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Retiring jerseys: Charlie Henke
Posted on: January 15, 2021 at 08:10:10 CT
FIJItiger MU
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With the recent honors bestowed upon Derrick Chievous and John Brown, MU has lifted their requirement of national player of the year recognition as a baseline for jersey retirement making more worthy players available for consideration. One such obvious example is former Tiger great Charles Henke, who regretfully has just entered hospice care after a prolonged fight against cancer.
Letterman - 1959, 1960, 1961
https://www.columbiatribune.com/storyimage/MO/20110305/Sports/303059829/AR/0/AR-303059829.jpg
Charlie Henke was a 6'7 center from Malta, a community of about 400 located between Kansas City and Columbia. There he was a three-year starter and earned All-State, All La-Saline Conference and all-district. As a senior, he averaged a conference-best 23 points and 23 rebounds.
Henke joined the Tigers varsity as a sophomore in the Big 8's initial season before freshman were eligible. In his varsity debut against Arkansas he would score 20 points and grab 20 rebounds. He would later score 30 against NU. And though Henke would finish with a double digit ppg avg and greater than 7 rebounds a contest, MU would become the first team that season to ever finish in 8th place by losing 19 games (the most ever at that point in program history).
Henke would shine for the Tigers as a junior. In the first game of the year he would score 19 in a win over Washington, and 24 in a win over Indiana. He would grab 20 rebounds in a win over Wisconsin that saw MU off to a 5-0 start, their best in 37 years. But when they hit the road they struggled and despite 29 from Henke against NU the Tigers would stagger to a 5-9 conference record. Henke would be recognized with a First Team All Big 8 selection while leading the Tigers with 19.3 ppg and 11.5 rebounds, finishing second in the conference in scoring. His 482 points was the 2nd most for a Tiger in a season up to that point.
Henke's senior campaign of 1960-61 was one of the finest in MU history from a individual statistical perspective, but a 2-10 start all but doomed the season from the outset. Henke would put on a scoring display throughout. He would score 41 against NU, 24 against CU, 26 against OU, and suddenly the Tigers were at 4-3 in conference. MU then traveled to Lawrence where they were met with an angry mob of whiners, upset that their cheating football team was held accountable for using ineligible players, and lost 88-73. In the season's next game, Henke became MU's all time leading scorer with his 1,189th point and he ended the game with 32. On the season's final game against ku, fresh off the NCAA hitting the jayhawks with sanctions for violations in the recruitment of Wilt Chamberlain and with MU fans still mad about being cheated out of a football national championship, hostility reached a fevered pitch. On top of that, a game within a game was being played. The prior year Henke had finished a close second to ku's Wayne Hightower for the conference scoring title. Going into the game they again stood 1 and 2 in the scoring race. Early in the second half Henke already had 20 points on 9-12 shooting, and after a Hightower shot attempt that Henke fouled him on resulted in Hightower throwing punches the stands emptied (see linked post below). Both Henke and Hightower were ejected, and in an unceremonious instant MU's all time leading scorer's career came to an end. MU would go on to win the game 79-76.
https://mizzoumagarchives.missouri.edu/2011-Winter/features/basketball-preview/images/feat-basketball-f-is.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AldG_kiNZ9Q
Henke would win the conference scoring title, again earn First Team All Big 8 recognition, and garner All American Honors from the Associated Press (becoming MU's 11th All American). For the season Henke toppled records. His 591 points was an all time high as was his 24.6 ppg scoring avg (currently 2nd all time in program history).
His 1,338 points scored would be the all time mark until 1973, he now ranks 20th despite only playing 74 varsity games. He also set the new career avg for points with 18.1 ppg (now 5th) for his three year career. He is one of only 9 MU players to score 40 points in a game, and 6 times topped the 30 point mark. 3 times he grabbed 20 or more rebounds in a game. He is one of only 2 Tiger to appear twice in the top 10 in rebound avg for a season ranking 5th all time in career rebounding avg at 9.8 and he ranks 6th all time in free throws made. Additionally he is one of only two Tigers to rank in the top 5 in both career scoring avg and rebounding avg. He was selected by the Lakers in the 4th round of the NBA draft. He also played for the College All-American Tour vs. the Harlem Globetrotters, and played one season for the Kansas City Steers of the American Basketball League before going into coaching. He decided to finish his degree in science specializing in conservation. Henke was a basketball coach from 1966 to 1996, working for Nevada (1966-1970), Mehlville (1970-1975) and Carrollton (1975-1996). Henke was inducted into the Missouri Hall of Fame, Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame and is part of Mizzou’s All-Century team.
I think it would be a great and certainly worthy tribute to have his #55 hanging in the rafters at Mizzou Arena.
Edited by FIJItiger at 08:34:01 on 01/15/21
Letterman - 1959, 1960, 1961
https://www.columbiatribune.com/storyimage/MO/20110305/Sports/303059829/AR/0/AR-303059829.jpg
Charlie Henke was a 6'7 center from Malta, a community of about 400 located between Kansas City and Columbia. There he was a three-year starter and earned All-State, All La-Saline Conference and all-district. As a senior, he averaged a conference-best 23 points and 23 rebounds.
Henke joined the Tigers varsity as a sophomore in the Big 8's initial season before freshman were eligible. In his varsity debut against Arkansas he would score 20 points and grab 20 rebounds. He would later score 30 against NU. And though Henke would finish with a double digit ppg avg and greater than 7 rebounds a contest, MU would become the first team that season to ever finish in 8th place by losing 19 games (the most ever at that point in program history).
Henke would shine for the Tigers as a junior. In the first game of the year he would score 19 in a win over Washington, and 24 in a win over Indiana. He would grab 20 rebounds in a win over Wisconsin that saw MU off to a 5-0 start, their best in 37 years. But when they hit the road they struggled and despite 29 from Henke against NU the Tigers would stagger to a 5-9 conference record. Henke would be recognized with a First Team All Big 8 selection while leading the Tigers with 19.3 ppg and 11.5 rebounds, finishing second in the conference in scoring. His 482 points was the 2nd most for a Tiger in a season up to that point.
Henke's senior campaign of 1960-61 was one of the finest in MU history from a individual statistical perspective, but a 2-10 start all but doomed the season from the outset. Henke would put on a scoring display throughout. He would score 41 against NU, 24 against CU, 26 against OU, and suddenly the Tigers were at 4-3 in conference. MU then traveled to Lawrence where they were met with an angry mob of whiners, upset that their cheating football team was held accountable for using ineligible players, and lost 88-73. In the season's next game, Henke became MU's all time leading scorer with his 1,189th point and he ended the game with 32. On the season's final game against ku, fresh off the NCAA hitting the jayhawks with sanctions for violations in the recruitment of Wilt Chamberlain and with MU fans still mad about being cheated out of a football national championship, hostility reached a fevered pitch. On top of that, a game within a game was being played. The prior year Henke had finished a close second to ku's Wayne Hightower for the conference scoring title. Going into the game they again stood 1 and 2 in the scoring race. Early in the second half Henke already had 20 points on 9-12 shooting, and after a Hightower shot attempt that Henke fouled him on resulted in Hightower throwing punches the stands emptied (see linked post below). Both Henke and Hightower were ejected, and in an unceremonious instant MU's all time leading scorer's career came to an end. MU would go on to win the game 79-76.
https://mizzoumagarchives.missouri.edu/2011-Winter/features/basketball-preview/images/feat-basketball-f-is.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AldG_kiNZ9Q
Henke would win the conference scoring title, again earn First Team All Big 8 recognition, and garner All American Honors from the Associated Press (becoming MU's 11th All American). For the season Henke toppled records. His 591 points was an all time high as was his 24.6 ppg scoring avg (currently 2nd all time in program history).
His 1,338 points scored would be the all time mark until 1973, he now ranks 20th despite only playing 74 varsity games. He also set the new career avg for points with 18.1 ppg (now 5th) for his three year career. He is one of only 9 MU players to score 40 points in a game, and 6 times topped the 30 point mark. 3 times he grabbed 20 or more rebounds in a game. He is one of only 2 Tiger to appear twice in the top 10 in rebound avg for a season ranking 5th all time in career rebounding avg at 9.8 and he ranks 6th all time in free throws made. Additionally he is one of only two Tigers to rank in the top 5 in both career scoring avg and rebounding avg. He was selected by the Lakers in the 4th round of the NBA draft. He also played for the College All-American Tour vs. the Harlem Globetrotters, and played one season for the Kansas City Steers of the American Basketball League before going into coaching. He decided to finish his degree in science specializing in conservation. Henke was a basketball coach from 1966 to 1996, working for Nevada (1966-1970), Mehlville (1970-1975) and Carrollton (1975-1996). Henke was inducted into the Missouri Hall of Fame, Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame and is part of Mizzou’s All-Century team.
I think it would be a great and certainly worthy tribute to have his #55 hanging in the rafters at Mizzou Arena.
Edited by FIJItiger at 08:34:01 on 01/15/21
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Retiring jerseys: Charlie Henke - FIJItiger MU - 1/15 08:10:10