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Came across a pretty cool article on former Tiger Dan Pippin
Posted on: October 30, 2017 at 13:02:18 CT
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For those unfamiliar, was probably our best player from the decade of the 1940's. He was twice 1st team All Conference (in a career interrupted by WWII), finished as the program’s All Time Leading Scorer, led the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament berth and their first NCAA tourney win, won an AAU National Championship and was an AAU All American, and is the only Tiger to ever win an Olympic Gold and to captain the Olympic team.
http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/article/20150702/sports/150709755
Dan Pippin left Waynesville High School at the age of 16 to play for the University of Missouri, earning All-Big Six twice, but no doubt his greatest accomplishment was helping the 1952 USA basketball team win a gold medal.
In an edition with a hefty title such as “Greatest in High School Sports” and my company forcing me to narrow my selections to 10, I knew I would be forced to do some digging to find athletes worthy.
Luckily, I stumbled across someone who has, unfortunately, gone forgotten by too many. I say luckily because he is perhaps one of a few who are unarguably one of the best.
Dan Pippin was a guard who could also play forward on the Waynesville Tigers’ basketball teams in the early 1940s. He left for the University of Missouri at the age of 16 and earned two first team All-Big Six Conference first team selections, his first as a sophomore in 1944.
Pippin is in the Missouri Hall of Fame in Springfield and in Mizzou’s Hall as well.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment is heading up the 1952 USA basketball team in the Helsinki olympics as captain, and winning the gold medal with the team.
“I think he’s the greatest basketball player to ever come through Waynesville,” says former high school teammate Bob Murrey.
Murrey is one of only two high school teammates of Pippin’s that are still living.
Murrey played with Pippin for one year at Waynesville, Pippin’s senior year and Murrey’s freshman year. Murrey moved from Little Rock, Ark. to the Waynesville area in 1942. He now resides in Columbia, Mo.
″[Pippin] was 6-foot-1 and could stand flat footed and jump up and touch the rim with his elbow,” Murrey said. “He was the best team man. Back in that day, just the fact that with his height and size, he could rebound. As a team we definitely moved the ball around.
“We ran the full-court press and moved the ball. He could shoot inside, outside, wherever.”
Nancy Vostal, Pippin’s sister, was a cheerleader for both the WHS Tigers and followed her brother to Columbia in college.
“We grew up five miles out in the country around Gasconade river,” she recalls. “We grew up in a resort called Pippin courts that my grandfather built. My dad put in a basketball goal in the resort and a goal out in walnut tree outside behind the tennis courts. I can’t remember a day, unless it was snowing, that my brother wasn’t out there shooting hoops on the old walnut tree. And when it was cold, he would shoot on the goal in the resort.”
Best known for his one-handed, fade-away jump shot according to Vostal, Pippin packed up at the age of 16 and headed to Mizzou to play as a guard.
In his first year in Columbia, he helped lead Mizzou to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Pippin led Missouri in scoring with a 10.7 points per game average in 1948. When he ended his Tiger career, he held the school record with 802 points scored.
In between his years at college (1944, 47-49) Pippin enrolled into the military and was stationed at Fort Sheridan and won a military basketball championship there.
Following his last stint at Mizzou, he went to work for the Caterpillar company in Illinois and played for the Peoria Cats in the National Industrial Basketball League and was a two-time AAU All-American (1952-53).
His 1952 and 1953 teams are in the Peoria Hall of Fame.
He’s a selection as an athlete too, inducted in 1991, as he is pegged second on the All-Time scoring list for the Peoria with 1,518 points.
He contributed 13 points in the Cats’ 62-60 victory over NCAA champion Kansas in the finale of the Olympic Tournament in 1952.
Earning a selection for the Olympic team, he was a part of the United States Olympics team at Helsinki that defeated the Soviet Union twice, 36-25 in the finals. Pippin scored in double figures three times in Finland and played in all eight games for the U.S.
Murrey said it was no surprise to him that Pippin earned the title of captain on that team. His style of play and character — Murrey said while Pippin was a practical joker, he also put in the time necessary to be great — is the blue print for what a leader should be.
“No doubt about it,” Murrey said. “Even when he went on to the Peoria Cats and the olympics, I know he was highly thought of.”
http://www.waynesvilledailyguide.com/article/20150702/sports/150709755
Dan Pippin left Waynesville High School at the age of 16 to play for the University of Missouri, earning All-Big Six twice, but no doubt his greatest accomplishment was helping the 1952 USA basketball team win a gold medal.
In an edition with a hefty title such as “Greatest in High School Sports” and my company forcing me to narrow my selections to 10, I knew I would be forced to do some digging to find athletes worthy.
Luckily, I stumbled across someone who has, unfortunately, gone forgotten by too many. I say luckily because he is perhaps one of a few who are unarguably one of the best.
Dan Pippin was a guard who could also play forward on the Waynesville Tigers’ basketball teams in the early 1940s. He left for the University of Missouri at the age of 16 and earned two first team All-Big Six Conference first team selections, his first as a sophomore in 1944.
Pippin is in the Missouri Hall of Fame in Springfield and in Mizzou’s Hall as well.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment is heading up the 1952 USA basketball team in the Helsinki olympics as captain, and winning the gold medal with the team.
“I think he’s the greatest basketball player to ever come through Waynesville,” says former high school teammate Bob Murrey.
Murrey is one of only two high school teammates of Pippin’s that are still living.
Murrey played with Pippin for one year at Waynesville, Pippin’s senior year and Murrey’s freshman year. Murrey moved from Little Rock, Ark. to the Waynesville area in 1942. He now resides in Columbia, Mo.
″[Pippin] was 6-foot-1 and could stand flat footed and jump up and touch the rim with his elbow,” Murrey said. “He was the best team man. Back in that day, just the fact that with his height and size, he could rebound. As a team we definitely moved the ball around.
“We ran the full-court press and moved the ball. He could shoot inside, outside, wherever.”
Nancy Vostal, Pippin’s sister, was a cheerleader for both the WHS Tigers and followed her brother to Columbia in college.
“We grew up five miles out in the country around Gasconade river,” she recalls. “We grew up in a resort called Pippin courts that my grandfather built. My dad put in a basketball goal in the resort and a goal out in walnut tree outside behind the tennis courts. I can’t remember a day, unless it was snowing, that my brother wasn’t out there shooting hoops on the old walnut tree. And when it was cold, he would shoot on the goal in the resort.”
Best known for his one-handed, fade-away jump shot according to Vostal, Pippin packed up at the age of 16 and headed to Mizzou to play as a guard.
In his first year in Columbia, he helped lead Mizzou to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Pippin led Missouri in scoring with a 10.7 points per game average in 1948. When he ended his Tiger career, he held the school record with 802 points scored.
In between his years at college (1944, 47-49) Pippin enrolled into the military and was stationed at Fort Sheridan and won a military basketball championship there.
Following his last stint at Mizzou, he went to work for the Caterpillar company in Illinois and played for the Peoria Cats in the National Industrial Basketball League and was a two-time AAU All-American (1952-53).
His 1952 and 1953 teams are in the Peoria Hall of Fame.
He’s a selection as an athlete too, inducted in 1991, as he is pegged second on the All-Time scoring list for the Peoria with 1,518 points.
He contributed 13 points in the Cats’ 62-60 victory over NCAA champion Kansas in the finale of the Olympic Tournament in 1952.
Earning a selection for the Olympic team, he was a part of the United States Olympics team at Helsinki that defeated the Soviet Union twice, 36-25 in the finals. Pippin scored in double figures three times in Finland and played in all eight games for the U.S.
Murrey said it was no surprise to him that Pippin earned the title of captain on that team. His style of play and character — Murrey said while Pippin was a practical joker, he also put in the time necessary to be great — is the blue print for what a leader should be.
“No doubt about it,” Murrey said. “Even when he went on to the Peoria Cats and the olympics, I know he was highly thought of.”
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Came across a pretty cool article on former Tiger Dan Pippin - FIJItiger MU - 10/30 13:02:18