Dick Artmeier, Ham Wernke, Bud Kennedy
Five Basketball Stars of the Fifties
By Jim Joanos
At Florida State University it is basketball season. As I am writing this, both the men's and women's teams are doing fairly well. My wife and I attend the games. It is great entertainment. You never know what you are going to see next.
I have been going to the men's basketball games since I was thirteen years old. That was in 1947 when after 42 years as a women's college, Florida State College became co-educational, acquired its name of "Florida State University" and began to participate in intercollegiate men's athletic competition. In their first seasons in the late forties, the Seminoles struggled even against the smaller colleges. However, in the 1950's, they got better and began to compete evenly against some of the better basketball programs. The Seminoles had a lot of good players during those fifties. Here are five of the best from that decade.
1. Tom McLaughlin was the first Seminole ever to score more than 1,000 points during his career. A forward from Madison, Indiana, he came to FSU in 1948 and played four seasons ending with the 1951-52 season. He was an important member of the FSU team that participated in the school's first ever national tournament at the end of the 1950-51 season. They played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament in Kansas City, Missouri. In that tournament they defeated South Dakota State and Pepperdine but lost to Millikin (60-91) in the quarter finals. He was the team's leading scorer the following year in 1951-52.
2. Paul "Ham" Wernke is given a lot of credit as being the team leader during its transition from small college basketball to major university competition when he played from 1951 through 55. A guard, from Batesville, Indiana he scored 1,404 points during that span. In his senior season the team went 22-4. It was probably head coach Bud Kennedy's best season while he headed the FSU basketball program. That team won the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB), District 25 Championship and beat Montana State in the first round of the national tournament before losing to Beloit in the second round. In the Montana State game, Wernke led the team by scoring 35 points. He was a Helms Foundation (NAIA) All American in 1953, 54 and 55.
3. Jim Oler, a guard from Economy, Indiana, played from 1952 until 1956. Just get him the ball and he shot. He was a scoring machine. He ranks second on the all time FSU list of points scored over his career at 1,817 points despite that the season schedules were much shorter than they have been in later years. By comparison he played in only 91 games at FSU in contrast to career leading scorer Bob Sura who played in 119 games. In his senior season, Oler scored 742 points for the season and 29.7 per game. No Seminole has ever come close to either of those figures. Also, keep in mind that there were no three point field goals when he played, only two point ones.
4. Rick Benson, a center from Winter Park, Florida, played for the Seminoles from 1951 to 55 was the team's best rebounder during the fifties. Against Florida Southern on January 7, 1955, he grabbed 32 rebounds, the most ever recorded by a Seminole in a single game. It is a school record that has stood for 53 years. His 451 rebounds during the 1954-55 season ranks second all time only to Dave Cowens' 456 attained in the 1967-68 season. Benson averaged 17.3 rebounds per game during that season.
5. Hugh Durham played for three seasons from 1956 through 1959 and scored 1,381 points during his career. In addition, the guard from Louisville, Kentucky, was the floor leader of the team and was recognized as an honorable mention United Press International (UPI) and Helms Foundation All-American. After graduation, he stayed on at FSU, first as an Assistant then Head Coach (1966-78). His 1971-72 team attained the highest level ever by an FSU team by being Runner-Up in the NCAA National Championships. He later coached at the University of Georgia and also took one of their teams to the Final Four. He is not only a member of FSU's Athletics Hall of Fame but his jersey has been retired and a banner hangs in his honor at the Civic Center. Durham retired recently and lives in Jacksonville.
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Dick Artmeier, Ham Wernke, Bud Kennedy |
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