William Albert Stauffer (June 9, 1930 – November 26, 2015) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He was an all-conference college player at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

and a first-round NBA draft pick by the Boston Celtics in 1952. Stauffer came to

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

from Maryville High School in

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University and Northwes ...

. His father Marion Stauffer was publisher of the

Stauffer Communications Stauffer Communications was a privately held media corporation based in Topeka, Kansas, that owned many publications and broadcast outlets, including the ''Topeka Capital-Journal'' and WIBW, WIBW-FM, and WIBW-TV. The company operated from 1930 to ...

newspaper

Maryville Daily Forum ''The Maryville Forum'' is a weekly newspaper published Thursdays in Maryville, Missouri, United States. In June 2021, the newspaper was purchased by Ken and Traci Garner via their publishing company Garner Media Holdings, LLC from former owners Ph ...

. Undersized for the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position at 6'4", he nonetheless was one of the Big Seven Conference's top rebounders and left Missouri as the school's all-time leader. He was named first-team All-Big Seven in both his junior and senior seasons. Stauffer's jersey was the first retired by the Missouri basketball program and in 1991 he was elected to the school's athletic Hall of Fame. In 2006, he was named to the school's All-Century team. Following the close of his college career, Stauffer was selected by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the

1952 NBA draft The 1952 NBA draft was the sixth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 26, 1952, before the 1952–53 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basket ...

. However, he chose to instead enlist in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

where he played basketball for the Andrews Air Force Base team that won the Air Force worldwide championship in 1954. After leaving the Air Force in 1954 he worked at the Louisiana Press-Journal in

Louisiana, Missouri Louisiana is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,364 at the 2010 census. Louisiana is located in northeast Missouri, on the Mississippi River, south of Hannibal. Louisiana is located at the junction of State Rout ...

, and then from 1955 to 1963 in at Stauffer newspapers

York News-Times The ''York News-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in York, Nebraska. It is the newspaper of record for York County and surrounding counties in the Rainwater Basin region. Part of Berkshire Hathaway's BH Media Group, the ''News-Times'' is pu ...

and

Grand Island Independent ''The Grand Island Independent'' is a newspaper published in Grand Island, Nebraska. The ''Independent'' is published seven days a week but does not produce a newspaper on Christmas Day. Its daily circulation is 20,500, in eleven counties of cen ...

in Nebraska. He then worked at Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Iowa before retiring in 1992. He died at 85 on November 26, 2015, from a brain hemorrhage.

References

External links

University of Missouri HOF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stauffer, Bill 1930 births 2015 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Missouri Boston Celtics draft picks Centers (basketball) Missouri Tigers men's basketball players People from Maryville, Missouri Power forwards