1957-58

A recap of Drake’s basketball season shows that the Bulldogs set one team record and that Red Murrell wrote eight new individual marks into the books.  The Drakes finished with a 13-12 mark, their best in five years, and were 7-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference, best loop finish in years.

Lone team mark was the Bulldogs’ 40 field goals against Marquette.  New marks by the jump-show wizard, now in New York City for the East-West game Saturday night, include

                Most points, game                                 51 against Houston (also state record)

                Most points, season                                668 (also state record)

                Most points, career                              1,657 (also state record)

                Most field goals, season                          254

                Most field goals, career                          611

                Most free throws, career                        435

                Best scoring average, season               26.7

                Best scoring average, career               22.7

Big Red also tied his own mark of 20 field goals, made two seasons back against St. Louis, against Houston.  Murrell’s name dominates the record book.  He has the top six individual games performances, ranging from 36-51 points, as well as the top seven field goal productions for a game.  His points this year and last are the two best on record and his field goal total the last three years are the three best for Drake.  His free throwing the last two seasons also rates one-two for the Bulldogs.

Cincinnati’s All-American Oscar Robertson accounted for two new marks against the Bulldogs.  His 43 points and 17 field goals were new highs by opposition players.  Iowa State’s John Crawford and Tulsa’s Roger Wendel hit 13 free throws to tie the record for Bulldog opponents.

Drake’s rivals outshot the Bulldogs from the free throw line and the field but John Benington’s hustlers out-rebounded their foes this year, 1052 to 943.  The Bulldogs operated with a 68.2 offensive average while the opponents managed 69.1 in 25 games.

Drake’s scoring leaders:  

NAME FG FT Total Points Avg.
Red Murrell 254 160 668 26.7
Bob Tealer 129 68 326 13.0
Marlow Eckhoff 72 35 179 7.2
Kent Gaer 57 21 135 5.4
Bill Linke 41 24 106 4.2
Lee Bowman 31 43 105 4.5
Frank Martel 30 11 71 3.2
Dan Callahan 18 8 44 4.4
Mel Olson 18 6 42 2.4

Source:  Drake News Bureau, Sports News from Paul Morrison, ? 1958.