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Willie Sojourner - Lets Retire His Number!

weberwildcat1

weberwildcat1

Active member
Willie Sojourner was the greatest player in WSU basketball history. He tragically passed away in an automobile accident last year at age 58. He deserves to have the FIRST number in WSU basketball history retired!

He played (1968-71) for Former WSU and NBA head coaches - wanker Motta and Phil Johnson while attending Weber.

He still holds many Big Sky Conference records.
 
I completely agree. Willie was a great guy and a great ambassador for WSU. Willie helped many people across the globe.
 
Yeah, there was a really good article about a student, colby Olson, I believe, who was petitioning this in the Signpost (WSU's student newspaper) last year. The Hall-of-Fame Committee was supposed to have a meeting to talk about it, but i don't think they ever did.

BTW, Texas Roadhouse in Riverdale has a sweet poster of Sojourner in their bar section.
 
Willie Sojourner 1968-71:
WSU records
Career Points 1563 - #4 in WSU history
(only played 3 yrs)
Career Rebounds 1143 - #1 in WSU history *#2 Big Sky history
Career Rebounding Average 14.1 - #1 in WSU history *#1 Big Sky history
Single Season Rebounds 411 - #1 in WSU history **#2 Big Sky history
Single Season Rebounds 392 - #2 in WSU history **#3 Big Sky history
Single Season Rebounding Average 15.8 - #1 in WSU history
Single Game Points 39 - #3 in WSU history
Single Game Rebounds 25 - #1 in WSU history
(also had 3 other games with 24 which is #2 in WSU history)
3 time Big Sky Conference 1st team
1 of 4 in WSU history
1 of 16 in Big Sky history
 
Willie played on the 1969, 1970, & 1971 teams, record: 68-16 (39-5 in Big Sky) and won 3 Big Sky titles, and went to the NCAA tournament all 3 years and won 2 of 5 games.

The 1969 team (15-0 in Big Sky, 27-3 overall, best overall record in Big Sky history) ended the season ranked 17th in the AP Poll, and the 1971 team ended ranked 20th.

Willie was on the 1971 team, which was our first to play Utah State, the game was in Logan and Weber won.

Willie was drafted in 1971 to the NBA
WSU had three 20 win seasons with Willie.
 
Word has it around Ogden that Willie was best friends with Dr. J back when they played on the 76ers together. Willie was Dr. J's best man at his wedding and even dubbed him the nick name Dr. J.
 
i agree we need to retire Willie's number! we need to start honoring those who created wsu's basketball winning tradition, espceially those who put wsu on the ncaa map, like willie n motta!!

If it wasn't for those guys we'd just be another n colorado or sac state...no offense bears n hornets.
 
Definitely think wsu needs to retire some numbers. Maybe the sports marketing people can get on that and use it to promote wsu athletics. We all know they need to do something!
I think they would also have to retire jamie martin's jersey too if they start retiring jerseys.
 
[color=#6633CC said:
Patten Jr[/color]"]Definitely think wsu needs to retire some numbers. Maybe the sports marketing people can get on that and use it to promote wsu athletics. We all know they need to do something!
I think they would also have to retire jamie martin's jersey too if they start retiring jerseys.
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Patten Jr, Martin was a great player for our football team but it is completely disrespectful to compare him to Sojourner/Motta.
 
i wasn't comparing himi to Sojourner or Motta. My point was to say if we start retiring bball jerseys we'd have to look at retiring other sport jerseys as well.
No doubt Sojourner deserves it more than Martin.
 
[color=#6633CC said:
Patten Jr[/color]"]i wasn't comparing himi to Sojourner or Motta. My point was to say if we start retiring bball jerseys we'd have to look at retiring other sport jerseys as well.
No doubt Sojourner deserves it more than Martin.
Click to expand...

Why do we have zero retired numbers at WSU? I realize most colleges don't do a whole lot of retiring numbers but most have at least a few over the past 100 years
 
I believe we should retire Willie's number, along with the general Dave Patten, superman Jermaine Boyette, pride of Weber High Nic Sparrow, best player in SLCC history Talmadge Eyre, and the show Harold, the thrill Eddie Gill, and finally Rueben Nemhard. First and foremost, Willie Sojourner.
 
I agree with "Turd", we need some jerseys retired to honor our great ones! What can we do as fans to get this done? Anyone know any members of the hall of fame commity?
 
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