Hall of Honor
Wayne “Murph” Gilmore was a talented tennis player and track-man, but it was on the basketball court that he made his mark at Beloit College. A key man in the high-scoring machine coached by Dolph Stanley, also a Hall of Honor member, he was known as a strong rebounder and hard-driving forward who possessed a deadly jump short. Gilmore tallied 891 points in four varsity seasons, including 312 as a junior and 417 as a Senior, and was the team rebound leader on three occasions. He captained the 1954-55 Buccaneers who established a single-season school record of 21 consecutive victories and who reached the quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament in Kansas City before having the streak snapped. During his career, Beloit won 73 games while losing only 15. The Bucs were 22-4 in his senior year, when he scored a personal high of 31 points in a 71-69 victory over West Texas State, which went on to the Border Conference title and a berth in the NCAA finals. Gilmore graduated from the University Of Illinois School Of Dentistry in 1959 and served two years as an Air Force captain before establishing the dental practice he continues to operate in Janesville and which he recently extended to serve General Motors employees relocated in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.
