Record Holder's Death Unnoticed By All But A Few -- Puidokas Scored 1,894 Points For Cougars

PULLMAN - Steve Puidokas' name is all over the Washington State basketball record book, and the current media guide devotes a full page to a picture of him shooting over legendary UCLA center Bill Walton.

But Puidokas' death in Italy went largely unnoticed for more than two years.

Puidokas is getting some renewed attention these days because senior Isaac Fontaine is poised to break his career scoring record.

"Steve wasn't the type that tried to seek notoriety," his mother, Genevieve, recently told the Lewiston Morning Tribune. "He was a very soft-spoken kid."

Puidokas, a Chicago native, scored 1,894 points in a career that ended in 1977.

Fontaine needs 116 points to pass him. At his present pace, Fontaine could break the record against Stanford on Feb. 20 or California on Feb. 22.

But Puidokas will likely remain as the school's leader in career scoring average at 18.6 points per game, as well as No. 1 in rebounding (992), field goals (734), field goal attempts (1,499) and minutes played.

The center is the only Cougar basketball player to have his number, 55, retired.

Despite logging 3,592 minutes played as a Cougar between 1974-77, Puidokas apparently never returned to the campus and had little contact with his teammates.

A guy who shunned spotlight

Puidokas was 39 when he died on Aug. 13, 1994, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. Genevieve Puidokas said he suffered a heart attack.

He left behind an Italian wife and five children, the oldest at 15.

"He had a good life," his mother recalled. "It's a shame he left those kids."

Puidokas was drafted by the Washington Capitals after his senior year, but played professionally in Europe instead. He played in France and Holland, and then settled in Sardinia, where he played until his death.

"I used to tell him, `quit, you're getting old,' " his mother said.

"He didn't want to go into coaching," she said. "He just wanted to play."

Former WSU Coach George Raveling remembered Puidokas as a guy who shunned the spotlight. For instance, Puidokas never used the quintessential statement for attention, the slam dunk.

Raveling asked him why and said Puidokas replied: "Coach, I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody."

"He was basically a 6-11, 275-pound perimeter player," Raveling said. "He was a great outside shooter. I doubt WSU ever had a big man who could shoot from outside like he could."