SAN DIEGO – On Wednesday, January 17, San Diego State Athletics will honor three Aztec basketball greats with a "Return to the Rafters" ceremony at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena during halftime at the men's team's Mountain West Conference game against Nevada.
The three former student-athletes who will have their jersey lifted to the rafter at Viejas Arena are women's basketball player Judy Porter (1980-83) and men's basketball players Milton Phelps (1938-41) and Michael Cage (1981-84), all have been inducted into the San Diego State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Each of the three has had their jersey retired in other facilities, but this will be the first time they have been hung in Viejas Arena and will be in a place of honor along with the jersey of Kawhi Leonard.
Cage, a member of the class of 1984 and inducted into the SDSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, was the program's first consensus All-American, in 1984, and earned inclusion in that year's John Wooden Award All-American Team. He finished his college career as the program's leading scorer (1,846 points), a title which he held for 27 years, and leading rebounder (1,317 rebounds) and now 40-plus years on, is still the career leader in rebounds and ranks No. 2 in scoring. Among the many school records he set, he still ranks No. 1 in the following categories: single-season scoring (686), single-season scoring average (24.5), career rebounding, rebounds in a game (26), single-season field goals made (250), career free throws made (488) and consecutive games started (112).
As a senior, he was the only player in the United States to be ranked in the top-10 in both scoring and rebounding and was the No. 3 rebounder in the nation as a freshman, junior and senior. Cage was a three-time All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC) performer, including back-to-back WAC Player of the Year designations (1983 and 1984), and earned All-American honors as a junior in 1983.
Phelps, a member of the Hall of Fame class of 1988 and an SDSU graduate in 1941, was the first Aztec to score 1,000 points in his career and ranks as the No. 29 scorer in program history (1,043 points) after holding the scoring record for 13 seasons. He was a three-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-American, including two first-team selections and is the only Aztec who can claim those accomplishments. Phelps led the Aztecs to the 1941 NAIA national championship as well as the 1939 and 1940 NAIA national championship games. Phelps joined the Navy at the start of World War II and sadly gave his life in an aviation training exercise in 1942.
Porter exhausted her eligibility in 1983 and was inducted into the San Diego State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990. She was a four-time All-Western Collegiate Athletic Association (WCAA) honoree, including a pair of first-team selections. In addition, she was a finalist for the Wade Trophy, presented to the National Women's Player of the Year. Porter completed her Aztec career with 21 school records, including most points (2,318), rebounds (1,498), field goals (882), free throws (564) and steals (330). She averaged 19.3 points per game for her college career and still holds the program's career-rebounding average with 12.5 per game record, which includes five games with 20 or more rebounds.