Wendell Ladner
1967-1970
There are very few players in the history of Southern Miss athletics who were true leg-
ends. These were players who were so good at
their sports that they transformed that sport by
their impact on the game.
One of those players was Wendell
Ladner, who, in the three short years of his
basketball career at Southern Miss, carved
himself a niche in the history books of the
school that few will ever equal.
When you first think of Ladner, you think
of great rebounders and he certainly was
that. In his career, he was able to haul down
1,256 rebounds in just 76 games, an aver-
age of 16. 5 per game, a mark no one has
come close to since. The three seasons that
he played at Southern Miss remain the three
highest totals by a player for rebounds in a
season.
But he also was an incredible scorer. He
averaging 20. 5 points per game, a plateau
that no one else in school history has ever
reached in their career, and he finished as the
11th all-time scorer in school history.
Ladner had been a high school All-
American at Hancock North Central
High School and hailed from the town
of Necaise Crossing, Miss. He followed
his brother, Berlin, and came to Southern
Miss. After leading the freshmen team in
scoring and rebounding in 1966-67, he
was ready to move to the varsity the fol-
lowing year.
In his first season with the varsity in
1967-68, Ladner immediately became the
star of the team. He led the team in scoring
and rebounding that season with averages
of 21. 4 and 16. 4, respectively. His 409
rebounds and rebounding average were both
school records. Ladner scored what would
prove to be his career high, 38 points in
just the fourth game of his collegiate career
against Northwestern Louisiana. He then followed that with 36 points a few games later
against West Virginia Tech. Four times that
year he recorded 24 or more rebounds in
a game, including a career high 29 against
Northwestern Louisiana.
The 6-5, 240-pound Ladner led the team
again in scoring and rebounding during the
1968-69 season, averaging 22. 4 points and
16. 4 rebounds. The 411 rebounds that season set another school record.
As a senior in 1969-70, Ladner led the
team in scoring and rebounding for a third
straight year, averaging 17. 9 points and a
school record 16. 8 rebounds a game. His
436 rebounds that season produced a third
straight school record.
Fourteen of the top 16 rebounding per-
formances in a game by a Southern Miss
player are owned by Ladner, including a
school-record 32 vs. Pan American dur-
ing the 1969-70 season. Three times in
his career, all during the 1969-70 season,
Ladner grabbed 30 or more rebounds in a
game.
