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 Oran McKinney | Jim Pickens | Dwight Smith | Katy Strozdas (Tinius)
Ralph Antone is one of the last great "multi-sport athletes at Western. He came to the Hill from the hills of Western Pennsylvania and lettered four years for the Hilltoppers in both baseball and football. On the diamond, he was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association All-South Team three times (1981, 1982, and 1983) and as a freshman on the Hilltoppers' 1980 NCAA regional runner-up team, he was named to the All-Tournament Team at the South Regional.. He is only one of two players in WKU baseball history to hit .400-plus twice; and his .437 batting average as a senior in 1983, when he was a second-team ABCA All-American, is still a Western school record. He was named to the All-Time Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Team in 1988. Antone played minor league baseball
in the Montreal organization. On the gridiron, he was a quarterback,
leading the Hilltoppers in both passing and total offense his
junior and senior seasons. And, his career pass completion percentage
(56.3%) is still a WKU school record.
Ralph Crosthwaite ranks as one of the most dominant "big men" in the history of Western basketball. An All-American center in 1958, he completed his career on the Hill in 1959 as the leading career scorer in the school's history with 2,076 points. That figure still stands a strong second on the Hilltoppers' all-time career scoring list. He is one of only three Toppers on record to average 20-plus points per game in three different seasons. And, his 1,304 career rebounds is still - 36 years later - a Western school standard. He averaged in double figures on the boards all four varsity seasons. A three-time All-OVC pick, Crosthwaite led the nation in field goal accuracy both his junior (61%) and senior (64.5%) years. He was drafted by both the Detroit
Pistons (1958) and the Boston Celtics (1959) of the National
Basketball Association.
Bowling Green native Butch Gilbert was a standout lineman on the gridiron for the Hilltoppers and after an outstanding coaching career on the high school level, he returned to the Hill to serve as an assistant coach on some of Western's most successful teams. As a senior in 1951, Gilbert captained the Hilltoppers and was the All-OVC center. He retuned as an assistant coach for former teammate Jimmy Feix in 1969 and was a key factor in the successes of 15 of Feix' 16 Western teams. He spent one year (1984) on Head Coach Dave Roberts staff before "retiring" from the coaching ranks. In 1989, he returned to Coach Jack Harbaugh's Topper gridiron staff and spent two more years working with Hilltopper athletes. In his 18 years as a WKU assistant football coach, he helped the Toppers post 109 victories, against only 76 losses and five ties. His efforts were apparent in 1973 (Western was 21-1-0 and the runner-up in the NCAA national championship playoff), 1975 (11-2-0 and again runner-up in the nation) and 1980 (9-1-0 and ranked number one in the nation for a period of time).
Oran McKinney lettered four years in basketball, earning All-America honors as a freshman in 1943 and playing on some of the winningest teams in Western history. He helped his Hilltopper teams earn National Invitation Tournament (NIT) berths in both 1943 and, after a stint in the military, 1948. That 1948 team still ranks as one of the most successful in Western history, winning 28 of 30 games - a school record 93.3% winning percentage - and taking third place honors in the NIT. And, that '48 team is unique among Topper basaketball teams - all five starters on that team were named to various All-America teams during their careers on the Hill. Overall, three of the four teams
McKinney played on combined to win 77 of 86 games, an 89.5% success
ratio. He was drafted by the pro Baltimore Bullets in 1948.
Jim Pickens was a star in both baseball and football for the Hilltoppers, lettering three years in each sport. He was the All-OVC quarterback in the first season of the Ohio Valley Conference's existence (1948). And, on the defensive side of the ball, he set a WKU school record - that still stands, here almost 47 years later - with four pass interceptions in the Toppers' 14-13 homecoming victory over Eastern Kentucky in 1948. And, on the diamond, he was an outstanding pitcher. He and a teammate once combined to throw a no-hitter against Austin Peay. Following his career on the Hill, Pickens signed a baseball bonus contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1950. However, a shoulder injury in 1951 cut his playing career short. He then entered the high school
coaching ranks where he enjoyed an outstanding career before
returning to Western in 1966 to take over as head coach of the
Topper baseball program, a position he held for 11 seasons. He
is retired and living in Bowling Green.
Dwight Smith lettered three years in basketball, helping to take his Hilltoppers to three straight post-season tournament appearances - the NIT in 1965 and the NCAA in both 1966 and 1967. A three-time All-OVC guard, he was the nation's top rebounding guard in both his sophomore (11.3 rpg) and senior (11.9 rpg) seasons. Overall, the three teams he lettered on went 66-15 (81.5%) and won OVC championships in both 1966 and 1967. An early round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1967, he was named to the All-Time OVC Basketball Team in 1988. When he completed his career,
he ranked 10th among Western's all-time scoring leaders with
his 1,142 points (he still ranks 23rd among all Hilltoppers on
that list). Smith was killed in an automobile accident in May,
1967.
Katy (Strozdas) Tinius ranks as one of the most domintae women's players in Western, OVC, and Kentucky intercollegiate tennis history. She lettered three seasons (1976-77 through '78-79) while playing at the number one position in singles and doubles for the Lady Toppers, earning All-Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference (KWIC) honors twice and All-OVC laurels in the first year of women's competition in that league. She was named to the All-Time
All OVC Women's Tennis Team in 1988. Overall, she posted an outstanding
40-9 record (81.6%) in singles competition, winning four KWIC
titles along the way and qualifying for post-season tournament
play three times. Still a factor on the tennis scene in Kentucky,
she and her husband Joe (a former WKU track athlete) reside in
Bowling Green. [ 1995 Inductees ] [ 1994 Inductees ] [ 1993 Inductees ] [ 1992 Inductees ] [ 1991 Inductees ] [ HOF Home ] [ Traditions Home ] [ WKU Home ] |
