The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2018
- Class:
- 2018
Dan Krueger was a four-year letterwinner and floor general who helped Texas win the 1974 Southwest Conference title and advance to the NCAA tournament. A two-time first-team All-Southwest Conference selection as a junior in 1974-75 and in his senior season in 1975-76, he led the team in scoring and served as team captain in each of his last two years in Austin. As a freshman, Krueger became the first Texas Basketball player since 1920 to make the jump from high school to college ball and compete on the varsity team, when the NCAA made freshmen eligible for the 1972-73 season. In his sophomore campaign, he ranked third on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), improving that number to 15.5 points per game in SWC play. Krueger converted 52 percent from the floor and 89 percent from the free throw line, and upped those numbers to 55 percent from the field and 92 percent from the line in league play. Despite starting the year with a 0-9 mark, Krueger and the Longhorns responded with an 11-3 record in SWC action to claim the league title and reached the NCAA tournament before falling 77-61 to Creighton in the First Round. Krueger was slowed by mononucleosis during the early part of his junior season in 1974-75, but he rallied to lead the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game. He proved to be a clutch player that year, leading the Longhorns to four wins by converting a basket or free throws with less than 35 seconds remaining. As a senior in 1975-76, Krueger posted a team-best 18.9 points per game scoring average while converting 51 percent from the field and 84 percent from the free throw line. He posted a career-high 35 points during an overtime loss to BYU (Dec. 29, 1975) in a tournament in Norfolk, Virginia, a mark that still ranks as the fifth-highest point total by a UT player in a neutral-site game. Krueger still ranks sixth in school history in career free throw percentage (.841, 292-347), and his 87.8 percent mark (65-74) as a sophomore in 1973-74 ranks eighth on UT's single-season list. Krueger earned his bachelor's degree in education from The University of Texas in 1976. For the last 29 years, he has served as director of life and LFSS sales, Southwest Zone for Farmers Insurance. Krueger and his wife, Donna, reside in Austin.
