Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players

Melvyn J. Garland (June 23, 1942 – March 5, 1983) was an American basketball coach and player. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he emerged as a star dual-sport athlete in basketball and baseball at Arsenal Technical High School. Garland attended Purdue University and played for the Boilermakers on the basketball and baseball teams. He was a member of all-conference teams in both sports but excelled at basketball, where he was an Honorable Mention All-American during his junior season.
Garland turned to coaching after his graduation and began his career at Greenfield-Central High School as the coach of the basketball, baseball and cross country teams. He joined the Indiana State Sycamores men's basketball team as an assistant coach in 1967. Garland also served as the head coach of the Sycamores golf team for four seasons until his resignation from the university in 1975. He returned to high school coaching when he served as head basketball coach at Evansville Harrison High School for four seasons.
Garland was hired as the head coach and athletic director of the IUPUI Jaguars men's basketball team in 1979. He led the team to its first winning season in school history during the 1980–81 season but his career was prematurely ended when he stepped down due to health issues midway through the 1981–82 season. Garland continued to serve as athletic director until his death from leukemia on March 5, 1983.

Norman Cottom (March 12, 1912 – July 1, 1972) was an American professional basketball player for the Indianapolis Kautskys in the National Basketball League for two seasons. A native of Terre Haute, Indiana, Cottom attended Wiley High School and earned four varsity letters playing for the basketball team. He led the Red Streaks to 3 IHSAA Sectionals and 1 Regionals, reaching the state semi-finals in 1931 His HS teammate, John Miklozek would become a star at Indiana State University. Cottom was also an all-state performer in football.
Cottom played college basketball at Purdue University under Piggy Lambert. He played on the varsity team for three seasons, and as a junior in 1933–34, Cottom led the Western Conference in scoring. He was named a consensus NCAA All-American at the end of the season.
After college, Cottom played for the Indianapolis Kautskys for two seasons and one season with the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight team. He moved into high school coaching in Alexandria and Terre Haute, Indiana (Gerstmeyer High and Wiley High) before moving to Fullerton, California to become chairman of Fullerton Union High School's social studies department. In 1978, Cottom was enshrined in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Carl Edwin McNulty (February 14, 1930 – January 14, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers, and later played for the Milwaukee Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Robert Louis Kessler (November 25, 1914 – September 5, 2001) was standout basketball player at Purdue University in the NCAA and then with the Indianapolis Kautskys in the National Basketball League (NBL).
Kessler was from Anderson, Indiana and attended Anderson High School where he graduated in 1932. He then enrolled at Purdue and played on the men's varsity basketball team for his final three years under future Hall of Fame coach Ward Lambert. Kessler was a two-time All-American (1935–36), and as a senior he became Purdue's first ever consensus All-American.
After college, Kessler played professionally for three seasons in the NBL for the Indianapolis Kautskys. He was named the league's Rookie of the Year in 1937–38, although Kessler's teams never once qualified for the postseason. In his later life, Kessler worked at General Motors and eventually became its vice president.

Jim Hinga (December 19, 1923 – March 10, 2002) was an American college basketball coach. Hinga coached Ball State University from 1954 to 1968 and compiled a 154–169 career mark, which is still a school record for victories. He also was an assistant football and track coach and Ball State's manager of physical education and athletic facilities and services from 1969 to 1981.

Joe E. Campbell (born November 5, 1935) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Campbell was born in Anderson, Indiana, where he attended Anderson High School – leading the Indians to IHSAA state titles in 1952 and 1953; winning the individual championships in both years. He attended Purdue University, where he was a member of the golf team as well as a co-captain of the basketball team. He won the 1955 NCAA Championship as Purdue finished 2nd in the team standings, he was also the 1956 and 1957 Big Ten Conference Champion and led Purdue to the 1955 and 1956 Big Ten Team Championships. During his amateur career, he won the Indiana Amateur three times, the Indiana Open twice, and the Sunnehanna Amateur in 1957. His best finish in a major championship, which came during his amateur career, was T-22 at the 1957 U.S. Open. He was also a member of the United States' 1956 Americas Cup and 1957 Walker Cup team, leading the Americans to an 8½–3½ victory over Great Britain.
Campbell turned professional in 1958 and joined the PGA Tour in 1959 and competed for fourteen years. He received Golf Digest's Rookie-of-the-Year award in 1959. His 43 top-10 finishes included three wins, seven runner-up and six third-place finishes; he finished in top-25 103 times. He played on the Senior PGA Tour from 1986–89 and 1995–96, his best finish was a T-24th at the 1987 Bank One Senior Golf Classic.
Campbell made his home in Knoxville, Tennessee after graduating from college in 1957 until 1974. After his days as a tour professional were over, he was the golf professional at Knoxville's Whittle Springs from 1967–1974. In 1974, he became the men's golf team coach at Purdue, leading them to the 1981 Big Ten Championship and 24 Invitational titles, he retired following the 1993 season. Campbell is a member of the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame, inducted in 1969; the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame, inducted in 2007.He now lives with his wife, in Lake Wales, Florida.

Howard Earl "Howie" Williams (October 29, 1927 – December 25, 2004) was an American basketball player who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics. Williams played collegiately at Purdue University where he was a 2x All-Big Ten guard (1948–49, 1949–50); he was selected as the Purdue team MVP in his junior and senior seasons and as Team Captain in 1949-50; posting a career total of 735 points (10.0 game avg). He led the Big Ten Conference in Free Throw Percentage (85.7%) for the 1948-49 season.
He was a 3rd Round pick of the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1950 NBA draft but chose instead to sign a contract with the Peoria Caterpillars of the American Athletic Union and the National Industrial Basketball League. The Caterpillars finished 4th in the NIBL but won the National AAU title (the first of three consecutive titles), knocking off the regular season champions, the Phillips Oilers in the semi-finals on Williams last second bucket. Williams and the rest of the Caterpillar team defeated the NCAA Champion Kansas Jayhawks in the AAU Title game. Following the title game, the Los Angeles Times named Williams the AAU Player of the Year; Williams then led Peoria to another AAU National title in 1953.
The 1952 win placed Williams as well as Peoria teammates; Ronald Bontemps, Marcus Freiberger, Frank McCabe and Dan Pippin on the U.S. Olympic squad. That team, led by fellow native Hoosier Clyde Lovellette won the gold medal. He played all eight games and finished #8 in scoring for the squad.
Williams spent four seasons playing for the Caterpillars and finished with 1,235 career points, eighth on their career scoring list.
He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. He died in Phoenix, Arizona in 2004; following a 35-year career with the Caterpillar Corporation.

Joe Sexson (March 29, 1934 – April 30, 2011) was an American college basketball coach. He was the men's head coach at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 1978 to 1989. He was the head baseball coach at Purdue University from 1960 to 1977 and an assistant basketball coach at Purdue.Sexson was a graduate of Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis where he was a star athlete and the 1952 Indiana Mr. Basketball. He was also awarded the Arthur L. Trester Award for Mental Attitude, after leading Arsenal Tech to a Runner-Up finish in the state basketball tournament. He graduated Purdue where he was a 3-year starter, the team captain and All-Big Ten star on the basketball and baseball teams. When he graduated, he was the leading scorer (he is #36 on the all-time scoring list), his 16.6 ppg avg ranks in the Top Ten at Purdue. He was drafted by the New York Knicks in 1956 but chose to enter the high school teaching and coaching ranks and eventually returned to Purdue as an assistant.
He played for Head Coach Ray Eddy and later joined Eddy's staff as an assistant in 1960. He was a part of the staff that led the Boilermakers to the 1969 NCAA Title game and the 1974 National Invitational Tournament Championship.
While coaching the Butler Bulldogs, he won an Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) title and was named ICC Coach of the year in 1978. He also aided the Bulldogs' transition from membership in the ICC to the newly formed Midwestern City Conference. He was named the Midwestern City Conference Coach of the Year in 1984.