Herb Wilkinson

When Herb Wilkinson's college basketball career ended after the 1946–47 season, he had become Iowa's only three-time First Team All-Big Ten and three-time All-American honoree in addition to having won a national championship as a freshman while at Utah. He finished his Iowa career with 489 points in 53 games. He scored a career-high 22 points against Indiana on February 22, 1947. Wilkinson would later be named to the University of Iowa All-Century Team.

Wilkinson was born in Hurricane, Utah and raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He grew up playing basketball but his home also had a high jump pit, and consequently Wilkinson became an excellent high jumper (he got so good, in fact, that he placed fourth at the NCAA Division I track and field championships in 1945.) He attended East High School in Salt Lake City, and when Wilkinson was a sophomore he only stood 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m). By the time he enrolled in college, however, he had grown to 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), which more suited his ability to play basketball at the next level.

The Wilkinson brothers' first season at Iowa was in 1944–45. They joined incoming freshman star Murray Wier and three solid sophomores—Dick Ives, Jack Spencer and Dave Danner—in what would be a Big Ten Conference-winning season. The Hawkeyes finished 17–1 overall (11–1 in conference play) and their only loss came to Illinois by one point. Herb averaged 9.6 points per game (ppg) while Clay, a junior, averaged 11.5 ppg as the team's starting center. Despite Clay's slightly better numbers, Herb was honored as a consensus Second Team All-American along with fellow sophomore teammate Ives. It was Herb's ball-handling, leadership, and ability to score long-range shots that would deflate opponents' morale that played a large part in his selection. That year's team was also the first in school history to win an outright Big Ten championship.

Wilkinson matriculated at the University of Utah in the fall of 1943. He had stopped growing at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) but still possessed the dribbling and shooting abilities he had honed as a smaller high school player. As a very tall guard for that era, he helped lead the Redskins (now known as the Utes) to the NCAA tournament.

Herbert Wells Wilkinson (born December 13, 1923) is an American former college basketball player who won the 1944 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament as a freshman while playing for Utah, then transferred to Iowa as a sophomore and became a three-time All-American.