| Wins against Kentucky - 0 | Losses against Kentucky - 1 |
Alma Mater: Northwest Missouri State [1932]
Date Born: February 13, 1910
Date Died: April 21, 1972
Overall Record: 331-233 [26 Seasons]
| Date | Matchup | UK Result | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/1960 | Missouri at Kentucky | W | 81 - 69 | - |
Obituary - St. Louis Post-Dispatch (April 21, 1972)
Stalcup Dies of Heart Attack
by Jerry Stack
COLUMBIA, Mo., April 21 - You can't really say that Wilbur (Sparky) Stalcup led the University of Missouri basketball Tigers out of the wilderness of Brewer Field House and into the promised land. But he was looking forward to see the day.
That day will come next season when the Tigers dedicate their new Multipurpose Auditorium. But Stalcup won't be there to see it. The 62-year-old athletic director and former basketball coach died early today in Boone County Hospital.
Stalcup, who was MU basketball coach from 1946-61, had been hospitalized since April 9, when he suffered a heart attack. He was moved from intensive care only this week and, authorities said, apparently suffered another heart attack yesterday afternoon.
During his 16 years as coach of the Tigers, Stalcup's teams compiled a won-lost record of 195-179. He previously had coached at Northwest Missouri State at Maryville, where he played basketball under Henry Iba.
Stalcup coached high school basketball for a year at Jackson, Mo., and then moved back to Maryville to succeed Iba, who moved to Colorado. Stalcup's record at Maryville was 162-55.
A former president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Stalcup also was a member of the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame.
Stalcup retired from coaching in 1962 to become the top administrative assistant to former athletic director Don Faurot and later to Dan Devine. He was named to succeed Devine in February 1971 when Devine left to coach the Green Bay Packers. Since Stalcup was stricken, Harry Ice, administrative assistant for public relations, has been handling most of Stalcup's duties.
Stalcup did not retire under the most pleasant of circumstances. His last few years, he had been criticized for the rough play of his teams. Critics pointed out that his teams ranked in the Top 10 in fouling, not scoring.
A fiery competitor as both coach and player, Stalcup was greatly disturbed by the accusations.
"In this business, you take the good with the bad," he had said. "My only real concern is the implication that I would coach dirty basketball.
"In my coaching career I have coached many, many fine boys - some great. Before God, I can sincerely say that I have never taught or told a boy to play dirty basketball, and I never shall. I teach, coach, instruct in the same manner I want my child taught. The treatment at my hands has to be the same for them as I want for her."
If a statue of Stalcup would ever be sculpted for the new auditorium, it would be one showing Sparky in his typical Brewer Field House pose - one leg on the dirt of Brewer, the other lifted onto the court, with his arm draped over his knee.
Usually when he was off the bench he was shouting - either to his players or the officials. His shouts probably were never louder than when the Tigers played against Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain in 1958.
While Chamberlain was in the midst of a 35-point rampage at Brewer, Stalcup was trying to figure out how to stop all of that dunking that was going on.
"Watch that Chamberlain," Sparky shrieked to the officials. "He's backing in. He's using his body."
The shouts did little good.
"Watch that Chamberlain," Sparky implored one more time as the referee walked past the bench.
The referee paused long enough for comment, "I am watching him. He's great, ain't he, coach."
Stalcup broke up with laughter.
The laughter and the gravel voice that became known to Missouri football fans when Stalcup broadcast color on the games are now gone.
Survivors include his mother, Mrs. G.E. Stalcup of Oregon, Mo.; his wife, Mrs. Isabel Stalcup; a daughter, Mrs. Thomas Gray of Columbia; two grand-daughters and a brother and sister.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday in the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday and the interment will be held in the Elmwood Cemetery, Rockport, Mo.
The family has requested that anyone wishing to honor Stalcup's memory may do so by contributing to a memorial scholarship fund, established by the university athletic department in Stalcup's name.
Contributions to the Wilbur Stalcup Fund may be directed to Harry Ice, Athletic Department, Rothwell Gymnasium, Columbia.
