Charlie Mencel Comments on his Number Being Retired into the Williams Arena Rafters

Prior to Wednesday's Gopher basketball game vs. Northwestern, Charlie Mencel spoke with the media regarding his memories as a Gopher, as well as what it feels like to have his jersey number retired into the rafters of Williams Arena. The 1955 Big Ten MVP and a First Team All-American, Mencel scored 1,391 points during his Gophers career, which rank #9 in the history of Gopher basketball. Further, during his four years donning the Maroon and Gold, the Gophers had an overall record of 61-27, including 41-19 in Big Ten play, and finishing 2nd in the Big Ten in 1955 and 3rd place the three other years. Following his career at Minnesota, Mencel was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers in the second round of the 1955 NBA Draft.

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Royce White can never wear that number again.

Good stuff Nick. Thanks for doing interviewing Mencel.

Go Gophers!!

I aint gonna lie I've never heard of the guy as I'm sure most have not. Nonetheless congratulations.

Mencel was the #1 scorer in Gopher history until (I think) Mychal Thompson, so for about 23 years. The interesting thing about that is that Mencel got to play 4 years. Players were always (well, not always, obviously, but almost always) ineligible as freshmen up until the 1970s. Jim Brewer didn't play as a frosh, Mark Olberding and Mychal did so it was between '70 and '75 that freshman became eligible and stayed eligible permanently. The incoming class of 1945 got to play as freshmen--Jim McIntyre got to play his freshman year--but that was just the one year and it was because of the large number of freshmen who were older military veterans. I wonder if in Mencel's case it would have been 1951-52 that he was a freshman, was it because of the Korean War vets? I don't know. But Chuck did have an extra year to score those 1,391 points over and above what 99 precent of guys had up until the early '70s.

That was a hell of a team that finished 2nd in '55. Dick Garmaker was also an all-America and went on to a long NBA career with the Minneapolis and LA Lakers. The Gophers were in 1st place in the Big Ten with 2 home games remaining against Iowa and Wisconsin. More than 20,000 fans attended the Iowa game and the Hawkeyes prevailed 72-70. With a chance to tie for 1st place, the Gophers then lost to the Badgers 78-72. Iowa won the conference at 11-3, but Wisconsin finished just 5-9.

Oddly enough a similar thing happened to the other 2nd place team of the era in 1949. The Gophers could tie with Illinois for 1st place with a win at Wisconsin. The Badgers won that one 45-43 and finished 5-7. Ouch.

minnyrules11 said:

I aint gonna lie I've never heard of the guy as I'm sure most have not. Nonetheless congratulations.

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Most what?

sunnyday2 said:

I wonder if in Mencel's case it would have been 1951-52 that he was a freshman, was it because of the Korean War vets? I don't know. But Chuck did have an extra year to score those 1,391 points over and above what 99 precent of guys had up until the early '70s.

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Yes, the NCAA loosened the eligibility rules due to the Korean War and allowed freshmen to play. Not sure how many classes were allowed to do so before they changed back to freshmen ineligibility.

I was in the rafters in '55 when Chuck Mencel, Dick Garmaker and gang (Tucker, Lindsay, Simonovich) played Iowa in the biggest game in years (maybe decades). The Gophers lost on a last-second shot, 72-70 before the biggest crowd in college basketball history (18,000+). The awful thing is that Iowa won the Big Ten title with than win, but was so exhausted they lost the next week - and the Gophers, by beating Wisconsin in the season finale, could have tied for the title. But Minnesota was exhausted, too, and lost. Garmaker made All-American that year - the starting five guys played 90% of the time. Mencel used to shoot "set shots" from mid-court and was amazingly accurate. Today's defenses wouldn't alow such shots. Garmaker was a pioneer in the jump shot, which was relatively new then. It was a great Williams Arena moment, though we lost.