WVU great Akers passes away at 89
MORGANTOWN – Willie Akers, a starting forward on WVU’s 1959 national runner-up men’s basketball team and an award-winning high school coach in West Virginia, died Tuesday in Logan at the age of 89. The Mullens native was inducted into the WVU Hall of Fame in 2002. He was a two-year starter for the Mountaineers, including the 1958-59 season in which WVU fell to California in the national championship game. He averaged 7.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game that season. Along with Jerry West, the two in-state products forged a longtime friendship during their high school days that ...