Central to induct Grebing, seven others into hall of fame

Walt Grebing is more than 52 years removed from his senior year at Central.

After starring for the Tigers in basketball and baseball, he moved on to the University of Missouri to guard the likes of basketball great Oscar Robertson, met and married his wife Jan, fathered and raised two daughters and spent a lifetime as a respected educator.

He's coached and taught, spending 24 years as a middle school principal in Colorado and serving as an education consultant around the country and internationally. He's even co-authored a book.

But as the co-recipient of the first Lou Muegge Award in 1958, Grebing never has forgotten his days at Central High School.

And Central High School has not forgotten Grebing.

The 1958 graduate, who averaged 28 points in an all-state senior season, is among eight Central alums who will be inducted into the Central hall of fame Saturday.

To be inducted with Grebing will be his former basketball coach Weldon Hager and teammate Wayne Boswell. Other inductees will be Jack Burris, Nichole Thiele, Kim Godwin, Sherri (Boeller) Shirrell and Bob Goodwin.

The school will induct the group at an 8:30 a.m. breakfast ceremony Saturday at Central, then honor the group that afternoon at halftime of Central's varsity football game at Houck Stadium.

Grebing, who has lived in Broomfield, Colo., since 1968, will be in attendance.

He said he was amazed to hear the Muegge Award, given annually to a senior who excels in athletics and citizenship, still is a fixture at his alma mater.

"I still got the trophy," Grebing said. "That's quite an honor, I thought. I had a lot of respect for him."

Boswell, who caught Grebing and other Central pitchers for three seasons, was the co-recipient of the first Muegge Award.

Grebing, a 6-foot-5 center who led the Tigers in scoring and rebounding his junior and senior seasons, credits Muegge for a signature move that he used in high school and college.

"He came out one day and was watching me when I was trying out for the team and showed me some moves that I used all the way through high school and even in college that really made a difference in my scoring," Grebing said. "I would get the ball in the high post, then I'd swing my leg around and I could go either right or left. It was really difficult to stop. If they moved to my right side I went to my left, and if they moved to my left side I went to the right. It was one or two dribbles and mainly a layup shot."

Grebing, who played varsity basketball four years and started three years, also learned a fade-away shot that helped him score a then-Central record 48 points during a regional game against Poplar Bluff his senior season. The move was scrapped at Missouri when Grebing played on the freshman team under a young coach by the name of Norm Stewart.

"That was the first thing they said you don't do," Grebing said. "I still used the move that Muegge taught me in college because it still worked there."

Grebing described himself as a defensive specialist and rebounder at Missouri, where he played for the varsity team for three years and never topped 160 pounds. After starting part-time during his sophomore and junior years at Mizzou, Grebing became a full-time starter his senior year and led the Tigers in rebounding and shooting percentage.

"I guarded [Cincinnati[']s] Oscar Robinson. I guarded Walt Bellamy of Indiana, and several guys that were later All-Americans. I won't say I stopped them, but I always said I guarded them," Grebing said with a laugh.

Robinson and Bellamy went on to Hall of Fame careers in the NBA. Grebing went on to receive a teaching degree in education with a major in chemistry and a minor in biology and physical education. He took his first teaching job at the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Mo., and later received a master's degree in secondary administration and a specialist degree in administration.

He opened Colorado's first middle school in 1972 and became an authority in the transition of junior high schools to middle schools. He became a consultant to school districts around the country on the conversion process. In 1990, Grebing and his wife started a conference "Nuts and Bolts of Mid-Level Education," in Boulder, Colo., and later began the conference in other states. He sold the business two years ago and retired.

And ultimately, like Robinson and Bellamy, he's landed in a hall of fame.