LINCOLN, Neb. -- The Nebraska basketball family lost two valued members over the weekend with the passings of Rex Ekwall and Tom Lorenz.

Ekwall was a star player in the 1950s under Jerry Bush, as he totaled nearly 900 points and 700 rebounds in his three-year career between 1955 and 1957. The Holmesville, Neb., product led NU in scoring as both a junior and senior and topped the Huskers in rebounding all three seasons in the pro-gram.

Nearly seven decades after his final season at NU, Ekwall holds two of the top five single-season rebound marks in program history, including his 11.5 rebounds per game in 1954-55 which ranks second all time.

Ekwall averaged a school-record 10.4 rebounds per game in his three-year career. For his efforts, he was named to the Nebraska Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992 and in 2009 received the program’s Distinguished Alumni Award, given to a former player and Hall of Fame member who has been a positive force in the state and local community after his playing career.

Lorenz served as general manager of Pinnacle Bank Arena since it opened in 2013 and was an integral part of the Lincoln community since 1996. Lorenz was instrumental in the creation of Pinnacle Bank Arena from its early stages, and it was his dedication to the project which made the facility one of the best college basketball and concert facilities in the country.