My wife and I retired here in Las Vegas in 1994. I had been in the computer business since 1955 and we had seen a lot of this area and came mainly for the weather and year around golf.  I had worked for the Burroughs Corporation(now Unisys), all those years.  I had nearly every sales and sales management job in the field and nearly every marketing and general management job in the World Headquarters during that time.  I retired as Vice President and General Manager of the Dealer Marketing Division.

I was raised in Columbus, Kansas and recruited to KU by Phog Allen and the then Chairman of the Board of Regents, George Nettles.  I matriculated in the fall of 1947, at a time when many veterans(Ray Evans, Otto Schnelbacher, Jack Eskridge, etc.) of the war had returned and some had used up their eligibility.  Others, Claude Houchin, Guy Mabry, Jerry Waugh, Maurice Martin, had just started back to school after having spent a minimum of time in the service at the tail end of the war).  My class was the first class of post war recruits for the basketball program.  We had a lot of competition, freshmen were not eligible and we had a part time coach, Howard Engleman, who had been a KU All American, pre war, and now a law student in 1947.

Here are the facts, as I can best remember them:

1. The 1947/48 team consisted of a lot of the pre war greats and a few others like Harold England, Maurice Martin, and Myron Enns.  The team was inconsistent since some of the players returned at different times during the season. Both Claude Houchin and Guy Mabry made heroic long shots to win games that year.  They both carried strong reputations into the next seasons.  Bill Sapp, a Duke transferee was also on that team and became our team captain the next year. 

During the season Phog Allen suffered a severe head injury during a practice session and missed the rest of the season.  The University reached down and took Howard Engleman as the head coach.  This left our freshman team with another law student who had played at  Coffeyville Junior College, Glen Tongier, as our coach.

The next year, my sophomore year, Phog was back and Dick Harp had been hired as assistant coach.  There were 4 of us that made that team, played and lettered for the remainder of our eligibility.  All of us started at various times as Phog seemed to search for the right combination through the next 2 years.  Now in my class, besides me, the others were Sonny Enns, Dale Engle, and Lyn Smith, also an end on the football team.  We had Gene Peterson, a 6'7" pre med student as a center on that team.  Bill Sapp was captain, Jerry Waugh was there, and Claude Houchin were the core of that team.  Harold England, Morrie Martin, Guy Mabry, Dale Engle and I usually filled the fifth spot.

The next year, my junior year, was the year Clyde Lovellette, Bob Kenney, Bill Lienhardt, and Bill Hoagland came. We had everyone back and Phog rotated the people throughout the season. I believe we had a 3 way tie with Nebraska, K State and us.   I don't remember our record, but it was not good and I remember my last game was against OSU, and we lost. Lovellette became our center and it was obvious he was to become a legend 

My senior year was much the same, though Jerry Waugh became in eligible on a technicality, Houchin, Mabry, and Martin were gone but the future 1952 regulars were maturing.  Also Dean Kelley was on that team and played a lot toward the seasons end.

I went to Naval OCS and spent the next 3 1/2 years bombarding the North Korean coast.  I missed all that good basketball and by the time I returned, the 1952 team had performed, and they ,too, had spent their time in the service and it was now the "Chamberlain era"

One footnote that you might have as an exclusive went something like this:

1. In 1948/49 our team travelled east, by train, (no air travel until the next year) during Christmas  vacation and I will always remember( as a fresh kid from Columbus who had never been out of state) the lectures Phog gave us about the evils of the "Eastern Establishment".  We played Kentucky, Cincinnatti, a couple of Philadelphia teams, Holy Cross( Bob Cousy) and Springfield College( John Bunn's). We also had Bradley in there somewhere.  You might remember reading about the "point shaving" scandals of 1948-50).  At least 3 of the kids we played against from Kentucky, 2 or 3 from Bradley, and others we played against went to jail.  No one ever said and I always wondered how they could have shaved the points to let the gamblers win their bets when the games I thought might have been fixed were so close.  Thankfully, none of us were involved and I don't think any members of the then Big 7 were.  There have been lesser scandals since, but that one nearly brought down the NCAA.  Jerry Waugh or Guy Mabry might be the only other ones alive that would have been of that era.

Good luck and let me know if I can help further. My son, also a KU grad and super fan, who is a financial consultant in Naperville, IL. is always asking me questions of this era so I am copying him on the e mail.. I hope this is OK with you.