BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – Former Lipscomb men’s basketball legends Philip Hutcheson and John Pierce are set to be inducted into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The induction ceremony of the 2018 class will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center.
It’s no surprise that Hutcheson and Pierce were amongst the 12-inductees chosen in the SCB’s third Hall of Fame class.
A four-time NAIA All-American (1987-90), Hutcheson finished his career as college basketball’s all-time leading scorer with 4,106 points and has since been named a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and Lipscomb Athletics Hall of Fame. He became only the third player in NAIA history to be a four-time All-American.
Not only was the 6-foot-8 center named the NAIA Player of the Year in 1990, but he was also a two-time CoSIDA Academic Player of the Year in both 1988-89 and 1989-90. Hutcheson graduated from Lipscomb as valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA as a political science/communications major.
In 155 career games as a Bison, Hutcheson scored in double figures in every single one of them – including a 37-point, 11-rebound performance in his first career game. He helped lead the Bison basketball team to a career record of 139-16.
Hutcheson broke the existing all-time scoring mark of 4,045 points set by Kentucky State’s Travis Grant in a third round game against Pfeiffer (NC) on March 16, 1990 in the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City with an 8-foot jump hook-shot in the lane with 12:01 left in the first half.
He holds the Lipscomb single-season records for points scored (1,277), field goals attempted (826), field goals made (518) and free throws attempted (339). He also owns career records in free throws attempted (1,176), field goals attempted (2,621), most games played (155) and double-figure scoring games (155).
Hutcheson would conclude his career by becoming the first Lipscomb athlete to have his uniform retired, which hangs in the rafters today in Allen Arena.
Fittingly, Hutcheson is now in his 11th year as Lipscomb’s Athletic Director. The legacy left by Philip Hutcheson will forever leave a remarkable stamp on Lipscomb University both on and off the court.
Replacing a star would be difficult, but replacing a legend would be virtually impossible. However, that is exactly was Hutcheson’s old roommate John Pierce did.
During his first season at Lipscomb in 1989-90, Pierce received a redshirt and was forced to watch Hutcheson conduct interview after interview as he made basketball history. In 1990, Pierce embarked on a career that would better that of Hutcheson’s.
Wasting little time in chasing his predecessor, Pierce netted 22 points and nine boards in 21 minutes in his first game in a Bison uniform. As the season rolled along and Pierce continued to pile up points, fans began to wonder if he would have a chance to break what many believed was an unbreakable record.
However, when the book closed on Pierce’s career, he broke Hutcheson’s record and found himself as college basketball’s new all-time leading scorer with 4,230 points – a number that still stands today.
He set the new mark on Feb. 24, 1994 against Cumberland University in Lipscomb’s McQuiddy Gym with a soft bank shot off the glass with 4:54 on the clock in the second half.
In Pierce’s time at Lipscomb (1990-1994), the Bisons compiled an overall record of 129-19, qualifying for the NAIA national tournament all four years. As a junior in ’93, he averaged 31.9 points per game.
During a career that included four NAIA All-America honors with three first team selections, he was also tabbed the NAIA Player of the Year twice in 1993 and 1994.
Also scoring in double figures in every game that he played, Pierce was selected No. 28 among the all-time Top 50 college basketball players chosen by Chuck Klosterman of Grantland.
A member of the Lipscomb (2003), NAIA (2003) and Tennessee Sports (2015) Halls of Fame, Pierce owns Lipscomb career records for free throws made (881) and field goals made (1,627). His 54-point performance on Nov. 14, 1992 still stands today as the school’s single-game scoring mark.
His jersey number #50 hangs alongside Hutcheson’s in Allen Arena.
The duo will be joined in the class by coaches John Wooden (UCLA), and Pat Douglass (Cal State Bakersfield), and players Charles Oakley (Virginia Union), John Barnhill (Tennessee A&I), ML Carr (Guilford), Earl Jones (District of Columbia), Terry Porter (Wisconsin-Stevens Point), Leonard “Truck” Robinson (Tennessee State), Clarence Walker (Indiana State), and Marvin Webster (Morgan State).
The mission of the Small College Basketball Foundation is to support and promote the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame Classic, the Celebration of the Game event, the National Awards Program, and future events and awards under the umbrella of Small College Basketball, and to preserve, for the public benefit, the history of college basketball at the small college levels.
If you are interested in nominating a former SCB collegiate student-athlete, coach or contributor for the Hall of Fame, please submit information to scbhof@gmail.com.
