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In the photo of the 1956-57 XULA basketball team that accompanies this story, Warner Saunders is on the front row, fourth from the left. |
NEW ORLEANS — Warner Saunders, a Xavier University of Louisiana men's basketball standout in the 1950s and a broadcasting legend in his hometown of Chicago, died Tuesday (Oct. 9, 2018) at age 83.
Saunders's wife told Chicado media that her husband collapsed Tuesday night in Chicago. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Saunders, a 6-foot-5 center, played four seasons of varsity basketball for the Gold Rush (1953-57) and captained the team his senior year. He graduated, returned to Chicago and eventually became a television broadcaster. During his 40 years of broadcasting — the last 29 at WMAQ-TV (NBC 5), where he was a news anchor — Saunders won 20 Chicago Emmy awards and was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame and the Chicago Television Academy's Silver Circle.
He retired from WMAQ in May 2009.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, it was not unusual for XULA rosters to include athletes from Chicago high schools. Saunders, who graduated from Corpus Christi High, was part of the pipeline.
"My high school coach, Lawrence Bingley, played at Xavier," Saunders said in 2006. "That's how I made it down there."
As a XULA junior, Saunders scored 32 points in a 71-67 home victory against city rival Dillard on Jan. 11, 1956. XULA records indicate it was the first time a Gold Rush player reached 30 points.
"I have so many memories from Xavier," Saunders said. "We had a great rivalry with Dillard.
Another memory was when we walked into St. Michael's dormitory for the first time. That was a red-letter day. We had stayed in old Army barracks for two years. When we moved into the dormitory, we thought we had died and gone to heaven."
Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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