Hall of Fame
Steve Puidokas arrived at WSU in the fall of 1973 at a time when Cougar basketball was struggling and second year head coach George Raveling was attempting to resurrect the program. Raveling’s goal was to build his team around the center and when Puidokas arrived he had the perfect athlete. In four seasons, Puidokas became everything Raveling predicted. He is the only WSU athlete ever to be accorded all-conference honors four straight years. He led WSU to 19-win seasons as a junior and senior and became the only Cougar basketball player to have his jersey number (55) retired. Puidokas also earned a second team All-West Coast selection and was a District 8 all-star following his senior season. When he walked off the court at the end of the 1977 season, he had etched his name in the record books as the career scoring leader at WSU with 1,894 points. His career scoring average, 18.6 points, remains a WSU record, as are his 734 field goals, 1,499 field goal attempts and 992 rebounds. At the end of his career, he ranked fourth on the all-time Pac-8 list in scoring and seventh in rebounding. After shining for the Cougars Puidokas took his skills to Europe, where he was a star for many years, only to have his career and life cut short when he died at the age 40. In 2012 he was inducted the Pac-12 Hall of Honor.
