Cheney Studs #33 Jim Van Beek catches a basketball. Coached by Marv Harshman at Pacific Lutheran University, Jim Van Beek, along with Chuck Curtis and Roger Iverson were known as “The Three Basketeers,” and led the Lutes to the NAIA Tournament three years running and nearly won it in 1959. Pictured here playing for the Cheney Studs, Van Beek went on to a long and successful amateur career after his collegiate career ended, including leading the Studs to the Northwest AAU League title at a time when the games drew large crowds to Seattle Pacific University, PLU and the University of Puget Sound. The league was full of former collegiate stars from the Northwest and featured aggressive competition nightly. Van Beek and the Studs won the 1963 Washington State Amateur Tournament before disbanding. Van Beek was inducted into the PLU Hall of Fame in 1991, among the second class of inductees. Photo by Richards Studio of Tacoma.
