Inductees

More than a dozen players who donned the maroon and white of the Missouri State University men’s basketball program moved on to play professional basketball during the past 40 years.

There were even a few, like Blake Ahearn, Alize Johnson and Winston Garland, who landed in the NBA. There were some with NBA G-League experience and even a few Harlem Globetrotters.

However, none of those players accomplished what Johnny Murdock did.

The Wichita native came to then-Southwest Missouri State to play for Coach Charlie Spoonhour (MSHOF Legend 2019) and is still the only three-time Coors Player of the Year winner, an award which was started in the 1982-1983 season. And that’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Murdock in the Class of 2025.

There were more than a few who won it twice, including Garland and Danny Moore, both whose number hangs in the rafters at Great Southern Bank Arena, but Murdock stands alone.

He set a then-school record with 266 3-pointers and had 1,834 during this playing day, from the 1991-92 season to the 1994-95 season.

His journey to Springfield almost never happened.

Assistant coach Randy Stange, a standout player at MSU, was an assistant. He was frank with Murdock, who was an All-State player at Wichita South (Kan.) High School and just led the Titans to a state title in 1991.

“Before meeting Coach Spoon, assistant coach Stange told me that he didn’t think I could play for Coach Spoon, but he took my highlight tape,” Murdock recalled.

About a month later, Spoonhour called. The tape had been sitting on his desk, and he finally popped it into the VCR.

“He said he was very impressed with my highlight tape,” Murdock said. “He finally got to watch it. … Coach Spoon was the sole reason I signed with SMS.”

Murdock played right away for Spoonhour, starting 31 games, the most in the Missouri Valley Conference that year. He set the school’s freshman scoring record with 321 points.

The Bears were 23-8 and won the only Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title in program history. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament but lost to Michigan State, 61-54, in a No. 5 vs. 12 showdown. The Spartans team had four future NBA players in the starting five.

Spoonhour and Stange left after the season for Saint Louis University. Murdock stayed behind.

“The reason I stayed at SMS when Spoon left was the brotherhood my teammates and I built,” he said.

Assistant coach Mark Bernsen took over and coached for three seasons, with Murdock the team’s Player of the Year every year.

Murdock said the awards were a testament to his teammates and the hard work they put in.

He led the team in scoring in each of those seasons and was a First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference pick the past two seasons. He led the league in 3-point percentage as a sophomore at 42.3 percent and his 35.9 minutes per game as a junior was first in the MVC.

The Bears reached the NIT quarterfinals in his sophomore season.

He averaged 17.3, 18.7 and 17.4 points per game, respectively, in his final three seasons. He made nearly 37 percent of his 3-point attempts in his career, but took only about seven per game. In today’s game, that could happen before the first media timeout.

“The only difference in basketball, now from back then, is that more 3s are being taken,” he said.

Murdock slotted in between Garland (1985-87) and Moore (1996-99) and between legendary coaches in Spoonhour and Steve Alford. MSU inducted Murdock into its Hall of Fame in 2009.

He said his mother, Ramona, and his older brother, Jeff, helped guide him when he was younger. They, along with sister Dawne and brother Jason, helped prepare him for his journey to Division I basketball.

Basketball is still in his blood, even 30 years after college. He spent time coaching and officiates high school basketball games. His son, Jordan, is the head coach at Kansas Wesleyan University. His youngest son, Johnny, Jr., got to play for Jordan at KWU.

His daughter, Johnna, plays basketball and is in middle school in the Wichita area.

Murdock’s partner, Kristy Yager, was at MSU the same time he was. Murdock has two grandsons, Jordan and Juelz, and undoubtedly, they will continue the Murdock basketball legacy.

“I really feel blessed and honored to be considered as a Missouri Hall of Famer,” he said. “I am very humbled by the induction.”