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 Dr. Burch Oglesby | Kenny Perry | Hugh Poland | Ed Stansbury Eagle
"Buddy" Keys
Buddy Keys was an outstanding center and linebacker for the Hilltopper football team in 1942 and, after a stint in the military (Marine Corps) in World War II, 1946 and '47. He also lettered in baseball (pitcher-outfielder) three straight years (1946-48) after the War. He was an All-KIAC (Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) selection in football as a senior. His 1946 baseball team went a perfect 9-0, outscoring the opponents by an average of five runs a game. Following his career on the Hill, Keys moved north to play professional football in the Canadian Football League. He was All-Eastern Conference for three straight years (1949-51) with the Montreal Alouettes and then he earned a berth on the All-Western Conference team the next three seasons while playing for the Edmonton Eskimos. After his six years as a player, he put in six more years as an assistant coach in the CFL before being named head coach of the Eskimos in 1959. He spent 15 seasons as a head coach in the Canadian league, the first five with Edmonton, then six with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and finally five with the British Columbia Lions. His 1966 Roughriders team won the CFL's Grey Cup, the equivalent to the NFL's Super Bowl today. He retired from coaching after the 1975 season and was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 1990. His 144 wins as a coach in the CFL still stands as the second highest victory total for a coach in that league. And, he was voted the All-Time
All-Star Coach for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Keys is retired
and living in Langley, British Columbia.
Red McCrocklin holds a unique distinction among all Western Kentucky athletes - he was the first Western athlete ever to earn All-America recognition! McCrocklin earned three letters (1936-37-38) as a center for Coach E.A. Diddle's Hilltoppers, earning All-KIAC honors in both 1937 and 1938; and, he was selected on the All-SIAA (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) team all three of his varsity seasons. His three Western teams won a total of 77 of 86 games; that's an incredible 89.5%. As a senior, he led the Hilltoppers to a 30-3 season, marking the first time on record that an NCAA team ever recorded 30 wins in a single season. Those three teams won three KIAC championships and two SIAA titles. As a senior, he was also the
Talisman sports editor; president of the "W" Club;
and vice-president of the senior class. McCrocklin, who enjoyed
a successful career with General Motors, died in 1982 at the
age of 65.
Moore also earned All-OVC honors after becoming the first Hilltopper ever to run for for 1,000 yards in a season (1,055, as a freshman, in 1965). As a sophomore, he ran for 719 yards despite missing the first four games of the season with a shoulder injury. And, as a senior, he saw limited action due to a leg injury, accumulating just 342 yards in the ground. When he concluded his career on the Hill in 1968, he held 22 Western rushing and scoring records. In fact, a number of his records still stand today, 25 years after he played his last game on the Hill. The leg injury that plagued him as a senior cut short his professional career after just one season (1969, with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League). Moore, who was selected as a
member of the All-Time All-OVC team when that league celebrated
its 40th anniversary in 1988, now lives in Owensboro.
Dr. Oglesby's record of accomplishment as head of the Hilltopper track team from 1967 to 1971 remain unparalleled in the history of Western athletics. He originally came to the Hill as assistant track coach and took over the head coaching reins in 1966. In his five seasons at the Topper helm, his charges were a perfect 5-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference Track championships, taking top honors in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1971. And, he was named to the list of All-Time OVC Track Coaches when that organization celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1988. He coached two Hilltoppers who earned national championships - All-American Henry Jackson (long jump - NCAA champ in 1970 and USTFF champ in 1971) and Bob Stoltman (USTFF discus champ in 1970). His five Topper track teams,
were a combined 20-8 (71.4%) in dual meet competition. Oglesby
has been named a member of the University faculty in the Department
of Physical Education and Recreation since his retirement from
the coaching ranks. He now serves as head of that department.
Kenny Perry ranks as the most successful golfer ever produced by Western Kentucky University. He turned professional after completing his collegiate career in 1982 and has been on the PGA Tour since 1987. Perry posted his first Tour victory at Muirfield Village in 1991, taking top honors in the Memorial, a tournament where he shot a course record nine-under-par 63 in the second round. Still, he had to battle Hale Irwin in a playoff for the win. He added his second Tour triumph by winning the New England Classic in Sutton, Mass., with a 16-under par 268. In his first eight years on the Tour, his career earnings toaled nearly $2 million. The 1978 Kentucky state high champion, he enjoyed an outstanding career on the Hill, leading Western to five tournament team championships in his senior year; overall, the 1981-82 Toppers were 109-28 (79.6%) and finished in the top five in 10 of 13 tournaments (WKU was first or second in eight of those) against some of the toughest competition in the nation. That year, he posted an impressive team-leading 74.4 stroke average. His junior year, the Toppers
were 101-50 (66.9%), finishing in the top five in nine of 11
tournaments. In the fall portion of his junior year, Perry averaged
a very sharp 73.3 strokes in 10 rounds. Perry, his wife Sandy,
and their three children live in nearby Franklin.
Hugh Poland earned nine varsity letters during his career on the Hill in the early 1930s, three each in football, basketball and baseball. Those were the days when the tradition-rich Western athletic program was beginning to make a name for itself. The Tompkinsville native was perhaps his best on the diamond, where the catcher played professionally for the St. Lois Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. Following his playing days, he served as a scout for the Giants organization for many years. And, he was a member of the WKU Board of Regents for a record 24 years. In his three varsity football seasons at Western, he played for three different head coaches, who combined to win 22 of 29 games (75.9%) - James Elam (8-4-0 in 1931), Ernie Miller (8-1-0 in '32) and Jesse Thomas (6-2-0 in '33). Poland's three basketball teams were a combined 59-22 (72.8%), winning Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships all three years and adding title honors in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association his senior year. As a senior, he helped the Toppers go 28-8, marking Western's first 20-win season on the hardwood (that was to be the first of 10 straight 20-victory seasons for Coach E.A Diddle's basketballers). And, in baseball, Poland's Hilltopper
teams were winners as well, coming out on top in 19 of 29 games
(65.5%) in those three seasons, including an impressive 8-3 record
his senior year (1934). Poland died in 1984 at the age of 74.
Ed Stansbury was a major part of Western Kentucky athletics from his days as a Hilltopper athlete in the late 1920's through a period on the Western coaching staff until the war years of the early 1940s. Stansbury originally came to the Hill as a three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball and baseball for the legendary Coach E.A. Diddle. He earned three varsity letters in each sport and he was an All-State performer in both football, and basketball in 1929. An end on the gridiron, he helped his three Western teams win 20 of 28 games (71.4%) and the state championship in 1928. That football team, one of the best ever fielded on the Hill, won all eight games by shutout scores, outscored the opposition a whopping 171-7 for the year, and suffered its only setback by a narrow 7-6 margin. Stansbury was a guard in basketball. An infielder in baseball, he helped his three Western teams win 27 of 32 games (84.4%) and take the state championship his junior year. (1929). He returned to Western as an assistant coach in football in 1934 and spent seven of the next eight years coaching on the Hill. He was an assistant on the gridiron all seven years. He also assisted Coach Diddle in basketball for seven seasons (1934-39, '41-42, and '46-47). And, for good measure, he coached the Hilltopper tennis team three seasons. Overall, in those three sports, the Western teams he was associated with as a coach ran up a total of 234 victories against only 47 losses and five ties - that's an impressive 83% success ratio. Stansbury left the Hill to enter the military during World War II. He returned to Western as Head of the Department of Health and Physical Education, Director of Athletics and an assistant on both the football and basketball staffs for the 1946-47 school year. Late in 1947 he returned to the armed services and retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force in 1961. He is retired and living in Largo, Fla. [ 1995 Inductees ] [ 1994 Inductees ] [ 1993 Inductees ] [ 1992 Inductees ] [ 1991 Inductees ] [ HOF Home ] [ Traditions Home ] [ WKU Home ] |
