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Kush, Wulk, Winkles helped elevate ASU athletics to national prominence

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Sunday, Nov. 23, 2014
By Bethany Reed, Thomas Mitchell and Morgan Chan
Cronkite News

Frank Kush, football. Ned Wulk, men’s basketball. Bobby Winkles, baseball. Along with track and field coach Baldy Castillo, this group helped elevate Arizona State University athletics into a nationally known program from the late 1950s on. Learn more about the careers and legacies of Kush, Wulk and Winkles in this Cronkite News special multimedia report.

Players say discipline, mental toughness keys to Kush’s success building ASU football

By Bethany Reed

After putting his team through seven hours of preseason practice at Camp Tontozona near Payson, Arizona State football coach Frank Kush would make players run up a steep hill dubbed Mount Kush in full pads and helmets. The coach would make the trip as well to make sure everyone made it to the top. But for Danny White, who played quarterback for Kush from 1971 to 1973 before an NFL career, the most memorable runs up Mount Kush were punishments for disappointing the coach during practice.

With three Elite Eight appearances, ASU’s Wulk was Valley’s first basketball patriarch

By Thomas Mitchell

When Arizona State basketball plays at Wells Fargo Arena, the Sun Devils aren’t just defending their home court. They’re defending the legacy of Ned Wulk. While names like Lute Olson and Jerry Colangelo come to mind when talking about Arizona’s basketball legends, those who lived in the Valley during the ’60s and ’70s might pick Wulk as the state’s patriarch of hoops, fondly remembering his seasons in the old Sun Devil Gymnasium.

Winkles put ASU baseball on map, nurtured talents such as Reggie Jackson

By Morgan Chan

Early one morning in September 1958, a young Bobby Winkles stepped onto Arizona State University’s campus for the first time as the newly hired varsity baseball coach. It was just after sunrise, and Winkles walked the entire campus looking for the practice field. Everything had gone perfectly with the move. Athletic Director Clyde B. Smith hired him, brought him to Arizona and arranged temporary housing for Winkles, his wife and their baby daughter so he could start as soon as possible. There was just one problem, Winkles recalled.