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Ken Sailors

Sailors in 1950
Personal information
Born	(1921-01-14)January 14, 1921 Bushnell, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	January 30, 2016(2016-01-30) (aged 95) Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.
Listed height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Laramie (Laramie, Wyoming)
College	Wyoming (1940–1943, 1945–1946)
Playing career	1946–1951
Position	Point guard
Number	4, 5, 27, 13
Career history
1946–1947	Cleveland Rebels
1947	Chicago Stags
1947	Philadelphia Warriors
1947–1949	Providence Steamrollers
1949–1950	Denver Nuggets
1950	Boston Celtics
1950–1951	Baltimore Bullets
Career highlights and awards
All-BAA Second Team (1949) 2× AAU All-American (1943, 1946) NCAA champion (1943) NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1943) Consensus first-team All-American (1943) Consensus second-team All-American (1946) No. 4 retired by Wyoming Cowboys
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference
Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

Kenneth Lloyd Sailors (January 14, 1921 – January 30, 2016) was an American professional basketball player active in the 1940s and early 1950s. A 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) guard, he is regarded one of the players who developed the jump shot as an alternative to the two-handed, flat-footed set shot. After being named college basketball All-American for Wyoming in 1942 and 1943, Sailors served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, and returned to play for the Cowboys after the war to win All-American honors again in 1946. Sailors played pro basketball for several teams, then moved to Alaska with his wife and became a high school basketball coach.

Early life

Sailors was born January 14, 1921, in Bushnell, Nebraska, and grew up on a farm south of Hillsdale, Wyoming, where he developed his effective jump shot while playing against his 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) older brother Barton (known as Bud).

College years

Sailors eventually brought his skills to the University of Wyoming, and he led the Cowboys to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in 1943. Sailors was named the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player for his efforts. He was the unanimous selection as College Basketball Player of the Year in 1943. Sailors was one of several team members who interrupted their sporting careers by their wartime military service; Sailors enlisted in the Marines and was promoted to captain by war's end.

Sailors would earn All-American honors again after his return to college in 1946. Sailors was the only player in the history of Wyoming Cowboys basketball to be selected as an All-American three times, in 1942, 1943, and 1946.

Professional career

From 1946 to 1951, Sailors played professionally in the BAA and NBA as a member of the Cleveland Rebels, Chicago Stags, Philadelphia Warriors, Providence Steamrollers, Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, and Baltimore Bullets. He was second in the BAA in total assists in 1946–47, was named to the All-BAA 2nd team in 1948–49, and averaged a career high 17.3 points per game in the 1949–50 season. He scored 3,480 points in his professional career.

Legacy

After retirement from pro basketball, in 1951 Sailors chose to move to Glennallen, Alaska where he became a high school teacher and coach. Women's basketball teams at Glennallen High School won three state championships under Sailors's coaching.

Sailors was inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame on October 29, 1993. In 2012, he was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

John Christgau, author of the book The Origins of the Jump Shot, said that Sailors’ jump shot technique was the one that modern fans would recognize as the "jump shot".

In 2014, the University of Wyoming announced its plans to erect a specially-commissioned sculpture of Sailors outside of the university's basketball stadium, the Arena-Auditorium.

Sailors died on January 30, 2016, sixteen days after his 95th birthday, of complications from a heart attack he had in December 2015.

BAA/NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

See also

• John Miller Cooper

References

1. "Sailors still big shot in Wyoming history". The Denver Post. January 14, 1921. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
2. "Wyoming @ Utah: Sailors, Ferrin, Mikan and The Great Santini". January 21, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
3. ^ McDonald, William (January 30, 2016), "Kenny Sailors, a Pioneer of the Jump Shot, Dies at 95", The New York Times
4. Schudel, Matt (January 30, 2016). "Kenny Sailors, forgotten star credited with inventing basketball's jump shot". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
5. Christgau, John (March 1, 1999). The Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook the World of Basketball. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803263949. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved March 9, 2007.
6. ^ "University of Wyoming Official Athletic Site – Traditions". Wyomingathletics.com. October 29, 1993. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
7. Sachare, Alex (1994). The Official NBA basketball encyclopedia (1994 ed.). Villard Books. pp. 40, 372, 737.
8. "Kenny Sailors NBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
9. The New York Times. College Basketball. B14. March 7, 2012.
10. "Wyoming's Arena-Auditorium Renovation Project Launches Today, With Recognition of Both Private Donors and the Support Provided by the Wyoming State Legislature – University of Wyoming Official Athletic Site". Gowyo.com. January 25, 2014. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
11. "University of Wyoming legend Kenny Sailors dies at 95 | Men's Basketball". Trib.com. January 30, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2016.

Further reading

• Christgau, John (1999). "Kenny and Bud". Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook the World of Basketball. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 187–214. ISBN 0-8032-6394-5.

External links

• Career statistics from NBA.com  and Basketball Reference
• Official website for Kenny Sailors
• "Birth of the Jump Shot - CBSSports.com"
• "Kenny Sailors, forgotten star credited with inventing basketball’s jump shot," by Matt Schudel, Washington Post, January 30, 2016
• Jump shot
• Kenny Sailors Papers at the American Heritage Center
• Selection of videos and photographs of Sailors at AHC Digital Collections
• Sports, Recreation, and Leisure at AHC blogs
• Interview at StoryCorps

• 1921 births
• 2016 deaths
• All-American college men's basketball players
• Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players
• American men's basketball players
• Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) players
• Basketball players from Wyoming
• Boston Celtics players
• Chicago Stags players
• Cleveland Rebels players
• Denver Nuggets (1948–1950) players
• Laramie High School (Wyoming) alumni
• National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
• People from Kimball County, Nebraska
• People from Laramie, Wyoming
• Philadelphia Warriors players
• Point guards
• Providence Steamrollers players
• Wyoming Cowboys basketball players