KANSAN.COM
RETIRED JERSEYS
B.H. BORN
5
Center,1952-1954
No.25
> MITCH GEORGE
@MitchLGeorge
A home-grown talent hailing from Osawatomie, Bert "B.H." Born is a prime embodiment of old-fashioned basketball: post play and
Photo courtesy of University Archives
rebounding.
Despite lacking girth, Born used his above-average agility to gain an advantage over other centers with a more traditional style of play.
"We didn't have much size — we won on hustle," Born once said in an interview. "Our forte was the pressure ... We played a pretty wicked defense."
Born was a national champion alongside Clyde Lovellette in 1952, although he didn't have a significant role because he served as backup to Lovellette.
The following year, Born took control of the team as if it was personally passed down to him.
After inheriting the team, Born saw his points
per game average jump from 1.6 to 18.9 - an impressive turnaround to say the least.
In 1953, the Jayhawks finished the season with a 17-5 record, which clinched a berth into the NCAA tournament for the secondconsecutive season.
Born added 11 points as Kansas defeated Oklahoma City 73-65 in the first round of the tournament.
In the ensuing round, the Jayhawks were matched up with another Oklahoma team, this time in the form of Oklahoma A&M (currently Oklahoma State). Born dropped 18 points as Kansas advanced with a six-point victory.
In what turned out to be an embarrassingly lopsided affair, Born powered the Jayhawks with 25 points as they toppled Washington
79-53 to advance to the national championship game.
Born reflected on a speech given by coach Phog Allen in the locker room before they stepped on the court to play Washington. He noted that his speech was so impactful that many players were teary-eyed before tipoff.
Photo courtesy of University Archives
This road was impressive, but the team ultimately fell short of being crowned champions, and it could not have been closer. In fact, one more successful shot would have added another banner to the rafters of modern-day Allen Fieldhouse. The ball was in Kansas's hands for the last possession, but Jerry Alberts' last-second shot missed short of the
rim.
The final score of the championship was 69-68 in favor of Indiana.
It was in this game, however, where Born posted his career-best performance. In a remarkable display of athleticism and versatility, he scored 26 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked 13 shots. To this day, this performance is regarded as one of the most outstanding championship showings of all time. This was before modern stat-keeping systems were implemented, so he never received official credit for a triple-double.
Although Kansas was unable to win the championship, Born was awarded Most Valuable
Player for his performance in the tournament. Never before had a player from the losing team win the award.
Born's other accolades include being named as an All-Big Seven Conference player twice and as an All-American in 1953. He also holds a spot in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Born was selected No. 22 in the 1954 NBA draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons, but never played at that level.
Born has been immortalized as one of the best Kansas basketball players to ever set foot on a court. His jersey was retired in 1992.
CHARLIE B.
BLACK Forward, 1942-1943 & 1946-1947 No.10
▶ SHAUN GOODWIN
@ShaunGoodwinUDK
Of all the famous players to have their jerseys hang from the rafters in Allen Fieldhouse, Charlie B. Black, also known as "The Hawk" by his teammates and fans, is perhaps one of the most decorated players in Kansas history.
Black was not only a fourtime All-Big Six Conference player, but he is also the only player in Kansas history to be a four-time first-team All-American. In honor of his memory, the Jayhawks locker room at Allen Fieldhouse is named after him.
The Arco, Idaho, native graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1940, which closed its doors for the final time in 2016. Black spent his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin studying agriculture, before making the move back to the Kansas City area to play basketball for the Jayhawks
in 1941.
In his first season with Kansas, Black made an instant impact, earning his first of four All-American honors en route to a 17-5 season for the Jayhawks. In his second season, along with Kansas great Ray Evans, Black led the Jayhawks to their fourth-consecutive Big Six title with a record of 22-6. In a year when Kansas looked destined for an NCAA title, Kansas' squad was torn apart, as all of its players were sent off to fight in World War II after its final regular season game.
During the war, Capt. Black won a Distinguished Flying Cross, completing 51 missions as a reconnaissance pilot for the Army Air Corps.
On his return to Kansas in 1945, Black recorded his most successful season in a Kansas jersey as a junior, posting an average of 16.3 points per game and 326 points overall for the season. That year, with help from Hall of Famer Otto Schnellbacher,
Black earned his third All-American honor, as the Jayhawks finished the season 19-2, with the only two losses coming to eventual NCAA champions Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State). Black also led the conference in scoring that year, the only year he managed to do so.
Black's senior year at Kansas didn't demonstrate the extraordinary success that he experienced in his first three years, as the Jayhawks fell to a 16-11 record, with Black only recording an average of 11.3 points per game. Despite this, Black surpassed the 1,000-point mark, the first Jayhawk to do so, as he scored 305 points in 27 games to reach 1,082 total points over his four years.
This drop in form unfortunately coincided with the period of time Phog Allen had to sit out for half of the season, recovering from the flu. Despite this, Black earned his fourth and final All-American honor, becoming the only player to do so at the time. Since
Black led the Jayhawks to their fourth consecutive Big Six title with a record of 22-6. In a year when Kansas looked destined for an NCAA title, Kansas' squad was torn apart, as all of its players were sent off to fight in World War II after its final regular season game.
Photo courtesy of University Archives
then, only one other player has achieved the same feat, with LaSalle's Tom Gola doing so 10 years later.
After his Kansas career, Black headed to the National Basketball League with the Anderson Packers, before heading to the NBA with the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets and Milwaukee Hawks. He eventually retired from basketball in 1952, before settling down as a farmer in Kansas and then managing a welding supply company in Arkansas.
Black saw his jersey retired in 1992, before passing away later that year at the age of 71.
Photo courtesy of University Archives
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