Inductees

A native of Stockton, Missouri, Liston attended Michigan College of Mines where he was a star football player.

In September 1918, Liston was hired by Wesleyan University as coach of the school’s football team. He left Wesleyan in June 1919 to play professional baseball for the Wichita, Kansas team in the Western League.  After spending the summer playing baseball in Wichita, Liston returned to Wesleyan as the head football coach in the fall of 1919. In two years as Wesleyan’s football coach, Liston compiled a 10-3-0 record. His .769 winning percentage at Wesleyan remains the highest of any Wesleyan football coach with at least ten games as coach. Liston also coached the basketball and baseball teams at Wesleyan. In April 1920, Liston announced his resignation from Wesleyan.

After resigning from Wesleyan in 1920, Liston worked as a farmer for 10 years. He returned to coaching in 1930 with Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas. He coached both football and basketball at Baker. He was the coach of the basketball team from 1930 to 1945 and led the school to Kansas Conference championships in 1930 and 1937. He also coached Baker’s football teams and was for many years the school’s winningest football coach with 97 wins. The university named their football stadium Liston Stadium in his honor.

Liston was also the founder of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, organized the NAIA college basketball tournament, and a close friend of James Naismith. In 1945, Liston resigned his coaching position at Baker University to become the NAIB’s first executive director; he held that position until his death in 1949. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975.