Missouri State

KELBY STUCKEY
Basketball, 1985-89
Inducted February 7, 2004

Kelby Stuckey owns the distinction of having played in more winning games--87--than any other player in Missouri State men's basketball history. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Stuckey started all 93 Bears' games over his last three seasons in a career which ran from 1985 to 1989. He played on the Bears' first four Division I postseason teams, competing as a reserve for the 1985-86 NIT team and then starting on MSU NCAA tourney teams in 1987, 1988 and 1989 for coach Charlie Spoonhour. The Bears won 24 games Stuckey's first season and upset Pittsburgh and Marquette in the NIT before losing by a point at Florida in the tourney quarterfinals. Stuckey was a sophomore starter on the most winning MSU team ever as the Bears won the first of four straight league titles, added the conference tourney crown and upset Clemson in the first-ever MSU NCAA trip before losing to Kansas in the second round. MSU repeated its league crown the next year, advancing to an NCAA tourney date with UNLV, and the 1989 Bears won the regular season and Mid-Continent tourney titles and lost to eventual national runner-up Seton Hall in the NCAA first round. Stuckey finished his career with 1,188 points and 661 rebounds and still ranks 13th in MSU scoring, eighth in rebounding, 10th in games played, and third in both free throws made and attempted. He won the Guy Thompson Award in 1989 and shared the MSU Coors Player of the Year Award as a senior. He was on the Mid-Continent all-league first team as a junior and senior and got All-America honorable mention from Basketball Weekly as a senior. He played pro basketball for 14 seasons, competing on teams in Canada, Argentina, Japan, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Philippines.