Before the arrival of Dave Stallworth, the Shockers had not won a Missouri Valley Conference basketball title, had not advanced to the NCAA Tournament and had not been ranked No. 1. Stallworth played for the Shockers from 1961-65 and his presence and those teams changed the program forever.
Attendance doubled. The Shockers powered to the top of the MVC, then perhaps the nation's top conference. The late Craig Miner, a historian and WSU professor, wrote that a victory over No. 1 Cincinnati in which Stallworth starred may have helped convince state legislators that the University of Wichita was worthy of inclusion in the state system in the early 1960's.