Murray State University Athletics
MSU To Honor Reagan At SIU Game
12/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Mention Johnny Reagan's name to the casual Murray State sports fan and the likely response will include the word, "baseball." After all, the field where the MSU Thoroughbreds play baseball bears the former player and coach's name. A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Reagan was, and still is, a heavy hitter in NCAA baseball.
He's a legend at Murray State. And not just because of baseball.
Fact of the matter is Johnny Reagan was one of the all-time great Murray State basketball players. That will be clear to all next Wednesday night when MSU honors Reagan by raising his No. 20 jersey to the rafters to rest alongside the other seven icons in Racer basketball history who have had their numbers retired.
Reagan, who played at MSU from 1945-48, will join former MSU players Jeff Martin, Garrett Beshear, Howie Crittenden, Bennie Purcell, Joe Fulks, Paul King and Popeye Jones as players to have their jerseys retired at halftime of the Murray State-Southern Illinois game on Dec. 17.
"It's a tremendous honor, one which I hope I'm deserving," said Reagan. "It 's very flattering to have your shirt hanging next to Bennie Purcell's."
Deserving? One former teammate said that it would not have been a mistake to have Reagan's No. 20 up in the rafters before all others.
"I'm not taking anything away from the other players who have been honored," said Dr. Jim Frank, a former teammate of Reagan's, "but when we started the process of retiring jerseys, we should've retired Johnny's long before now."
As a player at MSU, Reagan established himself as one of the school's all-time greats. He was the first-ever MSU player to earn All-Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors four years in a row. When he wrapped up his career in 1948 he owned all but one career record and averaged double figures in scoring, a rarity in those days.
Statistics were scarce from those days, but pouring over the newspaper articles and reading the glowing accounts about the "flashy red-head," it's easy to see why he is considered one of the best ever to wear an MSU uniform.
"I played two years with him and I really thought if he would've gone to a bigger school he would've been a bona-fide All-American," said Frank. "He just didn't have anybody to push him to the next level. But, it was obvious to all of us that he was just better than anyone on our level."
As a freshman from Bismarck, Mo., playing in his first tournament for MSU, Reagan was named the "best individual player" at the Mid-West Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. Frank describes Reagan, who played guard, forward and center during his career, as just being an overall talent when it came to basketball.
"He had an innate ability to know and see the whole floor and function offensively and defensively," recalled Frank. "He was a smooth operator who could jump, shoot and handle the ball. And, he had an uncanny ability to shoot with both hands."
Described by Frank as "an all-around good person who is very reserved and doesn't like the limelight," Reagan made his mark off the floor at MSU, as well. A member of Who's Who Students In American Universities and Colleges, Reagan served as MSU student body president his junior year.
Reagan arrived at MSU in 1944 with as much fanfare as a college player could receive out of high school in those days. Though he grew up south of St. Louis in tiny Bismarck, Mo., Reagan's prep heroics made him a Missouri high school legend.
In 1944 he led Bismarck, a school with just 60 boys, to the Missouri state basketball title. His team's accomplishment's were hailed by the legendary Harry Caray, then a radio announcer for KXOK in St. Louis.
Said Caray: "Perhaps never before in Missouri prep school basketball history has a name captivated the fans to the same degree that has Johnny Reagan's. The sensational basketball star who led little Bismarck to a well-earned state championship is the talk of the whole state in the wake of one of the greatest performances under fire that Missouri high school basketball has ever known."
Reagan, who served as MSU athletic director from 1978-87, has earned most of his reputation at MSU as an administrator and coach.
Following his playing career at MSU, Reagan spent two seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system before returning to Bismarck High School to coach for seven years. After spending two seasons at Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe), one as assistant basketball coach and one as head coach, Reagan was lured back to his alma mater in the fall of 1957.
An assistant under former basketball coach Rex Alexander, Reagan was asked by Alexander and athletic director Roy Stewart if he was interested in taking over as head coach. Reagan turned down the offer, saying, "I decided I wanted to stay with baseball."
He stayed with baseball for 36 years, compiling a record of 776-508-11 and leading the 'Breds to 11 Ohio Valley Conference titles. Reagan was named OVC Coach of the Year nine times and was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1987. That was just one of five hall of fames that Reagan has been inducted into. In 1971 he was inducted into the Murray State Athletic Hall of Fame, but he is also a member of the OVC Hall of Fame, the Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame and the Bismarck High School Hall of Fame. In fact, the baseball field at Bismarck is named after him, bringing the total number of baseball fields which bear his name to two.
Yet, as decorated and honored as he has been during his long, prestigious career, the quiet, soft-spoken Reagan admits that seeing his jersey in the Regional Special Events Center rafters is special.
"It's really humbling to get such a permanent, visible memento."
