Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1999
- Class:
- 1994
The catalyst of Missouri’s magical 1993-94 basketball season was Moss Point, Mississippi product Melvin Booker. That team posted a 28-4 record which included a perfect 14-0 run through the Big Eight Conference and advanced to the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament. Booker was the team’s leading scorer averaging 18.1 points per game and was the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year and a first team all-American. He was also all-Big Eight as a junior when he averaged 15.8 points per game. He scored his career high of 35 points in two of Mizzou’s biggest victories of the 1993-94 season – 81-74 over fourth-ranked Kansas in Lawrence, and 109-96 over Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In a heart-stopping triple overtime victory over Illinois in St. Louis in 1993, he set the school record with 13 assists. At the time of his induction, Booker ranked fifth in career scoring at Mizzou with 1,697 points and was second in both three-point field goals (183) and assists (488). Following his college career, Booker played professionally in the NBA, CBA and in Europe. His son Devin is an NBA all-star with the Phoenix Suns.
