Known as much for his wit as his dedication to winning, the leading scorer for the 1949 Kansas University basketball team coached by the legendary Phog Allen died Wednesday.
Arthur Gene “Pete” Petersen, 76, died at the Somerset Health Center in Prairie Village. His daughter, Dana, said the last days of her “gentle giant” were a peaceful end to a long struggle with congestive heart failure.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 9100 Mission Road, Prairie Village.
As a center for the Jayhawks from 1945 to 1950, Petersen scored 372 career points, an average of 6.5 per game.
Born in Washington County, Neb., Petersen played his first year of basketball at the University of Nebraska. After his freshman year, he left college to serve in World War II for two years in Japan. He returned to the United States in 1945, when Allen recruited him.
It was fitting that Kansas was playing Nebraska in Allen Fieldhouse the last night he was alive, Dana said.
“I came in and said, ‘Your Jayhawks are winning,'” she said.
Former teammates remember him for his habit of breaking the serious tone of Allen’s pep talks with his dry sense of humor. During one game, Allen was trying to get team members to keep their eyes on the ball, said teammate Jerry Waugh. Allen said it was fundamental to every sport — football, baseball, tennis, and a myriad of others.
“And Pete comes up with, ‘What about swimming, Doc?'” Waugh said. “And it was just, ‘Don’t aggravate him, Pete.'”
