Indiana University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Statistics aren’t always exciting.  But Lee McCullough's almost literally jump right off the page to make for some very interesting reading.  They also establish him as one of IUP men's basketball all-time great alumni, in other words, a true Hall-of Famer.
Playing from 1968 through '71, in an era that found him play his rookie season as a teammate of seniors Garry Lupek and Dave Smith and a senior when Randy Allen was a freshman, McCullough pulled down 877 rebounds to make him IUP's all-time career runner-up to this day. Lupek, with 881, is the only player ahead of him.
The 365 caroms he picked off as a senior remain a team record, while the 329 he notched as a junior represent the Indians' third best season board total.
His 1319 career points rank ninth on today's charts; they are made up in good part of McCullough's 512 points as a junior and 544 as a senior; the Iatter stands third all-time for scoring in a season, behind only Joe DeLise and Jack Crossan highs.
Such performances had a lot to do with IUP posting a record of 67 wins and 10 losses over McCullough's three-year tour, the Indians going 22-2 and 21-4 in 1968-69 and '69-70 in coach Herrn Sledzik's final two seasons and 24-4 in coach Carl Davis' first campaign.
That year (1970-71) saw IUP win the NAIA District 18 title and advance to the NAIA national championship tournament in Kansas City, where it reached the quarterfinals.
Top rebounder in 37 of his team's games as a junior and senior, McCullough attained personal bests when he scored 37 points and picked off 21 rebounds in a win over Point Park, then a regional power, and posted 38 points and 25 rebounds (two shy of the IUP team record) in a Christmas Tree Tournament win over respected Westminster.
McCullough, who graduated from tiny Dayton High School weighing 150 pounds on a 6-3 frame before developing at IUP to 6-6 and 190, was personally rewarded with an NAIA All-American honorable mention and Tri-State Small College Player of the Year and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference postseason picks, the Iatter as both a junior and senior.
After graduating with his degree in health and physical education and safety education, McCullough was drafted by both the NBA's San Diego Rockets (who later became the Houston Rockets) and the old ABA (American Basketball Association) Pittsburgh Condors.
Not long after, though, he said goodbye to basketball playing or potential coaching and opted to become a physical education teacher and driving instructor at Jeannette High School, where he has remained for the past 31 years.  In 1984, he married the former Linda Hershey.