Walt Wesley
Walt Wesley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Walter Ivory Wesley 25 January 1945 Fort Myers, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | 28 March 2024 (aged 79) Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Professional basketball player, assistant coach |
| Years active | 1966–1976 (NBA career) |
| Known for | NBA player; Kansas Jayhawks basketball standout; jersey retired at University of Kansas and Dunbar High School |
Walter Ivory Wesley (January 25, 1945 – March 28, 2024) was a distinguished American professional basketball athlete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), recognized for his impactful career across several franchises and his notable influence on the game. He played collegiate basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks, where he achieved consensus second-team All-American honors in 1966 and had his No. 13 jersey retired by the university.
Early life
Wesley grew up in Fort Myers, Florida, born to Leroy and Josie Wesley. He attended Dunbar High School in Fort Myers before moving on to play college basketball at Kansas.
At a time when prominent university basketball programs had yet to recruit African-American athletes extensively, Wesley attracted attention from multiple Midwestern institutions. He remarked, "It wasn’t that we lacked ability or academic qualifications. The recruitment barriers were due to segregation policies. Luckily, several Midwestern schools showed interest, and I selected one of them."
Standing 6 ft 11 in, the center enrolled at the University of Kansas and earned unanimous All-American honors twice.
During his sophomore year (1963–64), Wesley posted averages of 10.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest. By his junior season, he had established himself as a formidable center, achieving personal bests with 23.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game while leading the Jayhawks to a 17–8 record.
In his senior year (1965–66), Wesley contributed 20.7 points and a career-high 9.3 rebounds per game, playing a pivotal role in Kansas securing the Big 8 championship with a 23–4 record. In the Midwest Regional Finals against #2 Texas Western (now UTEP), Wesley executed a critical screen that allowed Jo Jo White’s buzzer-beater attempt, initially believed to send Kansas to the Final Four. However, White was ruled out of bounds, resulting in Texas Western’s victory in double overtime before they went on to claim the national championship.
On December 18, 2004, the University of Kansas honored Wesley by retiring his jersey number; it now hangs in Allen Fieldhouse bearing his name, as numbers are reused.
College statistics
|- | align="left" | 1963–64 | align="left" | Kansas | 16 || – || – || .450 || – || .597 || 5.9 || – || – || – || 10.6 |- | align="left" | 1964–65 | align="left" | Kansas | 25 || – || – || .496 || – || .576 || 8.8 || – || – || – || 23.5 |- | align="left" | 1965–66 | align="left" | Kansas | 27 || – || – || .478 || – || .607 || 9.3 || – || – || – || 20.7 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 68 || – || – || .482 || – || .594 || 8.3 || – || – || – || 19.3 |}
NBA career
Wesley was chosen sixth overall in the first round of the 1966 NBA draft by the Cincinnati Royals.
In his rookie campaign as a backup center, he averaged 4.9 points and 5.1 rebounds over approximately 14 minutes per game, hitting a season-high of 19 points on March 11, 1967, against the Chicago Bulls. His playing time and statistics remained relatively consistent during the following two seasons, improving to an average of 7.6 points per game in his third year while participating in all 82 games. On December 15, 1967, he recorded a then-career-best of 22 points versus the Detroit Pistons.
Prior to the start of the 1969–70 season, Wesley was traded to the Chicago Bulls where his average playing time increased to nearly 20 minutes per game, leading to career-high figures of 9.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 1970 expansion draft, Wesley became their starting center and delivered his most productive season in 1970–71. He appeared in all games that year and led Cleveland with career-best averages of 17.7 points and 8.7 rebounds each game. Highlights included scoring a then-personal record of 36 points against the New York Knicks on December 6, 1970, and exploding for a remarkable 50-point performance against his former team, the Cincinnati Royals, on February 19, 1971—making twenty field goals and converting ten of fourteen free throws—in a Cavaliers victory.
In the following season (1971–72), Wesley again played every contest while averaging 12.4 points per game and matching his top rebound average of 8.7 per game. After starting the next season with Cleveland, he was traded after twelve games to the Phoenix Suns. Serving mainly as a backup that year, he appeared in fifty-seven games but posted averages of only 3.2 points and 2.6 rebounds before being traded again to the Capital Bullets.
Wesley concluded his NBA tenure over three final seasons as a reserve player for the Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, and ultimately finished with a single appearance for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1975–76 season—marking ten years in professional basketball.
Throughout his decade-long NBA career, Wesley maintained averages of approximately 8.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Regular season
|- | align="left" | 1966–67 | align="left" | Cincinnati | 64 || – || 14.2 || .393 || – || .423 || 5.1 || 0.3 || – || – || 4.9 |- | align="left" | 1967–68 | align="left" | Cincinnati | 66 || – || 13.9 || .465 || – || .500 || 4.3 || 0.5 || – || – || 6.8 |- | align="left" | 1968–69 | align="left" | Cincinnati | 82 || – || 16.3 || .459 || – || .647 || 4.9 || 0.6 || – || – || 7.6 |- | align="left" | 1969–70 | align="left" | Chicago | 72 || – || 19.5 || .417 || – || .662 || 6.3 || 0.9 || – || – || 9.5 |- | align="left" | 1970–71 | align="left" | Cleveland | 82 || – || 29.6 || .455 || – || .687 || 8.7 || 1.0 || – || – || 17.7 |- | align="left" | 1971–72 | align="left" | Cleveland | 82 || – || 26.6 || .410 || – || .674 || 8.7 || 0.9 || – || – || 12.4 |- | align="left" | 1972–73 | align="left" | Cleveland | 12 || – || 9.2 || .298 || – || .667 || 3.2 || 0.6 || – || – || 3.0 |- | align="left" | 1972–73 | align="left" | Phoenix | 45|| –||8.1|| .406||–|| .529|| 2.5|| 0.5|| –|| –||3.2 |- | align="left" | 1973–74 | align="left" | Capital |39||–||10.3|| .470||–|| .605||3.5||0.4|| 0.2|| 0.5||4.3 |- | align="left" | 1974–75 | align="left" | Philadelphia |4||–||8.3|| .556||–|| .500||2.0||0.3||0.0||0.0||3.0 |- | align="left" | 1974–75 | align="left" | Milwaukee |41||–||5.2|| .440||–|| .609||1.3||0.3|| 0.2||0.1||2.1 |- | align="left" | 1975–76 | align="left" | Los Angeles |1||–||7.0|| .500||–|| .500||1.0|||1.0|||0.0|||0.0|||4.0 |- class="sortbottom" ! style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Career !590!!– !17.5!! .434!!– ! .630!!5.5!!0.7!!0.2!!0.3!!8.5
Playoffs
|- ! style="text-align:left"|1966–67 NBA season ! style="text-align:left"|1966-67 Cincinnati Royals season |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- class=sortbottom ! colspan=2|
Personal life
Following his retirement from professional basketball, Wesley took on assistant coaching roles at the University of Kansas, Western Michigan University, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Both the University of Kansas and Dunbar High School honored Wesley by retiring his jersey number in recognition of his impact on their basketball programs. His distinguished career earned him induction into several halls of fame, including those of Ohio Basketball, Kansas, University of Kansas, National High School Basketball, Court of Legends, and the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches. Additionally, in 2010, he was awarded the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity’s Jessie Owens Award of Excellence for his outstanding contributions in sports and philanthropy.
In a tribute during 2018, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, under Wynton Marsalis's direction and commissioned by the Lied Center of Kansas, composed a piece celebrating fifteen KU Basketball Legends; the segment dedicated to Wesley was named "Walt's Waltz."
Wesley passed away from leukemia on March 28, 2024, at age 79, at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute located in Tampa, Florida.