Milo Komenich papers, 1936-2014

Milo Komenich (1920-1977) was a member of the 1943 University of Wyoming Cowboys national basketball championship team. Milan “Milo” Komenich was born on June 23, 1920, in Gary, Indiana, the son of Serbian immigrants. In 1939, he graduated from Lew Wallace High School where he was a standout basketball player. He then began playing for Club Vida, an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team in Indiana. Wyoming coach, Ev Shelton, saw him play during a national AAU tournament and recruited him to come to Wyoming. Komenich came to Wyoming in 1940 where he was part of the freshman squad. He joined the varsity squad during the 1941-42 season. Standing 6’ 7” tall, his height greatly strengthened the team and helped lead the team to a national basketball championship in 1943. He played in the national All-Star game in 1943 and was named All-American MVP that year.

Due to his height, Komenich was not eligible to serve during World War II, and Wyoming suspended athletics after the 1943 season. Komenich returned to the AAU where he played for Dow Chemical during the 1943-44 season. In the summer of 1944, he returned to Laramie and worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. He remained with the railroad until November 1944, when he joined the Twentieth Century Fox AAU team in California.

Komenich returned to Wyoming for the 1945-46 season. He was again selected as an All-American and played in the 1945 All-Star game in Chicago. The team ended the 1945-46 season with a 22-4 record and won the conference championship but was considered ineligible for post-season play due to several players having already completed school.

At the conclusion of his collegiate career, Komenich left school and returned to the AAU, playing again for Twentieth Century Fox. On August 23, 1946, he married Juanita Dobby Hicks of Laramie, and became a stepfather to her son, Jimmie. In the fall of 1946, Komenich joined the Fort Wayne Zollners of the National Basketball League (NBL). He then spent four seasons with the Anderson Packers between 1947 and 1951. The Packers won the national championship in 1949.

After basketball ended for Milo, the Komenich’s opened Milo’s Cafe in Anderson, Indiana, in 1950, which they operated until the spring of 1956, when they returned to Laramie where he entered the insurance business with Prudential Insurance Company. Their son, Kim, was born on October 15, 1956. The family moved to Manteca, California in the early 1960s where Milo continued working in insurance before working for a glass plant in nearby Modesto. Mrs. Komenich passed away on May 6, 1975, and Milo passed away on May 25, 1977, at the age of 56. Komenich was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998 and the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.