Les Witte
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Leslie Witte (April 2, 1911 – December 23, 1973), nicknamed "Beanie" and "One Grand Witte", was a two-time consensus
A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Witte played football and basketball at Lincoln High School from 1927–28 to 1929–30. In football, he helped his teammate (and future National Football League player) Bernie Masterson lead the 'Links' to a 23–0–2 record, while in basketball he also guided the team to a 40–10 record between 1929 and 1930. In his senior season of 1929–30 the basketball team won the state championship.
Les Witte was the younger brother of Cowboys head coach
The Spalding Guide, an early sports magazine that focused primarily on baseball but dabbled in other sports, once wrote about Witte in a 1932 issue,
"Witte was the cleverest player to show in the conference in a long time. This boy's dribbling, pivoting and feinting, and his lefthand arch shots, could not be stopped."
Despite great college success, Witte never played professionally because there were no viable professional leagues during that time. The Basketball Association of America (BAA) would not even exist until 1946, well after Witte's prime.
References
- Porter, David L.; Sojka, Gregory S. (2005). Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. ISBN 0-313-30952-3.
- "Les Witte, Lincoln". Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 20 August 2004. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- Fox, Stephen (1994). Big Leagues: Professional Baseball, Football, and Basketball in National Memory. William Morrow and Company. p. 281. ISBN 0803268963. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- "10th inductee class named" (PDF). Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2010.