Widseth a scoring machine

Photo by News Sentinel file

Carl Widseth, a star for the Tennessee Vols in the mid-1950s, was a rare talent. He averaged 22 points in six games against Kentucky.

Haywood Harris discusses Vol great Carl Widseth

Vol historian Haywood Harris talks about Carl ...

This year celebrates the centennial season of men's basketball at Tennessee. The News Sentinel continues its series looking into the players, teams and events that have molded an exciting history.

America in the mid-1950s saw any number of milestones that would impact the coming decades.

Disneyland opened in California. In Alabama, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery bus. Everywhere, Elvis Presley was busting out on the record charts.

In Tennessee basketball, a Midwesterner was elevating scoring to a new level.

Carl Widseth had roots in Minneapolis and became a high-school scoring phenom in Davenport, Iowa. Because freshmen were eligible in the SEC but not in the Big Ten, Widseth was lured south to play for Emmett Lowery at Tennessee.

Widseth arrived in the fall of 1952 and hit the ground running, averaging 15.3 points as a rookie.

The 6-foot-4 Widseth scored at a 19.2 clip as a sophomore and 19.9 as a junior.

As a senior, Widseth averaged 21.8 points. On Feb. 25, 1956, he shattered the school single-game record by pouring in 47 points at Auburn in a 91-87 Tennessee win.

When he took off his UT jersey for the last time in 1956, Widseth was atop the all-time school charts with 1,683 points. That easily broke the career record established one season earlier by Widseth’s high-scoring teammate, Ed Wiener (1,212 points).

“He was the best back-to-the-basket player that Tennessee’s ever had,’’ former Knoxville Journal columnist Ben Byrd said after Widseth’s death in December 2007.

“He was the ultimate low-post guy, skinny as a rail, but his footwork was just fantastic.’’

Widseth had an accurate sweeping hook shot. He also had the quickness to knife through small openings to the basket, much as Bernard King would two decades later. That elusiveness contributed to Widseth being nicknamed “The Spook.”

Tennessee was middle-of-the-pack in the SEC during Widseth’s era, and gained the national rankings only one week during his junior year. He was respected enough to make first-team All-SEC as a junior when the Vols finished 15-7.

His single-game scoring record lasted 11 seasons until Ron Widby hit for 50 against LSU in 1967.

Widseth’s offensive prowess has stood the test of time. His 47-point game in ‘56 still ranks fourth best on UT’s career chart. His 1,683 points still rank 10th.

His career average of 19.1 points per game ranks No. 4, behind King, Ernie Grunfeld and Allan Houston.

Widseth was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers in 1956 but chose the business world. He died at age 73 in his original hometown, Minneapolis.