Nick Stapleton is the greatest scoring point guard in Austin Peay basketball history.
A Flint, Mich., native, Stapleton joined Austin Peay in 1997-98 as part of one of the greatest freshmen recruiting classes in Governors history, one that also included Trenton Hassell, who also is an APSU Hall of Fame member. All Stapleton did was become the program’s second all-time leading scorer (2,073 points)—joining Bubba Wells as the only players in program history to score 2,000 points.
Stapleton came to APSU in the 1997-98 season but his career was delayed for a year as an academic non-qualifier. He quickly made up for lost time both off the floor and on. In 1998-99, he embarked on a career that saw him average double digits in each of his Governors seasons, beginning with a 13.6 points per game average. He was selected to the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer team.
He then began a trek of earning All-OVC honors for the next three seasons. His scoring average jumped to 15.8 points per game, including five games of 20 points or more. That included a pair of 29-point efforts. He was named second-team All-OVC following a season that saw the Govs finished 18-10.
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Nick Stapleton's Hall of Fame Introduction
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As a junior in 2000-01, Stapleton’s scoring averaged jumped another two points to 17.8 ppg. It was a season that saw Stapleton score 20 or more points on 11 occasions, including a pair of 30-point outings. It was a season that saw Stapleton emerge as a big-game producer as he again earned second-team All-OVC.
After the Governors captured both their season’s first two games, including a decision against Colorado, in the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska, they played Utah State in the title game. Stapleton helped rally the Govs in the second half and overtime as APSU captured the title game with the Govs’ point guard tallying 28 points.
Stapleton later provided the Governors with an early Christmas present, going to Colorado State and befuddling the Rams in the thin air with 35 points as APSU escaped with a two-point victory. The Governors would end the season with a 22-10 record, including the loss—the most excruciating in head coach Dave Loos’ career—to Eastern Illinois in the championship game of the OVC tournament.
But Stapleton was able to turn the page. On track to graduate, he was able to gain back the season he lost as an NCAA non-qualifier. With Theanthony Haymon and Joe Williams both graduating and Trenton Hassell graduating and off to the NBA, Stapleton was the lone remnant to mentor and lead a young Govs group that eventually would become the most successful in APSU history.
As a result, Stapleton was the team’s focal point. His 742 points were the third most in school history while the 23.2-point scoring average was the eighth-best. In fact, that scoring average is the best of any Gov since the turn of the century. He had 23 games with 20 or more points, including five 30-plus games.
After hitting a 30-foot-plus game-winning three against Southeast Missouri earlier in the year in a TV game, he proved to be SEMO’s nemesis again on Senior Night, matching his career high with 37 points, going 14-of-20 from the field as he set a career best with six three-pointers made.
He earned first-team All-OVC for his season-long effort and then OVC all-tournament. He led the Govs to the OVC tourney semifinals before bowing to heavily favored Tennessee Tech in his career finale, a game in Louisville that Stapleton literally single-handily kept the Govs in it until contest’s end when he scored 36 points.
Stapleton left his mark stamped on both the Austin Peay and OVC record books. He is second all-time in Govs history not only in scoring but field goals made (758). He is third in three pointers made (244). In the OVC annals, he ranks 11th all-time in points and also 11th in three-pointers made and ninth in three-pointers attempted.
After graduating from APSU with a bachelor’s degree in health and human performance, he spent the next seven seasons playing overseas, taking him to different stops all over Europe, with stops in Germany, Austria, Israel, Turkey, France and Holland. He was selected to Austin Peay’s All-Decade basketball team in 2010.
