At his home in Kanawha City, 89-year-old Hugh Hicks reminisces about the 1942 NIT title the West Virginia University Mountaineers won at Madison Square Garden. His brother, Roger, played on the team and scored the foul shot that put WVU ahead in the final seconds of the title game against Western Kentucky. An avid WVU fan, he still watches every game.

Roger "Shorty" Hicks (left) rides with WVU teammates Lou Kalmar (center) and Scotty Hicks during a victory parade in Morgantown the day after the Mountaineers won the 1942 NIT trophy in New York City.

A skinny kid from Moundsville, Roger "Shorty" Hicks, was a star on the legendary 1942 national-championship basketball team at WVU. Two years after scoring the winning point in the NIT finale, he was killed in combat in France.

A photo of WVU's national-championship basketball team accepting the NIT trophy graced the cover of the school's spring 1942 Alumni Magazine.

This plaque hanging in the dining room of Hugh Hicks' home commemorates his brother's induction into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame.

The five WVU starters on the 1942 championship team included (from left) Captain Rudy Baric, Lou Kalmar, Dick Kesling, Roger "Shorty" Hicks and Floyd "Scotty" Hamilton.