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Alumni
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Brian Allen, track & field athlete, 2006-2010
Allen was a nine-time NCAA-II All-American for shot put, weight throw, and hammer. He was a 15-time All-MIAA Performer for discus, hammer, and shot put, and the MIAA Men’s High Point Scorer at the 2009 and 2010 MIAA Outdoor Championships, scoring 28 points in each meet. He was chosen as the 2010 South Central Region Field Athlete of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He still holds PSU all-time records in the weight throw and hammer. Allen is a track and field assistant coach at Missouri Southern State University.
Steve Bever, baseball coach, 1991-2012
Bever served for 22 years as the Gorillas head coach, helping restart the defunct baseball program in 1991. He would go on to become the longest-tenured and the winningest baseball coach in PSU history. Bever led PSU to the school's first MIAA title in 1999, and to the school’s first NCAA National Tournament appearance in 1997. His teams earned four overall berths in the national tournament (1997, 1998, 1999, 2002). Bever also served as an Assistant Athletic Director for Game Administration throughout his tenure. Four years after retirement in 2016, Bever returned to coaching, but at the high school level: he is the current head coach at his alma mater, Girard High School.
Pamela Cartagena, volleyball athlete, 2006-09
Cartagena was an NCAA-II All-American 2007-09, was MIAA Player of the Year in 2009, and was MIAA All-Conference (1st team) 2006-09. She set PSU career records for kills (1,836), attacks (4,809) and sets played (500). Cartagena was ranked second in career digs (2,259) and ranked fifth in career service aces (109). Cartagena went on to become a professional volleyball player in Puerto Rico.
Lisa Cropper, women's basketball athlete, 1993-96
Cropper was a three-time MIAA All-Conference player, scoring 1,339 points in 110 career games — the fifth-highest scoring total in school history at that time, and currently the 10th. She set PSU records for career assists (382) and career steals (260), currently ranking fourth in assists and second in steals, and she set a PSU single season record in 1995 with 84 steals. Cropper went on to work as a physical education teacher at Jasper R-5 High School.
Joe Taylor, football athlete, 2002-05
Taylor was an NCAA-II All-American in 2005, an MIAA All-Conference in 2002, 2004, and 2005, and finished his career with 208 carries for 1,243 yards and 21 touchdowns. Taylor moved to fullback in 2003 and helped teammate Germaine Race set the NCAA Division II rushing record. Taylor went on to work in the field of construction.
1992 football team
The team posted a 14-1 record in finishing as the NCAA-II National Runner-up, dropping a 17-13 decision to Jacksonville State at Florence, Ala., in the title game. The loss snapped a school record 25-game winning streak between 1991 and 1992. The Gorillas captured the MIAA title in 1992.
Legacy category:
The Legacy category, created in 2005, focuses solely on individuals who completed their athletic eligibility 50 years from the current calendar year in an attempt to bolster the school's rich heritage from earlier years.
Max Wilson, football athlete 1949-50
Wilson was a two-year member of the football team who went on to serve 35 years in the Fredonia USD 484 school system as a teacher and coach, junior high principal, high school principal, and superintendent (1975-91). He served on the Kansas State Department of Education board and as a delegate to the National Rural Schools Convention, served two terms as mayor of Fredonia, and was inducted into the Kansas Teacher Hall of Fame in 1991. Wilson died in 2013.
1929-30 and 1930-31 men’s basketball teams
The two squads, composed primarily of the same players, posted back-to-back undefeated seasons, going 20-0 in 1930 and 21-0 in 1931 as the Gorillas set a school record for consecutive victories (47) between Dec. 14, 1929, and Jan. 5, 1932. Both teams captured CIC titles.
