TULSA, Okla. –– Bob Patterson, who was a pre-eminent basketball player in the Missouri Valley Conference in the early 1950s as a 6'4" forward for The University of Tulsa, has died at the age of 86.
Services will be Tuesday, November 20, at 11:00 AM at Sharp Chapel on the TU campus. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Cascia Hall Preparatory School.
Patterson was instrumental in lifting the Golden Hurricane basketball program to national prominence in the 1950s, leading Tulsa to the school's first conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 1954-55.
He was Tulsa's first basketball All-American, earning honors in the 1954-55 season by Look Magazine, the Helms Foundation, Converse and the Newspaper Enterprises Association (NEA).