Orsten Artis and George Reveter spoke on the phone to wish each other a Merry Christmas.
In fact, Artis and Reveter talked every other day, sometimes more. But Reveter, lifelong friends with Artis, especially cherished Monday’s conversation.
Artis — the point guard and a co-captain on Texas Western’s seminal 1966 national championship team, the first to start an all-black starting lineup, beating Adolph Rupp-coached Kentucky — died Tuesday.
The 1962 Froebel graduate, a 2007 member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the ’66 Miners and inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014, was 74.
“Orsten was one of the best persons I ever knew,” Reveter said. “He always did the right thing. He was a very sweet, kind person. Everybody loved him.”
Artis was a longtime Gary detective. Reveter, a fellow 1962 Froebel graduate who also went to Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso) before returning home prior to his senior year to care for his ailing mother, also spent 20 years as a city police officer.
“We were like brothers,” Reveter said. “We were almost inseparable from kindergarten on. We played ball together in grade school and high school and college.
“Losing Orsten hurts me so bad. I’ve been crying all night.”
Artis had been ill. He underwent dialysis three times a week and hadn’t missed an appointment in five years. When he didn’t show up for Tuesday’s round from his Merrillville home, older brother Arthur Artis received a phone call.
“All of his family and friends are going to miss him,” Arthur Artis said. “But he’s in a better place. He had some health issues and they took a toll, and he left us. But I have nothing but good memories.”
Orsten Artis occupies a special place in the heart of Earl Smith Jr., whose 56 years in the Gary school system included 15 as the city’s athletic director before retiring in 2013.
Smith, a 1952 Roosevelt graduate, grew up learning the history of Froebel, where his father, Earl Smith Sr., was one of the best athletes in school history.
“I have an extra feeling for Froebel, then coming into contact with a guy like Orsten Artis just cemented those feelings,” Smith said. “He was the blueprint for what that school stood for.”
Smith, who in March will be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, began his coaching career in 1966 at Froebel.
“The first thing I did was reach out to Orsten Artis — he was an icon,” Smith said. “He had a quiet disposition, so when he said something, it was meaningful. He said few words, but what he said had great impact.”
Artis made an impact on and off the court.
Under Don Haskins, Texas Western defeating Kentucky 72-65 on March 19, 1966, was a watershed moment.
Harry Flournoy, a 1962 Emerson graduate who died on Nov. 26, 2016 and as Artis’ dear friend, also started on the team that inspired the book and movie “Glory Road.” They were co-captains.
Artis had 15 points and eight rebounds in the national title game, and averaged 12.6 points and 3.5 rebounds as a 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior as the Miners finished with a 28-1 record.
He averaged a team-high 11.2 points and 3.5 rebounds as a junior, and 10.5 and 3.2 as a sophomore.
Artis, who relished his nickname “Little O” playing off Oscar Robertson’s “Big O,” led Gary in scoring as both a junior and senior at Froebel. He averaged 22.0 points and 5.7 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils to a sectional championship in 1962.
“He was able to come up through the Gary, Indiana, school system and go to Texas Western and they’re in the history books now,” Arthur Artis said. “Youngsters today can look back at what he did and what that whole team did.
“If it wasn’t for what that team accomplished and having that coach push them, things probably wouldn’t be how they are today. What they did at that time in history, a lot of people benefited, and people are still benefiting.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff
![Millions of tons of coal ash, the residue of coal after it’s been burned, sit near current and former power plants around Indiana, including Northwest Indiana. Utilities that already required to clean up many of their coal ash sites will need soon to come up with ways to keep older coal ash sites, as well as ones not in approved landfills, from contaminating the air and water around them. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently made changes in its 2015 Coal Combustion Residuals Rule to regulate coal ash sites that formerly were exempt from the EPA’s cleanup rule. The EPA’s action, which will take […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/migration/2024/01/12/DNFPKLL4XNBKFKZT3DWLBWSHJ4.jpg?w=535 "Millions of tons of coal ash, the residue of coal after it’s been burned, sit near current and former power plants around Indiana, including Northwest Indiana. Utilities that already required to clean up many of their coal ash sites will need soon to come up with ways to keep older coal ash sites, as well as ones not in approved landfills, from contaminating the air and water around them. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently made changes in its 2015 Coal Combustion Residuals Rule to regulate coal ash sites that formerly were exempt from the EPA’s cleanup rule. The EPA’s action, which will take […]")
