Centennial Moments: Hercle Ivy

In honor of 100 years of Iowa State men's basketball during the 2007-08 season, cyclones.com will publish weekly "Centennial Moments," featuring brief stories on former Cyclone players, coaches and teams. Check back at cyclones.com for more "Centennial Moments." Be sure to click here to see this week's video vignettes.

Hercle Ivy: ISU's Superscorer

Fans who watched Iowa State basketball in the mid-1970s are sure to remember Hercle “Poison” Ivy. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Ivy was one of ISU's first super-scorers, breaking every scoring record in his career at ISU from 1973-76. Memories of Ivy's arching, off-balanced fadeaway 25-foot jumpshots are still vividly etched in every Cyclone fans' mind.

Ivy got off to a fast start in his sophomore season, averaging 16.9 points while earning Big Eight Newcomer of the Year honors. His performance as a junior in 1974-75 is still one of the best in school history. The sharpshooter recorded the best single-season scoring average in ISU history at 28.3 ppg, flirting with the national scoring title throughout the season before finishing fifth in the final race. In conference play, Ivy was even better, averaging almost 30 points per game (29.9 ppg) in 14 Big Eight games to pace the league in scoring and earning first-team all-Big Eight accolades.

“I would like to be known as a complete player,” Ivy said after his record-setting season. “I do for my team what is needed from me. Last year we needed scoring power, but in my final season we may need something else. My goal is to improve all phases of my game to get ready for professional ball.”

Ivy ended his career with 18 30-point scoring games, a record that still stands. His biggest scoring output was a 43-point outburst in an 119-96 victory over Colorado on Feb. 22, 1975. Ivy rained in his patented jumper 19 times in the game, establishing new school marks in points and field goals.

Ivy returned for his senior season as the nation's No. 2 scorer from the season before. Although he did not put up the numbers he did as a junior, Ivy was still a force to be reckoned with, averaging 22.8 ppg. At the end of his career he ranked No. 1 in the following categories in the ISU record book: points in a career (1,752), points in a season (737) and points in a game (43). Ivy was drafted in the fourth round of the 1976 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets.

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