters to the high school coaches, and then they would give them to you. I remember my coach at Ward High School, Bill Samuels. He said, ‘You got some letters here to go to some schools. I think they’re recruiting letters.’ I said, ‘Gosh coach, I can’t afford to go to those schools.’ He said, ‘Hello, they’ll give you a scholarship.’ I’m going, ‘What, to play basketball?’ (laughs). I actually was naive. I didn’t think someone would give you a scholarship to play basketball. That wasn’t anything you thought about. You didn’t have the media hype that you have with the kids today. We knew about some scholarships, but you just didn’t think you’d get a scholarship. I certainly didn’t think I’d ever have one offered. Heck, I didn’t even play basketball unil my junior year of high school. I suited up, let’s put it that way. And then the Lord made a really neat thing happen. He grew me. I went from like 6-0 to 6-4 in a little over a year. I went, ‘Ok, now I can play basketball.’ We went to the state tournament my junior year and I think that’s where I got noticed a little bit. Then, my senior year, other than the one young man named Lucious Allen at Wyandotte, we had a very good team. When you have a good team, you obviously get looked at. My senior year, I think I was the leading scorer in the Kansas City area. No, they had a guy named Bob Bowers over at Rockhurst. I think he beat me. He went to Colorado. When you get that kind of notoriety and all of that, then you get people trying to recruit you, that was something I didn’t realize was available until my senior year. I finally realized, ‘Shoot, this is a good deal. Let me score a lot of points and see where I can go.’ (laughs).

"I played a little at the CYO. When I went to Ward, I was on the freshman team, but didn’t play. When I was a sophomore, I was on the JV team, but didn’t play. I grew that summer and started as a junior. When you got a guy who’s 6-4 at that time, that was pretty big for that era. By my senior year, I was 6-5. And by my freshman year at KU, I was 6-7. And by my sophomore year, I was, unfortunately only 3/4 more of an inch, a little under 6-8, and it just stopped. I really didn’t play until my junior year.

“Kansas City wasn’t really known for any great basketball players at that particular time frame when I grew up. There was a guy from my high school that played professional baseball named Ray Sadecki. He pitched for the Cardinals. As far as basketball was concerned, there were some guys that I know that I watched play over at Wyandotte. Harry Gibson, a friend of mine that was a captain of the KU team my senior year. He was about three years older than I was. The Ellison boys, Nolen Ellison, they played at KU. Wyandotte High School was the best high school program in Kansas. They had a coach named Walt Shublom. He’s still alive, and I saw him last when I was up at KU. He lived up the street from Mark Twain School in Minnesota Avenue or whatever the case might have been. All of the people would go there in the summer time and play on the asphalt. That’s where I really learned to play. I played against these guys from Wyandotte High school. There would be guys from Missouri that would come over. Warren Armstrong played at Central. His name in the old ABA was Warren Jabali. He played down at Wichita State. He’d bring his crew over there in the summer time and we’d play until it got dark. That’s really where I learned the game was on the playground there on the asphalt, sort of like being in the inner city. The brothers would come over and we’d just play. In that particular time frame, that was unusual for black and whites playing together. You just didn’t have a lot of that. You’d have a black school that would play a white school, but you didn’t have too many guys that would be on the playground playing on the same team with each other. I think that’s where my game developed, playing with these guys in the summer time before my junior year, and before my senior year. Of course, in the summer time after that, we’d play there, even when were were all in college. Or we’d used to play over at Rockhurst college. They used to have a summer league thing that we’d play at. 

"As far as remembering anybody as far as basketball was concerned, they had an old ABL team called the Kansas City Steers, and they had a guy named Bill Bridges who played at Kansas. He was pretty unique in the fact for his size, he was probably one of the toughest rebounders. He played in the NBA for quite a few years. I guess if anybody that I would recall or remember or think about in that particular time frame, it probably would have been him because I did go to the old Kansas City Steers game. He was an interesting player."

Franz talked about Sports Illustrated interviewing him about the “horrors of recruiting.”

“I was being recruited by K-State, which was very good then and (head coach) Tex Winter. I had already been to Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Colorado, I think I got letters from 50 or 60 schools — small and large. Notre Dame, of course, as a good catholic boy, you had to go to Notre Dame or the nuns wouldn’t let you back in school. Then I went out to Colorado. They were good. They had just won the Big 8 then. Any way, I was going to go out to dinner with coach Winter, and he asked if they could bring a SI guy to dinner named Frank Deford. You have to remember, I didn’t know you could get a scholarship to play basketball I was that naive. By about the fourth trip and the offers of free airline and free this and free that, I’m going, ‘Hum, something’s interesting there.’ I thought this was just another guy for a recruiting thing. I went, ‘Sure, yeah, bring him along.’ So I met him and we went to the Golden Ox and had dinner. At the end of the night, they dropped me off, my mother and myself at my house. Tex, which I still have to this day, gave me an autographed, it may be worth something, the triple post offense. ...That fall, somebody came in the athletic dorm (at KU), it use to be JRP. The guy says, ‘Hey you’re in SI.’ I went,’Yeah, right.’ He goes, ‘No, you’re in SI.’ It was probably in October or November of ‘63. What it was, they did a thing on recruiting, I think with four people across the country, and I was one of them. He was just talking about how K-State was recruiting me. He wasn’t talking about the other schools and what their recruiting tactics were. Lord knows what these kids go through now. I mean, it’s just got to be phenomenal. Plus these AAU guys who have their handouts for everything. In my particular time, it was just a lot of phone calls and letters. And of course, alumni could contact you. They’d show up at games. They’d come by the house. You’d get covered up with people who were alumni of the various schools that were recruiting you. They were calling you, coming up to the games, dropping by the house, seeing if you needed anything. They cleaned that up and got the alumni out. It was an interesting article. I got it around here in one of my things somewhere. It’s always interesting to kind of pop out.

“Actually, (KU) did a damn good recruiting job on my family. Mr. (Roy) Edwards, a fine man, one of the finest families I ever had the pleasure to come across, an avid KU man. At that time, KU basketball was down. K-State basketball was big. Colorado basketball was big. Michigan basketball was big. Kansas basketball was going down the tubes. I guess it was the proximity for one thing, I just didn’t want to be that far away from home. I had a good family support group. Again, KU recruited my family very well. I went up for one weekend on my own. I enjoyed it. I liked the campus. I think one of the first things I was impressed by the fact, my recruiting weekend, of course, it also happened at K-State. They took me, the first thing they did, they took me to the business school, which was what I wanted to major in. I thought that was pretty good because the other schools, that was a secondary thing. When I went to Michigan State, I was interested in hotel management, and they were one of the only schools in the country at that time that had a hotel management school. That was like later, the primary thing was basketball. (At) KU, Keith Wetmore was my advisor and he was a gentleman. We met at the B-School. He took me around the B-School. I thought that was pretty cool, because that’s what I wanted to major in, and that’s what I was going to school for, to get a degree and play basketball. Not to play basketball and hopefully get a degree. That was something. All the guys I played with got a degree. I got a call from coach Winter when I announced I was signing with Kansas. He called and wished me the best of luck, and was sorry that I didn’t go to Kansas Sate. And he would try everything he could to show that I should have gone to Kansas State. I think we were 6-1 against them my three years. I thought that was really classy of him, too.” 

Here is my Where Are They Now? story on Franz from 2001 in Jayhawk Insider.

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Ron Franz still gets chills when recalling one of the most thrilling moments of his life. It was the 100th-year anniversary reunion of Kansas basketball on Feb. 7, 1998. Franz was back in Allen Fieldhouse playing the game he loved with former teammates and legends from yesteryear.

“You went out on the court, and it was like time had stood still,” Franz said. “The place was sold out. When you started to warm up, 30 years had passed but it just didn’t seem like that. The band was playing. People were cheering. You saw some of the old guys not only on the floor, but in the stands. That was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

For Franz, it was an opportunity to relive his glory days. A rugged and rangy 6-7 forward from Kansas City, Kan., Franz played a prominent role in the rebirth of Kansas basketball in the mid-1960s. Franz was a three-year starter who shined on teams that went 63-16 from 1964 to 1967. In the three preceding years, KU stumbled to a 32-43 record under Dick Harp. With coach Ted Owens taking over in 1964, Franz was a part of  two Big Eight championships and three-time winners of the Big Eight Holiday Tournament. Moreover, KU advanced to the Midwest Regional Finals in 1966, and was ranked in the top four during the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons.

“We brought KU back to where it had been,” Franz said recently from his home in Germantown, Tenn. “Knowing I had some small part in KU coming back from when they were down and knowing we helped get it reestablished playing with some really good quality guys, that’s what I’ll remember. He (Owens) came in when a time KU basketball was down, and he put it on a path again. He got the enthusiasm going again.”

Franz has especially fond memories of the 1965-66 team (23-4) that lost in double overtime to Texas Western in the Midwest Regional finals. With guard Jo Jo White joining the team at mid-semester, KU became one of the elite squads in college basketball. Joining White and Franz (9.6 ppg) were All-American center Walt Wesley, crafty point guard Del Lewis and second-leading scorer Al Lopes.

“That was probably one of the better teams that Kansas has had in its history,” Franz said.  “We’ve had a lot of great teams, but that team could do a lot of different things and knew the fundamentals of basketball. We could shoot from the outside, rebound, and get up and down the floor. ... Coach Haskins (of Texas Western, which eventually went on to win the NCAA title) said that was the toughest game (against KU) they played all year.”

Franz said White added a lethal dimension of speed and quickness to a balanced and patterned KU offense.

“He was very quick, very agile,” Franz said. “He brought a fluidness to the game that we probably hadn’t had prior to that. ...We got up and down the floor. We ran a pretty doggone good fast break. He created the speed that we needed. We were all pretty fast guys.”

Franz was both fast and tough. He demonstrated a physical presence who played the game with high energy and passion.

“I was the guy that did the dirty work so to speak,” Franz said. “If I could kind of push you out of bounds and not get caught, I kind of liked it.”

 

A senior captain in 1966-67 (KU went 23-4 again), Franz led Kansas in rebounding (6.9 rpg) that season and finished third in scoring (12.4 ppg). Franz, who had been accepted into KU Law School, said he had no illusions of playing professional basketball. After playing in a postseason All-Star game in Albuquerque, N.M., Boston Celtics coach Bill Russell asked Franz if he was interested in playing in the NBA.

“I went, ‘Huh,’ Franz said. “That was not a job or career then. Those guys weren’t getting paid anything.  It was nothing I was concerned about.”

Franz was eventually drafted by both the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and ABA’s Oakland Oaks. After negotiating a lucrative $16,000 contract, Franz had a change of heart about professional basketball and joined the Oaks. He played just one season in Oakland before he and Steve Jones were traded to New Orleans for Larry Brown (future KU basketball coach and current head man of Philadelphia 76ers) and Doug Moe.

“I can always get tickets from Larry. That’s always good for a free something with Larry if I say, ‘Do you really want people to know I got traded for you? How many tickets can I get?’” Franz said, laughing.

In all, Franz played six seasons in the ABA for Oakland, New Orleans, Floridians, Memphis and Dallas. Franz, who thrived in the fast paced, open-court game of the freewheeling ABA (career averages of 11.7 points and 5.3 rebounds), loved playing against such superstars as Julius Erving and Rick Barry.

“He (Dr. J) was phenomenal,” Franz said. “I know he scored a lot on me, but I think I scored a few on him, too. ... Man, it (ABA) was a hoot. If they had cable then, it would have pushed the NBA off the map. It was the game they play now. The speed of the game was the ABA. It was an interesting league. You didn’t really know if your check was good every day. You took your check and ran to the bank right away to make sure it was good.”

After concluding his ABA career with Dallas in 1973, Franz played a year in Europe before opening his own home building contracting business (R.S. Franz Construction) in Memphis, Tenn. Franz builds large custom homes in Tennessee, Florida and Arkansas.

 

“I sell dreams,” he said. “That’s a dream house. That’s what I do. I try to fulfill the dream that they have of the house that they want. ...Wherever they want me to build, that’s where I go and build.”

Franz says he has no regrets about not going to Law School after graduating from KU in 1967.

“I’m able to do something that I enjoy,” he said.  “Every house that  I do, that’s a part of me in that house. ... I met a lot of wonderful people through basketball and still have continuing relationships with those people from basketball as well as the building business I’ve been in for 30 years. It’s something the Lord has blessed me with. I’ve been very fortunate.”

Franz feels blessed to be a Jayhawk as well. He remains in awe of the 100th-year anniversary reunion of Kansas basketball in 1998 and talking to such childhood heroes as B.H. Born and Clyde Lovellette.

“It was a neat, neat deal,” Franz said. “KU basketball is very special in my heart and I know to all the guys that I played with in my era. We’d all like to put our shorts on and play again.”

A Closer Look at Ron Franz:

Years at KU: 1963-67

Career Notables: Three-year starter...Captain of 1966-67 team and led squad in rebounding (6.9 rpg)...Career-best 23 points and 17 rebounds vs. K-State on Feb. 20, 1965.

Family: Wife, Georgia, and two daughters — Tara, 30, and Shawna, 28.

Education: 1967. B.S, Business Administration.

Since Leaving KU: Franz spent six seasons in the ABA and one year in Europe before opening his own home building contracting business in Memphis, Tenn.

Currently: Franz is the owner of R.S. Franz LLC. Construction.

Hobbies: Golf and following Kansas basketball.

Favorite Memories: “I think it was the camaraderie of all the guys that I played with and how I’m still in touch with all of them. ... Every one of those guys that I played with, they may not have got their degree in four years, but they got their degree. That’s what you went to school for.”...Beating K-State seven out of eight games. “In that particular era, that was THE game because both teams had a lot Kansas natives on the team.”  

On the Jayhawks Today: “He (Roy Williams) gets young men that represent the university..."

 supposed to be about. He’s somebody that I respect and I think all the former players respect. He’s brought quality to the program and quality to the university.”

Former KU standout Riney Lochmann played for the love of the game

I recently profiled Delvy Lewis. Now, I’m featuring his former KU teammate Riney Lochmann, who was a co-captain with Lewis on that great 1965-66 team. A Parade High School All-American from Wichita, this 6-6 forward was one of the greatest team and unselfish players in KU annals. A great scorer in high school, Lochmann sacrificed his game for the betterment of the team at Kansas. He only averaged a career-high 6.7 points per game his junior season in 1964-65, yet was good enough to play three years in the ABA.

When Jo Jo White became eligible during the second semester in 1966, Lochmann happily agreed to give up his starter’s role and come off the bench.

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“He (head coach Ted Owens) talked to me ahead of time and said, ‘We got a chance to go all the way,’” Lochmann told me in a 2003 interview. “He told me that with Jo Jo coming in, that he was going to play...and I would end up coming off the bench, which I had no problem at all. I said, ‘If it’s going to make us a better team, I’m all for it.’ I knew that it would, because I knew how good Jo Jo was. He was a phenomenal, phenomenal, college player. I realized how much it was going to help us.”

Like Lewis, Lochmann loved playing for Owens.

“Ted Owens, just his honesty. He was fun to play for,” Lochmann said. “Just enjoyed that relationship.”

Lochmann endeared himself to Owens and all Jayhawk fans with his fierce hustle, great work ethic, and true love of the game. "I think Riney and I were (Owens') favorites on that team (1965-66), because he just appreciated the 'roll up your sleeves and work,' and that's pretty much what Riney and I did," Lewis told me years ago.

Lochmann talked to me about his childhood heroes during our interview 16 years ago.

“Micky Mantle was (a hero) in baseball, Johnny Unitas, those were people I looked up to because I enjoyed all sports. I might have been a better football player, but I enjoyed basketball more. I thought it was more fun, so I probably had to work harder to improve my game in basketball. Bob Pettit was (a hero), I always liked watching the old Boston Celtic teams; I didn’t have any particular one, just the fact how they played together with Bill Russell and all those other guys. I was in Boston the same years that Larry Bird was there. I became a real real fan of Larry Bird’s, just what he brought to the game. He brought really an enthusiasm and love to the game, it just kind of carried over to his teammates. I got to see him play his whole career, which was a real thrill.”

In 2012, Wichita Eagle columnist Bob Lutz ranked Lochmann the No. 20 best Wichita City League player he’s seen since the early 1960s.

“I saw Lochmann play for the (Wichita North) Redskins during a Saturday afternoon game in Derby way, way, way back. It was the first high school game I saw, I believe. And it was televised by KAKE. My recollection is that Derby won the game. Anyway, Lochmann was a 6-6 forward who could really score, one of the finest players of his era."

Here is the Where Are They Now? article I wrote on Lochmann in 2003 for Jayhawk Insider. Thanks so much for your time you gave me Riney and for sharing all your fond KU memories and stories. I will forever be grateful! 

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For Riney Lochmann, sports has always been about the love of the game. From first picking up a basketball as a child in Wichita, to playing college hoops for Kansas and professionally in the ABA, to now, at 58, playing roundball in the national senior Olympics.

His love affair with basketball was first nurtured growing up in Wichita and idolizing the likes of Bob Pettit, Wilt Chamberlain, and the great Boston Celtics teams. While he admits football was his best sport, it was not his passion.  His true love was basketball, which he practiced religiously.  

Lochmann’s work ethic paid off, becoming a Parade All-American at Wichita North High School. Major colleges throughout the country beckoned at his doorstep, including Duke and Cincinnati. But those schools never really had a chance.

“I was always a great fan of Kansas University and their whole tradition,” said Lochmann, who fondly remembers listening to the radio as an eighth grader and hearing about Chamberlain’s wondrous exploits. “I was maybe a little old fashioned, but (I thought)  a Kansas boy should go to a Kansas school. Even though I showed interest in some of these other places, I knew I was always going to go to Kansas.”

And what a ride he had. Life at Mount Oread, however, didn’t begin so rosy for Lochmann his sophomore year. The rugged forward (6-6, 215) started the first five games before injuring his right knee, which would require surgery. While he came back to play the final seven games, Lochmann’s season was basically lost.

“It was discouraging just from the standpoint I really loved the game so much and the fact I worked real hard and was able to start as a sophomore,” Lochmann said recently from his home in Dublin, Ohio. “But it did give me more resolve to get the knee in shape and to be ready to go the next season.”

Both Lochmann and KU, which finished at just 13-12 in 1962-63, were looking to rebound the following year. Head coach Dick Harp had resigned, as assistant Ted Owens took over the post.  Owens brought a new sense of discipline to the program, leading KU to a 17-8 record. Lochmann flourished his junior season, averaging 6.7 points and 6.8 boards. A team player and tenacious hustler, Lochmann said he fully accepted being a role player after averaging 20-plus points per game in high school.

“I prided myself in playing defense and also rebounding, and being able to shut down or defend at least the toughest offensive player on the other team,” he said. “I would say I was unselfish. I put team first and then any individual accolades secondary because I’ve always felt that basketball is a team sport, and if there were certain things I  could do to help the team, that’s what I was going to do. ...I just enjoyed the game and felt like, ‘Hey, that’s what it’s all about.’”

With “Wonderful” Walt Wesley, Lochmann, Al Lopes, Del Lewis, and Ron Franz returning for the 1965-66 campaign, KU was picked as one of the top teams in the country. The Jayhawks rolled out to a 15-3 start before semester break. That’s when Owens had to make a decision whether or not to play Jo Jo White, the heralded freshman from St. Louis, Mo., who had just become eligible. Lochmann, a senior co-captain and starter, recalls what transpired.

“He (Owens) talked to me ahead of time and said, ‘We got a chance to go all the way,’” Lochmann said.  “He told me that with Jo Jo coming in, that he was going to play...and I would end up coming off the bench, which I had no problem at all. I said, ‘If it’s going to make us a better team, I’m all for it.’  I knew that it would, because I knew how good Jo Jo was.  He was a phenomenal, phenomenal, college player.  I realized how much it was going to help us.”

As White made an immediate impact and Lochmann injected fire and punch off the bench, KU easily won its next eight games and advanced to the Midwest Regional finals before losing to Texas Western (81-80) in double overtime. KU had appeared to win the game in the first overtime when White hit a 30-foot jumper at the buzzer. However, the referee ruled that White’s foot was on the line, and disallowed the bucket. It was a heartbreaking loss for Lochmann, the KU players, and all Jayhawk fans.

“We felt like if we had won against Texas Western (eventual NCAA champs), we would have gone on and won the national championship,” Lochmann said. “It took me about a week to get out of shock. I was really down in the dumps afterwards, from the standpoint to being totally depressed knowing that was your last college game. You don’t dwell on those things after a while, but that was a hurtful game. We kind of left our heart and soul out on on the court.”

Lochmann believes a strong case can be made that the 1965-66 squad was KU’s best team ever. A whopping five players from that club went on to play professional basketball.

“I do know that was a team that had probably all the ingredients you could want in a basketball team, because it had size, quickness, and strength,” Lochmann said. “We were deep from the bench. There weren’t many things that you didn’t have as a team that could win games.”

Lochmann, of course, moved on with his life. After graduating in 1966, he spent the next season as a graduate assistant coach at Kansas. Then, he defied great odds and made the ABA’s Dallas Chaparrals the next season, which was the inaugural year for the league. Nicknamed “The Bull,” Lochmann played three years in Dallas, and made it to the playoffs each season. Lochmann relished his opportunity, saying it was a childhood dream to play professional basketball. 

 

“To a kid out of college who loves to play the game and getting paid to play, you couldn’t be (more happier),” he said. “You got to see the country.  We played in some of the finest and nicest cities in the country.” 

Shortly upon getting married, Lochmann quit the ABA in 1970 and accepted a sales and promotion job with Converse. He spent the next 20 years working in Kansas City and Boston before leaving Converse in 1990 as senior vice president of sales and promotions. After opening a footwear company for a year, Lochmann worked with Puma before moving to Ohio in 1995, where he was employed with United Rotary Brush, which manufacturers street and airport sweepers. Lochmann, who spent five years with the organization, then switched careers to become the project manager for a consulting company (Martin Consultants). 

“We come in and try to turn the (bankrupt) companies around and get them reorganized,” Lochmann said. “It’s interesting. It’s certainly a change from what I’ve had done anyway. There’s a lot of diverse companies that you get involved with.  As yo  know, every conceivable business under the sun can go bankrupt.”

When he’s not working, Lochmann finds time to stay close to his lifetime passion. He helps volunteer coach the local high school girls basketball team in Dublin, and also assists with basketball camps in the area. And yes, he plays basketball twice a week in a 50-over league. Lochmann, who has played for teams in two national senior Olympics, has a squad already qualified for the 2003 senior Olympic games in Virginia.

The former Jayhawk standout is currently looking forward to attending the 105th reunion of Kansas basketball in February. Although he never made All-Big Eight or All-American, Lochmann said he relished his days on the Hill.

“I probably could have gone other places and maybe had scored more points or whatever, but at Kansas, it was part of the team,” he said. “That’s what I enjoyed the best. I don’t have any regrets at all. One of the things I’ve always told my wife, is when I pass away, I want my remains spread over Allen Fieldhouse.”

All for the love of the game.

A Closer Look at Riney Lochmann

Years at KU: 1962-66

Career Notables: Member of 1965-66 Big Eight championship team, which advanced to the Midwest Regional finals...Career-high 6.7 ppg and 6.8 rpg in 1964-65 (finished 14th in the conference in rebounding)...Co-MVP of Big 8 Holiday Tournament in 1964.

Family: Wife, Cheryl and children —Craig, 18, Sarah, 20 (plays basketball for University of South Florida), Hunter, 30, and Megan, 31.

Education:  B.S. Education, 1966.

Since Leaving KU: Lochmann spent one year as graduate assistant basketball coach at KU before playing three years in the ABA. He then spent 20 years working for Converse. In 1991, he started an active footwear business. After the company dissolved, he worked for Puma before moving to Ohio in 1995 and being employed by United Rotary Brush for five years. He's spent the last couple of years working as project manager for Martin Consultants.

Currently: Lochmann serves as project manager for Martin Consultants in Ohio.

Hobbies: Basketball, spending time with family, working out, golf.

Favorite Memories: “My fondest memories were just being able to play basketball there those four years with all the fun times we had and the tremendous friends and teammates that I met while I was there. Those were times when you can’t erase how fun they were, but they certainly went by much too fast. As you get older, the faster the years go by.”...Whipping Top 10 Nebraska at home, 110-73, on Feb. 26, 1966.  “We really put it to them. I think that kind of put our stamp from the standpoint of then winning the Big 8 championship and being one of the better teams in the country...The fact that there was such a deafening noise — you  know how they stamp their feet — you could hardly hear yourself. It was so loud in there as we were pretty much putting them away in the second half.”

On the Jayhawks today: “I think they’ve gotten off to a little bit of a shaky start. ...They play a real difficult and competitive schedule. I think it will help them now once the conference starts, because the conference is so tough and competitive.”

Recalling former Jayhawk standout Delvy Lewis

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Delvy Lewis was one of the most underrated point guards and leaders in KU history. Lewis, a Topeka native who played at KU from 1963-66, teamed with Jo Jo White in the backcourt in 1966 and made it a dream season to remember. KU went 23-4, won the Big Eight championship and advanced to the Midwest Regional final, where it lost to eventual NCAA champs Texas Western.

Lewis was named first-team All-Big Eight his senior year in 1965-66, when he averaged 10.9 points per game and led the team in assists and free throw percentage. He posted career averages of 8.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 76 games, while shooting 40.2 percent from the field and 75.1 percent at the free throw line.

A fierce competitor and blue-collar worker, Lewis endeared himself to head coach Ted Owens. Lewis and Riney Lochmann were co-captains their senior year in 1965-66.

“I think Riney and I were his (Owens') favorites on that team, because he just appreciated the ‘roll up your sleeves and work,’ and that’s pretty much what Riney and I did,” Lewis told me in 2003 for Jayhawk Insider. “I hustled and gave it all I had every game. Everybody did. We had a group that pretty much got after it. We were pretty no nonsense."

Lewis, who died in 2012, relished playing for Owens and KU.

"I just have nothing but great words to say about Ted Owens as a coach,” Lewis said. "He was a gentleman. I just feel badly, because I think he’s kind of gotten a bad rap, as far as perception. He still has a tremendous winning record. I just hope he gets some credit for what he did, because I think he did a lot more than people realize. To this day, I have the greatest respect for him. He’s just a neat, neat man.”

A die-hard Jayhawk fan growing up with his dad, Lewis has fond memories of listening on the radio with his father to his heroes like B.H. Born and Wilt Chamberlain.

This was father and son time alone to bond, their little word.

KU was where he wanted to go all along.

“It was just a great honor to play at KU,” Lewis said. “It’s a great tradition. To say that you played there and to have some success, is just a thrill.”

Here is a look at Delvy’s recollections on his recruitment to KU and his high school career at Washburn Rural. We talked for over an hour that memorable night in 2003.

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“I was pretty much headed to K-State, they had offered me a scholarship. Of course, my teammate Ron Paradis, who was a great player, in fact, he was certainly more acclaimed than I was in high school-- Tex Winter had come to the school. That’s where Ron had decided he was going to go and Tex wanted me to go also, and I really wanted to go to KU, but they had not offered me a scholarship. I had several other places that talked to me. Colorado had visited with me a little bit, and a couple of some smaller schools out west. I really honestly just thought I’d probably end up at K-State, and I’d be close to home. I liked Tex Winter. He was a good guy, I was very impressed with him. Then we played in the state tournament my senior year, and we ended up playing Wyandotte in the semi-final. I had a great game. I had 28 points. I just had one of those really good games. After that, I heard from KU. I was voted on the all-state team, both Ron and I both were. They (KU) called and asked to come and visit with us. Of course, my dad was just an avid KU person. He’s passed away, he’s passed away now for a number of years. I can remember sitting at the radio and listening to B.H. Born. He was just an avid fan. Of course, Wilt. That’s where he (dad) would have wanted me to go, but we didn’t think it was going to happen since they hadn’t contacted me. But when they came and visited with me and said they would like me to consider going there, there wasn’t much consideration. That’s where I wanted to go. I chose to go there.

“We had a high school coach who was extremely disciplined. Tom O’Dell was his name. He was just a super high school coach. We won the state tournament as a sophomore with another coach, and then he came in our junior and senior years. The other coach was really laid back and easy going, pretty much do as you please. O’Dell was really structured and really a disciplinarian, really got on you, which was great for me because when I went to college, I really didn’t have any major adjustments fundamentally. I played defense. Fundamentals wasn’t a big stretch. Just the emotion and the stuff we were going through was the hard part to deal with. As far as the fundamental part was, I felt really well prepared. The only thing I needed to work on was going to my left more. I was pretty much a right-handed player. Tom O’ Dell, I give him a tremendous amount of credit for demanding that kind of discipline.

“Gosh we had a lot of memories. We were the little rural school. Back in the 60’s, there were just two divisions. There were two divisions,  2A and 1A, and I guess they did have some lower divisions. Class 2A was the biggest. When we won the state my sophomore year, we were 1A. The next year, I want to say we had 400 and some kids in our school. We were like seven or eight kids too many, so we went to the double A. That’s when we ended up playing Topeka High and all the big double A schools, which had 1500, 1700 kids and we had 400 and we beat them. I remember that was always a big deal. We were always playing the big schools, and we beat them. That’s how we got to the state tournament. We ended up beating Topeka High in regionals and going to state. Then, we played Wyandotte in the semis. We were a real small school. Now Washburn Rural is a big school. 

“I can remember playing in grade school. I can remember that far back. And Ron Paradis, we lived in the same area, so we went to the same school. Pauline was the school system. We always had good teams. I’m sure I probably did (emulate someone), but I don’t remember that. I was just a big fan of KU because of  my dad. He was just an avid KU guy. We’d just listen to the radio, pretty much listened to the games. Like I said, I can remember listening to them when I was a kid, probably like what a lot these kids do today, watching them on the tube. I can remember listening to the Wilt Chamberlain era. In fact, I went up to B. H. Born at the reunion and told him I can remember listening to him play back in the 50’s. My dad was always a fan and always had the games on. I remember Wilt’s group, Maurice King, Bob Billings, all those players.  

“I think it was just a handful of schools, I had a lot of small schools. Colorado voiced a little bit of interest. But it was pretty much Tex Winter, and that’s pretty much where I was going until the Wyandotte game. That was the game that I think caught their eye. Owens, I think he said he was at the game. I don’t know if (Dick) Harp was there or not. I wasn’t really holding out. Back then, they pretty much waited until the season was over before they got commitments. They had recruiting trips. Tex came in and visited with me a couple of times. He took me out to lunch, and visited about the program and what his expectations were. That’s pretty much where I figured I would go. Then, after the season, I started to get the attention from KU. That would have been my choice. Oh sure. I really thought the world of Tex. I could have played for him. We just are a KU family. My dad was such a fan, and it just kind of rubbed off on me. So that was where my heart was. Of course, when I got the  opportunity, there was no question. They offered me a full scholarship, and I said, ‘Lets go.’ He (dad) went to all the games, all the ones that were within reasonable driving area. My mother both went to all the games and just thoroughly loved it. They went to all the games, they were big supporters.”

Jo Jo White made '65-66 special

It was 50 years ago that KU’s great 1965-66 team marched to to the Midwest Regional finals and nearly beat Texas Western (now UTEP), a team with five black starters which eventually won the national championship that year against all-white Kentucky. Texas Western’s championship revolutionized college basketball recruiting, especially in the South, as now blacks were given an equal opportunity at a scholarship and the American dream.

For Jayhawk Insider’s Feb. 22, 2001 March Madness preview, my editor asked me and another staff writer to pick the best KU basketball team in history. The other writer got first choice and selected the marvelous 34-2 1996-97 team, which was upset by Arizona (eventual national champion) in the Sweet 16.

A KU hoops historian, I weighed my decision on which KU team to pick as the all-time best. I considered the 1952 national champions, the 1971 Final Four team, the 1986 Final Four squad, and the 1966 team. I had gotten to know and interview some of the members of that ‘66 team through my Where are they Now? profiles in Jayhawk Insider, and had become fascinated with Ted Owens’ former squad. The more I thought about it, I decided they were the best team to ever play at Kansas, despite never advancing to the Final Four and winning a national championship.

Here is the story I write that February day in 2001 on the magical 1965-66 Jayhawks.

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It was perhaps the greatest decision of Ted Owens’ coaching career.

Owens knew the 1965-66 Kansas basketball team was quite good. At 15-3 and ranked No. 9 in the country at semester break, Owens felt his squad could possibly win the Big Eight Conference championship and make some noise in the NCAA Tournament. But with the addition of Jo Jo White (an early high school graduate in 1965 who became eligible at mid-semester in ‘66), Owens thought he had an exceptional team that could win the NCAA championship.

So he inserted the confident freshman from St. Louis, Mo., in the starting lineup against Oklahoma State at home on Feb. 12. White caught the opening tip and immediately made a 20-footer (KU coasted to a 59-38 win).

The making of greatness and the last piece of the puzzle to Forever’s Team had been planted.

White added a lethal dimension of speed, quickness, and offensive and defensive firepower to the lineup, which already included superstar center Walt Wesley, sharp shooting forward Ron Franz, athletic Al Lopes, and the crafty Del Lewis. KU not only won the next seven games, the ‘Hawks annihilated opponents with an astounding 26.4 scoring margin.

Included in this magical journey was a victory over top 10-ranked Nebraska in Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 26, which had given KU its last defeat (83-75) over a month earlier. White and his teammates shredded the Cornhuskers’ full-court press for a 110-73 blowout. Owens later called this one of the greatest games ever played in Allen Fieldhouse.

KU blew out teams, in large part, with the deadly inside-outside combination of Wesley and White (11.3 points per game). Wesley (20.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game), one of the top three centers in Jayhawk history, dominated the paint and was a first-team All-American. The dynamic duo guided Kansas to the Big Eight title (first time since 1960) and Midwest Regional finals in Lubbock, Texas, against Texas Western. With the score tied and seconds remaining in the game, KU called timeout. White, who had played just eight games in his college career, insisted on taking the last shot.

His long, rainbow jumper from the left sideline hit nothing but net.

However, KU’s celebration was short lived as the referee, Rudy Marich, waved off the shot and said White stepped on the end line. Kansas wound up losing the game in double overtime, 81-80.

If only fate had been on KU’s side (films later seemed to document that White had not stepped out of bounds), there might be little argument in local barber shops about which Jayhawk team reigns supreme. Texas Western advanced to the Final Four and beat Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats (“Rupp’s Runts”) for the national championship, a team KU arguably would have manhandled, given its overwhelming size advantage and talent.

The 1965-66 squad was simply loaded with skilled players, as five members played professional basketball (only the 1996-97 team can claim this distinction). White — arguably the best guard to ever play in the Big Eight — was an NBA All-Star with the Boston Celtics. In addition, Franz (seven years), Riney Lochmann (three years) and Bobby Wilson all played in the ABA.

And then there was “Wonderful Walt” Wesley, who spent 11 years in the NBA and previously held the Cleveland Cavaliers single-game scoring record with 50 points. While the underrated Lewis (10.9 points per game) never played professionally, he made All-Big Eight that season. Lopes, too, did not play pro ball, but he ranked second on the team in scoring (12.4 points per game).

Along with the overwhelming talent, what made this squad even more special and unique was its cohesiveness and unselfishness. The team chemistry was superb with four players averaging in double figures, and the fifth (Franz) averaging 9.6 points. When Owens was wrestling with the decision to activate White at mid-semester, senior co-captain Lochmann made a remarkable sacrifice and actually volunteered to give up his starting position and come off the bench.

And who says nice guys finish last?

Yes, the history books show that White stepped out of bounds against Texas Western and KU (23-4) finished the season ranked No. 4 in the nation. But for many Crimson and Blue followers, the 1965-66 Jayhawks will always be No. 1.

For all time.

Concluding Thoughts:

While the 1965-66 KU team was my choice as the best Jayhawk squad of all time when I wrote this story in 2001, my pick now would obviously be the 2008 national championship team.

Kansas won a school-record 37 games that season to just three losses and had a whopping seven players make the NBA: Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson, Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich and Sasha Kaun. Chalmers won two NBA championships with the Miami Heat while Kaun captured an NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers in June.