Former KU standout Ron Loneski lived his dream playing with Wilt Chamberlain

In Part 2 on Ron Loneski, I recall his recruitment to KU and include my Where Are They Now? story I wrote on him for Jayhawk Insider in 2002, along with some other nuggets.

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“(I was) recruited by (such schools as) N.C State, Purdue, Notre Dame, USC. I wanted to come to KU because Wilt was coming there. I wanted to play with him. They convinced me that they needed somebody other than they needed Wilt. They needed a strong forward, somebody who could hit the boards and rebound, who could complement Wilt’s game. I don't know if I met their expectations to a tee, but I really enjoyed playing there. I never ever had a regret of going to KU or going someplace else. A lot of people said I would have done better if I had gone to another school and been my own player, but I scoffed at that. I loved the fact that I got a chance to play with the guy I consider at least in my time not only the best basketball player, but the best all-around athlete I ever saw. I lived in Calumet City (Ill.), went to school in Hammond (Ind.), which was right across the state line. I went to catholic school in Hammond, Ind. In fact, I was the first basketball player in the history of the Indiana-Kentucky all-star game to make the Indiana all-star team and live in Illinois. It was the only catholic school at the area at the time. You had a choice if you wanted to go to catholic school, to go to Chicago or Bishop Noll in Hammond, Ind. 

“Actually, I had more scholarship offers to play football. I was a better football player than a basketball player, all-state in both sports. I just had the love of basketball. At that time, football wasn’t as glorified I guess you’d say as it is today. You didn’t play one position. You played offense and defense. I can remember I was a freshman in high school and we played a team from Louisville, Ky.  We went down to Louisville to play them, and I see these guys come out. That was the first time I saw squared off shoulder pads. We used to wear the rounded type. The first play this guy comes around end, and I went to hit him, went to tackle him. I bounced off of him and bounced five feet back. I thought to myself, who is this guy, and that was Paul Hornung.

“Basketball was my first love. When I was growing up as a kid, I always looked for bigger kids to play against. I never considered myself to have a lot of skills.  But I did have one thing. Most of things I do even now, when I’m 64 years old, if I get involved with something, I have a passion for it. I’m going to do it, and nothing is going to stand in my way to get it done. I’ve always been that way.”

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With freshmen ineligible, the Loneski’s team vs. Chamberlain’s team played before varsity games during the 1955-56 season, Phog Allen’s last year as head coach.

“The place was packed,” Loneski said in 2002. “We used to make jokes because the place would be packed, and after the freshman game, a lot of people left. They came to see Wilt.

“I guarded him. I was a smart player. I always loved to play against bigger guys than me because I felt I was an intelligent player. I could box Wilt out. I could rebound with Wilt. If I could put a body on him and keep him out, that was a challenge to me. I loved to do that.”

Loneski, who averaged 28.0 points per game in high school, had no delusions about being the star when he came to KU.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be like that. I came there with the purpose to play with Wilt. I didn’t come there with the purpose I was going to be disgruntled or upset or angry because Wilt was getting all the attention. It wasn’t like that at all.”

Loneski, who roomed with Wilt their first year on campus, wish the two teammates would have had a closer relationship.

“When I look back, I wish we would have had better camaraderie. I wish there would have been more closeness, but there wasn’t," Loneski said. "Why there wasn’t, I don’t know.  Maybe it was the sign of the time, the racial thing. Wilt was a very private person. He didn’t like people hovering over him  or prying into his business. He liked his privacy. He wanted to be Wilt.” 

Loneski said that some people badly “mistaken him for Bill Russell; (this) really set Wilt off (and he got) upset.”

Above all, Loneski remains eternally proud to be a Jayhawk.

“I will never forget to the day the (100th-year) reunion (in 1998),” Loneski said. “That was the most humbling experience of my life. Just to see all those people and the reception and the warmth that they gave was unbelievable. It’s just a class university. The people that go there that are associated with that school just have a lot of class, lot of dignity. I’m so proud to be a graduate of that school.

“It’s something that will live with me forever.” 

“I just have so many fond memories of my playing days,” Loneski added. “I still have almost every clipping that came out of the Journal-World. Eight or nine big, thick scrapbooks that are filled with great memories.”

Here is my Where Are They Now? story on Ron Loneski in Jayhawk Insider in 2002.

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Ron Loneski had many colleges wooing him after a standout high school basketball career in Hammond, Ind. North Carolina State, Purdue, Notre Dame, and USC were just some of the major schools interested in this husky 6-41/2 lefthander. However, those colleges never really had a chance.

 Loneski desired to play with the best.

And that place was Kansas, which had just landed a major coup in 7-foot Philadelphia native Wilt Chamberlain.

“I wanted to play with him,” Loneski said. “They convinced me they needed a strong forward, somebody who could hit the boards and rebound, who could complement Wilt’s game. I don’t know if I met their expectations to a tee, but I really enjoyed playing there. A lot of people said I would have done better if I had gone to another school and been my own player, but I scoffed at that. I loved the fact that I got a chance to play with the guy I consider at least in my time not only the best basketball player, but the best athlete I ever saw.”

Loneski was a pretty fine athlete himself. The 1956-57 KU Media Guide called sophomore Loneski “a sharp shooting, high leaping front line bruiser” who “rated only a cut below the Stilt in overall effectiveness.” After breaking a bone in his foot the first game of the season, Loneski wound up replacing Lew Johnson in the starting lineup at semester break. He would never lose his spot. Loneski played a great complementary role (9.5 ppg and 6.8 rpg) to Chamberlain, who led KU to the championship game against North Carolina. The Tar Heels beat Kansas (24-3) in triple overtime, 54-53.

It’s been 45 years, but the pain still lingers for Loneski.

“That is devastating to this day,” Loneski said. “There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I watch a basketball game and that thought doesn’t come in. Whatever I see happen in a game, I always will go back to that. All the little things that happened where we could have won, where things could have been different. Somebody should have done this, or we should have done that. But we didn’t do that. It’s over. It happened. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

After years of torment, though, Loneski has put the game in perspective and moved on with his life. He’s had to overcome a tremendous amount of adversity. Loneski lost many friends in Vietnam, and then his son, sister, and dad passed away within a seven-month span in 1980.

“At the time when you look at it, you say to yourself, ‘You know, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get over this,’” Loneski said. “When I reflect on some of the things that have happened in my life and some of the things I saw in Vietnam and some of the personal tragedies I’ve had, like losing a son when he was 16, it’s a game. The NCAA finals in 1957 was a game. In the grand scheme of things, the game is meaningless. It’s how you handle what happens, whether you are a winner or a loser, that matters. You look at everything that happens in your life, and you sort of learn from what happens and you measure what type of man you are and you move on.”

While there was great heartache in losing to North Carolina, Loneski cherished his KU days and loved playing with Chamberlain. Although Loneski wasn’t blessed with Chamberlain’s skills, he carved his own niche with a fierce competitiveness and stellar work ethic. Loneski, an All-Big Seven selection his junior year (13.5 ppg and 9.0 rpg for KU, which went 18-5), ranks No. 7 in Kansas history for highest career rebound average (8.9 rpg).  

“I had a passion for the game, I had a passion to play,” Loneski said. “I wasn’t the biggest guy but I could rebound with guys who were 6-11 or 6-10. There were maybe guys better than me, but nobody would beat me down the floor, nobody could play defense better than me. I could do it just out of sheer will and the desire to do it. That’s sort of the way I played.”

After Chamberlain left school in 1958, KU struggled the following season. Loneski led the 'Hawks his senior year with 19.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, but KU finished at just 11-14. With a memorable college career now history, Loneski spent the next year playing for the Denver Chicago Truckers (NIBL). He then embarked on a 21-year career in the Army, which included two tours in Vietnam, before retiring in 1980 as Lieutenant Colonel in Hawaii. Loneski also played four years of basketball (1962-66) in the service, two of them on the Belgium National Team. 

“I think at that time, that was the highlight of my life,” Loneski said. “I really developed into a heck of a player playing at that level and competition.”

Loneski loved his military career.

“There’s not a greater profession than the military,” he said. “As far as the social life and the camaraderie, all my best friends, with the exception of a couple that still live in Lawrence, are all military people.”

After retiring in 1980, Loneski spent a brief period running a Navy reserve program before entering the teaching profession. Loneski taught junior ROTC and English at Lincoln High School in San Diego, Calif., for 12 years (he coached basketball for 10 seasons as well). Since 1994, Loneski has taught English at a middle school.

“I have fun with my kids,” he said.

Loneski will retire at the end of the school year. In the meantime, he’s looking forward to coming back to Lawrence in late March and visiting with old friends like former teammate Bob Billings. Loneski, who speaks in reverence toward KU, still feels chills from the 100th-year basketball anniversary reunion in 1998.

“That was the most humbling experience of my life,” he said. “Just to see all those people and the reception and the warmth that they gave was unbelievable. The KU fans never forget who you are.”

And when they remember Loneski, they usually think of the “Big Dipper.” But that’s just fine for Loneski. He feels honored to have that eternal relationship with Chamberlain.

“Wherever I’ve gone, people have always recognized my name not because of me, but because I got to play with Wilt,” Loneski said. “I came to KU because I wanted to be with the best. I thought Wilt was the best.”

A Closer Look at Ron Loneski:

Years at KU: 1955-59

Career Notables: Member of 1956-57 runner-up NCAA championship team...All-Big Seven in 1958...Ranks No. 7 all time at KU with 8.9 career rebound average.

Family: Loneski has two daughters (Laura, 40, Linda, 39) and eight grandchildren.

Education: 1970, B.S. Language Arts; 1975 (Pepperdine) Master’s degree in School Administration.

Since Leaving KU: Loneski played a season with the NIBL’s Denver Chicago Truckers before embarking on a 21-year military career in the Army. After retiring in 1980, he spent a brief period running a Navy reserve program. Then, he worked the next 20 years teaching high school and middle school students in San Diego, Calif.  

Currently: Loneski teaches English at a middle school in San Diego.

Hobbies: Fishing, bird hunting, traveling, golf, cooking.

Favorite Memories: Playing with Wilt. “Every place you went, everybody wanted to see Wilt. There was just no question about it, because he was a phenomenon. He was the first big man I think to be able to do the things a big man could do. Nobody at that time could run the floor like he could. He was a very athletic and physical kid. He dominated inside. It was just a shame they didn’t have a shot clock. If they would have had a shot clock, I think the Wilt Chamberlain legends of college ball would been unparalleled with anybody.” Rivalries with K-State, Missouri, and Iowa State. ... “Just the fact that you knew that every time you played, Allen Fieldhouse was going to be filled to the brim with people.”

On the Jayhawks Today: “I think Roy Williams is absolutely a superb coach. I’m so happy that he stayed at KU and didn’t go to North Carolina. He’s just a very fantastic man. He’s what KU is all about.”

Ron Loneski was one of the toughest competitors in KU history

In this two-part feature on former KU great Ron Loneski, I share some of the information he gave  me during our very revealing, wonderful, memorable, and in-depth Where Are They Now? interview for Jayhawk Insider in 2002, some of which I have never published until now.

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Ron Loneski is one of the most underrated players and fiercest competitors in KU history. He played a complementary role to Wilt Chamberlain his first two seasons before averaging a career-high 19.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game his senior year. Just 6-4 1/2, Loneski played forward, was very strong, and could rebound with the best. His career 8.9 rebound average ranks No. 7 all time at KU, while named All-Big Eight in 1958.

He also averaged 14.4 points in 63 career games.

“I had a passion for the game, I had a passion to play,” Loneski said. “I wasn’t the biggest guy but I could rebound with guys who were 6-11 or 6-10. There were maybe guys better than me, but nobody would beat me down the floor, nobody could play defense better than me. I could do it just out of sheer will and the desire to do it. That’s sort of the way I played.”

His best basketball was actually after he left KU. A 10th round NBA Draft pick by the St. Louis Hawks, Loneski decided instead to join the Army. He played four years in the service (1962-66) when he was deployed in Germany, including two years for the Belgium National Team, where Loneski competed against future Hall of Famer Bill Bradley.

“I think at that time, that was the highlight of my life,” Loneski told me in 2002. “I really developed into a heck of a player playing at that level and competition.”

He shut down Bradley, a master of moving without the ball, with his defensive prowess.

“Bradley got 26 points in the first half,” Loneski recalled. “He didn’t get a point in the second half with me on him. I can play anybody.

“(I was) known (in Belgium) as a very aggressive and tough player who didn’t want to lose,” Loneski added. “I enjoyed winning. That’s the bottom line for me is to win. I think that losing is despicable. I hate to lose. I’m not a poor loser, but I’m not a very good loser. I always hated to lose in everything I did. I think that helped me as a player because I was very, very aggressive.”

Loneski’s biggest loss of his career happened in the 1957 national game, when North Carolina beat KU in triple overtime. His lob pass to Chamberlain in the final seconds was intercepted, sealing KU’s doom.

“That (loss) is devastating to this day,” Loneski said. “There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I watch a basketball game and that thought doesn’t come in. Whatever I see happen in a game, I always will go back to that. All the little things that happened where we could have won, where things could have been different. Somebody should have done this, or we should have done that. But we didn’t do that. It’s over. It happened. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Loneski, who had two tours in Vietnam and served 21 years in the military, has learned, though, to put the game into perspective. He experienced great personal tragedy in his life. Loneski lost many friends in Vietnam, and then his son, sister, and dad passed away within a seven-month span in 1980.

“At the time when you look at it (‘57 game), you say to yourself, ‘You know, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get over this,’” Loneski said. “When I reflect on some of the things that have happened in my life and some of the things I saw in Vietnam and some of the personal tragedies I’ve had, like losing a son when he was 16, it’s a game. The NCAA finals in 1957 was a game. In the grand scheme of things, the game is meaningless. It’s how you handle what happens, whether you are a winner or a loser, that matters. You look at everything that happens in your life, and you sort of learn from what happens and you measure what type of man you are and you move on.”

Ten years after that heartbreaking loss to UNC, Loneski was in Vietnam in 1967 when he recalled somberly of watching a “young kid get shot in the eye, blew the whole back of his head off.”

Thirteen years later, his son died.

“How you deal with losing a son when he was 16, which is the worse thing that’s ever happened to me in my life. Nothing ever could measure up to that.”

With great resilience, Loneski moved on with his life and taught high school and middle school English for 20 years in San Diego, Calif., while also serving as head basketball coach for 10 years at Lincoln High School.

“You look at everything that happens in your life,  and you sort of learn from what happens and you measure what type of man you are and you move on," he said. "It’s just a lesson maybe you learn when you get older and you see so many things happen.” 

He loved teaching and coaching kids and shaping their lives. Loneski, who was named San Diego Coach of the Year in 1991 and compiled an impressive 200-76 record, actually cut future Super Bowl MVP Terrell Davis.

This former KU standout had a special affinity for teaching middle-school students.

”Those people hold a special place in my life because they’re so dedicated.” Loneski said. "Dealing with 7th and 8th graders is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I have a good rapport with my kids. I tell my students, come to class prepared to learn and come to class with a good sense of humor and we’ll make the year short and everyone will  learn something. I have fun with my kids.”

Indeed, he did.

Loneski had a very distinguished military career, where he made lifelong friendships. He retired as Lieutenant Colonel. With two tours in Vietnam, he received a Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars and Commendations for Meritorious Service.

After retiring from teaching, he married his wife Jackie and moved to Lawrence, where he died in 2007, the last survivor of the seven Jayhawks who played in the 1957 national title game against UNC.

In his heartfelt obituary, it read that Loneski “continued to hear from many of his former students recognizing his contribution toward starting them on the right path to a better future.”

Thanks Ron for making this world a better place.

Al Donaghue was a star high school player and key member of Jayhawks' teams

Al Donaghue was a superstar player at powerhouse Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, leading his team to two state championships while a two-time Kansas player of the year. Heavily recruited, Donaghue narrowed his choices to K-State and KU. While he admits to being a big KSU fan growing up, this all changed when KU’s Phog Allen and Dick Harp made an in-home recruiting visit. Allen, who had just retired (Harp was now head coach), made a huge impression on Al’s parents. 

After Allen’s amazing recruiting pitch, Al’s mother asked her son: “‘You are going to Kansas, aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ That’s where she wanted me to go, and that’s what I wanted to do after meeting Phog Allen and Dick Harp.”

Al,  nicknamed “Sam” by Harp, never looked back. He played a key role on Jayhawk teams loaded with talent, including Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Bridges and Wayne Hightower. He improved his scoring average from 5.0 points per game his sophomore year to 10.6 ppg as a junior before a career-high 10.9 points per game his senior season. Al, who was part of KU’s co-Big Eight championship team in 1959-60, finished his standout career with averages of 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He scored 566 points in 65 games.

A very versatile player, Donaghue could score, rebound, defend and pass, the consummate team player ever squad needs.

The 6-5 forward loved playing for Harp and credits him for his great improvement.

“Dick was a fine man,” Al told me in the early 2000s during a Where Are They Now? interview for Jayhawk Insider. “He probably was a better human being than he was a coach. When you say that, that’s not to diminish his coaching ability. He was an excellent coach, but was just a very saltable, God fearing, very moral gentleman. Great guy to play for. I enjoyed playing for him. He probably did a lot for me in terms of helping me grow and develop, and was instrumental in my development.”

Al was a loyal Jayhawk throughout his life, attending all KU basketball games after moving back to Kansas City in 1980 and served with coach Roy Williams on the Jayhawks’ mentoring program.

His death in 2007 shook his family and Jayhawk Nation hard. The Lawrence Journal-World’s Bill Mayer paid tribute to Al in his July 20, 2007 column.

“The recent death of Al Donaghue, a Kansas University basketball player of note in 1958-60, left a sense of loss and grief in many a life, particularly those in his family,” Mayer wrote. “He had a tough battle with lymphoma, and I can only hope he's comfortable and enjoying himself again. Al, nicknamed ‘Sam’ while playing under Dick Harp, brought a lot to the table in many venues. One of his best contributions was the loyalty and love he displayed as a KU product, especially as a basketball alum. I'm sad that his passing will take away a little more of the warmth that the KU sports program seems to be losing in today's dash for dollars.

“Al and his wife, the former Mary Susan Eggleston, were constant attendees at Jayhawk basketball games, and they and a number of friends helped create one of those pods of camaraderie and delight that were so typical of KU fandom over the years. People who had adjoining seats for the game got to know each other, relished those associations and focused their pride on Jayhawk achievements.”

“... Al, a one-time Wilt Chamberlain teammate, and his clan stuck with KU and each other through thick and thin for years, and his loss creates just one more gap in the Crimson and Blue fabric of devotion and affection.”

I, too, was very sad to hear about his death, but comforted knowing our paths crossed that evening in the early 2000s during our phone conversation, where Al was so full of life, his robust voice reveling in talking about his favorite KU memories, his devotion to KU, and his great experience playing at Wyandotte with best friend Monte Johnson, also a fellow Jayhawk teammate and former Kansas athletic director.

It was truly a very enjoyable and memorable interview!

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“I went to Wyandotte High School. Monte Johnson was one of my closest friends. Monte was best man at my wedding. Monte and I go back to Wyandotte, when he was playing there and have been friends since, oh Lord, 1953, I guess, and have maintained that friendship over the years. I first started playing organized basketball in junior high school in Kansas City, Kansas. So that was about the seventh or eight grade, I guess, other than playing in the playground. In the old days, you played everything out in the playground. You played baseball in the summer and you played football in the fall and basketball in the winter. That’s how kids grew up. Kansas City, Kansas, Wyandotte High School had a great program back in those days. It was started by Walt Shublom, who was the head coach at Wyandotte. He was there from 1960; in the 18 years he was there, he either won or finished second in the state every year. He won like 14 championships out of 18 years. We had a very good team, but it was a program in Kansas City, Kansas, that was pretty much developed. All the junior high schools ran the same kind of program that fed into Wyandotte. In junior high school, I was running the offense that Wyandotte High school was using. We were very successful. We won the state tournament two of my three years in high school, and lost it my senior year. We lost one game, and that was in the finals of the state tournament. We had a very good program-- it was a good school, some great players had come out of Wyandotte to play in colleges and the pros, some to KU. Some went to other schools. Wyandotte developed some nice players over the years from Kansas. Nolen Ellison, he was a sophomore my senior year. He was an outstanding, outstanding player. 

"Harry Gibson, who lives now there in Lawrence, played at Wyandotte. A guy named Pierre Russell played at Wyandotte. Cal Thompson, later. There were some great players that came out of Wyandotte and went to the University of Kansas. I was very highly recruited. I was voted for two straight years the player of the year in the state of Kansas. I could have gone a lot of places. Dick Harp, of course, did lot of recruiting. Phog Allen was forced to retire when he turned 70. My senior year of high school was his last year in coaching. I was kind of torn between KU and K-State, quite frankly. One of the in-home visits, Dick brought coach Allen to our house; he impressed my mother and father dramatically to the point that when they left, my mom said: ‘You are going to Kansas, aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ That’s where she wanted me to go, and that’s what I wanted to do after meeting Phog Allen and Dick Harp. With Chamberlain there, it was a nice chance for all intents and purposes to play for a national championship each year.

“Tex Winter, who was the coach at K-State in those days; he was a great recruiter. They had an excellent program at K-State. I was pretty much torn between KU and K-State. I grew up as a K-State fan because they had some great players. As I got to know more and more people (from KU), there was a gentleman with the name like Roy Edwards in Kansas City, who the Edwards campus at the junior college is named after. Roy was a very strong alum. He and I got to be very good friends. You start to change your allegiance as you meet more and more fine people from the University. I had a chance to meet Paul Endacott, who was president of Phillips. It was nice to finally make a decision. I made the right decision. After I met Dr. Allen in our home and my mom and dad met him, it was kind of a foregone conclusion that’s where we were going. It was a toss-up, they were both good schools, I know they both had good programs, I had to pick out the school I wanted to go to.

“As I said, I think KU was the best choice for me at that time, and I’m glad I went. I didn’t have an overwhelming desire when I was a kid growing up to go to KU because I really liked K-State when I was a young  man. You got to realize, K-State had a great basketball program back in those days. They were very, very strong. If you go back and look at some of the old archives, KU and K-State pretty much dominated the Big 7 in those days. KU would win it a year, and K-State would win it the next year. They were great schools, great competition and a great rivalry that went on. ... (Growing up), I was short; I was very small. I was the shortest guy on our junior high school team, so I played guard. I didn’t get a growth spurt until I was probably a  sophomore in high school. I went from about 6-0 to 6-5 in basically a year and a half. With it came the clumsiness. I think the chance to play guard as a young man helped overcome some of those difficulties. I could go out and pretty much do everything a guard could do, which helped in those days to be 6-5 and to do that. Six-five was big in those days, now it’s small. I started as a sophomore in high school, which was kind of unusual. That’s when I really became good. We won the state tournament my sophomore year. We had good seniors.  We won it my my junior year with Monte, and then my senior year, we were undefeated until the finals. I guess my sophomore year is when I really started to develop myself as a player.” 

Here is my Where Are They Now? story on Al Donaghue.

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Al Donaghue scored. He passed. He defended. Donaghue, quite simply, did it all for Wyandotte High School in Kansas City. He led Wyandotte to two state championships, while culminating his scintillating high school career in 1956 as a two-time Kansas player of the year.  

Recruited nationally by big-time colleges, Donaghue was “pretty much torn between KU and K-State.” He actually grew up cheering more for the purple Wildcats than the crimson and blue Jayhawks. This all changed, though, when KU made an in-home recruiting visit his senior year with former head coach Phog Allen (he had just retired due to mandatory age requirement) and current head man Dick Harp.

“He (Allen) impressed my mother and father dramatically,” Donaghue said, “to the point that when they left, my mom said, ‘You are going to Kansas, aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ That’s where she wanted me to go, and that’s what I wanted to do after meeting Phog Allen and Dick Harp.”

Donaghue had another important reason for choosing Kansas. It seemed there was a pretty talented freshman 7-footer already making a name for himself at Mount Oread.

“With (Wilt) Chamberlain there, it was a chance for all intents and purposes to play for a national championship each year.”

So yes, after becoming eligible his sophomore year, Donaghue got the prized opportunity to play with Chamberlain in 1957-58. It was the season after KU lost the national championship to North Carolina in triple overtime, and expectations were sky high with Chamberlain and fellow junior Ron Loneski returning. However, Chamberlain became injured and missed a couple of key games, as Kansas (18-5) finished second in the conference to K-State. 

“It was a disappointment not going to the tournament,” Donaghue said.

But Donaghue (6-5 forward), who was a part-time starter, still relished his time on the court with the “Big Dipper.” The two actually roomed together during road trips and maintained a friendship over the years.

“He was a unique player, probably the greatest athlete I had ever been around and probably the greatest basketball player in college that ever lived,” Donaghue said. “The rules of the game were changed to accommodate him, the dunking rules, things like that. He was an awesome athlete, the strongest man I ever met.”

Chamberlain (30.1 ppg), of course, was a dominant force in the paint.

“Knowing that you got the best player in the college game with you, you passed to him a lot,” Donaghue said. “There’s no doubt about that. You didn’t work offensively for your own shots as much as you were looking for him to pass to. That was smart. I think all of our players realized they had to do that. Our coach (Harp), he was a smart man in the fact that he came to all the players and said, ‘We’ve got two rules. We have a rule for the team, and we have a rule for Chamberlain. You need to understand that.’ He actually said, ‘You guys can vote on it.’ We all voted that Chamberlain could kind of, if he wanted to miss a practice, could miss a practice. He didn’t very often, but he could if he wanted to.”

A rugged rebounder and defensive stopper, Donaghue (5.0 ppg) was an invaluable supporting player to Chamberlain, and in ensuing years to stars Bill Bridges and Wayne Hightower. Donaghue loved playing defense.

“I wasn’t real fast, but I was smart and I worked hard at it,” he said. “I wasn’t a great player. I was just a good contributor. I rebounded fairly well and passed fairly well. I was a good team person.”

When Chamberlain left KU after his junior season to join the Harlem Globetrotters, there was a huge void in the middle. With Bridges the tallest player at 6-6, Kansas struggled and went 11-14. Donaghue, though, improved his scoring average to 10.6 ppg and pulled down 5.0 rebounds a game as well.

“As you get older and become used to the system, sure you get better,” he said. “My senior year (10.9 ppg), the same thing. You mature, your body matures, and you’re a better player.”

As the 6-8 Hightower joined the 1959-60 Jayhawks (19-9), an inspired Kansas team received some much-needed height and won a share of the conference title. The Jayhawks won their last 10 of 11 games before falling to No. 1 Cincinnati in the Midwest Regional finals. Unfortunately, Kansas didn’t have the services of Donaghue, who became academically ineligible after semester break.

“In those days, we didn’t have an academic program that they have now where you knew where you stood all the time,” Donaghue said. “You just didn’t know. It was very sad. In fact, Dick Harp used to say if the unfortunate things hadn’t happened to me, we might have won the whole thing.”

Despite not winning a national championship, it was indeed a memorable career for Donaghue. In addition to the games, he loved competing against the likes of Bridges and Chamberlain in practice.

“Bridges was probably the most intense rebounder I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Donaghue said. “He was just an animal. I use that as a lovable form. He was just great on the court as an intense rebounder. Chamberlain was just big and very powerful. If Wilt wanted the ball, he just went up and got it. He had a tremendous height advantage over we little people. It was a real treat to battle against them in practice. They made you better.”

After graduating from KU in 1960, Donaghue, 65, spent a year and a half in the Air Force before working for two years in sales with Phillips Petroleum Co. The former Jayhawk then joined Johnson and Johnson in 1964, a large pharmaceutical company on the East Coast. Donaghue lived all over the United States while working for Johnson and Johnson, and finished there in 1979 as director of field sales in New Brunswick, NJ. He then accepted a job with Russell Stover candies in Kansas City, and retired as vice president of sales and marketing in 1996.

Donaghue said he was fortunate for the opportunity to return home to Kansas City in 1980.

"It gave me a chance to reactivate myself with the university (Donaghue spent time serving with KU basketball coach Roy Williams on the Jayhawks’ mentoring program) and our kids had a chance to grow up in Kansas City and become reacquainted with their grandparents, which was important to us,” he said.

In all, it was more than 30 great years in the business world for Donaghue. He credits Harp, in large part, for his success and the lessons he gained playing basketball for Kansas.

“I think a lot of that can be related back to some of the things I learned as an athlete,” Donaghue said. “Some of the work ethic I learned being an athlete, the goals you set for yourself, the things you do to achieve those goals. I think that was all very important. I maintain that the University of Kansas had a great deal to do with it in developing me as a person  It was a wonderful experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

Currently, Donaghue lives a rich and satisfying life in retirement. He spends his free time socializing with friends, golfing, walking and traveling. And when Donaghue reflects back to those KU wonder days of yesteryear, he remains forever grateful for the recruiting pitch Allen made in his home nearly 50 years ago. 

For this one-time K-State booster, there is now no question where his allegiance lies.

“I’m a loyal Jayhawk,” Donaghue said. “I bleed blue.”

A Closer Look at Al Donaghue

Years at KU: 1956-60

Career Notables: Member of Big Eight conference co-champions in 1959-60 and Big Seven Holiday Tournament champs in 1957-58...Averaged a career-best 10.9 ppg in 1960...Career-high 27 points versus Colorado on Jan. 31, 1959.

Family: Wife, Susan, and two children — Amy, 36, and Paul, 33.  Donaghue also has two grandkids.

Education: 1960. B.S. Education

Since Leaving KU: Donaghue spent a year and a half in the Air Force before going to work in sales for Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1964. He spent the rest of his business career with Johnson and Johnson (pharmaceutical company) and Russell Stover candies. He retired from Russell Stover in 1996 as vice president of sales and marketing.

Currently: Donaghue is retired and lives in native Kansas City.

Hobbies: Golf, cooking, reading, walking, traveling.

Favorite Memories: “Off the court, obviously is the chance to get an education at the University of Kansas. The campus, the people I met, the friends I met and developed, it was awesome.”... Scoring a career-best 27 points at home versus Colorado in the first nationally televised game on Jan. 31, 1959. “Of course, all my relatives around the United States got a chance to see it. It wasn’t a good memory to lose, but it was a good memory to be on the first national televised basketball game.”... “I guess the thing I’m proudest of is the fact that in the three years I was there, we never lost to Missouri. That was always nice to say.”... Playing with Chamberlain. “He was a very quiet man. He broke a lot of the racial barriers in the Midwest in those days. There had been other black players before Wilt at KU, but he was the first true star. ... I could see that he faced a great deal of discrimination from the fans and media in those days, which was unfortunate. But that was the time we lived in. Thank God, times have changed now.”

On the Jayhawks today: “I’ve enjoyed them this year. I’m at every home game, so my wife and I still support the university very much. They’re fine young guys. They’re the kind of young guys you want representing your university. Roy runs the right kind of program.”  

Dick Harp takes over for Phog Allen as KU head coach

In Phog Allen’s last year as KU’s legendary head coach in 1955-56, the Jayhawks finished just 14-9 before Allen was forced to step down at 70 years old, the age of mandatory retirement. While he appealed all the way to the Board of Regents, it was to no avail.

Allen dearly wanted to have one season coaching his prized recruit Wilt Chamberlain, who would become eligible during the 1956-57 season.

“It would be the thrill of my life to end a long coaching career with a truly great team,” said Allen,  who called his just completed last season “very disappointing.”

The Lawrence Journal-World’s Bill Mayer summed up how close Allen came to his dream of coaching Chamberlain, only to see it never fulfilled.

“Phog was like Moses, who got to see the Promised Land but never was allowed to enter,” Mayer wrote. “The Kansas retirement rule said professors, coaches and other faculty-type people had to retire after the academic year in which they turned 70. Phog Allen hit 70 that night of the freshman-varsity clash in 1955 and gave way to assistant Harp for Wilt's sophomore year of 1956-57.”

Allen’s loyal assistant Dick Harp, though, told John Hendel in “Kansas Jayhawks: History-making basketball” that he actually believed Allen didn’t care to return for the 1956-57 season.

“A lot of people said he wanted to coach Wilt Chamberlain just one season,” Harp said. “But he never told me that. I think it was a case of some people wanted him to do it and he got caught up in it. He was flattered and so let it go on.”

Before Allen’s resignation became official, Harp spoke to the University Daily Kansan about the possible vacant head coaching position:

“As for applying, if the job were open, I presume (athletic director) Dutch Lonborg knows I hope to continue coaching here,” Harp said.

Still, even in the last moments, Harp was pulling for Allen to keep the job.

“If it is possible for Dr. Allen to remain as coach if that is what he wants and thinks is best, I will be happy for him,” Harp said. “No one has had more joy or reaped greater benefits than I have in eight years coaching under Dr. Allen.”

Harp continued talking to the paper about Allen and himself.

“There has been no change in the type of fundamentals we teach here, not in Dr. Allen’s insistence that fundamentals get perfected," Harp said. "Dr. Allen says fundamentals never change. Dr. Allen was years ahead of other coaches in his techniques of teaching and realized before others that without perfection of fundamentals, you can’t play the game well. He’s still a great stickler for doing things correctly.” 

While Harp admitted he had other coaching offers in the past, he has always been happy to remain at Kansas.

“Maybe I’m a sentimental guy--this is our school and I wouldn’t have taken a coaching job anywhere but here,” Harp said. “Sure I’ve been approached by other schools but the most attention I have ever give to another offer was to once an overnight looking at it. I enjoy coaching--particularly the association with the kids. That will keep me in coaching. I could be happy doing a lot of things, but probably not as happy anywhere as in coaching.” 

The student paper wrote that “Harp believes the Allen-built tradition of championship team has stood Kansas in good stead often...and will continue to bring the school victories.”

The paper called Harp an “avid student of the game” whose “studies have included everything I can get my hands on in the way of reading and lectures.”

Off the court, the University Daily Kansan wrote that Harp’s “music desires can be satisfied with a pop concert. It is a sore spot with his wife that he’ll not go dancing, not even at the annual Christmas faculty party.” 

“We’re always playing basketball then,” he grins. 

And KU basketball has always been a central part of Harp’s life, a dream to play for the Jayhawks since he was just 9 years old. Finally, on March 30, 1956, the Kansas Board of Regents named Harp as KU’s new head coach, effective July 1. The Regents also made a statement concerning denying Allen’s written request appeal.

“This board has nothing but the highest respect for Dr. Allen and his desire to serve. This unhappy dilemma always occurs when the retirement rule is applied to a man or woman of vigor, ability and national stature. However, the benefits resulting from the retirement rule far outweigh its disadvantages and the board unanimously feels that it must be applied to all.”

Allen concluded his legendary 46-year career with a 746-264 record, tops in the NCAA before his former pupil Adolph Rupp first broke it. Allen, who had won or shared 31 conference championships, coached at KU for 39 years with a 590-219 record and 24 league titles.

But his coaching career was now over. 

The torch had been passed from the game’s inventor James Naismith, to W.O. Hamilton, to the Father of Basketball Coaching Doc Allen, to now Dick Harp, just the fourth head basketball coach in the Jayhawks’ illustrious history.

It was the job he dreamed of in high school growing up in Rosedale, where his life revolved around KU basketball 365 days per year.

Now, it was his. Dick Harp was the new man in charge of Kansas basketball.

When Harp was announced as the new head coach, it was the beginning of a third chapter in his life and another dream fulfilled. First, he realized his dream of playing for KU. Next, he got the opportunity to become Dr. Allen’s assistant. And now, he was running the program as head coach at his beloved alma mater. He was looking forward to beginning his duties and continuing the rich tradition at Kansas.

“I am greatly honored by my appointment as basketball coach at the University of Kansas,” Harp said in a statement. “However, I cannot help being somewhat saddened by the realization that my intimate relationship with Dr. Allen will no longer continue. I shall certainly look to him for guidance and counsel during my tenure as basketball coach.

“There is not greater basketball heritage in the United States than at our university, and it will be my constant effort to maintain this tradition which has been foster so long and well by Dr. Allen.”

While he was succeeding a legend, Harp didn’t feel any extra pressure to perform. At least he didn’t admit so publicly.

“I never put it in terms of following Doc because that’s not possible,” Harp told Hendel. “It was not possible for anyone to follow Doc Allen. If you knew (Allen) at all, you know that would not be possible. I never gave that a thought.”

In a June 7, 1956 letter to friends, Allen wrote that KU and Harp would seemingly coast with Chamberlain on the team.

“Wilton could make a successful coach out of anyone.” 

Chancellor Franklin Murphy was happy to have Harp on board. He made a statement thanking Allen for his service while also lauding the hiring of Harp.

“The long and distinguished career of Dr. Forrest C. Allen speaks for itself. The records made by his basketball teams, and what is even more important the records made subsequently by members of his teams in their business and professional lives, are eloquent testimony to his unique abilities in not only building championship teams but also building first-class citizens. 

“It is entirely appropriate that his great contributions to the University of Kansas will be forever memorialized in the great field house which bears his name. I believe that the university is fortunate indeed to have obtained, as Dr. Allen’s successor, Mr. Richard Harp, generally recognized as one of the brilliant young basketball coaches in the country today. It is entirely appropriate he is an Allen-trained man. It is our conviction that he is especially equipped to continue the great tradition established by Dr. Allen and indeed to enlarge and further develop it.”

Harp expressed his sentiments to Hendel on what Allen meant to KU basketball.

“The experiences of competition and the the people you meet and the opportunities you have from that should be instrumental in your life as an athlete and not just the winning and losing of the game, he taught that in many different ways.

“In the game itself that is when his competitiveness surfaced. As long as you’re in the game, you may as well do your very best to win that. But he thought there was more to athletics other than the outcome of the game.”

Harp, who like Allen believed in a higher purpose for basketball, had the good fortune of further developing the great KU basketball tradition his first season with the arrival of Chamberlain to Mount Oread.

“I think Kansas will have a good 1956-57 basketball team,” Harp said in a glaring understatement.

It would turn out to be a magical run to the national championship game.

Maurice King was the “soul” of Kansas basketball

I’ve always admired Maurice King, KU’s second African-American player, first black starter and first African-American star who was a pivotal member of KU’s 1957 NCAA runner-up national championship team. King carried himself constantly with grace and dignity, battling through adversity amidst rampant racism during his college career.

After leaving KU, he played two seasons with the Boston Celtics and Chicago Zephyrs, winning the NBA championship in 1960 with Celtics Hall of Famer Bill Russell. He then enjoyed a very successful and distinguished career at Hallmark, and continued to mentor people throughout his life.

Maurice, who died in 2007, was truly an exceptional human being.

“He drew himself close to others by making himself available," said Ronald Lindsay to the University Daily Kansan, pastor at King’s Concord Fortress of Hope Church in Kansas City. "He had a great way of making himself available to the people he loved and the people he was concerned about.”

“Out of all my travels," Lindsay added, "I would go as far as to say he was one of the best and finest role models the country had to offer. He just had an amazing way of making sense out of madness.”

I lived in the same dorm (JRP Hall) at KU as King’s son, Maurice III. Maurice was a very kind and outgoing person and we had some great conversations. I regret, though, that I never asked him about his father. Maurice knew I was a KU basketball junkie and said I should try to get involved with Kansas hoops in some way. I appreciate him reaching out to me like that, just like his loving dad did to others throughout his life.

Here is my tribute to Maurice King.

...

Nolen Ellison, who played at KU in the early 1960s, disagrees with former KU coach Dick Harp about singling out Maurice King for becoming “completely integrated,” although he states that King did mix well with his white teammates. Ellison argued that King, who graduated from all-black R.T. Coles Vocational School in the inner city of K.C., hung around the white teammates after the Big 8 Christmas Tournament because, in part, “he didn’t have anywhere to go in Kansas City, not even home.”

But Ellison and his older brother Butch had great respect for King, who was prepared to attend an all-black college like Lincoln or Tennessee State until Harp saw him play in high school and KU offered him a scholarship.

For King, that was something to celebrate and a chance to make a better life for himself out of the inner city.

“King came (with the) attitude they (KU) did something big for him by getting him there,” Nolen  told me in 2007 during a three-hour interview. “(It was a) feeling he owed them something because they had rescued him out of his vocational school. That was not a high school that would produce kids to go to KU. He was much more accommodating, more integrated. He seemed to pal around with white guys more.”

Nolen called King “a Jackie Robinson” type figure.

“He turned the other cheek,” Ellison said. “Maurice was a wonderful guy. I wasn’t like that. When (Joe) Doughty (MU player) punched me, (I hit him back). I wouldn’t be looked at as a good guy integrationist because I fight back.”

Longtime KU trainer Dean Nesmith told Mike Fisher in his book, “Deaner” that King “was immediately accepted by our fans and players." However, King still endured rampant prejudice during his career, but always resisted fighting back. Once, though, during on instance at Missouri, circumstances became too tough for King to ignore.

In Mark Stallard’s book, “Tales from the Jayhawk Hardwood,” teammate John Parker describes what transpired in Brewer Fieldhouse at Missouri on Jan. 9, 1956.

“The only time that Maurice King ever got in a confrontation or fight with anybody was at Missouri, and that was because of Norm Stewart,” Parker said. “Norm was on the team then, and he was a great player. But he kept calling Maurice all kinds of names. You can imagine what, like ‘nigger,’ and so on and so forth. Maurice finally had all he could take and got in a fight. It didn’t last very long, and when I say a fight, I mean he pushed him or something.

“Of course, the crowd went crazy, and they’d play those Southern songs like ‘Dixie’ and all that crap.”

Butch had great fondness for King, who died in 2007.

“I admired Maurice,” Butch said.

King was indeed a player did not fight back against prejudice and racism. He was strong-willed, though, and focused on making his own name on the court and blending in with his teammates away from the hardwood.

"I was busy just trying to survive," King told the University Daily Kansan in 2006. "If I came to this university and failed, that was going to be a setback for other minority athletes. When I came here, I was scared to death of failure.”

King, a 6-2 guard, became the first black starter in KU history during his sophomore season, where he averaged 3.6 points and shot 41.2 percent at the free throw line. He dramatically improved his production as a junior, averaging 14.0 points and 5.6 rebounds, while shooting 39.3 percent from the field and 69.0 percent at the charity stripe. With Wilt Chamberlain joining the team in 1956-57, King’s scoring average dropped to 9.7 points while adding 4.5 rebounds per game. He shot 36.3 percent from the field and 69.3 percent at the free throw line.

While Chamberlain was the star, King’s teammates on that team say he shouldn’t be overlooked.

"His leadership is what took us to the Final Four," Ron Loneski told the University Daily Kansan. "He was just a team guy."

King was a “team guy” who helped others throughout his life. His death in 2007 shook those who knew him hard. Ronald Lindsay, the pastor at King’s Concord Fortress of Hope Church in Kansas City, said King helped pave the way for many other African Americans at KU and served as a great role model.

"A young man who had just spoken with Maurice once told me 'Wilt may have been the face of KU basketball, but Maurice was the soul,' " Lindsay told the UDK. "In terms of facing the struggles of being an African-American in that time, he really carried it.”

King was a dignified man who carried himself with grace, despite the great racism and prejudice he encountered.

"It was sort of an evolution for everybody that followed," Loneski said. "Maurice made it that much easier."

King was often turned away at restaurants and movie theaters, feeling invisible in this new white world he encountered at KU.

"He endured a lot of tough times," legendary KU radio announcer Max Falkenstien once said. "But he was always very quiet and dignified - a humble person.

"He didn't know what to expect when he came because he'd never played with whites," Falkenstien added. “He was apprehensive about the whole thing."

But King mixed well with his white teammates and was a popular player.  He’d hang out at their fraternities during Christmas break and go to movies with them. When Chamberlain arrived at KU, King’s situation changed for the better. Lawrence and its surrounding areas began to integrate in regards to restaurants, movie theaters, and hotels.

"When Wilt Chamberlain came to that campus, a lot of that foolishness stopped," King said.

King, who later played two season with the Boston Celtics and was part of the 1960 NBA championship with Hall of Famer Bill Russell, once told Bill Mayer of the Journal-World about the great adjustment he made at Kansas and the influence of Chamberlain.

“I grew up in a pretty parochial atmosphere in Kansas City, and I really got my eyes opened,” King said. “We (African-Americans) had our own movies, pool, nice parks ... through high school I found anything I wanted in our own community. I came to KU and ran into things I wasn’t accustomed to. I didn’t like some of them, but I knew I couldn’t change much by myself; until Wilt opened my eyes, I did what I had to do to get through it.

“He was a wonder with a big-city background and lots of savvy. All sorts of things began to change with the aid of people like Phog Allen, chancellor Franklin Murphy, Dolph Simons Sr., Roy Edwards ... Wilt not only changed basketball but a lot of other things. After two years pretty much on my own, I saw a lot of changes, a lot pretty unfamiliar to me. With Wilt and with powerful people supporting us, we could go to restaurants, non-segregated movies, get barber work. Phog’s son Mitt was an attorney who told us to keep him informed, but nobody confronted us with much of anything. Students were especially supportive.”

King indeed benefited greatly from Chamberlain’s presence.

“Wilt was a godsend,” King said. “Along with being the finest player I ever saw, he had that strength of personality and a surprising amount of innocence that anticipated the best. It helped break barriers, and he led a lot of changes for the better. He opened a lot of doors to help me grow and succeed. Nowadays there might be a lot of abrasive news coverage; Wilt did things quietly but effectively.”

While King said he “found anything I wanted in our own (African-American) community,” he did face adversity growing up in Kansas City. His parents, Maurice King and Lillian Walker, divorced when he was 5 and his dad ended up moving to New York. Lillian raised the family as a single parent, working hard as a waitress and finding other jobs to help make ends meet. The family also relied on welfare checks to get by.

King’s plans never really included attending college; Mayer said he “figured he would end up working at a blue-collar job after graduation high school, if he graduated at all. Not only did he graduate, King ended up being the first in his family to earn a college degree.”

"I didn't know what I was going to do,” King said. "In my family, we didn't talk about stuff like that. We talked about what we would eat that night.”

King starred in high school on the basketball court and planned to attend a black college like Lincoln University or Tennessee State until Harp saw him play his junior year. Harp reached out to his amicable and genuine teenager.

“Harp made him feel wanted, and his high school coach pushed King to attend KU, so that's where he ended up,” the UDK reported.

King would finish his collegiate and professional career before accepting a job at Hallmark in 1966. He also stayed busy raising two kids, Kimberly and Maurice III, with his wife, Jelena. In addition, King worked as a substitute teacher “and wore suits to class,” as Kimberly told the UDK, “to show young kids how they should respect themselves.”

"In his situation growing up," Kimberly said, "he didn't always make the right choices. He wanted to share his story of where he had come from to going to college to getting a degree to getting a good job. He let them know you can make good choices and bad choices, but you can't let the bad ones stop you."

After working 25 years for Hallmark, King retired in 1991. Still seeking purpose in his life, he worked with youth at the Spofford Home, helping kids with emotional problems. He also volunteered more at Fortress of the Hope Church, singing in the men’s choir and serving as a trustee.

Throughout his life, King served as a mentor. The UDK wrote “he often brought seniors and teenagers together to discuss life.”

"He drew himself close to others by making himself available," Lindsay said. "He had a great way of making himself available to the people he loved and the people he was concerned about."

Lindsay called King just an exceptional human being.

Out of all my travels," Lindsay said, "I would go as far as to say he was one of the best and finest role models the country had to offer. He just had an amazing way of making sense out of madness.”

Former KU head coach Dick Harp’s enlightened change from Phog Allen in recruiting the black athlete

When Dick Harp became the KU head basketball coach in 1956, he brought a new, enlightened change to Kansas basketball as to the recruitment and treatment of black players than Phog Allen, an old-fashioned man with prejudices.

"Doc Allen had his biases," said Jerry Waugh, Harp's assistant coach from 1956-60 and a great defensive player under Allen who was nicknamed "The Sheriff."  "

"It was the times. It wasn’t that he was different from anybody else at that time. When I was playing there, we had a meeting, maybe ‘48 to decide whether we would accept a black player on our team. Doc discussed and presented to the team that there was to be a vote whether we could take them. (Allen said), 'This changes the travel arrangements, changes eating accommodations and it presents so many problems.' Most of us, I didn't give any thought to that. I thought we’d go with Doc. Later on, I thought about it, why what was the problem then, and I didn’t see a problem, when maybe I should have seen the problem.” 

A revolution changed when Harp replaced Allen.

“How adamant Dick was when he took over the black athlete would not be denied,” Waugh said in 2008. “Dick was just adamant that we will go after (blacks in recruiting). He was a forerunner, a great guy and felt very strongly about (recruiting the black athlete and keeping the team together on road trips).

"When Dick took over," Waugh said, "that ended," he added about players all staying together.

Indeed, if a hotel refused service to Harp’s black players, then the team would not stay there. That’s what happened in Dallas during the NCAA Midwest Regional in 1957 as the hotel denied Maurice King and Wilt Chamberlain.

“At that time, one of my responsibilities was to make sure I handled travel arrangements,” Waugh said. “It was understood if a hotel couldn’t accommodate for us lodging or eating accommodations, (then we would stay somewhere else). When we won the NCAA regional in Dallas in Texas, we didn’t say at the hotel, the headquarters. We had to go in-between Dallas and Fort Worth (in Grand Prairie) because we would not, if they wouldn’t take our black athletes and feed us, we couldn’t stay there. We got on the bus to go to the game, and had to drive one car and we had three escorts.”

After Chamberlain and black walk-on Jerry Johnson left KU in 1958, thanks to Harp, black players followed in droves. Players like Bill Bridges from Hobbs, New Mexico, Al Correll, Ralph Heyward and Wayne Hightower from Philadelphia, Jim Dumas from Topeka, and brothers Butch and Nolen Ellison from Kansas City, all made their way to Kansas. Other blacks like guards Eddie Douglas (he scored 84 points in a high school game) from Philadelphia and Johnny Redwood from New York also came to KU, but left after becoming academically ineligible.

While it may have been unpopular with many prejudiced KU boosters, Harp was making a statement about giving blacks an equal opportunity to succeed. And he implored Waugh to help him with his cause.

“I went back to Nashville (to recruit),” Waugh said shortly after he was hired by Harp in 1956. “John McLendon (former KU student and first African American to graduate from KU in 1936 with a physical education degree) was the coach at Tennessee A&I, and he had that national all-black tournament at A&I. All the schools in the south were segregated. There was another white coach in the tournament that was in attendance.

“There was a young man, Ronny Lawson, father was in the physics (department) at Fisk University and his mother worked at A&I. He later goes to UCLA. We were there to look at Ronny and also look at the players. Kansas at that time, was one of the forerunner in the recruitment of black athletes. Because of this, Dick’s stance on how we handle it as part of our team, great guy, felt very strongly (about this).”

Correll, who had known Chamberlain from childhood, attended West Philadelphia High School and was a 12-man letterman in four sports. Hightower, from Chamblerlain’s high school at Overbrook, led his team to three city championships.

Both idolized Wilt and wanted to follow in his footsteps at KU.

“The reason we went to Kansas was because of Dip,” Correll told Robert Cherry in his book, “Wilt: Larger than Life.” “He sent me a letter and said I ought to come out (with Wayne).”

Correll told Cherry about he and Hightower’s recruiting trip to KU.

“We visited Wilt’s room,” Correll said. “He had a thesaurus and said that every day he tried to learn a new word. He did that so people wouldn’t think of him as a dumb jock. We were there for four days and he took us everywhere. We’d go to the Blue Room or the Orchid Room in Kansas City. They used to say he spent more time on the Kansas Turnpike than anyone else.

“One night he took us to a club in Topeka, Kan. He was doing about 110 miles per hour in that Oldsmobile he had. We were scared as hell. He had the top down, and he was flying. It was me and Wayne Hightower. We didn’t make a sound. He was flying so fast it was very scary. But that’s the way he did things. Everything was to the extreme.”

With Harp’s first team featuring two black players in Chamberlain and King, his second team in 1957-58 having two African Americans (Chamberlain and walk-on Jerry Johnson from Chanute) and 58-59 (Bill Bridges) teams comprising just one black player, the 1959-60 team boasted four black players, including Wayne Hightower, Bridges, Al Correll and juco transfer Butch Ellison, the most African Americans of any Jayhawk squad in school history at the time. KU, which looked to bounce back after last season’s disappointing 11-14 campaign (Bridges was the team’s tallest starter at just 6-5), was boosted with the additions of Hightower and Correll, who became eligible second semester.

KU started the season at just 5-3, including a 66-59 loss at St. Louis. Harp wasn’t pleased with the play of rising star Hightower, who was taking too many ill-advised outside set shots.

“Dick got pissed off and put his butt on the bench in the second half,” said Butch Ellison, who roomed with Hightower at the time. “Wayne gets on the telephone in the hotel, calls an alum in Philadelphia and tells (him), ‘I didn’t come to god damn Kansas to sit on the god damn bench. Fucking coach sent me down. You call that son of bitch and tell him I’m going to play every minute from now on.'

“And he did.”

Harp was angered and frustrated by the influence of alumni, and felt like a victim. So he was pressured to continued to play Hightower “every minute”, and the Philadelphia native blossomed under his head coach’s tutelage. Hightower led the league in scoring at 21.8 points per game, while also grabbing 10.1 rebounds per game. His play drew rave reviews from opposing coaches around the league.

“Hightower is the best sophomore we’ve ever had in the Big Eight,” KSU coach Tex Winter said. “I said basketball player, not most effective basketball player. Wilt was a wonderful physical specimen. But he can’t do all the things Hightower can do. Hightower is a mature player as a sophomore. He’s got a lot of experience. He can do a lot of thing. Yes, he’s the best sophomore we’ve ever had in the league.”

Doyle Parrack of Oklahoma chimed in:

“He could do more than Wilt Chamberlain could at the same point. He isn’t as big physically, but he plays like a cat. Why, he could step into the professional ranks today and make the team as a guard, that’s how well he moves. He can do more to help a team than any sophomore I’ve ever watched.”

While Hightower was a great athlete and sinewy scoring machine, Bridges complemented at center as a rugged rebounding force and capable scorer. He became a two-time All-Conference center and rebound champion, averaging 13.8 rebounds and 11.4 points per game. Bridges’ 386 rebounds in two seasons ranked as a new school mark in league play, eclipsing Chamberlain’s 371. The 1960-61 media guide described him as a “tremendous jumper, despite 229-pound bulk....Great hustler under boards, often making second and third efforts....Often runs every steps to climb in rebound fight.”

With Bridges and Hightower leading the way in 1959-60, KU got hot and won its last eight of nine games in the regular season to capture a tie with KSU for the league crown. Kansas also got help over the stretch run from Correll after becoming eligible second semester. The 6-4 forward was a great role player who averaged 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds during the final 11 games.

To earn an NCAA tournament berth, KU had to first get by K-State in a playoff game in Manhattan on March 9. Behind Hightower’s 28 points and 21 from sophomore guard Jerry Gardner, KU beat the Wildcats 84-82 in overtime.

After beating Texas two nights later, 90-81, this set up a huge match with Cincinnati and its do-it-all All-American Oscar Robertson for the right to go to the Final Four. But Cincy was too good and KU too tired. Robertson was dominant with 43 points, while Hightower and Bridges both scored 22. Cincy won, 82-71, rallying from a 57-51 deficit with 13:45 in the game as the Jayhawks only scored eight points in the final 8:10.

“With just six players going most of the way, Kansas just didn’t have the gas to go the entire route against classy Cincinnati and the great Oscar Robertson,” the Lawrence Journal-World wrote.

Hightower, who told the Philadelphia alum he wanted to play "every minute" of every game, admitted he was extremely fatigued.  

“I couldn’t move toward the end,” he told the Journal-World. “I just wore out.”

Despite losing in the tournament, the Jayhawks gave inspired effort. The school’s yearbook, the 1960 Jayhawker, certainly took notice:

“Looking back at the 19-9 season record, the Big Eight co-championship and second place in the midwest NCAA regional, the 1960 basketball season can be remembered as one of the most inspiring in recent Jayhawk annals.”

It didn’t help the short-manned Jayhawks’ chances that 6-5 starting forward Al Donaghue was ruled academically ineligible the second semester. Donaghue, the team’s third-leading scorer at 10.9 points per game, would have helped tremendously. Starting guard Dee Ketchum was also academically ineligible the second semester.

“That was unfortunate,” Donaghue once told me during a Where Are They Now? interview. “But in those days, we didn’t have an academic program that they have now where you knew where you stood all the time. You just didn’t know. I think Dee missed being eligible like I did by just 2/10th of a percent or something like that. It was very sad.

“In fact, Dick Harp used to say if the unfortunate thing hadn’t happened to me, we might have won the the whole thing.”

Donaghue, a two-time Kansas player of year at Wyandotte High School, ended a fine career after initially choosing KU over K-State. He actually grew up cheering more for the Wildcats than the Jayhawks. This all changed, though, when KU made an in-home recruiting visit his senior year with former head coach Allen (he had just retired due to mandatory age requirement) and current head man Harp.

“He (Allen) impressed my mother and father dramatically,” Donaghue said, “to the point that when they left, my mom said, ‘You are going to Kansas, aren’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ That’s where she wanted me to go, and that’s what I wanted to do after meeting Phog Allen and Dick Harp.”

While the retired Allen impressed Donaghue’s parents, it was Harp who transformed Donaghue as a person and player during his KU career. After averaging just 5.0 points his sophomore year, Donaghue boosted that average to 10.6 points per game as a junior in 1958-59 and then a career-high 10.9 ppg his senior year.

Donaghue credits Harp for everything he accomplished, and said it was a joy to play for him

”Dick was a fine man,” Donaghue said. “He probably was a better human being than he was a coach. When you say that, that’s not to diminish his coaching ability. He was an excellent coach, but he was just a very saltable, God-fearing, very moral gentleman. Great guy to play for. I enjoyed playing for him. He probably did a lot for me in terms of of helping me grow and develop, and was instrumental in my development. He added a lot to my development as a person.”

While the 1959-60 campaign was a great season after Harp was previously burned in effigy on the KU campus, little did he and the Jayhawks know they would never return to the NCAA tournament during his tenure.

"Dick Harp has to be vindicated"

I wrote about former KU great Nolen Ellison and ex-KU head coach Dick Harp in my April 25, 2019 blog regarding my Where Are They Now? Interview with Ellison in 2003 and then my three-hour interview with him in 2007, where he elaborated on Harp and how committed he was to racial justice and equality. I also wrote of Harp's coaching career at Mount Oread.

Here is more sccop from my interviews with Nolen, who thought so highly of Dick Harp. After graduating from KU in the early 1960s as one of the best and one of the most underrated players in KU history (1,000+ point scorer), Nolen continued his success by becoming president of two community colleges and was once named one of the top black educators in America. Nolen and Dick Harp are two of my heroes, and I think back to both of my interviews with Nolen with great fondness. I also think fondly of his late brother Butch, who joined Nolen and I for part of our great interview in 2007.

…

“Dick Harp has to be vindicated in Lawrence, KS, I believe, because he before it was popular and he did it because it was the right thing to do, he recruited what he considered the best basketball players,” Ellison said. “He got let down because those players he recruited, particulary from the East Coast, were used to a different lifestyle. When he brought them to Lawrence, some of them wanted to date white girls. And boy that was clearly a no-no.  

“So he put a set of personal values on these kids that didn’t fit the norm he was living in, nor the pressures he felt he was having to accept. I believe it was in that context that Dick ended up a fairly bitter man in the end--about  basketball and about society.”

Ellison continued:

“After Wilt Chamberlain left (in 1958), something happened, either Dick saw something in Wilt Chamberlain and the guys out of Philadephia (who played at KU). ... I fit in because I was in Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Life, Campus Crusade, and all of the stuff was who I was in high school. I thought I communicated with Dick quite well and maybe he didn’t see me as the quite the challenge that he might have seen Maurice King.”

Ellison said he and Harp had an “exceptional relationship,” built in large part on their strong belief in racial equality and justice.

“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.”

Both Nolen Ellison and Dick Harp left a lasting legacy at KU that can never be forgotten.

Former Jayhawk Jeff Dishman was a fierce battler on and off the court

                                                             KU Libraries Digital Collection

I first met Jeff Dishman in the summer of 1981 at Allen Fieldhouse, still an impressionable teenager about to enter my sophomore year at Lawrence High School. Dishman was hanging out around the trophy area outside the court when I approached him and asked: “Are you a KU recruit?” He replied: “I signed with KU.” My friend Phillip and I then had a very nice conversation with the new KU signee and rebounded for him as he shot free throws. It was quite a thrill for me rebounding for the new Jayhawk. He was as kind and nice as can be.

KU assistant coach Bob Hill came over to Dishman and spoke briefly with him. Hill would go on to become head coach in the NBA with the Knicks, Pacers, Spurs and Sonics.

My friend’s dad drove us home that dreamy hot afternoon as I dreamed of Dishman creating his hardwood magic at Allen Fieldhouse. I began making up nicknames for him during the drive home, counting the days when he would suit up and don the crimson and blue.

A Medicine Lodge, Kan., native and junior college star at Hutchinson Community College, Dishman battled valiantly for two years as an undersized 6-5 power forward. He never backed down competing against the likes of North Carolina superstar Sam Perkins in his first college game (he even drew a foul on Perkins while driving the left baseline) and the Big Eight stars.

Unfortunately, Dishman played on two losing teams at Kansas, which marked the end of Ted Owens’ 19-year head coaching career. He averaged 33.2 minutes per game his first season (junior year) while his minutes dropped to 21.4 minutes as a senior as Owens went with the youth movement.

“(Owens) had some heat on him,” Dishman told me in a Where Are They Now? interview in 2003. “He was banking on the future. He was basically saying, ‘This is going to be kind of a building year,’ and he ended up using that year trying to build it and playing a lot of younger guys (KU had three highly touted freshmen in Kerry Boagni, Ron Kellogg and Calvin Thompson). I was a much better player my senior year (Dishman averaged 5.7 ppg) than my junior yea (9.3 ppg), but my minutes were diminished because Ted had basically said, ‘I’m going to go with the youth movement.’ You’re not happy about it when it’s happening. I took it. When you look back on it, you understand it, because the guy was trying to save his livelihood.”

Despite two losing years, Dishman cherished his KU experience.

“After you get done at KU, you think about some of those games and you think about some of the good times and stuff,” Dishman said. “I can’t tell you every score. I can’t tell you every loss or win, but I can tell you the camaraderie and the friendships you develop over the years and the stuff that happens on road trips and the fun you had and those kind of relationships you develop. That’s the thing about college basketball.”

Dishman was a fierce battler on and off the court. Diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1986, he had his bladder removed the following year and has been cancer free since 1987 at the time of our interview. He gained a greater a appreciation of life through his battle.

Dishman boasts career averages of 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 56 games while shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 69.2 percent at the free throw line. He led the team in free throw percentage his senior year in 1982-83 (82.9), where he was also a co-captain and earned Academic All-Big Eight honors.

“I couldn’t ask for two better examples of hard work and discipline,” Owens said at the time about Dishman and fellow co-captain Mark Summers.

Dishman is currently working as a financial advisor at Stifel in Topeka.

No, Dishman certainly isn’t one of the all-time KU greats, but his accomplishments at KU can never be forgotten as the consummate team and role player. I will always respect him for the great, genuine kindness he showed me and my friend when I first met him that summer of 1981. And I had a wonderful Where Are They Now? interview with him as well.

Here is Dishman recalling growing up in Medicine Lodge, B.H. Born, and his major college basketball dreams during our 2003 interview.

"Bill Forsyth (from Medicine Lodge) played at KU also. Us three (B.H. Born is the other) are the guys that played at KU. B.H. and I have met a couple two or three times and had some nice conversation. In fact, I saw him in Medicine Lodge about three years ago. He was down, they were retiring his jersey and stuff at the school and putting him in the Kansas Hall of Fame. It was nice visiting with him. I really enjoyed that. B.H. was the guy back in the day. He was really quite a dominant force back in his day playing for Medicine Lodge High school. I heard a lot about B.H. whenever I got in high school. I heard he got a lot of scoring records, had scored a lot of points and went on to play at KU. 

"Of course, I knew of KU because growing up Wilt Chamberlain was always one of my favorite players, and I always enjoyed watching him play. When I was in junior high, he was still a fairly dominating force in the NBA Then, hearing about B.H. Born, it eventually became a pretty good fit for me to go to KU. You hear stories on how many points he scored. He was pretty much an unstoppable post player and struggled a little bit because he was behind (Clyde) Lovellette. After Lovellette, everyone thought it was going to be a down year, and B.H picked up the slack. I remember hearing about all the stories, and people around town talking about B.H. Of course, he was a little bit bigger guy than I was at that time. In small towns, word travels pretty fast. He had quite a reputation as being a pretty strong, physical player. When you’re in Medicine Lodge, you’re so far removed from big-time basketball. 

"My thought was I’m going to do whatever I can possible do to try and get there. Obviously, you hear about those guys. You watch Wilt on TV and you hear about B. H. Born. To me, I had some goals to play major college. And if KU was one of them, that would be great. I kind of had to take a little bit longer route to get there. You’re so far removed when you’re in Medicine Lodge from being around big-time basketball that you don’t know if you can get there or what it’s going to take for you to get there. By me going to the junior college route, it kind of opened my eyes a little bit and let me figure out how hard it was going to be to get there. I had a lot of work to do. In fact, I was more highly recruited in football than anything. I had more major colleges looking at me for football. All the junior colleges and small four years were looking at me as a quarterback, basically. I put up some nice numbers in high school. We went to the state playoffs and had a nice senior year, but my love was basically basketball. I think probably looking back on it, football would have been a better avenue for me to get in the pros. I kind of had more of a build for a football player. But I just had that basketball in me. I don’t know if it was because of watching Wilt play or B. H. Born, or all the great athletes you’d see on TV. I just had this interest in basketball more so than football. Maybe kind of like a Tony Gonzalez type deal, love to play basketball, but football, he’s kind of done it right. He loves to play basketball, and football is something he’s really good at. Even though he’d love to be in the pros probably more so than the NFL, he’s a premier tight end. I was kind of a tweener like he is, I mean a big strong body. In the NBA, you got to be really tall and big. He just doesn’t fit the mold for what his game is. I was kind of the same way. A lot of people that played pro football, I know they got a great deal there. 

"(I have) no regrets. I had a great time at KU. I met a lot of great people, and had a lot of great relationships and memories. When you’re playing at one of the premier programs in basketball in the country and you get to do that, I don’t know if you’d trade that for anything. I wanted to play major college basketball no matter how I had to get there, basically my way to get there was through Hutchinson juco. I really liked Hutch and wanted to go to Hutch.”

Now, here is my 2003 Where Are They Now? story.

...

Jeff Dishman’s life story is about hard work, discipline, perseverance and heart. From defying the odds and earning a basketball scholarship at Kansas, where he fought like a warrior as an undersized 6-5 power forward for two trying seasons, to at 26, contending the battle of his life in cancer, Dishman has always tested his will and triumphed over the human spirit.

His inspirational roots were planted in little Medicine Lodge, Kan., where Dishman grew up and developed a passion for basketball. As a 6-5 high school post player, though, Dishman didn’t exactly have the college basketball world beckoning at his doorstep. So he took the next route of going to Hutchinson Community College in hopes of achieving his dream of playing major college basketball.

After working on his wing skills and achieving All-America honors his sophomore year, Dishman decided to follow his heart and become a Jayhawk. KU was, quite simply, a perfect fit. After all, B.H. Born was a Medicine Lodge native as well who starred at Mount Oread in the 1950s.  

“Once KU came into the fold and I came to visit, it was pretty much a done deal,” Dishman said.

Soon after Dishman arrived at Kansas, an unexpected happening occurred. Center Victor Mitchell left the team, which forced power forward Kelly Knight into the five spot and Dishman was pegged as the new four man. Recruited as a shooter to back up small forward David Magley, Dishman was now counted on to log major minutes and guard bigger players at power forward.  He excelled in his new role. Dishman averaged 9.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in 33 minutes per game in 1981-82.

“I suppose being a naive kid from Medicine Lodge, I think I felt like I’d have an impact,” Dishman said. “I don’t know if I thought I’d play 33 minutes per game. I don’t know if anybody really thought that would be what we would end up doing, but our bench was not very deep. The drop-off was pretty dramatic. I don’t know maybe if playing three or four minutes less a game might have helped us out down the road. By February, our legs were pretty much gone.”

While KU started the season off well, disaster happened when the already thin Jayhawks lost Knight with a sprained ankle just before conference play. He was out four weeks.

“That really killed us,” Dishman said. “I don’t know if we ever got our confidence back. Kelly came back, and was never quite the same that year. It was disappointing.”

Dishman, 42, started the season slowly, but came on strong down the stretch. A tweener with good hops, he was a fabulous role player who did the dirty work inside and got the ball to Tony Guy and Magley. Unfortunately, KU, which had advanced to the Sweet 16 the previous season in 1980-81, finished the year at 13-14. Coach Ted Owens was under some fire to bring a winner back to Kansas. 

He named Dishman and Mark Summers co-captains for 1982-83.

“I couldn’t ask for two better examples of hard work and discipline,” Owens said.

Dishman took his role as senior co-captain very seriously.

“I was probably more of a leader by example than by being a rah-rah guy,” he said. “I was more a guy who would lead them in wind sprints, be first in line in for drills, and bust your butt and do those type of things.”

Dishman started the first seven games that season before assuming a backup role. His best game of the year was at Nebraska on Feb. 5, where he had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Overall, Dishman said his senior campaign was very trying.

“(Owens) had some heat on him,” Dishman said. “He was banking on the future. He was basically saying, ‘This is going to be kind of a building year,’ and he ended up using that year trying to build it and playing a lot of younger guys (KU had three highly touted freshmen in Kerry Boagni, Ron Kellogg and Calvin Thompson). I was a much better player my senior year (Dishman averaged 5.7 ppg) than my junior year, but my minutes were diminished because Ted had basically said, ‘I’m going to go with the youth movement.’ You’re not happy about it when it’s happening. I took it. When you look back on it, you understand it, because the guy was trying to save his livelihood.”

Owens ended up being fired after leading Kansas to another down season (13-16). Despite going through two losing years, Dishman said he loved playing for Owens and relished his KU experience.

“After you get done at KU, you think about some of those games and you think about some of the good times and stuff,” Dishman said. “I can’t tell you every score. I can’t tell you every loss or win, but I can tell you the camaraderie and the friendships you develop over the years and the stuff that happens on road trips and the fun you had and those kind of relationships you develop. That’s the thing about college basketball.”

After his collegiate career ended, Dishman spent the 1983-84 season as a graduate assistant under new KU coach Larry Brown. He then taught and coached high school basketball in Bartlesville, Okla., for a year before playing a season overseas in the Persian Gulf. Dishman returned to coaching for the next six years (1986-92) at Mission Valley High School southwest of Topeka, where he was also the athletic director. He then switched careers and worked for five years selling building materials for a wholesale company. In 1997, Dishman changed directions again and became a financial advisor for U.S. Bank Piper Jaffray. He manages stock and bond portfolios for people.

“It was a chance for me to get off the road,” he said. “I had been traveling every day, and now I work two minutes away from my house. The first two years were really good, the last three have been really difficult with the market and all. I’m enjoying it.”

He also loves being back in coaching. Dishman took over the head-coaching job at Hayden High School in Topeka this past year, where he is rebuilding a program that went 2-19 a year ago. He said he accepted the position, in part, to “give back to these kids, and try to teach them something about the game and life in general.” Dishman, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1986, certainly has many lessons to teach. He had to have his bladder removed the following year, and has been cancer free since 1987.

 

Dishman said that cancer helped give him a greater appreciation of life and taught him to keep matters like coaching in perspective. He now revels in the day-to-day moments which capture his imagination.

“What you figure out is there’s a lot of other important things out there than winning or losing a ball game,” Dishman said. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like losing. But in the scheme of things, winning a high school basketball game or losing is not life or death like some people would like to make it. It is important, and that’s how I coach. I coach it to be very important. I also try to strive and tell my kids that you need to go at these things full force with your mind, your body and your soul, because you never know when those things are going to be taken away from you.  They can be taken away from you at the snap of a finger. They need to live life to the fullest every day.”

And that’s exactly what Dishman does. He’s at peace with himself 20 years after playing his last basketball game at Kansas. Dishman played hoops like he battled cancer. With passion. With determination. And with heart.  

“I’m a very optimistic person,” Dishman said. “I guess I always thought you could work hard enough to get things right, and if you do that long enough and hard enough, eventually you’d get to where you want to be. I never had a quit attitude whatsoever, and that’s how I practiced and that’s how I played. If I was overmatched, I’d still give it all I had. I just wouldn’t throw up my hands and say I can’t do this, because that’s not my nature. And I think that’s how you attack a deal like cancer. You just have to say,  ‘Hey I got to fight this thing, because the other alternative is not very good.’ You got to keep as positive mentally and emotionally as you possibly can, too. You can’t be thinking the worse is going to happen. You got to be thinking the best can happen.”

A Closer Look at Jeff Dishman:

Years at KU: 1981-83

Career Notables: Career-high 21 points versus Michigan State on Dec. 5, 1981, and career-best 11 rebounds against Rollins on Jan. 9, 1981...Co-Captain in 1982-83...Led ‘82-83 team in FT percentage at 82.9...Academic All-Big 8 in 1983.

Family: Wife, Tammy, and son, Caleb, 14.

Education:  1984. B.S. Education. 

Since Leaving KU:  Dishman served one year as a graduate assistant at KU before coaching high school basketball in Bartlesville, Okla., in 1984-85. He then spent a year overseas playing basketball in the Persian Gulf. Dishman returned to coaching from 1986-92 at Mission Valley High School near Topeka, while also serving as athletic director for five of those years. He left coaching and spent the next five years selling building materials for a wholesale company. In 1997, he accepted a job with U.S. Bank Piper Jaffray.

Currently: Dishman is a financial advisor for U.S. Bank Piper Jaffray, and also the head boys coach at Hayden High School in Topeka.

Hobbies: Golf.

Favorite Memories: Shocking Oklahoma in the first round of the Big 8 Tournament on March 8, 1983 (KU won, 87-77). “We kept running a play for Calvin (30 points) to get open. We kept running the same play over and over again, and they never could get it stopped. And, of course, then our whole deal on the other end was stopping Wayman Tisdale. I think we held him to his lowest season total (13 points). I remember it being a  total team effort, and Calvin stepped up and hit some big shots. We pretty much knew if we could close down on Wayman a little bit, we’d have a shot. Nobody expected us to do that, I don’t think, have a shot against them at that point in our season. It was a good memory.” ... Battling North Carolina and freshman Michael Jordan on Nov. 28, 1981 (KU lost to UNC, 74-67). “We stretched them as far as they could go. We had a shot, but then Kelly Knight fouled out with five minutes left...Michael really didn’t stand out on that team at that point in time, but we heard about him because of his vertical jump and his athleticism that everybody had been talking about. It was on ESPN, and that was one of their first games that year. ESPN was just getting started, and so it was a pretty big deal.”