Hall of Fame
A native of East Peoria, Ill., Roger Phegley becomes the seventh Braves men’s basketball player to enter the Missouri Valley Conference’s Hall of Fame and is the ninth overall inductee for Bradley University.
Phegley was originally recruited to Bradley as a scholarship baseball player, but instead made his name on the basketball court, joining the hoops program after excelling during pick-up games with his classmates.
Phegley became the first Bradley player and third Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball player to score more than 2,000 career points, tallying 2,064 points on the hardwood at Bradley from 1974-78.
He was the 1977 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and went on to earn second-team All-America honors from the Converse Yearbook and the Helms Foundation, as well as third-team honors from the UPI, in 1978.
Phegley was a first-team All-MVC pick in 1977 and 1978 after averaging 27.4 and 27.6 ppg, respectively, and was third on The Valley’s all-time scoring list behind only Oscar Robertson and Cleo Littleton at the time of his graduation in 1978.
He still remains third on Bradley’s all-time scoring list and 13th on the MVC’s all-time list.
Forgoing a baseball career, Phegley was a first-round NBA Draft pick by the Washington Bullets in 1978, and he played six seasons in the NBA.
One of seven Bradley Basketball players to have his uniform number (45) retired, Phegley was selected to both the Bradley Basketball Team of the Century and the MVC All-Century squad.
He did pitch at Bradley during the 1975 and 1977 seasons, compiling a 4-5 record with three complete games in 13 career starts.