Whitman College Athletics

Del Klicker: All-NWC Baseball, Basketball

He played in an era when it wasn't unusual to see athletes compete in  more than one sport, but Del Klicker '56 was one of the relatively few Missionary competitors who had the talent to earn All-Northwest Conference First-Team honors in two sports.

After a standout prep career at Walla Walla High School, Klicker made his first real mark at Whitman on the baseball diamond.

As a freshman second baseman in the spring of 1953, he sparked the Missionaries at the plate, leading the team in hitting with a .350 batting average and 22 runs scored.

Whitman's 1954 baseball media guide noted that Klicker, as a freshman, had alternated between the lead-off and clean-up spots in the batting order, quickly establishing himself as one of the top performers for coach Joe Beidler. The pressbook also characterized him as "one of the outstanding players" players in the conference.

Klicker as rebounding guard

Klicker hit .306 as a sophomore while leading the team with 14 stolen bases in 16 games.

He hit well over .300 again as a junior, after opening the season with a home run against a team from the Walla Walla State Penitentiary -- a team the school newspaper called the "rock crushers " -- and spearheading a three-game sweep of College of Idaho with eight hits (including two home runs and a triple) in 14 at-bats.

While Klicker may have caught the rest of the conference by surprise as a freshman, that wasn't case during his last three seasons. He made the All-NWC First Team as a sophomore second baseman and as a shortstop during his junior and senior seasons.

Beidler, who enjoyed a good deal of success as the Missionary baseball coach, used a single word -- dynamite -- to describe Klicker's impact on the baseball field. "Del consistently got the clutch hits and made the big run-saving plays in the field," Beidler said.

"His speed and quickness allowed him to be a leader  ... and his leadership qualities along with his work ethic enabled him to perform with distinction. He was a very big player wrapped in a small package."

Despite his relative lack of size as a 5-foot-6, 138-pound guard, Klicker played a major role on the Missionary basketball teams in his last two years at Whitman.

He was voted to the All-NWC First Team as a senior, one year after basketball coaches named him to the all-conference second team.

Klicker sparked Whitman to a victory over Linfield in February of 1955, prompting the school newspaper to report that he had "played much better than Linfield would have preferred as he stole the ball from the opposition's hands, intercepted passes and took more than a 5-foot-6 guard's share of rebounds off the boards."

The 1956 Whitman Wailatpu had this to say about Klicker's exploits on the basketball floor:

"Many a time the Missionaries led by their two fine guards, Del Klicker and Bobby Becker, started systematic scoring sprees that completely changed the appearance of the contest."

Klicker at bat

In February of 1956, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin newspaper reported: "The Whitman Missionaries -- with little Del Klicker in the role of big poison -- upset Lewis & Clark, 63-60 . . . Klicker led all scorers with 26 points." He added 16 points in the next night's game and scored 22 points two nights later.

Klicker finished his senior season as Whitman's leading scorer, averaging 16.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. 

Klicker, who was raised in Walla Walla, returned home after a two years of active duty in the Navy Reserve. He raised a family and involved himself in various Klicker family enterprises and remains active.

His brother, the late Dave Klicker '58, was inducted into the Whitman Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.

Dave Klicker starred in track & field, winning an NAIA national title in the 400-meter hurdles in 1957.