Cleo Littleton

Last updated
Cleo Littleton
Cleo Littleton.jpg
Littleton with the Wichita Vickers.
Personal information
Born (1932-12-31) December 31, 1932 (age 91)
Rentiesville, Oklahoma
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Career information
High school Wichita East (Wichita, Kansas)
College Wichita State (1951–1955)
NBA draft 1955: 5th round, 38th overall pick
Selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons
Position Forward
Career highlights and awards

Cleophus "Cleo" Littleton (born December 31, 1932) is a former American college basketball player who played for Wichita State University, then known as The Municipal University of Wichita.

Littleton was the first college basketball player located west of the Mississippi River to score more than 2,000 points in his career and remains the all-time leading scorer in Wichita State basketball history. [1] Littleton's career was also notable in that he was one of the first African American basketball players to star in the Missouri Valley Conference. [2]

Littleton was drafted by the NBA Fort Wayne Pistons in 1955, but on the advice of coach Ralph Miller, he opted to stay in Wichita, playing with the Vickers AAU team, and beginning his business career. [3] In 1987, he started his own construction company, Litco Inc., which he still managed as of 2000. [4] He was named the 2004 Small Business Administration's (SBA) Graduate of the Year. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wichita State University</span> Public university in Wichita, Kansas, US

Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in nine colleges. The university's graduate school offers more than 50 master's degrees in more than 100 areas and a specialist in education degree and 13 doctoral degrees. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Turgeon</span> American college basketball coach (born 1965)

Mark Leo Turgeon is an American college basketball coach. Turgeon served as the head men's basketball coach at Jacksonville State University from 1998 to 2000, Wichita State University from 2000 to 2007, Texas A&M University from 2007 to 2011, and University of Maryland, College Park from 2011 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas Sports Hall of Fame</span>

The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in Wichita, dedicated to preserving the history of sports in the state of Kansas. The museum provides exhibits, archives, facilities, services, and activities to honor those individuals and teams whose achievements in sports brought distinction to themselves, to their communities and to the entire state of Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregg Marshall</span> American college basketball coach

Michael Gregg Marshall is an American college basketball coach whose most recent position was head coach at Wichita State University. Marshall has coached his teams to appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 14 of 22 years as a head coach. He is the winningest head coach in Wichita State and Winthrop history with 331 and 194 wins, respectively. He resigned on November 17, 2020, after an internal investigation following allegations by multiple former players detailing physical and verbal abuse at the hands of Marshall. Marshall was paid a settlement of $7,750,000 by Wichita State for his resignation.

Ralph Mevlin Graham was an American football, basketball, and tennis player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Municipal University of Wichita—now Wichita State University—in 1942 and from 1946 to 1947 and at Kansas State University from 1948 to 1950, compiling a career college football record of 21–39–1.

Gene Stephenson is an American former college baseball coach, who served as the head baseball coach at Wichita State from 1978 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wichita State Shockers</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of Wichita State University

The Wichita State Shockers are the athletic teams that represent Wichita State University, located in Wichita, Kansas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the American Athletic Conference since the 2017–18 academic year. The Shockers previously competed in the D-I Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) from 1945–46 to 2016–17; as an Independent from 1940–41 to 1944–45; in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIC) from 1923–24 to 1939–40; and in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1902–03 to 1922–23. As of the 2020s conference realignment, Wichita State is one of two full members of The American to have never been a member of Conference USA, although it became a single-sport member of that conference for bowling in 2024. They are also currently the only non-football-sponsoring institution that is a member of an FBS conference.

The Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team is the NCAA Division I college basketball program representing Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Johnson (coach)</span> American football and basketball coach (1902–1989)

Eugene Raymond Johnson was an American football and basketball coach. He was born and raised in Hartford, KS and is a graduate of Hartford High School. Some sources list him as the head coach of the 1936 United States Olympic basketball team and other sources give that honor to Jimmy Needles and state that Johnson was the assistant coach. His innovations in basketball include being credited with creating the full court press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Miller (basketball)</span> American basketball player

Paul Miller is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'10" center/forward from Jefferson City, Missouri, Miller was an honorable mention All-American player at Wichita State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred VanVleet</span> American basketball player (born 1994)

Fredderick Edmund VanVleet Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Baker (basketball)</span> American basketball player (born 1993)

Ronald Delaine Baker is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers. Going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, he spent 3 seasons in the NBA, playing for the New York Knicks and Washington Wizards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrett Stutz</span> American basketball player

Garrett Stutz is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Wichita State.

The 2017–18 Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team represented Wichita State University in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They played their home games at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas and are led by 11th-year head coach Gregg Marshall. The season marked the Shockers' first season as members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 25–8, 14–4 in AAC play to finish a tie for second place. As the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament, they defeated Temple in the quarterfinals before losing to Houston in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the seventh season. As the No. 4 seed in the East region, they were upset in the first round by Marshall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landry Shamet</span> American basketball player (born 1997)

Landry Michael Shamet is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers and was selected 26th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2018 NBA draft. He has also played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, and Phoenix Suns.

Rauno Nurger is an Estonian basketball player for Kalev/Cramo of the Estonian League and VTB United League. He is a 2.08 m tall power forward and center. Nurger played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulsa–Wichita State men's basketball rivalry</span> American college basketball rivalry

The Tulsa–Wichita State men's basketball rivalry is an American college basketball rivalry between the Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball team of the University of Tulsa and the Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team of Wichita State University. Wichita State leads the all-time series 76–64.

Aubrey D. Sherrod is an American former professional basketball player. A left-handed shooting guard, he was considered one of the top prospects of his class, and was selected as MVP of the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game. He then decided to stay in his hometown to play college basketball, and committed to Wichita State. After 4 years he was selected in the second round of the 1985 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, but was waived before the start of the season and had a short professional career in the CBA and in Australia. He was inducted in the Wichita State Hall of Fame in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaime Echenique</span> Colombian basketball player (born 1997)

Jaime Jesús Echenique Salinas is a Colombian professional basketball player for Petkim Spor of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He played college basketball for the Trinity Valley Community College Cardinals and the Wichita State Shockers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Brown (basketball)</span> American basketball player and coach

Isaac Leon Brown is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach at Wichita State.

References

  1. "Shocker Summer: Cleo Littleton earns a college hoops first". www.kansas.com. The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  2. "Shocker Basketball History". www.goshockers.com. Wichita State University Athletics. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  3. "State Records".
  4. "WSU basketball legend Cleo Littleton high achiever in business career, too - 2000-09-11 - Wichita Business Journal". Archived from the original on 2000-12-10.
  5. "Cleo Littleton Endowed Men's Basketball Scholarship".