Ellis Eugene Vance (February 25, 1923 – February 16, 2012) was an American professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player. He played in the
Basketball Association of America
The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...
(BAA) and
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) for the
Chicago Stags
The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago from 1946 to 1950.
History
1946–47 season
In the BAA's inaugural year, the Chicago Stags were placed in the Western Division, and after 60 games were tied with the ...
and
Tri-Cities Blackhawks / Milwaukee Hawks.
Vance played
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
for the
Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports.
The University operates a number of athletic faci ...
where he led the team as a member of the famed "
Whiz Kids" of the 1940s. He and the other Whiz Kids,
Andy Phillip,
Art Mathisen
Arthur Fremont Mathisen (February 27, 1920 – January 5, 2004) was an American college basketball standout for Illinois in the 1940s. A center, Mathison led the Fighting Illini in rebounding while scoring over 500 points in his three years of var ...
,
Ken Menke
Kenneth Howard Menke (October 2, 1922 – September 2, 2002) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball League for the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1947–48 and the Waterloo Hawks in the National Baske ...
, and
Jack Smiley
Arthur John Smiley (December 22, 1922 – July 30, 2000) was an American professional basketball player. Smiley played basketball for Waterman High School, in Waterman, Illinois. With Gene Vance, Andy Phillip, Ken Menke, and Art Mathisen, Smiley w ...
, are regarded as some of Illinois' all-time greats, but only he and Phillip are on the team's all-century team. Vance and his Whiz Kids teammates left basketball to serve in World War II in 1943. Vance was selected by the Stags in the
1948 NBA draft, and played professionally for five seasons. He served as the
athletic director
An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...
of the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
from 1967 to 1972.
Vance was married to Grace Hoberg from 1943 until her death from
stomach cancer
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...
in 1980. Vance later married Janann Duffy and had four children. He died on February 16, 2012, at age 88.
Honors
* 1973, Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player.
* 2004, Elected to the "
Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team".
* December 18, 2006, The post office in his hometown of Clinton was named the ''"Gene Vance Post Office"'' in his honor.
* September 13, 2008 Awarded as one of the thirty-three
honored jerseys which hang in the
State Farm Center to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history.
College and professional statistics
University of Illinois
BAA/NBA
Regular season
Playoffs
References
External links
*
*
1923 births
2012 deaths
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Illinois
Chicago Stags draft picks
Chicago Stags players
Forwards (basketball)
Guards (basketball)
Illinois Fighting Illini athletic directors
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
Milwaukee Hawks players
People from Clinton, Illinois
Tri-Cities Blackhawks players
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