ANTHONY JOHN “Tony” WINDIS

1933 – 2024

On Friday January 27, 1933 in New York City Anthony and Carmena Windis were blessed with the birth of their second child.  This was “Tony.”  They had an older boy, Ralph.  The Windis’ were a working class couple.  Dad was a baker and Mom a homemaker 

Tony was raised Roman Catholic, a faith to which he remained committed.  His self-effacing manner witnessed his beliefs.  From his home on the upper east side of Manhattan he trekked west across Central Park to attend The High School of Commerce, the same school once attended by Lou Gehrig

Tony loved sports from an early age.  As a youngster soccer was his choice.  He also played the classic New York street game of stickball

As a sophomore at Commerce he took up basketball.  By his junior season he had progressed enough to be named Honorable Mention All-City.  He earned good grades.  Unfortunately, he didn’t play his senior year due to a strike of teachers and coaches.  With an abundance of talent in the City, anyway, local colleges didn’t want to gamble on him after graduation.  He had hoped to play at St. John’s but neither this nor any other City school made an offer

So, Tony enlisted in the US Army.  Here he honed his basketball skills.  It’s reported he played awhile with the prestigious Pershing Rifles.  While stationed in Germany in 1954 he was noticed by Wyoming coach Everett Shelton who was conducting clinics for the GIs there

Urged by a Cowboy alum, Ted Campman ’45, Shelton wrote and invited Tony to UW without further ado.  He took a train in the summer of 1955 with $25 his mother scraped up to pay for food.  At the Laramie station Shelton met him and immediately admonished Tony that the sneakers he wore weren’t suited for basketball.  Tony enrolled at UW as a business major but by his sophomore year switched to education

With the maturity of a 22-year old he stood out on the freshman team in 1955-56 including an early season charity contest in which the frosh defeated the varsity.  He also played for a Lusk AAU team.  He became attracted to the outdoor life of the West, a stark contrast to the urban canyon in which he grew up.  He especially liked the mountains and observing birds of prey.  The latter earned him the nickname on campus of “Hawk”

In his sophomore season of 1956-57 Tony began his run of basketball immortality at UW.  He also went out for baseball and played the outfield.  But from then on he decided to concentrate on basketball

His three seasons on the varsity were clouded by the Cowboys losing 70% of their games.  Amazingly, the Pokes managed to win the Conference his junior year, 1957-58, and a berth in the NCAA tournament, finishing 19^th in the national polls.  In Tony’s  senior year, 1958-59, the Cowboys had their worst record (4-22) in 35 years

But Tony always gave his best for the team..  His persevered with his quiet form of leadership and example.  He obeyed the coach despite discontent on the team.  He never threw in the towel nor abandoned his teammates when morale was at a low ebb and some players left.  His senior year he defied public expectations  that he’d leave early for a career in the NBA.  Returning after a severe injury he proved his mettle by scoring  66 points in his final two games.  His career average of 21.2 is second among only three players in Cowboy history to have at least 20.  Never seeking the spotlight, it came to him.  He modestly explained how he kept going despite the losses and at one point the team down to seven players. His motto was, “I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO”

Nevertheless, Tony’s prowess on the court was noticed across the country thanks to Coach Shelton’s habit of taking his teams on grueling non-conference road trips at the beginning of each season.   By the end of his senior year Tony had played in big and small arenas in almost every part of the country against prominent teams.  It was evident to all who watched that Tony was uniquely good.  His overhead, two-hand set shot, which he had brought from the East, was deadly at long range.  He also used a jump shot in close.  His moves were deceptive splitting defenders.  One sportswriter said his passing was “phenomenal.”  In the dark days of his senior year UPI noticed his “superior team play.”  There was concern Tony was risking his basketball future and All-American chances by sacrificing individual glory for teamwork.  In addition to his playmaking at one point that season he was leading the team in rebounds.  “I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO”

Tony piled up scores in an era when a three-point shot didn’t exist.  Neither did a shot clock.  He scored 50 points in one game which is still the 2^nd highest in UW history.  He led the Cowboys in scoring each season and had  40 games of at least 20 points.  His favorite teammate was Terry Eckhardt of Worland.  Wisconsin coach, Bud Foster, said they were the best backcourt tandem in the country.  Twice his senior year Tony was the subject of Associated Press sports artist Thomas “Pap” Paprocki whose illustrations were syndicated in newspapers nationwide.  Those put Tony in the company of America’s sports notables of the era

Early in his senior year Tony broke Milo Komenich’s UW career scoring mark.  In three seasons Tony scored 33% of his team’s points with a field goal accuracy of 40%

The honors piled up.  In the Skyline Conference Tony was 1^st team All-Conference three times, the scoring champion twice, and player of the year his junior season.  His senior year he made Conference history averaging 28.5 points.  He was on the NCAA All-District 7 team twice and the MVP his senior year.  His junior and senior seasons he was an All-American.  His points-per-game average (24.4) was 9^th in the NCAA in 1958-59.  That spring he was among the first 14 invited to try out for the US team for the Pan American Games.  This select list included Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.  Then he was chosen by the Detroit Pistons 34^th in the NBA draft

But injuries in 1959 hurt Tony’s prospects for a long playing career in basketball.  First, he missed five games late in his senior season at UW.  Experts said that probably cost him a 1^st team All-American ranking and a higher selection in the NBA draft.  Second, he had to drop out of the Pan American tryouts due to illness.  Finally, in a pre-season exhibition game while on the Pistons’ roster he temporarily lost his hearing in a collision with an opponent.  He was sent down to the NIBL’s Cleveland Pipers for a re-hab assignment and didn’t play his first professional game until February 1960

The handwriting was on the wall

But it wasn’t just the injuries.  Tony had fallen for co-ed Marilyn Nesbit, she from the small Wyoming coal community of Stansbury.  They had met at the Campus Shop thanks to a mutual friend, Tony Garcia.  They were married in 1960 at the Newman Center in Laramie and had their first child, Tony, Jr., within a year  

It was time to get a steady job and re-set priorities.  Basketball was set aside for the time being as it turned out

From 1960 until 1965 Tony was in various business enterprises.  He kept in touch with Cowboy basketball from his home in Rock Springs.  He returned to Laramie to finish his degree in Education in 1963.  He took advantage of this time at UW to scrimmage with Cowboy stars Flynn Robinson, Leon Clark, and Dick Sherman

With the new sheepskin Tony landed his first teaching job in 1965 at a junior high in Bairoil.  From then until 1970 he taught and coached at junior highs in Wamsutter and Rock Springs.  Then, while considering a teaching offer from St. Mary’s High in Cheyenne, he ended up taking a position at Mountain View High which paid better.   In this decision he was persuaded by the Athletic Director in Rock Springs, Bud Nelson

Here in small-town SW Wyoming Tony taught History, Government, and Drivers Ed.  But coaching basketball put him in the Wyoming scholastic sports history book.  In the next 16 seasons at Mountain View and Rawlins his teams qualified for the state championships 14 times and won five of them.  Four of these titles were boys’ and one was girls’.  These five, combined, are still a state record for coaches who have led both boys and girls teams.  In 1977 he won state for boys AND girls at Mountain View.  This was the only time a Wyoming coach’s teams have won both titles in the same season.  Remarkably, it also was the only year Tony coached a girls’ team.  The girls were 19-1 in only the second season of the lady Buffaloes’ existence.  Tony had made them a force to be reckoned with overnight. Finally, at Mountain View, his boys teams were an impressive 125-36 in seven seasons with some of them making All-State multiple times

At Mountain View Tony was known for no-nonsense discipline, including a stiff non-smoking policy.  Violation of this was expulsion from the team.  He was seen as a “gifted” coach, eloquent, and with a clear game plan.  He taught his girls to be aggressive, like the boys.   With a touch of humor he instructed his star player, Amy Carver, to get physical, “ . . . when the ball’s in the air don’t go out for popcorn, go in for a rebound.”   He was known as “Mr. Windis,” not “Coach.”  The Buffalo players were never aware of his resume as a basketball star.  He didn’t play that card to gain their respect.  For fun, and with a throwback to his boyhood days, at practice he occasionally demonstrated kicking a ball into the basket from half-court

He had a chance to move in 1977 when Billings, Montana offered him a job.  But Tony liked Wyoming and went to Rawlins, instead.  At this school, known for football, Tony revived the basketball program and led the “Outlaws” to a state championship in 1982 with a 20-4 record

Tony retired in 1986 and stayed in Rawlins.  For years he owned a successful business furnishing racing dogs for tracks around the country and enjoying the outdoor life

But basketball recognitions reappeared.  In 1999 he was elected to the UW Athletics Hall Fame.  In 2005 he was among 10 men selected to the All-Century basketball team.  In 2008 he was recognized at a “reunion game” of former Cowboy stars and coaches.  Later, in February 2018, he was honored at a Cowboys game on the 60^th anniversary of his 50-point performance vs. New Mexico

Tony quietly returned to Laramie in 2022.  His move was typically low-profile.  Only a few knew he had left Rawlins or where he had gone.  Once re-discovered in Laramie he received many visitors.  He was interviewed by an east coast journalist writing a book on Cowboy basketball  He resided in assisted living until his death  

Tony died peacefully of natural causes in Laramie on May 15, 2024. Survivors are his son, Tony Jr., a daughter, Deborah, both of Laramie, and a step-child, John Wood, Jr., of Blue Springs, Missouri; his grandchildren, Anna Buchhammer, Thomas Buchhammer, Jimmy Buchhammer,  and step grandson, Jordan Wood; and his great grandchildren, Josey and Weston Skrobot, and Bridger and Wrenna Buchhammer.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 22 at 10:00 a.m. at the Newman Center with Father Rob Spaulding presiding.  A eulogy will be spoken by one of Tony’s Mountain View players, Mark Taylor.  Contributions in Tony’s memory can be made to Laramie Hospice. Click the link to view the livestream of the services https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0dM9UdIC5s.

In conclusion, Tony Windis was a modest man with a remarkable story.  He came from a generation in which few prominent athletes tried to draw attention to themselves.  That was the ethic in sports in his formative years, and he lived up to that ideal his whole life.  He was guided by Christian teachings as a boy in an era when it was normal for many people to sacrifice material well-being and even their lives in war.  A model man, parent, teacher, mentor and friend he will be missed, but his legacy and positive impact on countless people will last beyond the basketball record books

Now, he has come full circle.  Reunited with his Creator/Savior, he’s in a peace which surpasses all understanding and a joy which he anticipated for a long time