The Dave Schellhase Story … Rise, Fall, Redemption

The Schellhase Story … the story of Purdue legend Dave Schellhase, ∆∆ Class of 1966, has been recently published and is now available directly from Dave or through Amazon.  Dave (with author Tom Speaker) relates his journey through a life of athletics.  A journey filled with highs and lows that were covered extensively in the sports media throughout the nation. Dave is a member of the Purdue Athletics, Indiana High School Basketball, and Moorehead State Hall of Fames.
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Why Dave Wrote the Book

Dave’s three goals in writing this book are to help young basketball players learn the skills which will make them the best that they can be. Secondly, Dave wants to share his ideas on coaching with those who want a coaching career.  And finally, Dave takes the reader through his journey of recovery from alcoholism. Dave relates what he’s learned about the disease.

Playing Days

In Dave’s senior year he led the Big Ten and the NCAA in scoring with 32.5 points a game while being named a Consensus All-American, Academic All-American and received his third straight first team All-Big Ten selection. He was a second team All-American following his junior season.

Dave scored a career high 57 points on Feb. 19, 1966, against Michigan, the second most in school history, only behind Rick Mount’s 61 four years later against Iowa. With 2,074 career points, he was the first of six Boilermakers to reach the 2,000-point plateau, along with Rick Mount, Joe Barry Carroll, Troy Lewis, E’Twaun Moore and Zach Edey. Schellhase was selected as the 10th overall pick in the 1966 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. He played two seasons with the Bulls.

Sigma Chi Experience

Dave fondly remembers his days at Delta Delta. He remarked, “Back in my era athletes could live where they wanted, join a fraternity, and weren’t expected to play basketball all year round.”  As a result, Dave felt he got to know men outside of the basketball team, some of which were real characters in the Sig house. Dave also recalled how he loved rush and how he convinced a team mate on the basketball team, Doug Trudeau, to join Sigma Chi.

Dave helped recruit Rick Mount to Purdue only to see Mount break Dave’s single game scoring record of 57 points by scoring 61 points in a game four years later.

Coaching Career

Dave was the men’s basketball coach at Moorehead State from 1975-82 and 1987-98. During his 18 seasons at MSUM he was the first coach to lead the Dragons to a national tournament in 1980.  He is MSUM’s all-time leader in men’s basketball coaching wins at 298; won two conference titles; named NIC Coach of the Year in 1980-81; had 13 trips to NAIA tournament; and coached five All-Americans.

From 1982 to 1985 Dave coached the Division I Indiana State Sycamores compiling a record of 37-48. He was the third former Boilermaker to coach at Indiana State after John Wooden’s successful tenure from 1946 to 1948 and Bill Hodges’ stint from 1979 to 1982.

Purdue Honors Brother Schellhase with Bobblehead

You know you have endeared yourself to the Purdue faithful when Purdue honors you with your own “bobblehead”.  On February 15, 2024, at the Purdue – Minnesota basketball game Dave was recognized for his accomplishments with a “Dave Schellhase bobblehead”.  At halftime Dave spoke to the crowd of his days playing at Purdue and how much he benefited from being a Boilermaker.  It was also the night Zach Edey passed Dave on the all-time scoring list.  Dave commented, “I have a lot of admiration for Zach Edey.  The degree of improvement he has shown since coming to Purdue is a tribute to his hard work and determination.”

How to Order Dave’s Book

Print the order form and mail or email it to Dave. Or scan the code to purchase it on Amazon.  Those books ordered directly from Dave can have a personal note from Dave added.

I’d encourage you to get your own copy of The Schellhase Story on Dave’s playing and coaching days, and the personal challenges he faced along the way.