 Wickiup 1951, Idaho State College yearbook | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1916-02-14)February 14, 1916 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | May 12, 2000(2000-05-12) (aged 84) Boise, Idaho, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1936–1939 | Idaho (football,basketball) |
| Position(s) | Back (football) Guard,forward (basketball) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1939–1940 | St. Maries HS (ID) |
| 1940–1943 | Lewiston HS (ID) |
| 1946–1950 | Idaho (assistant) |
| 1950–1956 | Idaho State |
| 1956–1971 | Oregon |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1971–1972 | Oregon (assistant AD) |
| 1972–1975 | Far West Classic (director) |
| 1975–1977 | Big Sky (evaluator) |
| 1977–1981 | Big Sky (commissioner) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 288–262 (college) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 4RMC (1953–1956) | |
| Awards | |
| 3×RMC Coach of the Year | |
| Records | |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
Stephen Maxmillian Belko (February 14, 1916 – May 12, 2000) was an Americancollege basketball coach atIdaho State College and theUniversity of Oregon. He was later the third commissioner of theBig Sky Conference.[1]
The son ofRussian immigrants, Belko was born inGary, Indiana, and graduated fromFroebel High School. He attendedCompton Junior College insouthernCalifornia for a year,[2] with plans to play basketball atUSC, where his older brother Max (1914–44) starred infootball.[3][4] When the assistant basketball coach at USC that recruited him got the head job atIdaho, also a member of thePacific Coast Conference, Belko followedForrest Twogood north in 1936 andhitchhiked over a thousand miles (1600 km) toMoscow.[5][6]
A two-sport athlete for theVandals, he was a guard and small forward inbasketball and a halfback andquarterback[7] on thefootball team,[8] and a teammate of future coachesLyle Smith andTony Knap.[9][10] As seniors in1938, they led the Vandals to a6–3–1 (.650) record, Idaho's best in years and the last winning season for aquarter century.
Belko opted not to playbaseball, though he considered it his best sport.[11] A member of theSigma Chifraternity and senior class president,[2] he earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1939.[2]
Following his graduation from Idaho in 1939, Belko was a high school coach innorthern Idaho atSt. Maries for a season and for three atLewiston,[12] then served in theU.S. Navy inWorld War II as aRussian interpreter.[5] Following his military service, Belko briefly returned to Lewiston,[13] then moved to the University of Idaho in Moscow and coached the Vandal freshman teams in football and basketball.[14][15][16][17]
In 1950, Belko was hired as the head basketball coach atIdaho State College inPocatello,[17][18] which became a four-year school in 1947. HisBengals soon dominated theRocky Mountain Athletic Conference and made theNCAA tournament in four consecutive seasons (1953–56). The NCAA tournament field varied from 22 to 25 teams in the mid-1950s.
Belko's six-season record at Idaho State was 109–51 (.681), and he was named the conference coach of the year three times. The Bengals' conference record in his last four seasons was 39–3 (.929). This success led to his hiring in June 1956 atOregon, then a member of thePacific Coast Conference.[19][20]
Belko was the head coach of the Ducks for fifteen seasons and posted a 179–211 (.459) record, with a 44–102 (.301) record in conference play. His teams made the NCAA tournament twice, in1960 and1961, as anindependent. The 1960 team advanced to the Western regional finals, the national quarterfinals (Elite 8). After five years as an independent, Oregon joined thePacific-8 Conference (then "AAWU") for the 1964–65 season. In February 1970, the Ducks upset three-time defending national championUCLA atMcArthur Court inEugene, winning 78–65 to snap the Bruins' 25-game winning streak.[21]
Following a pair of 17–9 seasons, Belko stepped down in April 1971 at age 55 and remained in Eugene as the assistantathletic director at Oregon.[22]
After a year as assistant athletic director, Belko left the Oregon athletic department in 1972 to direct the Far West Classic basketball tournament inPortland for three years.[1] In 1975, he moved toBoise to work for theBig Sky Conference as an evaluator of basketball officials. Belko was named commissioner of the conference in December 1976 and served from 1977 to 1981.[14][15]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho State Bengals(Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference)(1950–1956) | |||||||||
| 1950–51 | Idaho State | 17–12 | 5–5 | 4th | |||||
| 1951–52 | Idaho State | 16–11 | 6–4 | 3rd | |||||
| 1952–53 | Idaho State | 18–7 | 10–0 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 1953–54 | Idaho State | 22–5 | 9–1 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 1954–55 | Idaho State | 18–8 | 9–1 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| 1955–56 | Idaho State | 18–8 | 11–1 | 1st | NCAA first round | ||||
| Idaho State: | 109–51 | 50–12 | |||||||
| Oregon Webfoots(Pacific Coast Conference)(1956–1959) | |||||||||
| 1956–57 | Oregon | 4–21 | 2–14 | 9th | |||||
| 1957–58 | Oregon | 13–11 | 6–10 | 7th | |||||
| 1958–59 | Oregon | 9–16 | 3–13 | T–8th | |||||
| Oregon Webfoots(Independent)(1959–1964) | |||||||||
| 1959–60 | Oregon | 19–10 | NCAA Elite 8 | ||||||
| 1960–61 | Oregon | 15–12 | NCAA first round | ||||||
| 1961–62 | Oregon | 9–17 | |||||||
| 1962–63 | Oregon | 11–15 | |||||||
| 1963–64 | Oregon | 14–12 | |||||||
| Oregon Webfoots(AAWU / Pacific–8 Conference)(1964–1971) | |||||||||
| 1964–65 | Oregon | 9–17 | 3–11 | 8th | |||||
| 1965–66 | Oregon | 13–13 | 6–8 | T–4th | |||||
| 1966–67 | Oregon | 9–17 | 1–13 | 8th | |||||
| 1967–68 | Oregon | 7–19 | 2–12 | 8th | |||||
| 1968–69 | Oregon | 13–13 | 5–9 | T–5th | |||||
| 1969–70 | Oregon | 17–9 | 8–6 | 4th | |||||
| 1970–71 | Oregon | 17–9 | 8–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| Oregon: | 179–211 | 44–102 | |||||||
| Total: | 288–262 | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||