AfterShocks | 7/22/2022 9:10:00 PM
Cleo Littleton grabbed the spotlight when he arrived, took a picture alongside
Ron Baker and joked with teammates.
Nearby, Canadian Shockers Chadrack Lufile and Nick Wiggins talked. Matt Braeuer and Evan Wessel sat at another table. Paul Miller, Craig Steven and Jamar Howard circulated, shaking hands and greeting friends.
Generations of Wichita State basketball met inside the Champions Club on Friday, the prelude to the AfterShocks playing in The Basketball Tournament in Koch Arena. The reunion is an important part of the weekend with former Shockers of all ages back in town and current Shockers soaking up the atmosphere.
"Most colleges, they're not doing this," said current Shocker
Melvion Flanagan, a sophomore guard in his first season at Wichita State. "This is really an atmosphere of love. Everybody loves basketball here. They love basketball in Kansas."
Littleton's arrival meant something to everyone in the club. The Wichitan is the program's career scoring leader with 2,164 points from 1951-55 and one of five Shockers with a retired jersey. Littleton posed for pictures and talked with new athletic director
Kevin Saal, who enjoyed listening to the banter between old teammates.
It was not necessary, however, to score 2,000-plus points to enjoy the gathering of Shockers. Steve Kalocinski, who played on the 1976 NCAA Tournament team, and Mike Denny, a member of the 1981 Elite Eight Shockers, came to the TBT reunion a second time.
"The ambiance, the crowd – anybody who's played here and watched a game knows there are a lot of reasons to come back to Koch Arena," said Denny, who lives in San Antonio.
Kalocinski, who lives in Wichita, had plenty of stories of his time as a Shocker after being recruited from Chicago by assistant coach Ron Heller. Kalocinski remembered blocking a shot by Indiana State's Larry Bird and lamented the loss to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. He corrected misperceptions about his well-known fight with Bo Ellis in a 1977 win at eventual NCAA champion Marquette (he was not sent in to agitate, he said).
"I caught (Bird) by surprise," Kalocinski said. "He probably didn't think I had that good of jumping ability. If there's one play I remember, that's probably it."
Former Shocker Jaime Echenique, the first Colombian-born athlete to play in the NBA, talked with coach
Isaac Brown and several of the current Shockers over chicken strips, deli sandwiches and mini-cupcakes.
"They don't understand what practices were like in the day," said Echenique, who played for the Washington Wizards summer league team and will go to training camp later this fall. "It's funny. They think it's hard for them now, but they don't have any idea."
Brown pulled current Shocker
Quincy Ballard next to Echenique to compare heights, ruling that the 7-foot Ballard had an inch or more on Echenique, who played on Wichita State's 2019 NIT team.
Several of the current Shockers played pickup games with the AfterShocks twice over the last week. Flanagan treated the games as a networking opportunity, watching guards such as Clevin Hannah and Tyrus McGee and asking for pointers.
"I wanted to learn," Flanagan said. "I'm a small guard, so I have to ask different types of questions. 'What's a good shot? What's a bad shot? When to attack the basket and when not to.'"
Many memories. Lots of basketball talk before the generations of Shockers filtered out to the arena to watch the game. They all shared the affection for the fans and the buzz in the arena, whether remembering their playing days or sitting in the stands.
"It gets in your blood," Kalocinski said. "You feel like you can jump a little higher, a little quicker."
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
