Oklahoma State University Athletics
10 In 30 ... Kevin Gum
December 12, 2019 | Cowgirl Basketball
Thirty years +1. That is a lot of great basketball players, coaches, and even greater people I've had the luxury to get to know over the last three decades. It is fun to sit back, scroll through one of the latest Ryan Cameron-produced media guides and reflect on so many terrific people. For 30 years of radio plus one as public address announcer, I've had a great view in storied Gallagher-Iba Arena. I would have never thought the first time I sat down in old Gallagher Hall to begin to follow Cowgirl Basketball that I'd make so many friends for over three decades. What an honor it's been and with that, they're all my heroes for getting their degrees from Oklahoma State but after working with over 450 players and four fantastic head coaches, my 'Top 10' in no certain order, holds some great memories in my years of having the best seat in the house!
Liz Brown — One of my earliest memories of Cowgirl basketball, first as public address announcer then her senior year when I started calling games on radio. Wowwwwww, what a player, listed as 5'5 but I always swore she wasn't a bit taller than 5'0. Many can argue who the greatest point guard is in the history of the program, that's always up for debate. There is no debating however, that Liz Brown made EVERY player on the floor better. I called her the Little General and she was just that too! She was so good that she even made the opposition better because if they didn't bring it, she was going to scorch them and did so many times. So soft spoken and shy off the floor yet so fierce on the court. She helped lead the Cowgirls to their first-ever Sweet 16 appearance and was convinced every time her teams took the floor they were going to win and win big and so often they did. Rumor has it she once played in a Big 8 Tournament Final that went three overtimes, Liz never left the floor and ended the game with zero turnovers.
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Stacy Coffey — Coach Dick Halterman's easiest recruit ever because her family history was OSU and she was coming to make her family proud and electrify the fans. Most aggressive player I've ever seen. She chased the basketball like it was gold. Whatever it took to get the ball, she did it. No wonder she ended her time at OSU with a career-high 458 steals. Incredible leader, unselfish, just win baby!
Althea Cox — Reference Liz Brown above. These two together on the same teams were special. Althea didn't start a single game for Dick Halterman and Jack Easley's team her freshman year. She would only miss 10 starts combined the rest of her career. She too was on that team that survived three overtimes to defeat Michigan State to advance to the Cowgirls' first-ever Sweet 16. She was the kind of player that was everywhere on the floor all the time. Affectionately nicknamed 'tick' for her tiny size, she used her smaller size to her advantage. I used to say she was like a 'gnat at a barbecue', because she was all over the place, all the time, and opponents just couldn't get rid of her!Â
Jennifer Crow — The Cowgirls needed a pure shooter and in flew a Crow. One of the best pure shooters OSU has had in its history. That mid-range jumper was amazing. Leave her open and she drilled it every time. When opponents defended her mid-range and forced her out beyond the three-point line she made them pay! Only five percentage points separated her two-point buckets from her 3-pointers made... that's unheard of!
Kaylee Jensen — Double-double Jensen. After her freshman year I wasn't convinced, but after her sophomore year I was convinced I was dead wrong. Maybe the best project player in Cowgirl history. Coaches got it right with Kaylee and she developed so much between her freshman and sophomore year then ended her final two years averaging a double-double. She worked hard to get better and her statistics began to pile up. Her emotion as an upperclassman helped make her a team leader and her academia success helped make her an even larger leader.
Brittney Martin — Another player with numbers which just kept getting better from freshman to senior seasons. At 6'0 in a sport where the players just keep getting bigger, one time she managed with her natural athleticism and determination to pull down 20 rebounds in a game. One of the most polite and humble players I've ever interviewed. She was always willing to jump on the headset any time we asked her to visit about an upcoming game or on a postgame. Brittney was recruited hard by late Cowgirl assistant Miranda Serna for over a year and had expressed her commitment to OSU prior to the 2011 tragedy. She followed through on her commitment and became one of the best in the school's history. Once named the Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, she was special!
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Lisa McGill — They said she was 6'0 but she played more like 6'4. The tandem of Lisa and Shea Jackson was a special time for Cowgirl basketball. Big 8 opponents hated playing Oklahoma State in the early 90s because Lisa brought size and determination where the Cowgirls had never been. She left with 1,765 points, but what may have been overshadowed by putting the ball through the hoop so many times was her determination to get the ball off missed shots at both ends of the floor, ending her career with over a 1,000 rebounds. Gone from us way too soon in life, RIP Cowgirl, you were one of the best...ever!
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Andrea Riley — There's never been a player in the history of the school that could flat out go win a game for you like this one! Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair put on our spare headset after a Cowgirl loss at College Station the year prior to Riley's arrival when the Cowgirls were on their way to going 0-16 in the league. Coach Blair said, "Hey all of you up in Stillwater, don't worry about this team, they've got a kid coming in next year that's going to change it all." Truer words were never spoken. Ironically, four years later Riley would hit a shot from almost midcourt in College Station to defeat that same Texas A&M team. Our great program's all-time leading scorer, 2,835 points. That record may stand for a very long time! One of my top two memories of all time, Andrea scored 45 in front of a sellout crowd of 13,611 to defeat Oklahoma in 2008 on a Saturday night that was so special that some of us wouldn't leave the arena for hours after the game because we knew what we just witnessed was special. She had a personality of confidence and the drive to succeed. Some tried to say she shot the ball too often, but that's what a winner does and quite honestly, many don't realize her assist statistics were pretty special too!Â
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Trisha Skibbe — Being on a team that has to endure coaching change is never easy!! Trisha is one of those players who improved her numbers on the court every single year and finished just shy of 20 points per game her final season. A fierce competitor who didn't back down from anyone. This competitiveness gave her the confidence to cleanly achieve nearly 30 blocks per season during her career.Â
Toni Young — This Del City native was a different kind of athlete the women's team had never had at Oklahoma State, she could make 6'2 seem like 6'9. She had so much natural athleticism and her ability to jump was unreal. This ability allowed her to not only excel at basketball but in track at OSU as well. She was tabbed as an All-American and was eventually drafted in the WNBA. Toni was probably the first and maybe the only player in our history that could dunk the ball. A kid with a kind heart, soft spoken, yet so tough on the court. She helped lead the Cowgirls to the WNIT championship as well.
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Honorable Mention
Renee Roberts — Oh that smile! Renee, always with a smile, including when she'd put the ball on the floor and drive right around defenders and take it to the basket over and over and over. She was always good for about a dozen a game, strongly coachable and made everyone around her a better person with her sense of humor and fun personality.
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***Bonus Pick from my public address season***
Clinette Jordan — I only got to witness firsthand her last two seasons, but Clinette was special. She was All-Big 8 her final three seasons and once scored 42 points against conference foe Missouri. Talented beyond belief, but equally stubborn in her early career. Speaking to coaches from that era, Clinette is one of their greatest accomplishments because they saw her grow so much both as a person and a player. No one exemplifies class better than the young lady that grew up in Stillwater, Oklahoma from 1985-1989. I last interviewed Clinette for a halftime playback in 2010 when it became apparent that Andrea Riley was going to break her all-time OSU scoring record. She had watched Riley both in person and on televised games and was happy to talk about her record falling. The always humble Jordan was more interested in talking about the growth of the game over the past three decades and how impressed she was with Riley's talent then to talk about her own playing days and records. You didn't have to, Clinette, your records speak for themselves. qYou are one of Dick and Jack's proudest accomplishments!
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Liz Brown — One of my earliest memories of Cowgirl basketball, first as public address announcer then her senior year when I started calling games on radio. Wowwwwww, what a player, listed as 5'5 but I always swore she wasn't a bit taller than 5'0. Many can argue who the greatest point guard is in the history of the program, that's always up for debate. There is no debating however, that Liz Brown made EVERY player on the floor better. I called her the Little General and she was just that too! She was so good that she even made the opposition better because if they didn't bring it, she was going to scorch them and did so many times. So soft spoken and shy off the floor yet so fierce on the court. She helped lead the Cowgirls to their first-ever Sweet 16 appearance and was convinced every time her teams took the floor they were going to win and win big and so often they did. Rumor has it she once played in a Big 8 Tournament Final that went three overtimes, Liz never left the floor and ended the game with zero turnovers.
Â
Stacy Coffey — Coach Dick Halterman's easiest recruit ever because her family history was OSU and she was coming to make her family proud and electrify the fans. Most aggressive player I've ever seen. She chased the basketball like it was gold. Whatever it took to get the ball, she did it. No wonder she ended her time at OSU with a career-high 458 steals. Incredible leader, unselfish, just win baby!
Althea Cox — Reference Liz Brown above. These two together on the same teams were special. Althea didn't start a single game for Dick Halterman and Jack Easley's team her freshman year. She would only miss 10 starts combined the rest of her career. She too was on that team that survived three overtimes to defeat Michigan State to advance to the Cowgirls' first-ever Sweet 16. She was the kind of player that was everywhere on the floor all the time. Affectionately nicknamed 'tick' for her tiny size, she used her smaller size to her advantage. I used to say she was like a 'gnat at a barbecue', because she was all over the place, all the time, and opponents just couldn't get rid of her!Â
Jennifer Crow — The Cowgirls needed a pure shooter and in flew a Crow. One of the best pure shooters OSU has had in its history. That mid-range jumper was amazing. Leave her open and she drilled it every time. When opponents defended her mid-range and forced her out beyond the three-point line she made them pay! Only five percentage points separated her two-point buckets from her 3-pointers made... that's unheard of!
Kaylee Jensen — Double-double Jensen. After her freshman year I wasn't convinced, but after her sophomore year I was convinced I was dead wrong. Maybe the best project player in Cowgirl history. Coaches got it right with Kaylee and she developed so much between her freshman and sophomore year then ended her final two years averaging a double-double. She worked hard to get better and her statistics began to pile up. Her emotion as an upperclassman helped make her a team leader and her academia success helped make her an even larger leader.
Brittney Martin — Another player with numbers which just kept getting better from freshman to senior seasons. At 6'0 in a sport where the players just keep getting bigger, one time she managed with her natural athleticism and determination to pull down 20 rebounds in a game. One of the most polite and humble players I've ever interviewed. She was always willing to jump on the headset any time we asked her to visit about an upcoming game or on a postgame. Brittney was recruited hard by late Cowgirl assistant Miranda Serna for over a year and had expressed her commitment to OSU prior to the 2011 tragedy. She followed through on her commitment and became one of the best in the school's history. Once named the Big 12 Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, she was special!
Â
Lisa McGill — They said she was 6'0 but she played more like 6'4. The tandem of Lisa and Shea Jackson was a special time for Cowgirl basketball. Big 8 opponents hated playing Oklahoma State in the early 90s because Lisa brought size and determination where the Cowgirls had never been. She left with 1,765 points, but what may have been overshadowed by putting the ball through the hoop so many times was her determination to get the ball off missed shots at both ends of the floor, ending her career with over a 1,000 rebounds. Gone from us way too soon in life, RIP Cowgirl, you were one of the best...ever!
Â
Andrea Riley — There's never been a player in the history of the school that could flat out go win a game for you like this one! Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair put on our spare headset after a Cowgirl loss at College Station the year prior to Riley's arrival when the Cowgirls were on their way to going 0-16 in the league. Coach Blair said, "Hey all of you up in Stillwater, don't worry about this team, they've got a kid coming in next year that's going to change it all." Truer words were never spoken. Ironically, four years later Riley would hit a shot from almost midcourt in College Station to defeat that same Texas A&M team. Our great program's all-time leading scorer, 2,835 points. That record may stand for a very long time! One of my top two memories of all time, Andrea scored 45 in front of a sellout crowd of 13,611 to defeat Oklahoma in 2008 on a Saturday night that was so special that some of us wouldn't leave the arena for hours after the game because we knew what we just witnessed was special. She had a personality of confidence and the drive to succeed. Some tried to say she shot the ball too often, but that's what a winner does and quite honestly, many don't realize her assist statistics were pretty special too!Â
Â
Trisha Skibbe — Being on a team that has to endure coaching change is never easy!! Trisha is one of those players who improved her numbers on the court every single year and finished just shy of 20 points per game her final season. A fierce competitor who didn't back down from anyone. This competitiveness gave her the confidence to cleanly achieve nearly 30 blocks per season during her career.Â
Toni Young — This Del City native was a different kind of athlete the women's team had never had at Oklahoma State, she could make 6'2 seem like 6'9. She had so much natural athleticism and her ability to jump was unreal. This ability allowed her to not only excel at basketball but in track at OSU as well. She was tabbed as an All-American and was eventually drafted in the WNBA. Toni was probably the first and maybe the only player in our history that could dunk the ball. A kid with a kind heart, soft spoken, yet so tough on the court. She helped lead the Cowgirls to the WNIT championship as well.
Â
Honorable Mention
Renee Roberts — Oh that smile! Renee, always with a smile, including when she'd put the ball on the floor and drive right around defenders and take it to the basket over and over and over. She was always good for about a dozen a game, strongly coachable and made everyone around her a better person with her sense of humor and fun personality.
Â
***Bonus Pick from my public address season***
Clinette Jordan — I only got to witness firsthand her last two seasons, but Clinette was special. She was All-Big 8 her final three seasons and once scored 42 points against conference foe Missouri. Talented beyond belief, but equally stubborn in her early career. Speaking to coaches from that era, Clinette is one of their greatest accomplishments because they saw her grow so much both as a person and a player. No one exemplifies class better than the young lady that grew up in Stillwater, Oklahoma from 1985-1989. I last interviewed Clinette for a halftime playback in 2010 when it became apparent that Andrea Riley was going to break her all-time OSU scoring record. She had watched Riley both in person and on televised games and was happy to talk about her record falling. The always humble Jordan was more interested in talking about the growth of the game over the past three decades and how impressed she was with Riley's talent then to talk about her own playing days and records. You didn't have to, Clinette, your records speak for themselves. qYou are one of Dick and Jack's proudest accomplishments!
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