Cougars’ 1951 basketball record-setters to be honored

It has been 62 years since Roland Minson and Mel Hutchins led Brigham Young to the National Invitation Tournament championship. On Saturday, they will be honored for their achievements at the school.

The former teammates will have their jerseys retired at halftime of the Cougars’ West Coast Conference basketball game against Portland at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.

“This is a long time coming,” said Rocky Steele, author of “Forgotten Champions: The Story of the 1951 BYU Basketball Team.” “These are two of the pioneers of BYU basketball. They put the program on the map.”

Minson and Hutchins were co-captains on the Cougars’ 1951 championship team, the school’s first national title in any sport. The New York Times wrote that Minson, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, was “the best player in the country and better than any show on Broadway.” The Denver Post dubbed him “The Ghost” with “moves ahead of his time.”

“We prided ourselves on having a team that didn’t worry about who the best player was,” said Minson, 83, who wore No. 11.

Added Hutchins, 84, who wore No. 14: “We knew that if we played the ball the way we knew how to play it, we couldn’t get beat.”

Minson, a 6-foot guard from Idaho Falls, Idaho, scored 1,407 points in three years at BYU — a school record for 22 years until Kresimir Cosic broke it in 1973. Hutchins, a 6-foot-5-inch forward from Arcadia, Calif., who was recruited to BYU to play football, grabbed 900 rebounds in two seasons — another school record that Cosic broke in 1973.

Both players were selected in the first round of the 1951 NBA Draft. Minson was taken by the New York Knicks but opted for military service and a career in banking.

Hutchins signed with the Fort Wayne Pistons and was the 1952 NBA Rookie of the Year. He and Wilt Chamberlain are the only players in NBA history to lead the league in rebounding as a rookie.

Hutchins, a four-time all-star, held the NBA record for most rebounds for a player 6-6 or smaller for 35 years until Charles Barkley broke it in 1987.

“Barkley called him up, and Mel didn’t know who he was,” Steele said. “He said, ‘I’m Charles Barkley you crazy “son of a gun” and I just broke your rebounding record.’ They shared a laugh over that.”

The 6 p.m. (PST) game will be shown on BYUtv (Cox 352).

■ BUSY SWING — The Portland game will be the first of three in six days for the Cougars (18-8, 8-4 WCC).

BYU will host in-state rival Utah State on Tuesday and play at Saint Mary’s on Thursday.

The Utah State game originally was scheduled for Dec. 5 but was postponed when Aggies forward Danny Berger collapsed in practice because of a cardiac arrest. He has recovered but isn’t expected to play again this season.

■ MONSEN REMEMBERED — Longtime BYU broadcaster Jay Monsen died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 79.

Monsen’s career spanned 39 years. He announced the Cougars’ first locally produced football game in 1979 on KBYU.

“The next generation may not know Jay’s name, but his mark will be on every sports broadcast we do,” BYUtv general manager Derek Marquis said.

■ SPRING FOOTBALL — BYU’s spring football practices will begin March 4 and conclude April 5.

Dave McCann is a news anchor for KSL television in Salt Lake City and the play-by-play voice for BYU sports on BYUtv. He is also the host of True Blue, which airs Mondays at 5:30 p.m. on BYUtv. He can be reached at dmccann@ksl.com or on Twitter @DaveMcCannKSL.