Charlie Tyra was an uncomplicated man. He believed that hard work was its own reward. He believed that family, faith, and friends were life’s most important treasures. He was proud of his basketball career, but never bragged about it. He couldn’t understand the selfishness and sloppiness that he saw in today’s players.

The obit in the Dec. 31 Courier-Journal said that Tyra, who died the previous day after a long illness, was the University of Louisville’s “first great player.” Old-timers who remember Jack Coleman, who led the Cards to the 1948 NAIB championship, might dispute that. But it’s true that Tyra did more than any other player to put U of L on the national basketball map.

As a junior in 1955-’56, he led the Cards to the 1956 NIT championship at a time when the NIT was a very big deal. San Francisco, led by Bill Russell, won its second consecutive NCAA title that year and there was some speculation, mostly in Louisville, about how the Cards might fare against the Dons in a playoff game.

At 6-foot-8, Tyra was three inches shorter than Russell, who altered the way the game was played with his amazing shot-blocking and rebounding. But Tyra wouldn’t have backed down because it simply wasn’t in him. Charlie loved to compete. For the last two years of his Cardinal career, he averaged more than 20 points and 20 rebounds.

John Dromo, top assistant and chief recruiter for U of L Coach Peck Hickman, liked to say that he recruited Tyra for the price of a cheeseburger and a Coke. It was more or less true. Although Charlie was a good enough football player at Atherton High to merit a football scholarship offer from Kentucky’s Paul “Bear” Bryant, he wanted to play basketball in college. He also wanted to stay home. It was maybe the easiest recruiting job Dromo ever had.

No player in U of L history has ever worked harder than Tyra. Quiet to the point of shyness off the floor, he led by example. He never quit. He never stopped working. On Dec. 12, 1955, he hauled down 38 rebounds against Canisius, then one of the most respected programs in the East. His single-season records of 645 rebounds and a 22.2 rebounding average, set in his junior year, will never be broken.

In those days, the Cards’ biggest rival was Dayton and Tyra’s personal challenge was Bill “The Jolly Green Giant” Uhl, the Flyers’ 7-foot center. In his junior year, the Cards twice lost overtime games to the Flyers. His senior year, they reversed the tables, winning a third consecutive OT game in Dayton and then beating the Flyers by three in Freedom Hall.

A third meeting took place in the NIT championship, on a neutural floor in New York’s Madison Square Garden, and this time the Cards were clearly superior, 93-80.  Tyra was named the tournament’s MVP.

Alas for Charlie, the Cardinals were ineligible for both the NCAA and the NIT in 1957 because Dromo had been found guilty of rules violations in recruiting Don Goldstein and Alex Mantel. So even though the Cards went 21-5 and were ranked No. 6 in the final AP poll, they had to sit home in March.

Tyra had an indifferent five-year career in the NBA, mostly with the New York Knicks. Some of his college teammates felt he would have had greater success and longevity if he had played in a smaller market. He just never felt comfortable in the harsh glare of the big city.

After retiring from pro ball, Tyra came back to Louisville and had a successful career in sales and business. He played a lot of golf at the Wildwood Country Club, always carrying his bag 18 holes. The workhorse in him wouldn’t allow Tyra to ever take the easy way out.

Almost a year ago, he climbed out of his sick bed to join his ‘56 teammates for a 50th NIT championship reunion celebration. He needed to be helped on the floor, but he made it, largely with the help of Phil Rollins, Jim Morgan, Bill Darragh, and other team members. He received a huge ovation from the crowd, most of whom weren’t even alive when he was one of the most feared and respected players in the game.

Charlie Tyra was both a gentle man and a gentleman. It’s comforting to know that his jersey will always hang in the rafters at U of L’s home arena.