Personal
Born 11/11/57 in Salt Lake City, Utah ... parents are Thys (lab technician) and Tina (bank supervisor) Runia ... brothers Ron and Ed both played high school basketball ... his parents came from Holland 27 years ago ... his father was a soccer player in the Netherlands ... both of his older brothers served missions to Holland.
At BYU
Started at guard in most of his 26 games as a freshman ... his 5.8 point average was fifth best of BYU's (12-15) 1976-77 year ... his 65 assists was the second highest on the team as a freshman ... as a sophomore, he started in all 30 of BYU's games ... was second in season steals (35) and his 11.3 average ranked him fourth ... his best performances were back-to-back games of 21 points and four rebounds in each BYU victory over Wyoming (76-56) and Colorado State (98-81) ... in the Wyoming game he was 11-12 from the field for a .917 percentage to set a new Marriott Center record ... Runia was BYU's pepperpot against UCLA in 1977-78's season opener with 18 points, but BYU lost that squeaker, 75-73 ... four times he led the Cougars' scoring effort in 1977-78 ... in 19 games he hit double figures ... his 145 assists ranked him third in the WAC last season ... honorable mention All-WAC in '78 ... in 1978-79 he was second team All-WAC ... missed three games as a junior due to sprained ankles ... he hit a career high of 25 points against New Mexico in a TV game in Provo ... hit in double figures of 16 games as a junior ... in his senior season he continued to start for the Cougars and averaged 9.3 ppg.
Before BYU
A scholastic All-American ... named a prep All-American his senior year by the St. Petersburg Times ... averaged 22.5 points and 6.1 rebounds as a senior ... was all-state for two years ... was MVP in the 4A tournament when he helped West High to a championship ... in one of those games his junior year he got 34 points while the game was being televised live in seven states ... in that game he was 14-19 from the field and 6-7 from the line ... prep coach while playing for the Panthers was Clark Godfrey.
Stats
Year Games FG % FT % RBD PTS AVG
1976-77 26 61 40 28 76 48 150 5.8
1977-78 30 150 54 40 80 65 340 11.3
1978-79 25 120 49 50 88 62 290 11.6
1979-80 29 114 46 43 84 38 271 9.3