In a state whose passion for basketball is well-documented and undisputed, Kentucky Wesleyan
College holds a unique spot.
If national championships are the currency of college basketball respect in this state, nobody has as many in the bank as this tiny liberal arts college in northwest central Kentucky -- eight NCAA titles.
So when they get together to celebrate basketball tradition at Kentucky Wesleyan, it takes a while. And when they threw a party to commemorate 100 years of basketball at the school this weekend, it
lasted two days.
"You look at the place, and you'd probably never pick it out as a spot to have such a successful program," said Wayne Chapman, who coached the Panthers from 1985 to '90 and won NCAA Division II national championships in 1987 and '90. "But it means so much to the people here. You experience how the fans support this program, and you look at the players that have come through here, and you start to
see."
One of the best of those players, George Tinsley, was a center of attention Friday night at a reception on campus. The Louisville native went from Male High School to Kentucky Wesleyan in 1965 and made
an immediate impact, helping to lead the Panthers to the NCAA title.
He was an All-American in both his junior and senior seasons and led Kentucky Wesleyan to two more championships before being drafted by both the NBA's Chicago Bulls and the ABA's Oakland Oaks.
He went on to a successful ABA career.
Of all the All-Americans this state has produced in college basketball, he is the only one to lead a team to three NCAA championships, and he was named to the NCAA DivisionII 50th anniversary team. Yet
his inclusion in the state's athletic Hall of Fame remains overdue.
"The program probably hasn't gotten the statewide recognition that it deserves," Tinsley said. "If you look at the championships we put together here and the players we sent on to the ABA and NBA, it's pretty impressive. UK and UofL are what they are, and they have great traditions, but we have our place.
"People ask me about the level of play. Right now I'm the president of the board of directors of the NBA retired players association. And I come into contact with guys who played (in college division) at
around the time I did, Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe. When I can talk about time with them or great games with them, that's really rewarding."
If you haven't experienced the Owensboro Sportscenter at full intensity, it's hard to understand.
I can still say, even after making the rounds of Big East and Southeastern Conference venues, covering national title games and UK-UofL grudge matches, that the most heated atmospheres I've ever experienced in college basketball were in Owensboro, when Bruce Pearl brought his better Southern Indiana teams in to face the Panthers.
"The people here have given such an energy to this program," said Ray Harper, who played at KWC and coached the Panthers from 1996 to 2004, winning national titles in 1999 and 2001 and leading the team to the Division II championship game six straight years. "It's so important to people in this town and
always has been."
Kentucky Wesleyan hasn't always been in Owensboro. The first years of its existence were in Winchester. But the competition for students became so keen that the school began to look to relocate in the 1940s, and Owensboro was eager to have it. The town raised $1million to build a campus, and
the university moved there in 1951, with the new campus beginning operation in 1954.
Norm Christopher was a senior on that first KWC team in Owensboro in 1951. On Friday night, he remembered the warm reception. His wife, Ann, said she was among those who pledged $50 to the
effort to bring the college to town. Later, it was Norm who wrote the check after they met at KWC and got married.
"They carried us around on a silver platter," he said of the town's reception. "To go from playing in the old gym in Winchester to coming to play in the Sportscenter was a big change. At the time it was built, they
said the Sportscenter was the nicest coliseum in the state."
The program got an early boost when it was home to "King" Kelly Coleman, the greatest high school player in the state's history, who was the No.9 pick in the NBA draft after his final season at KWC in 1960.
Bob Daniels, who won two national titles in five years as coach at KWC from 1966 to '72, said KWC benefited in those days from freshman eligibility.
"We could offer a guy four years to play when they couldn't play as freshmen at places like Kentucky and Louisville," he said. "And we got a lot of great players from around the state that Kentucky, Louisville or Western didn't pick up."
That was the golden era of college-division basketball, now DivisionII. But KWC remains strong. Harper led the school to six straight appearances in the title game, though the last was vacated by NCAA sanctions. KWC had to forfeit 20 wins and five losses from its 2003-04 season for using ineligible
athletes.
The program remains a focal point of life in the city and on the campus. When a tornado ripped through the campus in January 2000, the team advancing to the national championship game later that
spring was offered as proof of the school's resilience.
Joel Utley was just out of college when he moved to Owensboro to start broadcasting Panthers games in July 1961. The team went 21-4 that season. And Utley never left. He has been the radio voice of the program for 49 seasons.
"I didn't know a lot about Kentucky Wesleyan, even though I was from Madisonville," Utley said. "But what an unbelievable stay it has been. In December of 1969, we went to the Bayou Classic in Lafayette, La., and beat Arkansas and Ole Miss back-to-back. There have been so many great teams and players.
"Six years in a row in the championship game? That's not going to happen again at any level. ... I can tell you, when they write my epitaph, the last thing they can say was, 'He just loved it.' That is it, buddy. The
thrill of it all and the crowds we have. I just got bitten."
And over the course of 100 seasons, he's far from alone.
