The RoundHouse | 12/8/2022 11:32:00 AM

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Before the arrival of Dave Stallworth, the Shockers had not won a Missouri Valley Conference basketball title, had not advanced to the NCAA Tournament and had not been ranked No. 1. Stallworth played for the Shockers from 1961-65 and his presence and those teams changed the program forever.

Attendance doubled. The Shockers powered to the top of the MVC, then perhaps the nation's top conference. The late Craig Miner, a historian and WSU professor, wrote that a victory over No. 1 Cincinnati in which Stallworth starred may have helped convince state legislators that the University of Wichita was worthy of inclusion in the state system in the early 1960's.

Bob Powers and Robert Litan are the co-authors of "The Life and Times of Dave "The Rave" Stallworth." Powers was a teammate of Stallworth's with the Shockers and a member of the 1965 Final Four team. Litan grew up in McPherson and Wichita as a Shocker fan watching the great teams of the early 1960s.

Stallworth, who died in March 2107, earned consensus All-American honors in 1964 and 1965. The New York Knicks picked him third in the 1965 NBA Draft and he won an NBA title with the Knicks in 1970.

All royalties from the book will be donated to the WSU Foundation for the David Stallworth Memorial Scholarship.