Xavier to retire jersey of Whitlinger

Xavier will retire the jersey of basketball player Kip Whitlinger tonight when the Hawks host Little Chute in an Eastern Valley Conference boys basketball game.

Whitlinger, a 1963 graduate, is the all-time leading scorer in Xavier boys basketball history with 1,656 points in his career.

It also is the 50th anniversary of Whitlinger and Xavier winning the 1963 state catholic championship with a 25-0 record in Milwaukee before a raucous and then-record single game crowd of 7,095 spectators.

The only other uniform to be retired in the 50-plus years in the history of Xavier High School, the No. 23 Rocky Bleier wore for the Xavier football team. The football field behind Xavier is now named after Bleier.

Whitlinger averaged 19.7 points per game and still owns the single game mark of 46 points, which came against the now-defunct Little Chute St. John High School. He also scored 42 and 39 points, respectively, in a game as he still owns the top three-scoring games in school history.

Whitlinger was a 1963 first-team All-State selection, was a two-time first-team all-conference and he was also a fourth-team All-American National Catholic selection.

He had a full-ride scholarship to play basketball at Ohio State University, but an injury prevented that dream.