Paul Nowak was a basketball star at Central High School in South Bend, Indiana. He went to college at Notre Dame were he played for future Hall of Fame coach George Keogan. Nowak was was a three-time (1936, 1937, 1938) All-American for the Irish. Nowak found immediate success in professional basketball. In his first two seasons (1939 and 1940),  he was the starting center for the National Basketball League champion Akron Firestone Non-Skids.

Mike Novak was a school boy star at Tilden High School  in Chicago. He played one semester of basketball at  Illinois Wesleyan College  in 1935, then transferred to Loyola University in Chicago where he played for three  years. In his senior year, he led Loyola to the National Invitational Tournament finals in New York. Novak was named to the All-American team in 1939.    Novak was a good rebounder and strong defender who could also score.  He  spent nine seasons (1939 t0 1948)  in the National Basketball League where was always rated as among the top centers in the league. Novak stayed active as a player until he was 38 years old, by transitioning into a valuable backup player. He served at a player-coach for two seasons for Elmira in the American Basketball League.

Stan Noszka starred at Duquese University for three years under Hall of Fame coach Chick Davies.  During  his three varsity seasons, Duquesne posted a 44-16 record. After service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Noszaka spent three seasons in the   Basketball Association of America. After retiring from from pro basketball, Noszaka embarked on long career in government, first with the city of Pittsburgh and later serving in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1970 until 1978.

Ken Norton stared in football, basketball and baseball at Jamaica High School in Queens, New York.  Norton attended Long Island University where he was a standout basketball and baseball player.  Norton played professional bsketball on a limited basis for a half dozen seasons while coaching high school basketball in New York City.  In 1947, Norton suceeded legendary early pro basketball star Honey Russell as basketball coach at Manhattan College. In the early 1950’s college basketball was racked by a points shaving scandal.  It was one of Norton’s players at Manhattan, Junius Kellogg, who helped initiate the investigation that led to the uncovering of the scandal. Mr. Kellogg reported a bribe attempt to Norton and later helped trap the potential fixers during the 1950-51 season. In his 22 seasons as the Jaspers’ head coach, from 1946-1968, Norton’s teams had a 310-205 won-lost record. Norton’s teams appeared in two N.C.A.A. tournaments and six N.I.T.’s. After relinquishing his coaching duties with the basketball team, Mr. Norton, who also coached baseball and golf at Manhattan, stayed on as the school’s athletic director until his retirement in 1979.