ESPN REPORT: At the age of 68, a former Kansas Jayhawk and the country’s second-ever NBA player goes to rest in peace.

Walt Wesley, a renowned basketball player from Dunbar High School who also excelled at the University of Kansas and played ten seasons in the NBA, died away on Thursday morning at the age of 79.

After a protracted fight with leukemia, Wesley passed away in Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center with his wife Denise by his side. “He was among the initial foundational elements for elite basketball in Fort Myers,” stated Donnie Wilkie, the director of the City of Palms Classic competition.

After becoming a two-time consensus All-American center and a two-time all-Big Eight selection as a junior and senior, Wesley had his No. 13 Jayhawks jersey honored in the Allen Fieldhouse almost twenty years ago.

Wesley was equally proud of his No. 31 jersey at Dunbar, which was retired in 2008, having been the first athlete from Fort Myers to break through and go into the NBA. After graduating from Dunbar in 1962, Wesley’s reputation as the best basketball player in Southwest Florida has endured for more than 50 years.