KU graduate John McLendon to receive second Naismith Hall of Fame honor

Kansas graduate John McLendon, who in the book “Breaking Through” was referred to as “the best and greatest coach of all time” by legendary Boston Celtics center Bill Russell, on Friday will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the second time — this time for his accomplishments on the bench.

McLendon was the first college coach to lead a team to three straight national championships (at Tennessee A&I in 1957-59); the first black coach of an integrated professional team (ABL, 1961) and first black coach in the ABA (1969). But he was initially enshrined as a “contributor” to the sport in 1979.

“This is long overdue, long overdue. It actually makes me angry. He should have been there a long time ago,” said 83-year-old NBA scout Ben Jobe, former head coach at Southern and six other colleges as well as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech and South Carolina and with the Denver Nuggets of the NBA.

“John McLendon was like Martin Luther King. He is basketball. He was the closest thing we had to the deity,” Jobe added of McLendon, who died in 1999 at the age of 84.

Jobe cannot understand why it took so long to recognize the coaching accomplishments of one of the creators of fast-break basketball and a man former KU coach Ted Owens referred to as “a protégé” of inventor James Naismith, “who made Dr. Naismith proud.”

“It (induction as coach) wasn’t important to him,” Jobe said of McLendon, who will become the first member of the Hall to be enshrined as both a contributor and a coach. “It would have helped tremendously if he’d gone in as a coach earlier. It would have been important to young African-Americans searching for heroes.

“They named him as a contributor. That really bothered me. He should have been in with his peers, Adolph Rupp and the others. It’s where he belongs. He won three straight national championships, the first coach in history to do that, before John Wooden did it (at UCLA). … NAIA teams weren’t allowed in the NCAA. I have no doubt his team that won the NAIA championship (in 1959) could have defeated any team in the NCAA.”

Owens, who attended the induction ceremony of both McLendon and Wilt Chamberlain 37 years ago in Springfield, Mass., also site of Friday’s ceremony, has heard the same thing.

“I remember when I was coaching junior college I ran into (former K-State coach) Tex Winter at an event and asked him, ‘What’s the best team you have seen this year?’ He said, ‘Tennessee A&I.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Owens said.

“Tex said, ‘I saw them at the NAIA Tournament. We might have only one or two starters who might make their team.’ And K-State was really good at the time.”

McLendon graduated from Sumner High in Kansas City, Kan., before becoming the first African-American physical education major at KU, where he graduated in 1936. While he learned about basketball from Naismith at KU, McLendon couldn’t play because African-Americans were not allowed on the Jayhawks’ varsity team then.

Owens said he will always be grateful to McLendon for indirectly helping the Jayhawks land All-American Walt Wesley in 1962. Owens was then an assistant to KU coach Dick Harp.

“Coach Harp sent me to what was called at that time the National Negro High School Tournament in Nashville,” Owens said.

McLendon happened to be at that tournament.

“He couldn’t have been nicer to me. He said he was also from KU, took me under his wing, made me feel comfortable and shared some of those stories about KU, which he had a deep love for. He was very close to Dr. Naismith and had a great relationship with Dr. (Phog) Allen as well,” Owens said.

“Sitting near us was a man who was secretary of the Florida High School Negro Athletic Association. I said to him, ‘Do they have any good players in Florida?’ He said, ‘There is a young man at Fort Myers Dunbar named Walter Wesley. He’s 6-11 and he’s not very developed right now. He can run. He’s strong.’ So I hop the next plane I can get to Fort Myers. We met with Walter and his mom and dad.”

Long story short … KU landed Wesley.

“My first All-American,” Owens said. “Coach McLendon was so nice and gracious to me. He was a wonderful coach and wonderful man.”

McLendon, who also coached at North Carolina Central, Hampton Institute, Kentucky State, Cleveland State as well as the Cleveland Pipers of the ABL and Denver Rockets of the ABA, will be presented Friday by fellow inductees Wayne Embry (1999), Sam Jones (1984), Isiah Thomas (2000) and John Thompson (1999).

“Anybody who met him … they should feel sort of special (Friday),” Jobe said. “He is a man the country should be proud of and should have been proud of (in 1979).”

Noted former KU player and assistant coach Jerry Waugh: “John obviously was a talented man, a very good man. He was touched by some people at Kansas and he touched others. He coached at a lot of places. We take credit for him.”

Others to be inducted in the Class of 2016 in the ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall: Zelmo Beaty, Darrell Garretson, Allen Iverson, Tom Izzo, Shaquille O’Neal, Cumberland Posey, Jerry Reinsdorf, Sheryl Swoopes and Yao Ming.

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "KU graduate John McLendon to receive second Naismith Hall of Fame honor."