Mark Schuster was just a kid growing up in Richland, playing sports, and collecting baseball cards, when he first learned about Gene Conley.
The two-sport professional athlete was long retired from sports by then. A Richland High School graduate and Coug, Conley (x’50) had pitched for four Major League Baseball teams and played for two National Basketball Association teams, winning national championships in both sports—something no one else has done.
(Courtesy WSU Foundation)
To Schuster (’95 Busi.), and many boys before him—especially boys who grew up playing sports in the Tri-Cities, Richland in particular—Conley was a phenom and role model.
“When I found out that a bigtime professional athlete came from Richland, I thought, ‘Hey, maybe someday I can do that,’” Schuster says. “The fact that he played both baseball and basketball at the highest level—that really stuck with me. And the fact that he was a Bomber and a Coug is just fantastic.”
Schuster is also both a Bomber and a Coug. So is his father-in-law, Jack Glover (’66 Ed.), who was in first grade with Conley’s sister. “They have been friends that long,” says Schuster, emphasizing he didn’t actually know that fact until 2017, when his father-in-law mentioned it upon learning Conley had died that Fourth of July at 86. “I would have loved to have had a conversation with (Conley),” Schuster says. “I wish I could have made that connection. I’ve always been a fan of his.”
Among the most highly recruited high school athletes of the 1948–1949 season, Conley anchored Coug baseball and basketball for two seasons, and led the teams to the Pacific Coast Conference baseball and basketball championships in his final year in Pullman. The baseball championships marked the school’s first appearance in the College World Series title game.
He went pro in 1950, playing for the Boston (and later Milwaukee) Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Boston Red Sox. In the NBA, he played for the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. He was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves when they won the World Series in 1957, and he helped the Celtics win three NBA titles: 1959, 1960, and 1961.
In 2023, his sister, Billye (Conley) Drew (’65 Busi.), also a Bomber and a Coug, saw a Washington State Magazine story about Schuster, then president of the Washington State University Alumni Association, returning memorabilia to legendary Coug basketball coach George Raveling and reached out.
“She knew I was a collector. She said she had this stuff, but she didn’t really have any plans for it, and she wanted it to be taken care of. She felt she could trust me to do the right thing with it. And I was happy to do it.”
The right thing, Schuster felt, was to gift the collection of Conley’s Bomber and Coug memorabilia to Richland High School and WSU so the items could be publicly displayed in perpetuity.
“I want people to make sure Gene’s story is not forgotten,” Schuster says. “I want people to know the story, and I want people to be proud.”
Conley is one of only 13 athletes to have played in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. He’s the only player to have won national championships in both.
Schuster was “blown away” when he opened the box containing more than a dozen mementos, including trophies and photos, that once belonged to his hometown hero. “A letterman’s sweater is so personal. Back in the 1940s and ’50s, they were really big deals. To have two of them in the box—one from college and one from high school—I was just thrilled. The whole collection was just outstanding.”
Schuster added a few of his own Conley collectibles, including a signed baseball glove and a signed Milwaukee Braves baseball card, to the mix. Then he contacted the Lewis Alumni Centre and Richland High School’s athletic department.
The WSU exhibit was installed by the end of 2023. It took longer to coordinate the Richland High School display in the foyer of the gym where Conley once played. It was finalized in early 2025.
“It’s an honor to be able to get his memorabilia out there,” Schuster says. “It tells his story for the next generation to reflect on and learn from. It’s important to get it out there.”