Ex-Jayhawks join state Hall of Fame

By Staff Reports     Oct 6, 2013

? Three members of the 1952 Kansas University men’s basketball national championship team — Al Kelley, Bob Kenney and Bill Lienhard — were inducted into The State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday at the Wichita Boathouse.

Joining Kelley, Kenney and Lienhard in the KSHOF Class of 2013: Wichita Carroll All-American defensive end Mike Bell, Pittsburg State three-time national football coach-of-the-year Chuck Broyles, Kansas State two-time All-America kicker Martín Gramática and Clay Center’s two-time All-America basketball player Nicole Ohlde of Kansas State. Kentucky basketball All-American/former Boston Celtic Bob Brannum of Winfield was enshrined posthumously.

“I’m blessed, humbled and grateful to be inducted,” Kenney said. “I don’t have all the fancy credentials that other honorees have, but with my teammates’ help, I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve — to be a winner.”

All three Jayhawks represented the United States in the Olympic Games, with Kenney and Lienhard winning gold in 1952 and Kelley in 1960.

“Thank you so much for this honor,” Lienhard said. “I attribute my basketball success to my great coaches and teammates. Dick Harp was a great innovator, and Phog (Allen) was a master motivator.”

Kelley’s 1960 U.S. Olympic team was also inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

“I was delighted when Dick Harp came to McCune (Kan.) to offer me a scholarship,” Kelley said. “I’m a Kansan by birth, but a Jayhawk by the grace of God. I wasn’t as good as Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, but I had fun on the bench (at the Olympics).”

Lienhard and Kelley live in Lawrence; Kenney lives in Phoenix.

The 2013 eight-person class raises the total number of inductees to 227 in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, which is celebrating its 52nd anniversary this year.

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