Building a Legacy: The Historic Partnership Between Wichita State and the NBC World Series

How Two Wichita Institutions Created a Baseball Pipeline That Changed Everything

When Gene Stephenson stood on an empty field at Wichita State in 1978, most people thought bringing back baseball was a lost cause. The university had dropped the sport seven years earlier.

Stephenson didn’t just revive the program—he built a dynasty. Over 36 seasons, his Shockers reached seven College World Series, captured the 1989 national championship, and sent 168 players to professional contracts. Thirty-five reached the major leagues.

But Stephenson understood something fundamental: college baseball alone wasn’t enough. His players needed summer competition to develop against the best amateur talent in the country.

The National Baseball Congress World Series, held every August in Wichita since 1935, provided that stage. What emerged was a relationship between two institutions that shaped Wichita’s baseball identity for over four decades.

The Alaska Pipeline

The most significant connection ran through Anchorage, Alaska.

Stephenson spent the summer of 1979 as head coach of the Anchorage Glacier Pilots.  His pitching coach at Wichita State, Brent Kemnitz, spent four summers (1984-87) in the same position with the Glacier Pilots.  This allowed Shocker players to develop in Alaska and return to Wichita for the NBC World Series with enhanced skills.

The Glacier Pilots reached the NBC tournament’s top ten four consecutive years, including the 1986 championship—powered by Wichita State talent.

Terry Elliot embodied this path. The Shocker catcher finished his senior season in 1987, then headed to Alaska to play for Kemnitz. When Anchorage arrived at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium for the NBC tournament, the St. Louis Cardinals called during the games with a professional contract offer. Elliot was stunned: “I had no idea that they were interested in me.”

Mark Standiford experienced the full circle. A Wichita native who grew up attending the tournament, Standiford became an All-America second baseman for the Shockers. In 1986, he helped the Glacier Pilots win the NBC championship at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

“That was the highlight of my career, to win the national championship in front of your home crowd,” Standiford said. “I’ve been going to this tournament forever. I remember watching the Pilots and all those other teams play.”

From Lawrence-Dumont to the Major Leagues

Joe Carter played for the Boulder Collegians between his sophomore and junior years at WSU. He hit .325 as a Shocker junior before embarking on a 16-year MLB career featuring 396 home runs—including his iconic 1993 World Series walk-off home run for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Phil Stephenson, Gene’s brother, was a three-year starting first baseman at Wichita State from 1979-82, helping lead the Shockers to back-to-back College World Series appearances. He spent summers playing for the Boulder Collegians in the NBC tournament, then played six years in the majors with the Cubs, Padres, and Athletics.

Darren Dreifort dominated at Wichita State with a 26-5 career record and 2.24 ERA. His 1993 NBC appearance with the Glacier Pilots came after he was selected second overall in the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played in Alaska, and in the NBC, while his contract was being negotiated, finally signing on August 31st.

And the list goes on. The bios of Shockers who played in the NBC and went on to major league careers could span pages: Greg Brummett, P.J. Forbes, Pat Meares, Jaime Bluma, Braden Looper, Koyie Hill, Kevin Hooper, Casey Blake, Mike Pelfrey… plus many more.

The Bridge Between Eras

Nate Robertson’s story illustrates the enduring power of the Wichita State-NBC connection.

A Maize High School product, Robertson starred at Wichita State while spending summers with the El Dorado Broncos. He helped El Dorado capture NBC championships in both 1996 and 1998, then pitched 11 seasons in the major leagues with the Marlins, Tigers, and Phillies.

But Robertson came back. Nearly two decades after his first NBC championship, he and Adam LaRoche put together the Kansas Stars in 2016, a team full of retired major league baseball players. The Stars finished third in that NBC World Series, and won it all the following year – 21 years after Robertson won his first NBC title.

The tournament that had helped launch his professional career welcomed him back, still competing, still connected to Wichita.

When the College Career Ends

The love of baseball doesn’t end with graduation. The Wichita Alumni team became a fixture in the NBC tournament by the early 1990s, giving former Shockers a chance to compete together after their college careers finished.

In 1991, Marcus Adler—who had played at Missouri and in the Detroit Tigers organization—joined other former Shockers on the Alumni team, who made it to the national tournament thanks to an invite from Larry Davis. “I was kind of thinking that regional tournament would be the last baseball I played,” said Adler, a Winfield native.

That Alumni team included former WSU All-America second baseman Mark Standiford and Jim Thomas, who had reached Triple-A in the California Angels system and was a long-time Shocker coach under Stephenson. \

“The difference now, though, is that the losses don’t stick with you quite as long,” Thomas said. “It’s not my life anymore, but it’s still a lot of fun.”

Years later, the Community Bank Cowboys carried on the tradition. Managed by 42-year-old Terry Elliot—the same catcher who had received that Cardinals contract offer during the 1987 tournament—the Cowboys featured former Shockers who loved baseball enough to show up for 8 a.m. games after catching nine innings the night before.

“We have a lot of older guys here who are just working on experience,” Elliot said in the Wichita Eagle at the time, “A guy like Shane Dennis hadn’t thrown a pitch in what he calls ‘in anger’ in six years before he came out last year, and now you can’t tear the uniform off of him.”

That’s what the NBC World Series made possible—a place where former Shockers could always come home and compete on the same field where their heroes had played.

A Foundation for the Future

The partnership between Wichita State and the NBC World Series shows what happens when institutions invest in each other and their community.

Nearly all of the three past three NBC World Series tournaments were played at Gene Stephenson Park at Wichita State; the stadium was renamed to include Stephenson in 2025. From Stephenson’s arrival in 1978, through generations of players who wore both Shocker black and gold and their summer team colors, the partnership between the NBC and Wichita State baseball represents something uniquely Wichita, and showcases the baseball legacy of both organizations.

The NBC Baseball Foundation supports the tournament operations and historical preservation that have made the Wichita State-NBC relationship possible for over four decades. Your contribution helps preserve this legacy and maintain the infrastructure that connects generations of Shockers to the game they love every summer.