Wyoming Basketball Hall of Famer Tony Windis Passes Away
* University of Wyoming press release
LARAMIE -- One of the greatest players in Cowboy basketball history has passed away. Tony Windis, Sr., a Wyoming great during the late 1950’s, died Tuesday night (May 14). He was 91.
A Wyoming icon, Windis was a member of the Cowboy All-Century Team selected in January of 2005, and a member of UW’s Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, inducted in 1999. A native of Long Island, N.Y., Windis was an All-American in 1958 and 1959, and a three-time All-Skyline Conference performer for the Cowboys.
Considered one of the finest pure shooters in Cowboy history, Windis averaged 21.2 points per game for his career which still ranks second in UW history. During his senior year of 1958-59, he averaged 24.4 points per game. He scored 50 points against New Mexico on Jan. 10, 1958, which remains the second best single-game total in school history. For his career, he scored 1,465 points.
Following his Cowboy career, Windis influenced hundreds of high school basketball players as a prep coach from 1971 through 1985. During that time, he coached five state championship teams. In 1977, while at Mountain View, he became the first coach in Wyoming history to win both a boys and girls state championship in the same year.
Windis’ name will be forever etched in the tradition of Wyoming basketball.
From 7220sports.com's "Which Wyoming Hoopster Wore it Best" series:
No. 13 - TONY WINDIS
Guard, 1956-59, New York, N.Y.
Résumé in Laramie
* 69 games played at UW
* 21.2 points per game average
* Second-most points in a single game in UW history (50)
* Second-best scoring average in UW history (21.2)
* Three-time All-Conference selection
* Two-time Player of the Year in the Rockies (1958 and '57)
Why Windis?
It has been more than six decades since Tony Windis has played basketball at the University of Wyoming.
Despite that 63-year span, the New York native's name is strewn throughout the Cowboys' record books.
To be exact, Windis is still the program's Top 10 in eight different categories: Scoring average (21.2), field goals attempted (1,390), single-season scoring average (24.4 in 1958-59), single-season field goals attempted (514 in 1957-58), single-game points scored (2nd-50 points in 1958), single-game field goals made (2nd-19 in 1958), single-game field goals attempted (1st-38 in 1959-also attempted 31 three different times) and single-game free throws attempted (3rd-22 in 1956-also attempted 19 in 1958).
"The Wolfpack had the honor of having the top scoring performance in the Skyline executed against them ..."
That's from a January 1958 issue of the New Mexico Lobo in a story titled "Varsity takes it on the chin."
They sure did.
Windis netted 50 points, including 33 in the second half, in an easy 101-61 victory over the Lobos in Albuquerque. He finished just one point shy of tying the league's record for most points scored in a single game. That record belonged to former Wyoming teammate Joe Capua, who splashed 51 against Montana two years prior.
Windis, a 6-foot-1 guard, connected on 19-of-30 attempts from the field against the Lobos.
In 1999, Windis was inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame. His plaque states this: "Quiet, reserved basketball artist Tony Windis was one of the finest shooters ever to play at the University of Wyoming."
After graduation, Windis became the first coach in the state to win both a boys' and girls' state basketball championship in the same season (1977) at Mountain View High School.
Windis also wore No. 12 and No. 20 during his time in Laramie, according to the UW basketball media guide.
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