Warren Jabali Retire #52 Petition

[GoShockers89]

Just seems very silly and arbitrary to say you needed to be an All-American, but then say that as long as any source, anywhere named you one (not just AP) then you're good to go. I'm sure Athlon or other terrible publications put out All-American lists based on DOFO-level insight.

Hopefully a high school paper names one of our current guys to its list so they can one day be eligible.

[GoShockers89]

Also, Ross McBurney is one of three Shockers to ever be named consensus 1st team All-American per p. 139 of http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_bask...2009/Award.pdf

Where is his number in the rafters?

[shock]

Here is my write up. I need more of a punch in the persuasive area. Can one of you help? I just need some ideas.

Many Shocker faithful believe that Mr. Jabali should be remembered in Wichita State's highest honor, by retiring his number with the other Shocker greats. Mr. Jabali was not an All American Selection, and his teams were not seeped in post season success, however he was a First Team All "Valley of Death" Selection every year in his three at Wichita State, 1966, 1967, and 1968.


As a sophomore, Mr. Jabali was starting forward on a squad featuring fellow Shocker greats Jamie Thompson and Kelly Pete, and was tied for second for points per game with Pete, at 16.5. Mr Jabali also had 11.9 rebounds per game. That team lost in the NIT to New York University, but solicited a super human effort from Jabali, who poured in 24 points and pulled in a commanding 24 rebounds, second all time single game high for a Shocker at the time. The players in front of him for most rebounds in a single game now? Terry Benton, 6'8. Larry Callis, 6'7. Gene Wiley, 6'10. Ron Harris, 6'6. Robert Elmore, 6'10. Then there is Mr Jabali, 6'2.


As a junior guard, Mr. Jabali averaged 14.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and as a senior guard, 18.6 points and 11.6 rebounds.


Mr. Jabali made 45.6% of his field goals, making 498 of his 1,092 attempts. He shot a career 70.6% from the line.


Mr. Jabali played and started every game over his three seasons.


He is second all time for assists in a single game with 14, and fourth with 12, twice.


Mr. Jabali also had games of 24 pts, 24 rbs (vs New York University), 33 pts, 21 rbs (vs Arizona State), 29 pts, 21 rbs (vs Tulsa), production only comparable to Gene Wiley, Terry Benton and Xavier McDaniel. Benton and McDaniel are the only others to have more than two 20 rebound games in their career. McDaniel was 6'7, Benton was 6'8.


Mr. Jabali set the Season record for rebounds in '65-'66 with 323, a mark that stood unmatched for five years. It was broken by Terry Benton, and later surpassed by Robert Elmore, Xavier McDaniel,and Cliff Levingston.


Mr. Jabali is the single season assist leader with 194, and nobody has been able to get closer than ten.


Mr. Jabali is one of four Shockers in the triple double club. Dave Stallworth had 1 triple double. Terry Benton had one. Gene Wiley had 4. Mr. Jabali had 4. Gene Wiley had games of combined triple double numbers of 40, 45, 55, 39. Terry Benton had 52. Dave Stallworth had 41. Mr. Jabali had games of combined triple double numbers of 40, 66, 52, 50. Again, please notice the height disparity. Dave Stallworth was 6'7.


In his stellar career as a Shocker, Mr. Jabali is 19th in points with 1,301, 10th in scoring average, 7th in rebounds with 839, 4th in rebounding average, 2nd in assists (broken by Toure Murry in 1012 by 1, a record that stood for almost 40 years).


He won the Wichita Eagle Team MVP in 1966 and 1968 and has the Team Assists Award named after him.


We, the signees, are not proposing a change to the seeming criteria of being an All-American to have a number in the rafters. We only wish an exception to the rules, so that a deserving player can be remembered how he deserves to be remembered. We want to see #52 hanging with all the best of Shocker Nation.


#WatchUsRetire52

[Dan]

He should be hung up there with the greatest of the greats. His contributions continued into his professional career as a pioneer and great player in the ABA. I think the petition should include a write up on hi legacy not only at wsu but what he did above and beyond his basketball in college.

[shock]

He should be hung up there with the greatest of the greats. His contributions continued into his professional career as a pioneer and great player in the ABA. I think the petition should include a write up on his legacy not only at wsu but what he did above and beyond his basketball in college.

Only problem with that is that a number is only worn at WSU. That is what gets it retired, not his Caps, or Denver, or any other jersey.

[ShockBand]

Some schools retire the jersey, but not the number, keeping the numbers available to use in the future.

[Dan]

let's just say hypothetically that we had a player like Scottie Pippen at wsu. He was a good player but did not make any all-american teams. He goes on to have a great NBA career and ends up in the NBA hall of fame. Wouldn't it be crazy to not have his number retired at WSU? WSU accomplishmnets are very important, but we should also be able to acknowledge greatness after the fact.

[ShockTalk]

Also, Ross McBurney is one of three Shockers to ever be named consensus 1st team All-American per p. 139 of http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_bask...2009/Award.pdf

Where is his number in the rafters?

Hadn't gotten to this thread yet. Great minds think alike (see Rafters).

[1972Shocker]

On the assists comparing Warren's carreer total of 429 assists to Toure's career total of 430 assists is a little misleading.

Toure accumulated his totals over 4 years and 139 games for an average of 3.1 assists per game.

Warren, who played at a time when freshman were not allowed to play varsity basketball, accumulated his totals over 3 years and 78 games for an average of 5.5 assists per game.

[1972Shocker]

@shock not sure if you have seen this article or not, but you may find it of interest:

http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAArticles/JabaliTribute2.html

I am disappointed that Warren was never appropriately recognized as one of the really truly great Shockers during his lifetime. It would be great if we can make this happen now (and I have my doubts about that), but it will never be quite the same now that Warren has passed.

[jocoshock]

His pro career should definitely be highlighted as well. He may have had the most prolific pro career of any of the other players. AC and X may have played more years, and X certainly had some big years early, but Warren was a consistent performer. If he could have played his freshmen year, who knows what we might have done in the Final Four, even without a player taller than 6'5"

[wufan]

let's just say hypothetically that we had a player like Scottie Pippen at wsu. He was a good player but did not make any all-american teams. He goes on to have a great NBA career and ends up in the NBA hall of fame. Wouldn't it be crazy to not have his number retired at WSU? WSU accomplishmnets are very important, but we should also be able to acknowledge greatness after the fact.

Scottie Pippen was a consensus NAIA All-American as a senior and may have been selected as NAIA POY. Just FYI

[1979Shocker]

Here is my write up. I need more of a punch in the persuasive area. Can one of you help? I just need some ideas.

The following are only suggestions.

I would have the first sentence read "Many Shocker faithful believe that Warren (Armstrong) Jabali should be remembered in Wichita State's highest honor, by retiring his number with other Shocker greats." The next sentence I would replace "every year in his three at Wichita State, 1966, 1967, and 1968." with "in each of his three years at Wichita State (1966, 1967, and 1968)."

On the combined triple double numbers, I would add an "and" before the last number. Also, I would change "1 triple double" to "one triple double" and "4" to "four".

I would also spell out pts and rbs.

Edit: I forgot to mention "seeped". That reminds me of something seeping in. I don't know if that's the word you want to use.

[Dan]

Scottie Pippen was a consensus NAIA All-American as a senior and may have been selected as NAIA POY. Just FYI

Maybe not the perfect example, but you get my point. Plenty of guys with phenominal NBA careers that were not all-americans in college.

[JackStraw]

Since the qualifications for retirement seem somewhat murky , how about just a basic common sense category : " Greatest Shocker's Ever "
All I know is that in my 58 yrs of watching the Shocks , Warren still ranks in the top 4 !! If you never saw what he could do , you wouldn't believe it........ In alphabetical order : AC , Dave , Warren , X ........

# 52 in the Rafters