Courtesy of GoBonnies.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – One of St. Bonaventure’s most legendary athletes will soon take his rightful place among the legends of his sport as Tom Stith has earned selection to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
Stith will be inducted posthumously along with seven other standouts of his era as part of the Class of 2024. The Class includes Stith, a St. Bonaventure Class of 1961 graduate, as well as Dave Meyers (UCLA), Sihugo Green (Duquesne), Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina), Wayne Estes (Utah State), Sam Lacey (New Mexico State), John Rudometkin (USC) and coach Jack Hartman (Coffeyville CC, Southern Illinois, Kansas State). All members of the Class of 2024 are being honored posthumously.
Tom Stith blossomed into a prolific scorer and was St. Bonaventure’s first consensus All-American.
A co-captain of the 1960-61 team, Stith had an almost unstoppable hook shot and won more national attention for the program than any other player up to that time. At the time of his graduation, Tom set the all-time scoring record at St. Bonaventure with 2,052 points over his three years. That total has been surpassed four times, but three times it was by men who played four seasons.
Tom still holds the St. Bonaventure record for field goals in a season with 327 and scoring average in a season at 31.5 ppg set during the 1959-60 campaign. He surpassed 40 points in a game on eight separate occasions during his Bonaventure career and his 27.0 ppg average ranks second only to Bob Lanier in the Bona record books. He owns the top two scoring seasons in program history also, totaling 830 points in 1960-61 after pouring in 819 the previous year.
His 691 career rebounds still stand 14th in school history as well.
In the 1961 NCAA Tournament, he averaged 29 points and eight rebounds over three games. A year earlier, he helped guide Bona’s to NIT wins with 25 points in a victory over Holy Cross then totaled 26 points in a triumph vs. St. John’s before a 34-point effort in a third-round loss to Bradley.
The honors he received included: Associated Press All-American (1959-60 and 1960-61); United Press International All-American (1959-60 and 1960-61); Look Magazine All-American (1960-61); Sporting News All-American (1959-60 and 1960-61); Coach and Athlete All-American (1960-61); Coach and Athlete Player of the Year (1960-61); Converse All-American (1959-60 and 1960-61); Helms Foundation All-American (1960-61); Catholic Digest All-American (1960-61); and ECAC All-East (1960-61).
Stith was key to leading the Bonnies to a final AP poll ranking of No. 3 following his senior season and No. 9 after his junior year.
The younger brother of Sam Stith, the brothers helped put St. Bonaventure Basketball on the map during a golden age for the program.
After graduation, Tom went on to play for his hometown New York Knicks in the NBA during 1961-62.
He was inducted into the St. Bonaventure Athletics Hall of Fame in 1969 as part of the inaugural Bonnies Hall of Fame class. In 2019, he was selected to the program’s Centennial Season ‘All-Time Team’ as one of the top 20 players in Bonnies basketball history.
Stith joins Bob Lanier, ’70, as St. Bonaventure alumni to be enshrined in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Lanier was honored as part of the Collegiate Hall of Fame’s founding class of 2006.
Details for the induction event will be announced at a later date.
Leave a Reply