Jim (“Pete”) Peters ’66

“Pete” was a force in the paint in Tredway Gym and a kind and steady influence on younger Hornet basketball players who followed (or tried to follow) in his footsteps. 

His were very big shoes to fill. Jim was a four-year letter winner who finished his career as the second-leading scorer. Bear in mind that this was before the advent of the three-point line and increases in the number of games played per season. 

Notwithstanding those changes, Jim currently ranks 14^th in scoring at 1,203 points in the entirety of Hornet hoops history. 

At the end of the 1966 season, Jim was one of only two players to finish his career with more than 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. Since that year, only five other players have accomplished that feat. 

Jim captained the team his senior season and led all scorers with 346 points. He was named All-MIAA first team that year and then stayed around for two more years to coach the Hornet freshman team. 

Jim matriculated to K in 1962 from Galesburg-Augusta High School in Galesburg, Michigan. He majored in economics and studied abroad in Muenster, Germany. 

Jim built a distinguished career in sales, focusing especially on training materials for corporate customers throughout the country. 

He was a versatile athlete and played recreational basketball into his 30s. He also loved to play tennis, fish, run, and later in life, walk and hike. The latter became his way to meet and make friends. 

Jim never lost his eye-for-a-roundball, nor his innate knowledge of what to do with one. He was known for his uncanny penchant to spot lost golf balls that no one else seemed able to see. He didn’t play golf, but he kept all the balls he found—a ton of Titleists. 

When the ball comes to the big man, it goes into a basket or, in this case, a drawer. Actually, in “Pete’s” case, multiple drawers full.