Gordner AIC scoring champion Senior Butch Gardner definitely established himself in the minds of most people as the most outstanding player in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference as he led the league in scoring, ranked high in rebounding and assists, and was outstanding on defense. In the two games against league-leader Henderson State University, he scored 36 and 27 points, respectively. He firmly established himself in third place among the league's all-time high scorers with 2,255 points scored over the four years and also rewrote most of Harding's records. During his four seasons as a Bison, he scored 515, 586, 649 and 505 points. He also set Harding's career record of 983 rebounds. The 6-4 guardforward was selected to the AII-AIC and AII-NAIA District 17 team all four years of his collegiate career. As a sophomore he was on the NAIA _AllAmerican third team and as a junior he was on the NAIA All-American second team. Opposing coaches agreed that Gardner is a "complete player." The comments of Don Dyer, head coach of Henderson State, are representative. "He has a good outside shot. He can play inside. He can put it on the floor and he can play defense. And he's a good passer. He has possibly the best chance of becoming a pro player of anybody that's been in this conference in a long time. He can do it all. He's a leaper, and he's quick. He's just a jewel." A referee for both the AIC and the prestigious Missouri Valley Conference commented at the officials table during a timeout at a home game, ''There are few college players across the nation that I would pay admission to see play, but Butch Gardner is one of them." BASKETBALL - 235
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