Some history of University of the Ozarks basketball

If he feels like it, I plan to take my 83-year-old father to the Ozarks game at Clarksville tomorrow night. It has been several years since he has been to one, and he did not get to come with us to the Jack for our first game this year. I printed off some of the old coaches and their records, and their all-conference honorees to show to him, and his face lit up immediately. He remembered them well. He said the starters were dubbed "The Mighty Five" because they played the biggest part of the minutes. Incidentally, Gale Kaundart, long-time Northside H.S. and Westark College coach, was one of the starters. Their center, Bob Barolin, was 6-7, which was very tall for that time. Ozarks had a pharmacy program especially designed for WWII vets, and there were quite a lot of them on campus those years.

In 48-49, three of the five were All-AIC and the other two were honorable mention. Ozarks went 20-6 that season and (I think) won the conference title. That year really stuck out in my Dad's mind, and after looking at their record book, I can see why. Since 1983-84, Ozarks has had 15 seasons over .500, so they have had a fairly successful program. However, before that, from '47-'48 through '82-'83, that had been one of only two winning seasons in Ozarks history (they were also 14-11 in 49-50). They had suffered through 1-15 in 54-55, 0-12 in 56-57, 1-21 in 69-70, and 2-25 in 73-74. So, it is easy to see why that one big season stuck out in his mind so vividly. Dad's short-term memory has slipped a little, and old memories have become more important to him as is often the case. Obviously, the 1948-49 season was one of his good memories.
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