The Wichita State Shockers came into the 1964-65 season with all five starters returning from a 23-6 team the previous year, although it was known going in that All-American Dave Stallworth would run out of eligibility at the end of the first semester because he had joined the 1961-62 team at mid-year. The Shockers were ranked 3rd by the Associated Press and 4th by the United Press International in the preseason polls and climbed to
No. 1 in both polls after a 4-0 start.
The Shockers met No. 2 Michigan on Dec. 14 in Detroit, and Michigan survived 87-85 with a long, almost miraculous last-second shot by Cazzie Russell.
On Jan. 21, it was revealed that starting center, Nate Bowman, who was a double-figure scorer and the team’s second leading rebounder, had failed a class, making him ineligible for the remainder of the season. On Jan. 29, the Shockers, in their first game without Bowman, lost at Loyola of Chicago 93-92 in overtime. One night later, Stallworth closed out his sensational career at WSU with a 96-76 win over Louisville at the roundhouse.
with members of their families, were guests of honor at
the Feb. 6 celebratory dinner, one highlight of the Feb.
5-7 reunion. Other special guests included keynote
speaker Gregg Marshall and current WSU players.
With a revamped lineup that included no starter taller than 6’5, WSU went 6-4 the rest of the way to finish the regular season at 19-7, and won the Valley title outright at 11-3 to earn a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament.
That, in itself, was noteworthy because the Valley was one of the top conferences in the nation at a time when there were no conference tournaments, and only 16 teams qualified for the NCAA tournament.
All five starters for WSU’s final 14 games of the 1965 season were from within 60 miles of Wichita: Kelly Pete, Jamie Thompson and John Criss from Wichita, Vernon Smith from Newton and Dave Leach from McPherson.
It was an era of unlimited practice times, when tennis shoes could be heard screeching long into the evening, for hard work produced great results.
In the Midwest regional, WSU defeated SMU, 86-81, and then upset the 13th ranked Big 8 champion Oklahoma State, 54-46, to claim the regional title, which catapulted the Shockers to their first-ever trip to the Final Four. Although the depleted WSU squad lost to eventual national champ UCLA, and then to Princeton in the consolation game, the way that 1965 team hung together through adversity is one of the highlights of Shocker basketball history.
A 40-year reunion was held for the team, but not all the players could attend. So team member Bob Powers, along with the unwavering assistance of Kari O’Halloran, set to work to gather everyone together for one last grand hurrah – on Feb. 6, the night before the 50-year team would be honored at halftime of the Missouri State game in Koch Arena. Sadly, players Bowman and Thompson, as well as all three coaches, Gary Thompson, Ron Heller, Verlyn Anderson, and trainer Tom Reeves had passed away. But all 13 of the surviving team members, nine of whom live outside Kansas, attended the reunion.
Mike Kennedy and I were given the honor of emceeing the dinner event, with help from Bob Hull and Don Hall. Everything was meticulously planned and a walk-through was scheduled for Feb. 5 at the Drury Inn in downtown Wichita. That sunlit lobby in the Drury Inn was made even brighter as players and their families began to arrive. Everyone waited in the lobby to greet one another, and the players seemed overjoyed as player after player walked through the front door of the hotel into the embrace of their teammates. Some of them had not seen one another for almost 50 years.
Powers and a number of generous sponsors helped underwrite the costs of the weekend, and the players and their families were all guests of honor. The attendance, which swelled to well over 350 people, was comprised mostly of family and close friends of the players, coaches and the support staff.
Soft lighting set the atmosphere for the night and the hotel’s ballroom was professionally decorated and gorgeous. Shocker decorations adorned the walls. Hit tunes of the day provided background music, and everyone seemed to know the words to “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You,” “Pretty Woman,” “I Get Around,” “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine” and others. On a large screen behind the stage played what little video remains of Shocker highlights from that magical season, interspersed with brief flashes of popular television shows, advertisements and historical reminders of 1964-65. For an evening, we were all transported back to the sixties.
Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Tekele Cotton and Evan Wessel, members of the Shocker Final Four team of 2012-13, arrived with Gregg Marshall and his family, along with other Shocker assistant coaches. Marshall was the keynote speaker and gave an inspiring talk about values, hard work, teamwork and appreciating the moment.
As the evening drew to a close, nobody wanted it to end. We were reluctant to leave the ballroom, knowing it might be the last time in one another’s company. As we walked into the foyer, we heard the screech of tennis shoes as some of the children ran through the lobby. Several of the players made eye contact, smiled and laughed, remembering the sounds of their own screeching tennis shoes during those long hours of practice and hard work that led them to the 1965 Final Four – one of the greatest accomplishments in Shocker basketball history.
