Hall of Fame
Gene Conley was a two-sport athlete at Washington State and professionally. He won five games and saved two as a member of the 1950 national runner-up Cougar baseball squad. Conley averaged 13.3 points per game on the 1950 WSC basketball team that won the Pacific Coast Conference North Division and finished ranked 18th nationally. He played six seasons in the NBA as a center and forward and won three titles (1959-61) with the Boston Celtics. As a pitcher, he spent 11 seasons in MLB and won a World Series with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957. A three-time MLB All-Star, Conley was the winning pitcher for the National League in the 1955 All-Star Game when he struck out the side. His victims were Al Kaline, a Baseball Hall of Famer who led the Major Leagues in hits and batting average in 1955, Mickey Vernon, a two-time American League batting champion, and Al Rosen, who won two home run and two RBI titles in the American League. Conley was Washington State’s inductee to the Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Hall of Honor in 2005.
