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 Darel Carrier | Jack Clayton | Frank Griffin | Henry Jackson Dale Lindsey | Don Ray | Odie Spears | Jesse Stuart | Carlyle Towery
An All-American basketball player as a senior in 1964, Carrier was twice named All-Ohio Valley Conference (1963-64) after leading the Hilltoppers in scoring both his junior and senior seasons. His scoring average in 1964 (26ppg) still ranks as the third highest ever for a Hilltopper in a single season. Carrier ranks 13th among all Toppers in career scoring with 1,138 points and his career scoring average (19.1ppg) is the fifth best ever for Western. He scored 40 or more points three times, including a career-high 50. He was named among the OVC All-Time Men's Basketball Honorees on the organization's 40th anniversary. He came to the Hill from Bristow
High School near Bowling Green and was later an AAU All-American
for the Phillips 66'ers. He then went on to play five years of
professional basketball with the Louisville Colonels and the
Memphis Pros in the former American Basketball Association. As
a pro, he was one of the first great three-point shooters. Carrier
still resides in Warren County.
Jack Clayton came to Western in 1948 and spent nine seasons coaching Hilltopper football. In that stretch, his teams compiled a record of 50-33-2. He is perhaps best remembered on the Hill for his 1952 team that went 9-1-0, winning the school's first OVC football championship and playing in the school's first-ever post-season bowl game, a 34-19 win over Arkansas St. in the Refrigerator Bowl in Evansville, Ind. That team ranked among the nation's leaders in pass offense (seventh), total offense (16th), rush defense (24th) and total defense (30th). And, among his proteges was quarterback Jimmy Feix, already a member of the Hall of Fame and Western's first football All-American (1952). Overall, Clayton-coached Hilltopper
athletes won All-OVC honors 22 times during his tenure on the
Hill. And, he was named among the OVC's All-Time Football Coaches
in 1988.
Frank Griffin was a part of the athletic scene at Western for almost half a century. He served as assistant football coach for 19 years and was the Hilltopper men's golf coach for 32 seasons. In addition, the Ashland, Ky., native is credited with founding the University's intramural sports program in 1946 and he continued to direct that program for 38 years. The Hilltopper football teams he worked with won 58 percent of their games (98-70-8), two conference championships (1952 and 1963) and two bowl teams (1952 and 1963). His golf teams were 212-61-9 in dual meet competition and won nine OVC championships. "Coach Griff" also
served as the color analyst on the broadcast of Topper football
games for 22 years (1965-86). Griffin died in 1992 at the age
of 73.
Henry Jackson ranks as one of the most dominant athletes in his sport ever at Western and in the OVC. An NCAA All-American in the outdoor long jump in both 1970 and '71, the New York native remains the only OVC athlete ever to be named the league's Trackman-of-the-Year for four straight years (1967-70). He won the OVC long jump, triple jump and high jump competitions all four years, making him the only athlete in conference history to record 12 first-place finishes in the league championship meet, setting meet records time and time again. Nationally ranked in both the
long and triple jump events, he was second in the NCAA long jump
in 1970 and later that same spring he won the USTFF national
championship in the long jump with a meet record leap. He is
also a member if the OVC's All-Time Track and Cross Country Team.
Dale Lindsey played at both linebacker and fullback two years, helping the 1963 Hilltoppers to a 10-0-1 mark and the championship of the Tangerine Bowl. Overall, the two Topper teams he played on went 16-3-2. A two-time All-OVC pick, he earned All-America honors as a linebacker in 1964 and was named to the All-Time OVC Team in 1988. A Bowling Green High product, he was drafted by Cleveland of the National Football League (in the seventh round) and by the New York Jets of the American Football League (sixth round) in 1965 and went on to play nine seasons at linebacker for the Browns. Since retiring from the playing
ranks, Lindsey has coached football at the high school, college,
and professional levels.
Don "Duck" Ray earned eight varsity letters during his career on the Hill, a career that was broken up by a stint in the military during World War II. He captained the basketball team three times - as a sophomore in 1943, a junior in '47 and a senior in '48. He was a Helm Foundation All-American in 1948, when he helped lead the Toppers to the best record ever posted by a Western basketball team (28-2). He was also named to the USA College All-Star Team as a senior. Overall, the four Hilltopper teams he played on won 106 of 120 games with an average of 26.5 wins a year. Three times (1942, '43, and '48) his teams were invited to the National Invitational Tournament in New York City, taking runner-up honors in 1942 and finishing third in 1948. As a freshman, the Mt. Juliet, Tenn., native also won a state title in doubles competition on the tennis courts, and he was the state high jump champ in track and field as well. After his career on the Hill,
Ray was drafted by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Philadelphia
Warriors, playing two seasons of pro ball at Tri-Cities. Ray
passed away in 1998.
Odie Spears came to the Hill from nearby Scottsville, Ky., the same year as Don Ray and was a part of the same four outstanding basketball teams at Western. He was an Associated Press All-American as a senior in 1948 and he was a two-time All-KIAC (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) pick as well. He played in the East-West All-Star Game in 1948. Spears led the '48 basketball team to its 28-2 mark with a team high 14-point scoring average. His sophomore, junior and senior teams rank among the most dominant teams ever on the Hill, going 106-14. Spears went on to play professional
basketball for nine years with five different teams - Chicago
(1949-50, Louisville ('51), Rochester ('52-55), Ft. Wayne ('56-57)
and St. Louis ('57). After retiring from the pro ranks, Spears
became a successful businessman in Louisville. He is deceased.
Jesse Stuart was a mainstay in the field events during the early 1970s when the Hilltopper track team was one of the nation's finest. He earned letters in the shot put and discus in 1973, '74, and '75 and was an All-OVC performer all three years. During that period, he consistently ranked among the nation's top collegiate shot putters and he earned NCAA All-America honors five times (twice indoors and thee times outdoors). In 1974 he was the NCAA national champion in the shot and he was the national runner-up in that event three times. Stuart was named Kentucky's AAU
Athlete-of-the-Year in 1973 and '74. The Glasgow, Ky., native
won the shot put in the first-ever indoor meet between the USA
and the Soviet Union in 1972 and he was ranked among the top
10 shot putters in the world in 1974.
Carlyle "Blackie" Towery is the first Hilltopper athlete ever to earn All-America honors on more than one occasion - a Chuck Taylor Basketball All-American both his junior and senior seasons. The three Western varsity teams he played on went 22-3 (1938-39), 24-6 ('39-40) and 22-4 ('40-41). As a junior, he led Coach E.A. Diddle's Toppers to a berth in the fledgling NCAA Tournament, Western's first appearance. Three times he was named All-KIAC
and Towery went on to play professional basketball for eight
seasons with the Ft. Wayne Pistons (1942-45 and '47-49), the
Indianapolis Jets ('49) and the Baltimore Bullets ('50). He is
retired and living in Marion, Ky. [ 1995 Inductees ] [ 1994 Inductees ] [ 1993 Inductees ] [ 1992 Inductees ] [ 1991 Inductees ] [ HOF Home ] [ Traditions Home ] [ WKU Home ] |
