Inductees

In sports, rare is the athlete who makes people stop what they’re doing – even it’s important – and pause in awe. Sure, in basketball, there are dunkers and shooters and slick passers and what not.

But about once a generation along comes somebody who does it all and does it with authority, leaving the old-timers to say that he has flashes of “Holy Smoke.”

That was Anthony Peeler.

Peeler starred for Paseo Academy in Kansas City before a monster career with the Missouri Tigers led to selection as a first-round pick – and 14-year career — in the National Basketball Association. It led to induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2018.

As the online publication SB Nation once wrote, “The Tigers never had an athlete like Anthony Peeler, someone who could not only dunk over you with malice and (defense) you up with cruelty but also play any role the team needed him to play at any time.”

What a show it was.

Peeler earned All-State honors all four years at Paseo, and led the team to 1988 state runner-up finish as he also earned McDonald’s All-American distinction.

Then, from 1989 to 1992 at Mizzou, he was the catalyst of the Tigers’ 1990 Big Eight Conference championship team and their 1989 and 1991 Big Eight Conference Tournament title teams – with all three advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

Peeler was the league’s Newcomer of the Year in 1989, and twice won First Team All-Big Eight honors. He was voted as the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year in 1992, and also won All-America honors that season.

Overall, he scored 1,970 points in his Tiger career, leaving as the program’s third-best all-time leading scorer, and led the conference with a 23.4-point scoring average as a senior.

In 2006, he was named to Mizzou’s 30-member All-Century team following a 14-year career in the National Basketball Association.

All of which is only the Cliff Notes version. Those who witnessed him in uniform are still picking up their collective jaw off the floor.

Want to see for yourself? Go to YouTube.com and watch old No. 44 and a montage of dunks. Most feature Peeler gliding down court and going airborne, the ball cradled in his left palm and stuffing it home.

Remember Dr. J of the Philadelphia 76ers? It was kind of like that.

Perhaps his best came in a 43-point – not, that’s not a typo – performance against the Kansas Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse. ESPN’s Dick Vitale punctuated the dunk with one his signature lines, saying “Slam, Jam, Bam.”

That night, the Tigers trailed 78-64 with less than eight minutes to play. Yet Peeler led a near comeback, scoring 19 points down the stretch and pulling the Tigers to within 91-89 with 45 seconds left.

“He was unconscious,” KU’s Alonzo Jamison was quoted as saying after the game.

“Our effort was tremendous,” coach Norm Stewart added.

Many fans could see Peeler’s rise years earlier and figured he would become a breathtaking player that you just had to watch.

You see, Stewart’s Sweet 16 team of 1989 saw Peeler average 22 minutes and 10 points before Stewart turned him loose the next year as Peeler asserted himself a rising star.

That season, he teamed with Doug Smith (MSHOF 2017) and played 33 minutes a game, averaging 17 points, as the Tigers attained a No. 1 ranking for several weeks. He became only the eighth Tiger to score 40 in a game when he lighted up Iowa State for 42.

As a senior, he averaged 19.4 points and 6.2 rebounds.

Even today, Peeler remains all over Mizzou’s record book. Career-wise, he held the school’s assists (497) and steals (196) records until 2012 and 2013, respectively. He still ranks second in both free throws made (522) and attempted (670) and is fifth in both field goals made (666) and attempted (1,428).

Peeler also still holds the eighth-best scoring total (678 in 1992) in a single season.

After college, Peeler was a 1992 first-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers and went on to play with the Lakers (1992-1996), Vancouver Grizzlies (part of 1997-1998 season), Minnesota Timberwolves (1998-2003), Sacramento Kings (2003-2004) and Washington Wizards (2004-2005).