Six Former Players And Two Head Coaches To Be Honored
– Following an exhaustive 11-month nomination process, six former University of Evansville men’s basketball players and two legendary head coaches will be honored by having their jerseys retired, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the program. The official ceremony will take place in conjunction with the Purple Aces game against Drake on January 27, 2018.
Those being honored include: #20 Hugh Ahlering, #15 Brad Leaf, #50 Marty Simmons, #20 Scott Shreffler, #31 Andy Elkins and #5 Marcus Wilson. Coaches Arad McCutchan and Jim Crews will also have their likeness in the Ford Center rafters.
Below is a capsule on each of the deserving recipients:
#20 Hugh Ahlering – Hugh Ahlering played at UE from 1957-59. A 1973 UE Hall of Fame inductee, Ahlering was a 1959 First Team AP All-American. Ahlering was a pivotal member of UE’s first national championship team, averaging 15.3 points per game.
#15 Brad Leaf – Brad Leaf lettered at UE from 1979 through 1982 and played an instrumental role in 1981-82, scoring 17.6 points per game in leading UE to its first Division I tournament. Leaf is 8th in UE history with 1,605 points and was a 3-time All-MCC First Teamer.
#50 – Marty Simmons – In just two years, Marty Simmons put his imprint on the Aces program.
Scoring 1,265 points, Simmons finished the 1987-88 season 6th in the nation with 25.9 PPG while finishing 9th in AP Player of the Year voting. Simmons led UE to a 21-8 mark as a senior including an NIT win over Utah, the Aces first Division I postseason win.
#20 – Scott Shreffler – Scott Shreffler was the glue on a team that advanced to three NCAA
Tournaments in his four years as a starter. Shreffler remains second in UE history with 521 assists and is 13th on the scoring list with 1,454 in his career. He is the only player in the Aces’ Division I history to make three NCAA Tournaments.
#31 – Andy Elkins – The #6 scoring in Purple Aces history (1,761 points), Andy Elkins led UE to two NCAA Tournaments and one NIT in four seasons. Elkins, a native of Evansville, was a 1st Team MCC player in 1994 before earning the accolade from the Missouri Valley Conference in 1995.
#5 – Marcus Wilson – Marcus Wilson was the 1999 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and led UE to the regular season league championship that year and an NCAA Tournament berth. A member of the MVC All-Centennial Team that was announced in 2007, Wilson ranks 4th on the UE list with 2,053 career points.
Arad McCutchan served as the UE head coach from 1946 until 1977 and led the Purple Aces to five National Championships. He was enshrined into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1973 before earning the nod from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1981. McCutchan was a 2-time NCAA College Division Coach of the Year.
Jim Crews coached the Purple Aces for 17 seasons (1985-2002) and won a total of 294 games. He led Evansville to four NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of NIT berths. Crews was a 4-time conference Coach of the Year, winning it three times in the MCC and once in the Missouri Valley Conference – that coming in 1999. UE was .500 or better in 13 of his 17 seasons at the helm.
At the University of Evansville, the program retires the jersey, not the actual number. Numbers of previous retirees continue to be worn to this day. The eight honorees join six others in the rafters. Prior jersey retirees include: #19 Gus Doerner, #40 Ed Smallwood, #52 Jerry Sloan, #50 Larry Humes, #10 Don Buse and #3 Scott Haffner. A committee considered hundreds of former men’s basketball players throughout an 11-month process.
A special reception will be held around the January 27 game to celebrate the jersey retirees. Information, location and admission price will be announced at a later date.
