Weber State University Athletics
Hall of Fame - Mike Sivulich
3/17/2015 7:27:00 PM | Wildcat Club
Mike Sivulich
Men's Basketball (1959-64)
Inducted October 2007
In the rich tradition of Weber State men's basketball, the successful Wildcat teams could always rely on a solid point guard to run the team. Names like Justus Thigpen, Brady Small, Dick Hunsaker, Mark Mattos, John Price, Ruben Nembhard, Eddie Gill and Jermaine Boyette conjure up visions of greatness. But the one point guard who got the ball rolling, so to speak, in establishing that winning tradition was Mike Sivulich, a 5-foot-10 whirling dervish from Ohio who would become the baseline for all successful Wildcat point guards who followed.
A standout three-sport athlete at Brookfield (Ohio) High School, Sivulich graduated in 1955 then spent the next three years in the U.S. Navy where he excelled on several Navy basketball teams.
In 1959-60, he came to Ogden, Utah, to play basketball at Weber Junior College. He first season, he played under Coach Bill Mann. When Mann left to enter private business in California, the Wildcats hired a young high school coach from Grace, Idaho, named Dick Motta to take over the program.
Sivulish's speed, quickness, peskiness and constant hustle were and immediate hit with Motta. That 1960-61 team included current WSU Hall of Fame inductees Lynn Corbridge, Phil Johnson and Jon O'Dell. The Wildcats earned a spot in the National Junior College Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. For his efforts, Sivulich was named First Team Intermountain Collegeiate Athletic Conference.
Knowing that Weber State would become a four-year school in 1962-63, and having two years of eligibility remaining, Sivulich sat out the 1961-62 season but he wasn't idle. He played on the Ogden 12th Ward team which played during the season in the Ogden Independent basketball League as well as the LDS Church league. He helped lead the Ogden 12th Ward to the All-LDS Church Basketball Tournament championship. At that time, the tournament was the largest in the world, and he was named the MVP of the senior division.
As the Wildcats joined the four-year ranks in 1962-63, Sivulich was again reunited with Coach Motta. That team, playing as an independent, posted a 22-4 record with Mike averaging 10.6 points and being the set-up man for leading scorer Jim Lyons, who averaged 20.8 points per game, and center Bob Lewis, who added 19.7. Besides his uncanny ability to score with his patented two-hand set shot, Mike became known far and wide as one of the peskiest defensive players in college basketball, using his tremendous speed and quickness to thwart taller opponents.
In 1963-64, Sivulich's senior season, Weber State became a charter member of the newly formed Big Sky Conference. The Wildcats finished 17-8 overall and were second in the Big Sky with a 7-3 overall mark. Sivulich averaged 14.5 points per game, and though assists weren't compiled during his era, it would be a safe bet to say he averaged five or six per contest as the Wildcats averaged 91.5 points per game that season.
For his offensive and defensive efforts, Sivulich was named First Team All-Big Sky Conference, and Second Team Little All-American by United Press International.
Sivulich's stay in Ogden has lasted nearly 50 years. He was the founder and president of Sivulich Travel, and became partners in Fishburn-Sivulich Travel which became Morris Travel. Along with his success in the travel business, Sivulich was owner and president of Sivulich Brokerage working with Amalgamated Sugar Company for 26 years.
Mike and his wife, Nancy, are the parents of sons Mike Jr. and David, and daughter Staci. Mike Jr. was a two-year starter for Weber State in the early 1990s, and David was a standout player and three-time all-conference performer at Saint Mary's (California) College.