STUDY HARD & PLAY SMART

The Sam Batey Legacy endowment at CSU Pueblo benefits students from either the Denver Public or Metro Denver school systems that attend the school to play basketball, golf, lacrosse and/or tennis.

• Sam is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Inc. He was initiated into the Denver Alumni Chapter on July 28th 1984 and served as Vice Polemarch in 1991-1992. He was a life member of the Esquire club which promoted fellowship, civic improvement and provided social activities in the Denver community. He was also a member of the Denver Urban League Guild and served as a board member for Black American West Museum, Colorado Academy and many other boards and committees throughout the city of Denver and State of Colorado.
• Sam Batey was a four-season starter for the Indians and became the first player to play four-straight seasons at the school as Pueblo Junior College became Southern Colorado State College in the fall of  1963.
• Sam Batey met his wife Barbara at Pueblo Junior College in the fall of 1961. Barbara Batey was enrolled in the school as a freshman from New Orleans and Sam Batey was starting his first year as a student and playing basketball after a standout prep career at Denver East.
• Both Barbara and Sam Batey served as principals in the Denver Public Schools system and earned their doctorate degrees from the University of Colorado in the late 1990s.
• Sam passed away on July 19, 2021. Barbara continues to live in Denver surrounded by her two children (Sam Jr. and Dana) and four grandchildren (Jordan, Brooklyn, Morgan and Pryce).

Did you know? During his final two seasons at then-Southern Colorado State College, Sam Batey’s rebounding statistics rank among the best-ever compiled by a state of Colorado collegiate basketball player at a four-year school.

• Sam Batey’s 18.5 rebounding average for the 1963-1964 season tied Batey with Dick Brott from the University of Denver (1956-1957) as the highest in Colorado collegiate history.
• Batey’s two-season (1963-1965) four-year average of 16.7 is the best ever compiled by a Colorado collegiate player.
• Among double-doubles for points and rebounding, Batey’s 34.9 combined average (18.2 points, 16.7 rebounds) ranks second behind the University of Colorado’s Cliff Meely’s 36.4 (1968-1971, 24.3 points, 12.1 rebounds).

DPS ALL-CENTURY – Both Sam Sr. and Sam Jr. are listed on the All-Century Basketball team for the Denver Public School system.

• Sam Sr. played at Denver East and Sam Jr. was a standout at George Washington.
• Sam Jr. played collegiately for four seasons at Montana State Billings (1982-1984) and Regis (1985-1987).
• Sam Jr. was the leading scorer at Regis in 1987 where he averaged 12.1 points per game for Coach Lonnie Porter’s Rangers.