Willie Vernon Murrell is an American former professional basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player.

A 6'6" forward, Murrell played at Kansas State University from 1962 to 1964. He averaged 20.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per game during his time at Kansas State and was a 1964 First Team All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n. In 1964, he led Kansas State to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament

1964 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 1964 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 9, 1964, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in Kansas...

. The team was eliminated by UCLA, despite a 29 point, 13 rebound effort from Murrell.

After college, Murrell played three seasons in the American Basketball Association

American Basketball Association

The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...

 as a member of the Denver Rockets, Miami Floridians

Miami Floridians

The Miami Floridians, later in their history known simply as The Floridians, were a professional basketball franchise in the original, now-defunct American Basketball Association. The Miami Floridians played in the ABA from 1968 through 1970 when they became simply The Floridians...

, and Kentucky Colonels

Kentucky Colonels

The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...

. He averaged 13.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in 228 ABA games.

In 2009, Murrell's #44 jersey was retired by Kansas State.