When the Bears Basketball Network holds its annual reunions, stories are told and memories are stirred. This year will be no exception when former Missouri State players and fans gather Oct. 13-14.
Winston Garland, the player most responsible for putting Missouri State on the Division I map, will be honored at this year’s event. It’s hard to believe that 36 years have passed since the 6-foot-2, do-everything guard led the Bears to their first NCAA Tournament berth.
“That doesn’t seem possible,” Garland said recently from his home in Nashville. He mentioned that he recently visited with Greg Bell and Kelby Stuckey, teammates at what was then Southwest Missouri State, about that very subject.
“It doesn’t seem that long ago,” Garland said. “It seems like just a few years ago. Man, time goes fast.”
Garland helped fledgling Division I program take off
The basketball program had been Division I for only four years when Garland and Bell arrived in 1985 after spending two years at Southeast Community College in Burlington, Iowa. A junior college all-American, Garland was recruited by Indiana and legendary coach Bob Knight, UNLV and Jerry Tarkanian, and Kansas State among others.
He chose the Bears and Bell, a 6-foot-5 post player who played more like he was 6-9, came along. Coach Charlie Spoonhour and his staff were the reason that Garland, from Gary, Indiana, came to the Ozarks and the tiny program took off.
“Coach Spoonhour had a great relationship with our coach at Southeastern Iowa, Jim Wyatt,” Garland said. “We had been recruited by Bob Knight, Kansas State, UNLV. Some really good programs, but there was no doubt that Coach Spoonhour, (assistants) Dennis Hill and John Hammond, all those guys … they did a great job of recruiting me and Greg. It was coach Spoonhour and his staff. That’s what sold me.”
The Bears, 17-13 the year before Garland arrived, were 24-8 in 1985-86. The program made its first postseason as a DI member, beating Pittsburgh and Marquette in the National Invitation Tournament before raucous, sold-out crowds in Hammons Student Center.
Debuting at the Big Dance
The next season was even better. Missouri State went 28-6, won the Mid-Continent Conference and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The Bears shocked 13th-ranked Clemson 65-60 before falling to Danny Manning and Kansas 67-63 in Atlanta.
Garland, a second-round draft choice and 40th player taken overall in the 1987 draft, went on to play seven seasons in the NBA with five teams, averaging 9.4 points and 4.7 assists. He said every time he crossed paths in the pros with Horace Grant, Clemson’s top player, he brought up the NCAA tourney game.
“I saw him at an all-star game about two years ago and he said that game still hurts,” Garland said of Grant.
Even 36 years later, Garland said the 13th-seeded Bears didn’t feel like the win over No. 4-seed Clemson was an upset.
“Every time we laced them up, no matter if we were at home, or (on the) road or (at a) neutral site, we knew we had a chance,” he said. “We were well-coached and prepared, and felt we were gonna win every game we played.”
‘He was the best teammate I ever had'
Stuckey, an incoming freshman when Garland and Bell arrived on campus, said Garland was the primary reason for that confidence.
“He was the best teammate I ever had,” Stuckey said. “When I was being recruited to Missouri State, John Hammond told me I was gonna be on a good team because we’ve got the best junior college player in the country coming. Like everybody else, you hear something like that and you think, ‘Oh yeah, sure. We’ll see.’
“When I arrived the summer before my freshman year, we spent a month getting ourselves acclimated to the community and we’d play every night. One of the first things I noticed, Winston was kind of quiet. A nice guy. He didn’t have a big ego.
“Then he started playing and that’s kind of when you saw what Winston was all about. He had a coolness. You couldn’t rattle him. You couldn’t get him off his game. Winston just dismantled the entire gym, all summer long. It was incredible to see.
“He had an unbreakable confidence in himself. You never saw him get down and he also prepared very well. No moment was too big.”
Garland looking forward to returning to ‘a special place'
These days Garland, 58, is enjoying life and watching his son, Darius, continue to evolve into one of the NBA’s top guards with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“He’s having a really good career,” Garland said of Darius. “We’re thankful and super excited about what’s to come. God is good.”
Meanwhile, Garland said he looks forward to returning to Springfield for the second Bears Basketball Network reunion weekend. Last year, it occurred during the season, giving him and others a chance to attend a Bears’ home game. This year, he hopes to get to see the current Bears practice and maybe speak to the team.
One of the things he likely would tell the 2023-24 Bears is about how special a situation they are in, making lifetime memories and forging lifelong relationships with teammates.
“What I cherish the most are the lifelong friendships I have with some of the guys I played with, like with Kelby and Greg and the rest,” Garland said. “Those off-the-court relationships we developed are what mean the most.
“Of course the late, great Charlie Spoonhour. He was just a treat to be around. Not only coaching the game, he was non-stop laughter and that was a treat. I cherish those moments with him and coach Rowe (the retired Missouri State director of athletics). Man, it was just a lot of friendships. Not only for me, but my parents developed friendships down in Springfield.
“That was a special time and that’s a special place.”
‘...they are going to remember us forever'
Stuckey said the legacy that Garland and the Bears created in that now-long-ago period of time remains special and always will.
“After we found out we were going to play Clemson, we were in the car — myself, Greg and Winston — riding back to the dorm. By this time, we were a band of brothers,” Stuckey said. “We had been through so many tough games and situations that year, we came out on the other side the better team.
“There was an atmosphere in Springfield at that time … I’ve never felt that kind of excitement in a city, non-stop, for a month. We sat in the car and it was either Greg or Winston, who said, ‘Wow, they are going to remember us forever and what we’re doing.’ It dawned on us. You knew it was something that would last forever.”
Bears Basketball Network Reunion
Andy Newton, a starting guard for the Bears from the 1970s, heads up the Bears Basketball Network. He said the general public is invited to join the BBN with a $250 tax-deductible donation, allowing them access to the weekend activities.
Oct. 13 — 6 p.m. meet and greet, at 425 Downtown. “A Night With Winston Garland” at 8 p.m., a visit with Garland and questions from the audience.
Oct. 14 — Noon at the Old Glass Place. Luncheon with players and fans, including videos and special awards.
How to join the BBN — Former Bears players are asked for a $100 donation and the general public can get a membership for $250. All donations are tax-deductible. For more info, contact Andy Newton at (513) 607-0921.
