CHICAGO (AP) — Alex Avila hit two of Chicago’s season-high four home runs and the struggling White Sox beat Kansas City 7-5 on Friday night to give a shaky Chris Sale his major league-leading 10th win and the Royals their eight straight loss.
The defending champions matched their longest losing streak since May 2013, while the White Sox opened the weekend series with their second straight win after dropping 20 of 26.
Sale (10-2) pitched into the seventh and got the victory despite giving up a season-high three home runs — two solo drives to Eric Hosmer and one to Salvador Perez. But the White Sox also used the long ball to come out on top after beating Washington the previous night.
Avila came through with his first two homers since signing with Chicago in the offseason. He hit back-to-back solo drives with Brett Lawrie in the fourth and added a two-run shot in the sixth off Ian Kennedy (4-5) to make it 7-3.
McPherson – A nine-run explosion in the first inning lifted the Hays Monarchs Junior American Legion to a 16-1 win in three innings over the Topeka Senators in McPherson Friday afternoon.
Gavin Schumacher got the scoring started for the Monarchs, stealing home in the first inning. Luke Ruder followed that with a solo homerun to put Hays up 2-0.
As part of the nine run first six different Monarchs drove in at least one run. Ruder drove in three of his five RBIs in the first inning.
Hays scored five more times in the second and two in the third inning.
Schumacher was four-for-four with a pair of RBIs. Luke Ruder homered and drove in five runs.
Carlos Schwindt allowed one unearned run in two innings of relief to pick up the win.
The Monarchs are 6-1 and will play two games at the McPherson tournament Saturday.
DETROIT (AP) — Gordie Howe, the hockey great who set scoring records that stood for decades, has died. He was 88.
Son Murray Howe confirmed the death Friday, texting to The Associated Press: “Mr Hockey left peacefully, beautifully, and w no regrets.”
Howe set NHL marks with 801 goals and 1,850 points that held up until Wayne Gretzky surpassed his idol in the record books.
Howe was also so famously fierce, using elbows and fists to rough up opponents, that a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick,” became synonymous with the combination of having a goal, an assist and a fight in one game.
HAYS, Kan. – El Dorado rallied with two runs in the seventh inning and two in the eighth and knock off the Hays Larks 4-3 Thursday night to salvage the final game of their three-game series at Larks Park. The Larks (6-1, 2-1 JL) did all of their damage in the third. Jax Biggers scored in a throwing error then Austin O’Brien and Devlin Grandberg followed with RBI singles to put Hays up 3-0.
Larks manager Frank Leo on his team’s first loss of the season
Game Highlights
The Broncos (4-2, 1-2 JL) used back-to-back singles to start the seventh and scored on a two-out base hit from Grant Ware, who had been hitless on the season, and a bases loaded walk to Nick Hammeke. They would get the go-ahead run across on Ethan Maxey’s two-out single an inning later.
The Larks, who were held to one hit after the fourth inning, loaded the bases in the eighth but back-to-back strikeouts of Jacob Boston and Garrett McKenzie ended the threat. Nebraska-Kearney’s Chase Gulzow set the Larks down in order in the ninth and gets the save.
New Mexico’s Austin Isenhart allowed two runs on four hits over an inning of relief and suffered the loss in his Larks debut. Starter Augie Gillardo gave up one run on five hits over six innings.
New Mexico’s Austin Bell had three of the Larks eight hits and drove in a run.
The Larks are on the road for nine of their next 12 starting Friday night with the first of three at Haysville. The Aviators, who won the Jayhawk League South Division and championship series a year ago, moved to 3-0 in league play with a win over Liberal Thursday night.
Thursday’s Jayhawk League results
El Dorado 4, Hays 3
Bethany 11, Wellington 2
Dodge City 13, Derby 8
Haysville 7, Liberal 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo.– The Kansas City Royals have selected A.J. Puckett, a right-handed pitcher from Pepperdine University, with their top selection in the First-Year Player Draft, 67th overall in the second round.
Puckett, 21, a 6-foot-4, 200-pounder, went 9-3 with a 1.27 ERA as a junior, posting the third-best ERA in West Coast Conference history. His season included a 45.2 consecutive scoreless innings streak for the Waves, the third-longest streak in modern college baseball history.
NEW YORK (AP) – NEW YORK (AP) – Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura has been suspended nine games and Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado has been penalized four games after their brawl earlier this week.
Major League Baseball also fined each played an undisclosed amount Thursday.
Ventura and Machado both have appealed their suspensions. They can continue to play until the process is complete.
Ventura hit Machado in the back with a 99 mph fastball in the fifth inning Tuesday night in Baltimore. Machado charged the mound and punched Ventura in the head as the benches emptied.
Former Fort Hays State University announcer Bob Davis is among the inductees with western Kansas connections in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
The KSHOF will induct its newest members on Oct. 2 in Wichita.
The KSHOF Class of 2016 consists of 12 members: Topeka native and forty-eight year broadcaster of the Fort Hays State Tigers, Kansas City Royals, and University of Kansas Bob Davis; former Kansas State University baseball player and Washburn University baseball’s career coaching wins leader Steve Anson; 1961 first-team All-American University of Kansas basketball player and three-time NBA All-Star Bill Bridges; two-time Big 8/Big 12 Conference Player of the Year at the University of Kansas and three-time WNBA All-Star Tamecka Dixon; two-time University of Kansas track All-American and four-minute miler Bill Dotson of Concordia; two-time University of Kansas pole vault All- American and U.S. Olympian Scott Huffman from Quinter; Cheney native and three-time national football coach of the year Jerry Kill; 14-time track All-American and two-time National Champion at Emporia State University Deandra Doubrava-McBride of Scott City; 1993 Kansas State University All-American football player and three-time All-Big 8 selection Jaime Mendez III; Wichita native and first African-American high school basketball coach in Wichita public schools Lafayette Norwood; four-time Kansas State University All-American and four-time Olympian Austra Skujytė; and first African-American athlete to letter in athletics at Pittsburg State University and three-time Negro League World Series champion George Sweatt from Humboldt.
Anson, Bridges and Sweatt will be honored posthumously.
The 12-person class raises the total number of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees to 260. The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is in its 55th year of operation. Tickets for the 2016 Induction Ceremony go on sale on Aug. 1, 2016, and can be purchased by calling 316-262-2038 or by ordering online at www.kshof.org.
KSHOF Class of 2016
STEVE ANSON – WASHBURN UNIVERSITY A native of Princeton, Indiana, Steve Anson’s baseball career in Kansas began in 1972 when he enrolled at Kansas State University. Anson lettered for the Wildcats all four years in Manhattan and set career and single season marks that still stand today. A career .349 hitter in 184 games, Anson led the team in hits and batting average all four years in Manhattan. As of 2016, Anson also held the school record for career triples with 19. Anson was named a first-team All-Big 8 performer in 1974. Following his playing career, Anson was named head coach of Wayne State University in 1978 before being named the head coach at Washburn University in Topeka in 1980. Anson guided the Ichabods to five NAIA National Tournaments and was named the 1994 MIAA Conference Coach of the Year. In 24 years at Washburn, Anson compiled a career coaching record of 844-798-3. Anson’s players also achieved success under his tutelage and he coached three All-American selections, two Academic All-Americans, and 96 All-MIAA Conference selections. Anson was named to the K-State Baseball All-Century team in 2000 and was inducted to the Washburn Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
BILL BRIDGES – UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Bill Bridges, originally from Hobbs, New Mexico, is another in a long line of University of Kansas basketball players to make their mark on Kansas sports history. A three-time Big 8 Conference selection, Bridges compiled over 1,000 points and rebounds during his three-year KU career. In 1961, Bridges was named a first-team All-American selection. Following his collegiate career, Bridges was selected by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1961 NBA Draft. Bridges played thirteen NBA seasons with the St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Golden State Warriors, where he totaled more than 11,000 career points and rebounds. Bridges was a three-time NBA All-Star in 1967, 1968, and 1970. Bridges was inducted to the KU Athletics Hall of Fame and the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
BOB DAVIS – TOPEKA Iola born and Topeka raised, Bob Davis is a name that sports fans all across the state will recognize. A graduate of Topeka West High School in 1962 and Washburn University in 1967, Davis began his broadcasting career at Fort Hays State University in 1968 as the Voice of the Tigers. For the next forty eight years, fans of many teams across the state and region could count on Davis’s voice calling the action of their favorite teams. In 1984, Davis moved to Lawrence and the University of Kansas to be the Voice of the Jayhawks, a position he held until 2016. During that span, Davis called eight Jayhawk Final Four appearances, including two National Championships in 1988 and 2008, and six KU football bowl games. From 1997 to 2013, Davis also called baseball games for the Kansas City Royals. Davis was named the Kansas Sportscaster of the Year thirteen times and a two-time recipient of the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s Oscar Stauffer Sports Broadcasting Award. Davis has been honored in numerous athletic halls of fame across the state, including the Fort Hays State Athletics Tiger Hall of Fame in 1990, the Kansas Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2006, and the Topeka West High School Graduates Hall of Fame in 2011.
TAMECKA DIXON – UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS A native of Linden, New Jersey, Tamecka Dixon left a legacy at the University of Kansas that is unrivaled. A two-time Big 8/Big 12 All-Conference selection in 1996 and 1997, Dixon was also named the conference Player of the Year both seasons and earned All-American honors in 1997. Dixon led the Jayhawks to four NCAA Tournament appearances, scoring over 1,600 points and totaling more than 330 assists for her KU career. Dixon was drafted in the first round of the 1997 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks and was named a three-time WNBA All-Star during her professional career with the Sparks, Houston Comets, and the Indiana Fever. Dixon also won two WNBA Championships with the Sparks. Dixon is an inductee of the KU Athletics Hall of Fame and her #33 jersey was retired by KU in 2003.
BILL DOTSON – CONCORDIA Kansas has a long history of producing some of the finest distance runners in American history and Concordia native Bill Dotson is another in the long line of track stars from the Sunflower State. Dotson broke fellow Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Glenn Cunningham’s twenty eight year old high school mile record before graduating from Concordia High School in 1958. Dotson then enrolled at the University of Kansas where he became a two-time All-American and the first KU athlete to break the four minute mile mark in 1962. Dotson won five Big 8 Conference track titles, including three indoor titles and two outdoor titles, and won the Big 8 Conference title in cross country in 1961. Dotson set three three American records in the mile during his career. In 2008, Dotson was inducted to the KU Athletics Hall of Fame.
SCOTT HUFFMAN – QUINTER Quinter native Scott Huffman literally rewrote the technique of the pole vault during his career. After winning the high school state championship in the pole vault at Quinter in 1983, Huffman walked on at the University of Kansas where he perfected what became known as the “Huffman Roll” pole vault technique. Huffman won the 1986 Big 8 Conference outdoor and the 1988 Big 8 Conference indoor championships and was named an indoor All-American in 1986 and 1988. In 1994, Huffman entered his names in the American record books as he used his patented technique to hurl himself over nineteen feet, seven inches, for an American record. Huffman was a three-time USA Track and Field National Champion following his career at KU and he competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, finishing thirteenth. Huffman was inducted to the KU Athletics Hall of Fame and was named to the Pole Vault Summit Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
JERRY KILL – CHENEY A native of Cheney, Kansas, Jerry Kill’s coaching career spans parts of three decades and numerous conference and national honors. After graduating from Cheney High School in 1979, Kill attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, where he played linebacker for the Moundbuilders. Kill began his coaching career as an assistant to Dennis Franchione at Pittsburg State University in 1985 and he served on the staff under fellow Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Broyles for the 1991 Pittsburg State National Championship team. Kill’s first head coaching position came in 1994 at Saginaw Valley State in Michigan before stints at Emporia State University from 1999 to 2000, Southern Illinois from 2001 to 2007, and Northern Illinois from 2008 to 2010. In 2010, Kill was named the head coach at the University of Minnesota. During his career, Kill won four conference championships while posting a career coaching record of 152-99. Kill was honored with National Coach of the Year awards three times and was named the 2014 Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year. In 2004, Kill was inducted to the Southwestern College Athletic Hall of Fame and he was inducted to the Southern Illinois University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2014.
DEANDRA DOUBRAVA-MCBRIDE – SCOTT CITY Scott City native Deandra Doubrava-McBride is one of the most decorated athletes in Emporia State University history. A four-time state champion in three events at Scott Community High School, Doubrava-McBride helped lead the Beavers to a team state championship her senior year in 1994. After enrolling at Emporia State, Doubrava-McBride made her mark early, and often, claiming eighteen MIAA Conference Championships throughout her career. In 1999, Doubrava-McBride won two NCAA Division II National Championships in the 400 meter and the heptathlon. She was named the 1999 U.S. Track Coaches Association Division II Female Athlete of the Year and the MIAA Ken Jones Female Athlete of the Year. For her career, Doubrava-McBride earned fourteen All-American honors and as of 2016, still holds six Emporia State indoor and outdoor school records. Doubrava-McBride was inducted to the USTFA Division II Hall of Fame in 2006, the Emporia State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009, and the MIAA Hall of Fame in 2012.
JAIME MENDEZ III – KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Jaime Mendez III helped form the foundation of K-State football during the early 1990s. A four year letterman for the Wildcats, Mendez’s impact was immediate as he led the team in interceptions and interception return yardage as a freshman, both marks setting school records. Mendez was named honorable mention All- Big 8 as a freshman and was named the Big 8 Newcomer of the Year in 1990. Mendez also earned All-Big 8 Conference honors in 1991, 1992, and 1993. In 1993, Mendez helped lead the Wildcats to a 9-2-1 record and the school’s second bowl game while recording a career high in tackles. Mendez was named a consensus All-American selection and was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award in 1993. In 1994, Mendez signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles. As of 2016, Mendez’s fifteen career interceptions still rank tops in K-State history. Mendez was inducted to the K-State Football Ring of Honor in 2002 and the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
LAFAYETTE NORWOOD – WICHITA With a coaching career that spanned parts of six decades in multiple sports, and at both the high school and collegiate levels, there are few accolades that Wichita native Lafayette Norwood did not accomplish. A graduate of Wichita East High School in 1952, Norwood attended Cowley College for two years before completing his degree at Southwestern College in 1956. In 1969, Norwood made history when he was named the head basketball coach at Wichita Heights High School and became the first African American coach in the Wichita school district. Norwood led the Falcons to 109-56 record and a state championship in 1977 before being named an assistant coach for fellow Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Ted Owens at the University of Kansas in 1978. In 1981, Norwood was named the head basketball and golf coach at Johnson County Community College. Norwood was inducted to the Southwestern College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992, the Cowley College Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
AUSTRA SKUJYTĖ – KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY A four-time All-American track star at Kansas State University, Austra Skujytė from Biržai, Lithuania, rewrote the K-State record books on her way to Olympic history. The first woman to win two NCAA National Championships at K-State, Skujytė won back to back outdoor heptathlon titles in 2001 and 2002 earning All-American honors both years. Skujytė claimed two outdoor Big 12 Confernece titles in the heptathlon in 2001 and the long jump in 2002 and also won two indoor conference titles in the pentathlon in both 2001 and 2002. Skujytė was named the Big 12 Conference Outdoor Performer of the Year in 2001 and 2002 and the conference Indoor Performer of the Year in 2002. Skujytė also helped lead the Wildcats to Big 12 Outdoor Conference championships in 2001 and 2002. Following her collegiate career, Skujytė competed for her home country in the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, Olympic games becoming the only woman to compete in the heptathlon in four different Olympic games. Skujytė won the silver medal in the heptathlon in 2004 and finished fifth in the same event in 2012. Skujytė was named to the Big 12 Conference 10th Anniversay Track Team and was inducted to the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
GEORGE SWEATT – HUMBOLDT Humboldt native George Sweatt was a Pittsburg State University pioneer and one of the greatest baseball players in our state’s history. The first African American to letter in any sport at Pittsburg State University, Sweatt actually lettered in football, basketball, and track and field following his service in the army during World War I. Sweatt was a six-time all-conference performer in track. Sweatt signed with the Kansas City Monarchs baseball club of the Negro Leagues while still in school at Pittsburg State and went on to play in seven professional seasons with the Monarchs and the Chicago American Giants. Sweatt played in the first four Negro Leagues World Series, in 1924 and 1925 with the Monarchs, and in 1926 and 1927 with the American Giants, and won three Negro Leagues World Series championships. Sweatt was inducted to the Pittsburg State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.
On the left is Jim Krob; on the right is Chris Brown.
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
FHSU University Relations
Most of the talk in the sports world over this past weekend centered on the legacy of all-time great athlete and spokesman Muhammad Ali, who died Friday at the age of 74.
Meanwhile, Fort Hays State University was celebrating the accomplishments of a legendary figure of its own, and another in the making.
Fort Hays State, which has enjoyed the fortune of having a lot of successful coaches during its long history of athletics, had the honor of having not one, but two, coaches inducted into separate Halls of Fame in a span of five days.
Jim Krob, who coached cross country and track and field at FHSU from 1987 to 2005, was honored at the Kansas State High School Athletic Association Track and Field Championships in Wichita on May 28. Krob was inducted into the KSHSAA Hall of Fame in the faculty division.
Then on June 1, current Tiger head football coach Chris Brown, in his sixth year at the helm, was inducted in the Hall of Fame of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Activities Association in a ceremony in Kansas City, Mo.
Brown was inducted as a player in honor of his career at Pittsburg State University, where he was a three-time All-American at safety.
Both Krob, 75, and Brown, 41, are members of other Halls of Fame as well.
Ali won three world heavyweight titles, but the accomplishments of — and personal relationships with — Krob and Brown are near and dear to FHSU Athletic Director Curtis Hammeke.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have those kind of quality people working at Fort Hays State over the years,” said Hammeke, in his 12th year as FHSU’s AD who called it a “pleasure” to have worked with the Hall of Fame duo. Hammeke served as the Tigers’ head baseball coach and assistant director of athletics from 1991-96 during the middle of Krob’s coaching career, then returned to his alma mater as athletic director in 2004. He hired Brown in late 2011 to resurrect a struggling football program.
“That’s what we strive for — to have good leaders,” Hammeke said, “good coaches who really care about the kids.”
Krob came to FHSU from Bethany College in Lindsborg in 1987, where he won seven consecutive league track and field titles, and coached the Tigers to five straight conference championships. He continued to teach for an additional nine years after stepping down from coaching and has been working as a referee for high school track and field meets for the past 12 years.
Krob is still a visible presence on campus. He said he still has a computer in the Tigers’ track and field office, and he served on the planning committee for the new track and field complex currently under construction just south of FHSU’s soccer facility adjacent to the Bickle/Schmidt Sports Complex.
“I see him around at Tiger Club (meetings) and around the coliseum,” Brown said. “I know who he is.”
Ditto for Krob.
“He’s one of the nicest football coaches, nicest people, I’ve ever been around,” Krob said of Brown. “He has worked so well with the track program, and not all football coaches do that. We’re fortunate to have him.”
While Brown earned his latest honor as a player for one of FHSU’s MIAA rivals, it’s his coaching success that has Tiger fans excited.
Under Brown, the Tigers have improved by one victory every year since his arrival. Following back-to-back winning seasons in 2013 and ’14, FHSU tied the school record for most victories in a season in 2015 en route to an 8-4 campaign. Under Brown, the Tigers advanced to post-season action last fall for the first time in 20 years.
Following losing seasons in five of the previous six years before Brown’s arrival, his coaching record at FHSU is now above .500 (30-26). The last coach to accomplish that was Bob Cortese nearly 20 years ago. And the Tigers’ overall record last year put Brown in elite company. Only three other coaches in FHSU’s 100-plus years of playing football have won eight games in a season.
All those are just numbers to Brown, who said he gives credit for the Tigers’ success to his coaches and players.
“I enjoy being involved in the kids’ lives and getting to know them as people. They and my coaches are the ones who make this all possible,” Brown said. “When I graduated (from college), that’s what I wanted to do, to teach and coach and try to give back.”
Mission accomplished.
“I don’t think there’s any question about it, he provides leadership and teaches the kids how to conduct themselves on the field, and off,” Hammeke said. “There’s a lot of life lessons to be learned through athletics, and Coach Krob did the same thing.
“I’m really proud of them,” Hammeke added, “how they represent not only themselves but how they represent the university and city of Hays.”
HAYS, Kan. – The Hays Larks scored four runs in the first inning then held on the rest of the way for a 6-4 win over El Dorado Wednesday night at Larks Park.
Jax Biggers, Nate Olinger, Austin O’Brien and Mikey Gangwish all had two hits as the Larks improve to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in Jayhawk League play. Gangwich and Andy Shadid both drove in two runs.
Starter Stephen Yancey allowed two unearned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk over 6 1/3 innings and picked up the win. Alex Lopez gave up a run in the ninth but struck out two for the save.
The Larks go for the series sweep Thursday night. It’s Little League night with all area Little League players encouraged to attend and wear their uniforms. Admission is free courtesy of Cedar Lodge Dental and Freddy’s Frozen Custard. You can also hear the game on KAYS or catch a video web stream at Hays Post dot.com.
COLBY, Kan. – The Hays Eagles American Legion baseball team scored six runs in the first inning then added four in the fifth for an 11-1 run-rule win in the opener of their doubleheader in Colby Wednesday evening. The Eagles won the nightcap 3-1 to move to 2-2.
The Eagles strung together six of their 16 hits in the first inning of game one. Cole Schumacher and Dalton Stout both had three hits while Ricky Hockett drove in four runs and Cole Murphy three. Marcus Altman struck out four over two innings for the win. Ryan Ruder had five strikeouts in two innings of relief as the Eagles fan 10.
Dalton Stout’s single in the fourth scored two to break a 1-1 tie and lead Hays to the win in the second game. Ricky Hockett allowed one unearned run on three hits with seven strikeouts and no walks over five innings for the win.
The Eagles are at home for the first time Sunday at 1 pm against Junction City.
HAYS, Kan. – Creighton Renz double scored Karl Rack in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Hays Monarchs Junior American Legion to a 9-8 win over Great Bend Wednesday night and the sweep over the Chiefs at the TMP Sports Complex. The Monarchs won the opener 3-2 to move to 5-1 on the season.
The Monarchs scored five runs in the sixth inning to take an 8-6 lead but the Chiefs answered with two in the seventh to tie. Luke Ruder had three of the Monarchs 14 hits including triple. Cole Zimmerman pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win.
Adam Gottschalk’s two-run double in the second inning put the Monarchs ahead for good in the opener. Chase Werth allowed one run over three innings with two strikeouts and a walk for the win.
The Monarchs are in McPherson for four games on Friday and Saturday.
BALTIMORE (AP) – Chris Tillman pitched effectively into the eighth inning to earn his seventh consecutive win, Ryan Flaherty drove in two runs and the Baltimore Orioles extended the Kansas City Royals’ losing streak to seven games with a 4-0 victory Wednesday night.
Tillman (8-1) allowed eight hits over 7 1/3 innings, matched his career high with nine strikeouts and walked none. The right-hander is unbeaten in 10 starts since April 14, 6-0 at home and tied for second in the AL in wins.
Brad Brach got the final five outs to earn his second save and help the Orioles complete their first three-game sweep of Kansas City since May 2011. Baltimore has won four straight and seven of eight.
The Orioles took control with a four-run fifth inning against Edinson Volquez (5-6).
FHSU Athletics
INDIANAPOLIS – Fort Hays State Women’s Basketball ranked second nationally in attendance for the second straight year in 2015-16 as the NCAA official basketball attendance numbers were released on Tuesday (June 7). FHSU averaged 2,293 fans per game and saw an impressive total of 34,395 total fans attend home contests in 2015-16. The Tigers ranked among the top five nationally for the fourth consecutive year and among the top 10 for the seventh consecutive year.
Fort Hays State’s average was nearly identical in back-to-back years. The Tigers averaged 2,293 fans per game in 2015-16 and averaged 2,289 the previous season, ranking second nationally both years. FHSU ranked third in 2013-14 and fourth in 2012-13. The rise on the attendance chart goes hand-in-hand with the program’s success on the court, reaching the No. 2 national ranking as a team in 2014-15 and finishing at 30-4 overall with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Central Regional final. The Tigers reached the WBCA No. 1 national ranking for the first time in program history in 2015-16 and reached the NCAA Tournament once again with a final overall record of 25-6. Fort Hays State has now put together five consecutive 20-win seasons, with the last two producing the top two win totals in program history at the NCAA Division II level.
The state of Kansas had three of its four schools in the MIAA rank in the top 10 nationally for attendance. After FHSU at No. 2, Emporia State ranked third at 2,028 per game. Washburn was fifth at 1,649 per game. Two of the top programs nationally, Fort Hays State and Emporia State occupied the No. 1 national ranking until early January. Emporia State started the year as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team and held that position until early December when No. 5 ranked FHSU knocked off ESU in Hays. That win leapt the Tigers into the WBCA’s No. 1 national ranking for the first time in program history and they held the top ranking from December 8 to January 5.
The only school to draw more at home on average in 2015-16 was Northern State (S.D.) of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference at 2,880 per game.
With four teams in the top 10, the MIAA led the nation in attendance once again as a conference, averaging 1,117 fans per game. It was the only conference to average 1,000 or more fans per game. The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, also in the Central Region, was second at 860 fans per game.
Below is a link to the NCAA Division II top 10 women’s attendance figures for the 2015-16 season.
