The Owens Express men’s basketball teams from the 1991-92 and 1992-93 NJCAA championship seasons will be inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday, April 9 at a ceremony in Columbus at the Hyatt Regency.
The ceremony will induct the Class of 2021, featuring both Owens Express teams, as well as the Class of 2020, which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Founded in 2005, the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame recognizes the remarkable achievements of both male and female athletes across high school, college and professional basketball—along with coaches and individuals who’ve impacted the game along the way. As of 2021, the Ohio Hall has recognized 266 individual inductees representing 30 Ohio colleges and universities and 112 Ohio high schools. The list of charter members of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame reads like a Who’s Who of some of the sport’s most recognizable figures, including Jerry Lucas, Jimmy Jackson, Oscar Robertson, Clark Kellogg, Bill Hosket Jr., Paul Walker, Jay Burson, John Havlicek and Bob Knight.
The 1992 and 1993 Owens Express men’s basketball teams, led by head coach Jim Welling, became the first school from the state of Ohio to claim an NJCAA national championship in basketball.
The sophomore class, led by 2-time All-American Jeff Massey, finished 72-3 overall and 17-0 in postseason play. Massey later transferred and starred at Xavier University. He is now an assistant coach at the University of Toledo. His retired jersey hangs in the Student Health and Activities Center.
The assistant coaches were Paul Svatik, who remains an adjunct faculty member in the School of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, and the late Curt Connor.
Massey (2014) and Welling (2019) were both also eventually inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame. In addition to that, they were each inducted into the Owens Athletics Hall of Fame along with the 1991-92 and 1992-93 national championship teams.
In 1991-92, Massey averaged 27.6 points per game and totaled a school-record 1,047 points en route to First Team All-American recognition. First Team All-Conference selection Sean Kirkland finished second on the team in scoring at 14.1 per contest while also averaging a team-best 7.1 rebounds. Tom Patterson chipped in 11.2 PPG, and Jason Wade had a team-best 270 assists. Welling was named the Conference, Region XII and NJCAA Coach of the Year.
In 1992-93, Massey averaged a team-high 24.9 points and captured his second straight NJCAA Division II national tournament MVP award. Feisal Crumby, who shot 14-for-15 from the field for a game-high 37 points in the national championship game, averaged 18.3 PPG and a team-high 6.7 rebounds. Corey Allison added 13.4 PPG.
More information about the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame is available at https://ohiobasketballhalloffame.com/
1991-92 Owens Express
4 Eric Culliver
10 John "J.C." Ehmann
20 Jason Wade
22 Dan Black
24 Jim Hollowell
30 Jeff Massey
32 Tom Patterson
34 Shane Bechtel
40 Dave Klem
42 Sean Kirkland
44 Dennis Goodman
52 Ken Riley
Head Coach: Jim Welling (6th Year)
Assistant Coaches: Paul Svatik (3rd Year), Curt Connor (2nd Year)
1992-93 Owens Express
10 John "J.C." Ehmann
12 Kashif Phillips
14 Brad Delventhal
20 Jason Wade
22 Corey Allison
24 Feisal Crumby
30 Jeff Massey
32 Martin Gottfried
34 Shane Bechtel
40 Ken Samuel
42 Jason Walker
44 Quincy Cloud
50 Jim Amstutz
52 Milan Simon
54 Carey Fouty
Head Coach: Jim Welling (7th Year)
Assistant Coaches: Paul Svatik (4th Year), Curt Connor (3rd Year)