It’s well known that former Jayhawk basketball players, Roger Morningstar (1974-75) and Carl Henry (1983-84) have sons on the KU roster this year, and that their sons are contributors to the Jayhawks success this year.

Both Brady Morningstar  and Xavier Henry have grabbed starting spots in Bill Self’s rotation, and C.J. Henry has gotten some time on the floor in spite of several injuries.

What is less known, at least to the newer fans of Kansas hoops, is that six other former players also had sons that attended KU and played on the basketball team.

Best known, though, is Dr. Forrest C. ‘Phog’ Allen, who not only played at KU in 1907-09, but coached the Hawks for 39 seasons, leaving KU as college basketball’s all-time winning coach at the time.  His oldest son Milt, starred for the Jayhawks from 1934 to 1936, during which time KU had a 52-8 record and grabbed the Big Six conference title twice.  His youngest, Bob, also started three years from 1939 to 1941, leading KU to a record of 44-19, two more conference titles, and helped the Jayhawks to the NCAA title game in 1940.

Fred Bosilevac, was a football player at Kansas, who played basketball briefly (6 games  in 1937), and later became a physician.  His son, Fred, Jr., played in 1970 and 1972, and finished with a 3.0 ppg average.

Ray “Stuffy” Dunmire, was a three-year starter from 1913-15, leading Kansas to a 49-8 record and two conference championships.  His son, Joe, played in only 3 games in 1948.

Gene Elstun, started for three years, and co-captained KU’s 1957 NCAA runner-up team.  He finished with averages of 12.7 points and 8.0 rebounds.  His son, Doug, played only 37 minutes in 1991, after transferring from North Carolina.  Incidentally, Gene’s brother Bill played in 4 games in 1960.

Chester Giles was a heralded Juco transfer who, unfortunately tore his knee ligaments in practice before the 1978 season, and just played mop-up minutes in 1979 while clearly not back up to speed.  As a fifth year senior in 1980, he started 17 of 28 games, but did not become the impact player most people thought he would be.  His son, C.J., was a highly rated recruit who showed some promise during his freshman and sophomore years (2005-06) in Lawrence, but was erratic and then got kicked off the team for what coach Self called a "pattern of irresponsible behavior and disrespect for team rules."

Former KU Athletic Director Monte Johnson, played backup center to Wilt Chamberlain in 1957 and 1958, and was the starting center on KU’s terrible 11-14 team in 1959. His son, Jeff, was a walk-on for two seasons in 1985 and 1986, getting into ten games.

So, while KU had good success with the Allen sons and those of Morningstar and Henry, the production of the sons of those in-between suggests that basketball talent is not always in the genes… 

To add to that point, the sons of former star Dave Robisch, who led Kansas to the Final Four in 1971, never did achieve much success on the court, either. On the other hand, KU great Norm Cook’s son Brian starred for Illinois and has been in the NBA for 6 years.