He is gone, but to the local and collegiate sports world, he will never be forgotten.

From shooting tennis balls as a young boy into a trash can in his basement to breaking scoring records at Palmerton High School and at Temple University, the legendary Bill Mlkvy lived a long and illustrious life before passing away at age 93 on Dec. 12.

Mlkvy was born in Palmerton on Jan. 19, 1931 as the seventh of eight children to parents who had emigrated to the United States from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. His early love of basketball was one of Beth Coffey’s favorite stories about her father.

“My dad grew up in a very disciplined family,” she said. “His mother was expected to have dinner on the table at a certain time after Bill’s father had come home from work. Well, Bill would be listening to a Palmerton basketball game on the radio while he was shooting tennis balls into a garbage can in the basement. He would actually pretend he was playing in the game and would play announce his own baskets. His mom and dad actually held dinner back until they heard their son shout, ‘Billy shoots and he scores to win the game!’”

That same story was told by Bill Mlkvy himself and he showed his great sense of humor he was known for by saying, “I never lost a game in my basement.’’

Mlkvy honed his sharpshooting skills at the Lehigh Avenue Park when his older brother, Milton blindfolded him and told him to picture the shot in his mind. Following his 1,286 points scored at Palmerton High School and selected First Team All State in 1948, he went on to play basketball at Temple where he became known as the “The Owl Without a Vowel” due to the unusual spelling of his last name.

He told the story that Adolph Rupp, the acclaimed coach at Kentucky University was considering recruiting Mlkvy until he believed the kid was a jokester regarding the spelling of his last name and refused to bring him to his team.

At Temple, Mlkvy was a first team All American for four years and in 1950-51, he led the nation in scoring. On March 3 against Wilkes College, he set a record that still stands today by scoring 54 consecutive points after he was held scoreless for the first five minutes of the game. He scored 73 points that night and single-handedly outscored Wilkes, 99-69 in the Owls’ victory.

Mlkvy scored from anywhere on the court with two-handed set shots, hook shots, and layups.

“My father would often speak about how the game has changed and if they had the three- point shot back then, who knows how many more points would have been added to his records,” his daughter said.

His number “20” was retired by Temple and hangs from the rafters at their Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. In 1952, Mlkvy was drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association where he played one year before he entered dentistry school which led him to a long and rewarding career.

Beth is a walking encyclopedia filled with stories about her father.

“He was invited to the Palestra in Philadelphia to be honored when he was 50 years old. He stood on the court in a sweatsuit and shot one basketball after another and he made them all,” she said.

His competitive spirit was with every game he played and no matter who he was up against.

“We were playing tennis doubles one day in Ocean City, New Jersey and I was at the net against him from the other team,” she recalled. “He slammed one ball after another past me and I said with a laugh, “Hey Dad, did you forget? I’m your daughter!” His reply was, ‘I want to win the game.’”

“There was another time when he and his grandkids were playing the game, ‘Horse’ in the driveway where we had a basketball pole set up. He won every game,” she said with another laugh.

Later in his life, Mlkvy coached the Bucks County Community College basketball team in 1965 to add to his personal athletic history that included being inducted into several Hall of Fames: Temple University, the Big Five, the Philadelphia and Carbon County Chapters of Pennsylvania’s Sports Halls of Fame and of course, Palmerton High School.

The family has requested that contributions in Bill Mlkvy’s memory be made to the Bill and Barbara Mlkvy Men’s Basketball Endowment Fund c/o Temple Owl Club, 1816 North 15th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121.