If they retired Steve Puidokas jersey then they should retire Donaldson s jersey. His basketball career spanned 14 NBA seasons and some European time. He also played in an NBA All Star game if my memory is correct.Politics may lay a role as well as a timely moment to retire people s jerseys.
James Donaldson
- Thread starter ElComanche
- Start date
Good grief, Steve (RIP) was twice the player that James was at Wazzu. Politics had nothing to do with it. James could barely step over the mid court line his freshman year. He deserves all the credit in the world (with some help from John Chaplin) for the improvement he made but are we really going to retire jerseys for most improved player.
If anybody's jersey should be retired it's Ike Fontaine's #22. Not only did he break Puidokas' scoring record it's unlikely anyone will break his. Any future player that is good enough to eclipse Fontaine's record they will go pro before the get there. Bobi Buckets #45 should be under consideration also.
Janes accomplished more in Basketball than the other two combined .I do not believe that the other players won any championships. Actually the forthcoming retirement player made his name in the pros. If he had not made the pros he would not even been mentioned.
Ike's my all-time favorite Cougar basketball player. Good on the court, good off the court. I'll never forget how nice and accommodating he was to my young son at the time when we had a chance to meet Fontaine in Pullman. Really special individual.
Glad Cougar
Yeah right you are talking out of your behind Kyle Weaver averaged 9.6 pts and 4.7 rbs. Ike Fontaine averaged 16 pts and 4 rbs. Mark Hendrickson averaged 13.9 pts and 8.6 rbs. These are stats of only good college players. While Donaldson averaged 8.5 pts and 8.5 rbs in a guard orientated offense under Raveling, James Donaldson;s14 NBA season and an NBA All Star game far surpassed these good college players . Puidoakas never saw an NBA court . Clay Thompson s achievement are fantastic but what other coug basketball players except Collins ever played in the NBA?
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Aron Baynes (still playing), Mark Hendrickson, Kyle Weaver, Ron Davis, Guy Williams, Brian Quinnett. Those are just the names off the top of my head. I'm sure there are some old timers I"m not aware of (Gene Conley?).
I'm a huge fan of James Donaldson and I had the privilege of interviewing him several times when he was in the NBA. Great guy and easily the most improved player I ever saw– a credit to his incredible work ethic to go along with his gigantic size. However, I'm thinking a retired jersey in a college setting has more to do with your college career, not what you did after leaving WSU. James had a very good college career his junior and senior seasons but his impact on Cougar basketball doesn't warrant having his jersey retired, IMO. The only place you find his name in WSU career stat leaders is blocked shots.
Glad Cougar
Gene Conley is only player to be on a World Series championship team, win a MLB All Star game, and also win multiple NBA titles (as Bill Russell's back up). At the moment he has the most world titles of any Coug.
WSC won the north division in both baseball & basketball when Conley was on both teams in 1950 with the baseball team making the College World Series. Winning the north divisions in the same year in hoops and baseball in 1950 is the only time this happened at WSC. (North division soon eliminated in hoops - if basketball "North Division" were kept around by AAWC/Pac8/10/12 Harshman, Raveling and Tony Bennett would have also won "North Division")
Wrote a book about 15 years ago just before his death - called Buck Bailey "a football coach" (technically true but a baseball insult).
Two of the 13 players to have ever played both NBA and MLB are Cougs. (Chuck Connors also did both leagues along with appearing in Soylent Green)
WSC won the north division in both baseball & basketball when Conley was on both teams in 1950 with the baseball team making the College World Series. Winning the north divisions in the same year in hoops and baseball in 1950 is the only time this happened at WSC. (North division soon eliminated in hoops - if basketball "North Division" were kept around by AAWC/Pac8/10/12 Harshman, Raveling and Tony Bennett would have also won "North Division")
Wrote a book about 15 years ago just before his death - called Buck Bailey "a football coach" (technically true but a baseball insult).
Two of the 13 players to have ever played both NBA and MLB are Cougs. (Chuck Connors also did both leagues along with appearing in Soylent Green)
You forgot Craig Ehlo. Other than Klay, arguably the best combined pro and college career of any other Coug.
Call me old school, but our hall of fame should be based primarily on accomplishments achieved while enrolled. Really, what does having a pro career have to do our hall of fame? Ehlo, for example, was a much better pro than a Coug. At WSU, he was a guard who was not capable of dribbling the ball up the court, and was a defensive specialist. We were forced to use the Guy Williams, because he and Wink were turnover city in that department. Like Donaldson and Aron Baynes, Ehlo worked hard on his game and became a solid Pro, but they didn't hall of fame careers as a Coug.
That team unfortunately came into it’s own after the Williams injury. Before that I remember there was a lot of Williams watching from the players. Williams was such a special talent but when he hurt his knee suddenly the rest of the players were forced to stop waiting for Williams to do something and step up. Someone correct me but I remember Ehlo becoming basically the point guard after Williams injury. He wasn’t the best outside shooter in college but he was a stat stuffer. Turned the ball over but would consistently score double figures and have good numbers in assists, rebounds, steals, and even some blocked shots.
We became a better “team” when Williams went down. If he somehow had been able to come back for the Tournament it was definitely conceivable for that team to have made a run to the championship game and even win it. They were close to beating UVA and moving through even without Williams.
That’s my memory anyway which isn’t always the best.
You must be wearing my glasses, because that how I saw it. But, it wasn't just the team watching Guy, it was us fans too. Guy was "showtime," on a blue collar squad. What fan didn't focus on how high Guy could sky ? Harrell or Haskins, "put back" points, barely registered, it was Guy's jams of all varieties that got the place rocking. After Guy, it was pure technical, grind it out. basketball, where every game seemed to be close, but we came out on top 90% of the time -- Bennett ball without a shot clock or 3 point line.
How could I forget Ehlo? I knew I was missing somebody. Just emphasizes the point that WSU has had several NBA players, not just Klay & Donaldson as El C claimed.
Glad Cougar
