Players

Clarence “Pete” Hughes

Year Inducted: 1991

Category: Players

Schools / Organizations:
LaFayette High School
Blackburn College

Biography:  Not many players can match the 1955-56 season mark of Clarence “Pete” Hughes at Blackburn College in Carlinville. Hughes averaged 28.5 ppg and 21.2 rpg. This combination is one of the finest single season accomplishments by any collegian at any level in the history of college basketball. In his four seasons at Blackburn, from 1954-58, Hughes started every game as a varsity player. Hughes, upon graduation, held every major scoring or rebounding record at Blackburn. He was the first player ever named All-Prairie Conference for four years. He averaged 20.3 points as a freshman; 28.5 points as a sophomore; 27.5 as a junior and 24.4 as a senior. He totaled 2,047 career points in 81 games at Blackburn for a career average of 25.3ppg (NOTE: His career was in the era before the 3 point basket was included in the rules of the game). In four seasons he pulled down 1,200 rebounds with his best single game effort being 31 against Eureka College on January 6, 1956. His single best game scoring effort was 49 in 1956. Hughes was an original inductee in the Blackburn College Hall of Fame.

In high school, Hughes attended LaFayette High School from 1950-54. The school was one of the smallest in the state and a school in which all the boys played basketball. Hughes was given a starting role as a sophomore. No record exists of Hughes’ scoring and rebounding during his high school days. Newspaper clippings indicate that he regularly led the team in scoring and he believes he averaged 25 plus points per game as a junior and senior. His single best game was a 49 point performance against Corpus Christi High School in Galesburg.