Inductees

Sometimes, Kelby Stuckey just sits back and shakes his head in amazement at how his basketball career unfolded.

There he was in the summer of 1984, readying for his senior basketball season at Soldan High School in St. Louis, and one day in walks an assistant coach from then-Southwest Missouri State to recruit someone else. Next thing Stuckey knows, after attending a basketball camp in Springfield, coach Charlie Spoonhour is offering a scholarship. This despite Stuckey having ridden the bench at Soldan for three seasons.

“Apparently,” Stuckey said, “he saw something in me no one else saw.”

What Spoonhour saw was a key piece to the puzzle, with Stuckey emerging as standout on the Bears’ first-ever NCAA postseason teams. His career defined success, and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Stuckey with the Class of 2017.

Put it this way – Stuckey owns the distinction of having played in more winning games (87) than any other player in Missouri State men’s basketball history.

He was on the Bears team that reached the National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals in March 1986 and on their first-ever NCAA Tournament teams the next three seasons, including the 1986-1987 team that upset the Horace Grant-led Clemson Tigers. That team, with a 28-6 record, is Missouri State’s winningest ever.

Overall, Stuckey finished his career with 1,188 points and 661 rebounds and still ranks 15th in scoring and 10th in rebounding.

“I sat on the bench for three years at Soldan before I became a starter , and  I didn’t want to go back to that when my college career started,” said Stuckey, who helped lead Soldan to the Class 4 state championship game in 1985.

Stuckey’s freshman season at SMS was challenging.

“The turning point was Coach Spoonhour teaching me about mental toughness,” Stuckey said. “He didn’t phrase it that way, but he taught me that you can’t pay strict attention to your body when you’re training. When you’re tired, he talked about looking past that, that your body is capable of going beyond your initial sense of fatigue and a desire to quit. It taught me that I could define my limits and potential for growth and improvement — teachings applicable to all aspects of life, not just sports.”

As a sophomore, Stuckey and Greg Bell tag-teamed on trying to defend Clemons’s Grant, a future NBA standout on the Chicago Bulls’ 1992 and 1993 NBA championship teams. Not that Stuckey will take full credit for the NCAA first-round victory.

“Everybody made a big shot or a big play in that game,” Stuckey said.

In that season, the Bears won the first of four consecutive league titles and added the conference tournament crown. Then-Southwest Missouri State repeated its league crown the next year, advancing to an NCAA Tournament game against Nevada-Las Vegas. The 1989 Bears won the regular season and Mid-Continent Tournament titles but lost an NCAA first-round game to Seton Hall, the eventual national runner-up.

Stuckey’s value was enormous. Because Spoonhour played a three-forward lineup before most teams were using the strategy, Stuckey saw plenty of minutes. He was among several Bears who could pass and catch, plus defend on the perimeter and handle the ball.

With such versatility, Stuckey managed to attack the rim, which helps explain why he ranks fourth in free throws made (378) and fourth in free throws attempted (550).

Stuckey also earned the Guy Thompson Award in 1989 and shared the SMS Coors Player of the Year Award as a senior. He also was a two-time first-team selection to the All-Mid-Continent team, plus earned All-America honorable mention from Basketball Weekly as a senior.

It’s a career that helped to shape Missouri State basketball.

“It means everything to me,” Stuckey said. “(In 1987), the whole city was just buzzing. You couldn’t believe it. People were pulling us over on the side of the road, trying to get pictures.”

Stuckey played pro basketball for 14 seasons, competing 11 seasons in eight countries. He played three seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), making the All-star team and All-Defense in different seasons.

Stuckey, who later earned a law degree from St. Louis University, lives in Springfield, where he and his wife, Marisa, are raising their children, Kaden, Isabella and Jake.

“You talk about timing and taking the right direction when you come to a fork in the road,” Stuckey said of being discovered by Bears coaches. “I was just in the right place at the time.”