Hall of Fame
David Bootcheck played four seasons (1976-1980) for the EKU basketball team. He began his career in style, averaging a team-best 19.7 points and leading the conference in rebounds with his 11 per game as a freshman while being named first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference. He also finished that first year in the OVC’s Top Ten in field goal percentage (.533) and free throw percentage (.760). Bootcheck scored less than 10 points just once his freshman year. He scored 23 points and hauled in 13 rebounds in his first collegiate game against 20th ranked UNC Charlotte, playing opposite All-American and future Boston Celtics star Cedric ‘Cornbread’ Maxwell. Bootcheck finished his first year as the fourth-highest scoring freshman in the country, topping such players as Louisville’s Darrell Griffith and Indiana’s Mike Woodson.
As a sophomore and a junior, he averaged 10.3 points and six rebounds, and 6.8 points and 5.4 rebounds while battling through injuries. The Colonels, paced by the OVC Athlete of the Year in junior forward Turk Tillman, finished 21-8, won the OVC in 1978-79 and played in the NCAA Tournament, losing to Tennessee 97-81.
During his senior, with Tillman and guards Tommy Baker and Bruce Jones providing the scoring punch, Bootcheck contributed 8.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
For his EKU career, he is the 29th all-time scorer with 1,130 points and the 11th all-time rebounder with 728 boards. Bootcheck postponed his business career for one year to play professional basketball for a team based in Luxembourg, averaging 30 points and 15 rebounds. At the time of induction, Bootcheck had worked for two major oil companies over 35 years – 25 for Shell Oil and 10 years for Chevron – where his job title was lead business development specialist.
