Jim Iverson obit

Jim Iverson, starting guard on Kansas State's 1951 Final Four team, dies at 90

 

He was not on the list.

Jim Iverson, a three-year letterman (1949-52) for Kansas State’s men’s basketball team, died Monday in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was 90.

Iverson was a starting guard on K-State’s 1951 team, which made it to the NCAA championship game that season, where it fell to Kentucky, 68-58.

K-State went 25-4 that year, with Iverson averaging 8.9 points per game and appearing in all 29 contests. He made 39% of his attempts from the field. The following season, Iverson served as a team captain for a squad that went 19-5 (just two losses in Big Seven Conference play) and finished No. 3 in the final Associated Press poll. Iverson’s 12.9 points per game in 1951-52 was the second best on the team, trailing only All-American Dick Knostman.

Born Aug. 22, 1930, in Mitchell, S.D., Iverson played all three seasons for the Wildcats under Hall of Fame head coach Jack Gardner. Iverson was part of the program during some of the greatest seasons in K-State’s history. The Wildcats went 61-16 (.792) during Gardner’s career. In addition to the 1951 national runner-up honor, K-State also captured consecutive Big Seven Conference championships in 1950 and 1951.

Iverson ended his college career averaging 8.4 points a game. He connected on nearly 40% of his field goals and 75% of his free throw attempts. He participated in 75 games over his three seasons.

After graduating, Iverson was taken in the second round of the 1952 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics. Iverson went into the military, serving in Japan before returning to Manhattan, where he met and married his wife, Joan Chilson. He earned his master’s degree in secondary school administration from K-State in 1956.

Iverson eventually went into coaching.

South Dakota State hired him as its men’s basketball head coach in 1956. He led the Jackrabbits to 142 victories in nine seasons. During that time, South Dakota State won five North Central Conference championships, three regional championships and one national championship in the 1963 NCAA College Division Tournament. He was selected as the National College Division Coach of the Year in 1963.

After his coaching career concluded, Iverson moved into the private sector, working for the National Bank of South Dakota (US Bank), Valley Bank and Heart Hospital of South Dakota, retiring in 2005.

Iverson is survived by his sister, Elaine Walsh, his daughter, Nancy (Bob) Schantz, grandchildren Christina (Dan) Loomis, Katie Schantz and Jimmy Schantz and two great granddaughters, Olivia and Grace Loomis. He was preceded in death by his parents (Melvin and Naomi Iverson), brother, Mervin Iverson, his wife, Joan Chilson Iverson, and his son, Paul Iverson.

A memorial service for Iverson will be held at Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, S.D., at 11 a.m. March 31, 2021.