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WIU Continues Investigation of March 26 Shooting ThreatThe Office of Public Safety (OPS) at Western Illinois University and Macomb Police are continuing their investigation of a threat that was received sometime March 26 regarding a shooting on campus. The note alluding to a shooting on campus was left in an off-campus apartment complex's payment drop-box.
"While this was an anonymous off-campus threat, it was imperative that we took all the necessary precautions possible to ensure the safety of our students, staff and faculty," explained WIU President Al Goldfarb. "We are investigating this incident, and we will prosecute the individual(s) responsible to the fullest extent of the law," Goldfarb added. The University returned to its regular operating schedule March 27; however, a heightened police presence remained on campus through March 28. For a list of FAQs regarding the incident and the University's response, go to Western's homepage at www.wiu.edu and select "Western Update/FAQ" in the yellow Timely Warning Update box. To view the March 27 press conference, visit youtube.com/WesternIllinoisU. Photo: Courtesy of KHQA.com Fifty Years Later, Still a Season to Remember Fifty years ago, Leroy “Stix” Morley entered his 11th season as head coach of the Fighting Leathernecks. Expectations were high as Western was coming off a 22-3 campaign in which it fell by just two points to eventual national champion Tennessee A&I in the quarterfinals of the 1957 NAIA National Tournament. Coach Morley had built the Leatherneck program into a respected national contender. The 1957-58 season was one for the record books as Western started with a bang by winning the first nine games, two of which came by a single point. The ninth game that season was a rematch with the Tennessee A&I Tigers in the holiday tournament at Western in the Morgan Hall Gym. After playing the Tigers so tightly in their previous matchup, the Leathernecks found themselves down by 21 points at halftime to arguably the top team in the country. The second half turned into one of the greatest comebacks in school history as Western fought back to win 79-75. In a 1997 interview, coach Morley referred to the win as one of his favorite all-time memories. The momentum from that win propelled the Leathernecks to 12 more consecutive victories, bringing their record to 22-0 entering the final game of the regular season against Northern Illinois. Western had defeated the Huskies in Macomb by 22 points, two games before the matchup. On what was an extremely cold night in DeKalb, Northern came ready to upset the Leathernecks and ruin the perfect season. With 14 seconds left, the Huskies sank a pair of free throws to take just their second lead of the game at 61-60. Coach Morley used a timeout to draw up one final play in an attempt to save the perfect season. Attendees from that game recall how loud the 5,000-plus fans in the gym had become during that final timeout. A writer from the Western Courier overheard Northern players going toward the huddle saying “We've got it”. On the other side of the court, the Leathernecks were figuring out a way to find a shot for Walter Moore. Moore was able to get the ball near the free throw line with five seconds on the clock. Instead of taking the shot, he passed it off to Bill McAfoos who hit a 25-foot jumper with two seconds remaining. The bucket gave Western a 62-61 victory and locked up a 23-0 regular season record. The pilgrimage then began to Kansas City, Missouri, where the NAIA National Finals were held at the Municipal Auditorium. During this era, Western was consistently making trips to the national tournaments, having appeared in four tournaments, including a second-place finish in 1954. The support of the community was behind the Leathernecks as nearly 3,000 fans took busses, trains, and cars to Kansas City. One group of 20 students had a tradition of running with a torch to the tournament. They took turns carrying the torch along the road as cars followed and would reach the arena for the start of Western's first game to ignite the crowd. Once the games started, Western found itself playing from behind in every single contest. In the semi-finals against Georgetown (Kentucky), Moore suffered an injury that knocked him out of the game. That did not stop the resilient squad from fighting its way into the national championship game with an 86-81 win. The injury to Moore however, was severe enough to keep him out of the title game. Tennessee A&I was able to take advantage of Moore being out of the game and avenge the loss from earlier in the year. The Tigers captured their second of three-straight national titles with an 85-73 victory. The loss ended the Leathernecks' 27-game win streak, a mark which still stands as the longest in Western history. McAfoos was an all-tournament first team selection and named “Player with the Most Hustle” for the national tournament. Jack Milam was also honored to the all-tournament first team for his efforts.
In 1995, the entire team was inducted in the Western Illinois Athletics Half of Fame. To date, they are still the only basketball team to receive such an honor. The starting five of Moore, McAfoos, Milam, Chuck Behrends and Grady McCollum are all in the hall of fame as individuals as well. “Stix” Morley, Western's all-time winningest coach, along with his assistant coach Guy Ricci also have individual spots in the hall of fame. As players and teams break records and re-write history books, the 1957-58 basketball team has stood for fifty years atop the Leatherneck charts. While a perfect season and national title eluded the squad, their pursuit of perfection left Western Illinois with some of its most memorable games and quite possibly the most memorable season in history. (Historical facts for this article were pulled from the Western Courier, “Across the Miles with Gordy Taylor”, and former Western radio commentator Harold Roe.) Western Illinois Searches for New Head Men's Basketball CoachAfter five seasons as Head Men's Basketball Coach, Derek Thomas stepped down last month. Director of Athletics Tim Van Alstine hopes to have a new coach named by mid-April. In the first two weeks of the search for a head men's basketball coach Western Illinois University received approximately 60 applications, which will now be narrowed down to a list of eight to 12 by a screening committee comprised of University administrators. "I am very impressed with the quality of candidates this time around," said Van Alstine. "The pool is wider and deeper. This is a much better job than it was five years ago and the program is in much better shape than it was at the last search." Representatives for the screening committee will travel to the NCAA men's basketball Final Four to meet with several candidates, and a small number will be invited to campus. Van Alstine is focusing on candidates with head coaching experience at any level of college athletics. "We are looking at head coaches from Division III schools all the way up to BCS-level schools," Van Alstine said. "We need a coach with NCAA experience who won't be surprised by the surprises. We want someone who has been through it before, has seen the ups and downs of college basketball and has in the end tasted success. "Winning is a staple of Division I athletics. We can't be ashamed to talk about the fact that we expect to win," he added. "If you look at some of our other sport programs and the way they've turned in conference championships, coach of the year awards and player of the year awards, there is no reason our men's basketball team can't do the same thing. We play in a very competitive conference that gives us a great chance at a high level of success. That's what we expect." Van Alstine expects to have a head coach named in mid-April. Click here for more information. WIU Rolls Through the Windy City Building on the success of Western's first outdoor Chicago advertising campaign last spring which contributed to a 3.5% increase in applications at WIU this past fall, University Marketing, the Office of Admissions and the Division of Student Services are partnering for Western's second Chicago spring outdoor advertising campaign. As part of this spring's branding, awareness building and student recruitment campaign, the CTA buses highlight Western's new transfer student cost guarantee program and Western's continued ranking as a "Best in the Midwest College" by the Princeton Review. Students featured in this campaign are Nicole Sutliffe and Curtis Johnson. So, if you see one of our buses this spring, honk and show your purple pride! Fraternity and Sorority Community Sets Strategic Plan for the Future According to Assistant Director of Student Activities Will Foran, three years ago Western was one of 27 schools to participate in the Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA)/Educational Benchmarking (EBI) Greek Life assessment, which is a tool that measures the perceptions that members have of their fraternity or sorority experience. Foran said Western's participation in the study showed that Greek life at WIU was doing well in several areas, but also highlighted the need for improvement in several key areas related to the fraternity and sorority experience. This data, as well as continuing assessment, led to the formation of the Fraternity/Sorority Advisory Council, which was charged with developing a comprehensive strategic plan that focused on the long-term enhancement of the fraternity and sorority community at Western. Click here to read more on the strategic plan.
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Upon their return home, the Leathernecks pulled into the Macomb train station finding upwards of 2,500 fans welcoming back the NAIA national runners-up. The support from the school and the community for this team followed them on the road and into the national title game. The showing at the train station was something that many people involved with the team remember from that season and showed how important the year was to all of Western. 
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