Daryel Garrison, Missouri State’s all-time leading scorer, was “shocked” his record wasn’t broken

Daryel Garrison marvels that people still remember his time playing basketball for then-Southwest Missouri State. After all, almost 50 years have passed since he collected points like no other in school history.

“I’m still happy about the recognition, but when you think of all the ballplayers who have played here since then, I wonder why I’m being recognized,” Garrison said. “But I appreciate it and am happy about it.”

Garrison and the 1974 Bears went on an incredible run late in the season that left them one win shy of winning an NCAA Division II national championship. The high-scoring guard and his teammates were the city’s stars, filling McDonald Arena under late coach Bill Thomas.

This team’s success, as well as two additional D-II runner-up finishes in the 1960s, laid the foundation for the school’s move to Division I in 1982–83. That’s why the Bears Basketball Network honors an individual and team each year and seeks to connect the Bears’ past successes to improve the present and the future.

The chance to play early helped lure him to Springfield

“That was important to me,” Garrison said. “The game was different back then. No 3-pointers. But I was able to link up with the players who were already here and felt like we had a good chance.

“Coming to Springfield and staying for four years was a really good situation for me.”

He holds the school’s scoring record, but was more than just a goalscorer

Garrison scored 1,975 points in four seasons, a record that still stands. Kyle Weems, who played from 2008 to 2012, finished second, 107 points behind Garrison.

“I wasn’t looking for the scoring record, something just happened,” Garrison said. “I’m shocked it’s not broken. With all the players that have done it here, with the 3-point game, I would think someone would have broken it.”

Garrison also holds the school record with 46 games with 20 or more points. He scored a career-best 41 against Central Missouri State in 1975, making 20 of 22 field shots.

Still, he likes to point out that he wasn’t shooting at it the whole time. With 374 assists, Garrison ranks eighth on the Bears’ career list.

“Daryel was a great leader,” said Randy Magers, a teammate on the 1974 team. “He gave the entire team confidence. Daryel was a real player, and he was a clutch player. He was truly selfless.

“Even though he was the top scorer, he was a great defensive player. He was tall, broad and strong. He was strong and used his body well.”

“Who is the human eraser?”

Jimmie Dull, a freshman when Garrison was a senior, said it was quite a shock when he was asked to guard Garrison in practice.

“He was harassing you and running past you, and all you could do was watch him run by,” Dull said. “You couldn’t defend him. He had this shot right here (a high, fading delivery) and you couldn’t block it.”

Garrison and the Bears were selected to host the D-II regional tournament in 1974, defeating North Dakota and Kentucky Wesleyan to reach the national quarterfinals in Evansville. After narrow wins over St. Joseph’s (Indiana) and New Orleans, they lost the title game to Morgan State and future NBA first-round draft pick Marvin “Human Eraser” Webster 67-52.

“I asked, ‘Who is the human eraser?’ They said, ‘If you go in there, you’ll learn about the Human Eraser.’ I went in there a couple times and he bounced my jump shot,” Garrison said, laughing. “So we came second, but it was really good exposure.”

Garrison struggled with knee pain after college and retired after playing a season and a half professionally in Belgium. After working as a correctional officer for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he became a school teacher and administrator in his hometown before retiring in 2019.

After the reunion, back to the classroom

But due to a teacher shortage following COVID-19, Garrison has returned to classrooms in Kansas City, Kansas, teaching elementary school health and physical education.

“A few years ago, I taught for five years, then was an administrator in the Kansas City, Kansas, school district for 24 years,” Garrison said. “Then I retired and came back as a teacher. I enjoy working with children like this.”

After reminiscing about basketball over the weekend, it was back to the classroom this week — but not before thinking about what it was like to play in a packed McDonald Arena so long ago.

“That place was just electric,” he said, noting that the sunken floor with seating above the playing area felt “like a pit or like a dungeon.”

“It seemed like there were 30,000 people there, even though there were 3,000. It got loud, man. Every time you walked into that arena you felt like you were at home. Even practice.”