Eddie Sutton Named to Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

Originally Published: Feb 28, 2011 11:46 AM CDT

Layna Dewell
Oklahoma Sports Staff

KANSAS CITY, Missouri—Former Oklahoma State head basketball coach Eddie Sutton is one of eight people to be inducted into the 2011 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Sutton recorded 804 wins during his 36-year coaching career and is one of only eight coaches in men’s college basketball history to surpass the 800 win mark.

Coach Sutton was also the first coach to take four different teams to the NCAA tournament, doing so with Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and finally his alma mater, Oklahoma State.

Sutton, a four-time coach of the year, led OSU to two Final Four appearances in 1995 and 2004. He finished his coaching career with an 804-328 record.

While he was the head coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks from 1974 to 1985, he won five Southwest Conference Championships and made nine NCAA tournament appearances including one Final Four appearance in 1978.

Other members of the 2011 class include Bob Knight, the winningest coach in Division I history as well as players Ralph Sampson, James Worthy, Cazzie Russell, Chris Mullin and contributors Joe Vancisin and Eddie Einhorn.

The 2011 induction ceremony will take place Nov. 20 at the Hall of Fame in Kansas City at Midland Theatre as part of a three-day celebration of college basketball.

Sutton graduated from OSU with a bachelor's degree in 1958 and earned a master's degree in 1959. He played for the Cowboys from 1956-1958, and was apart of the 1958 team that advanced to the NCAA tournament. He averaged 8.3 points per game and led the Cowboys in free throw percentage as a junior at 84.3 percent.

After graduating, Sutton served as a graduate assistant under the legendary Henry Iba from 1958-1959. Then in 1962, he served as the head coach at Tulsa Central High School until 1967.

Sutton has received numerous awards including being inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 1995, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, the Oklahoma State University Hall of Honor in 1997, the Creighton University Hall of Fame and the College of Southern Idaho Hall of Fame.