Late on Wednesday night, University of Missouri basketball legend Charlie Henke lost his battle to cancer at age 81.

Henke was born in Marshall and grew up in Malta Bend, where he played basketball and graduated from Malta Bend High School in 1959.

At Mizzou, Henke earned All-Big Eight honors in 1960 and 1961 as he led the Tigers in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. In his senior year, he tried out for the U.S. Olympic team and then was a consensus All-American by the Associated Press, United Press International and Helms Foundation. He was inducted into the Mystical Seven in 1960. He still holds the number 2 spot on the all-time season scoring average at 24.6 points per game, which was set in 1961.

More impressive, his career point total of 1,338 stood as the team record until 1973. And although that figure now ranks 20th, Henke achieved the total in only 74 games – whereas 15 players ahead of him played in at least 105 games.

Henke’s last game is one most remember. Missouri upset Kansas, 79-73, on March 11, 1961 but did so after officials ejected Henke and KU’s Wayne Hightower early in the second half. Hightower, apparently frustrated at Henke’s strong defense, scored a bucket and set off the brawl.

Following graduation from the University of Missouri, Charlie was selected in the fourth round of the NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He toured with the Harlem Globetrotters as an All-American and traveled to Denver in 1961 to earn a spot on the US Olympic team. He then decided to play near home for the Kansas City Steers, where he was honored with a key to the city of Kansas City by President Harry S Truman in 1962.

He taught and coached basketball in Nevada, MO from 1966-70 before moving to Mehlville, Missouri where he taught and coached for an additional four years. The final 22 years of his teaching career were spent close to his home roots in Carrollton, MO where he taught Biology and coached basketball.

He retired in 1996 and moved to Concordia where he spent the remainder of his years with his wife of nearly 25 years

Henke was named to the University of Missouri All-Century team in 2006, inducted into the University of Missouri Hall of Fame in 2007, and the State of Missouri Hall of Fame in 2016.