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Kenny Sailors of the Wyoming Cowboys 1943 NCAA Championship team is credited with inventing the modern jump shot. See this interesting article at NCAA.com. He created it out of necessity to be able to play his 6' 5" older brother - when he was 5' 7".
Great story -- thanks for posting that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Indoor66
Here is Kenny Sailor's website:
http://kennysailorsjumpshot.com/
There's a lot of interesting stuff there.
Thanks for the great story. I grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois and always had heard that the jump shot had been invented by Bill Haarlow who played for the University of Chicago in the mid 1930s. Mr. Haarlow went on to play pro basketball and then was very successful in business. Three of his sons played for Princeton in the 1960s . After reading this story on Mr. Sailors I checked on Mr. Haarlow on Google and learned that he was credited with being the first to use a one handed set shot. He scored over 50 points in a high school game, which is more impressive if you consider that they had a jump ball after each basket. Below is one of the stories I ran across.Quote:
Originally Posted by Indoor66
Arnold William Haarlow Jr., 90, who went on to become a two-time All-American at the University of Chicago and an executive at Illinois Bell Telephone Co., died Friday, Nov. 21, 2002, in Manor Care Nursing Home, Hinsdale.
Mr. Haarlow was born into a family of outstanding athletes on the South Side of Chicago.
The one-handed shot he developed at Bowen came at a time when basketball was a slower, control-oriented game--and each basket was followed by a jump ball at center court. Most players used a two-handed standing set shot, so firing the ball up with one hand was a giant leap forward, paving the way for today's streamlined jump shots.
Although basketball historians differ on who first shot the ball one-handed, a Stanford player named Hank Luisetti is widely credited as the first to popularize it nationally, said Matt Zeysing, curator of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Although Mr. Haarlow's University of Chicago squad wound up last in the Big Ten from 1934 to 1936, he finished in the top three in conference scoring each year and led it in scoring his junior year.
Several years ago, perhaps before the current posting system (i.e., before February 2007), we had an informative discussion about the development of the jumpshot. It might be worth reviewing. Perhaps one of our archivists can resurrect it.
Hank Luisetti who played at Stanford is credited with popularizing the one-handed shot. Up until that time everyone would shoot set shots with 2 hands. In 1938 Stanford defeated Duquesne 92-27 and Luisetti scored 50 points.
One of his greatest games occurred in 1936 when his Stanford team came to NYC to play LIU at MSG who at the time was rated the number 1 team in the USA. Stanford won 45-31 and Luisetti scored 15 points
The artcle addresses Luisetti. He was an influence on Sailors - because Luisetti shot a one handed set shot, not a jump shot. Sailors added the jump aspect to the one handed shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Struggling golfer