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Kenny Sailors was a basketball star, and the inventor of the jump shot. He attended the University of Wyoming and was MVP in 1943 in college AA basketball. After WWII, he spent five years as an early player in the new NBA. As a youngster, Kenny was five-foot-seven but his older brother was six-foot-two so when playing basketball, Kenny had to jump up over his brother to get off a shot. That is how the jump shot was born, and Kenny used it in college and professional basketball. He played in Denver and several other cities whose team names have now changed, but he also played for the Boston Celtics with Bob Cousy. After he left the NBA, he moved to Alaska and in 1965 settled in the Glennallen area, where he was a fishing and hunting guide in the Wrangle Mountains for thirty-five years. Kenny Sailors passed away January 2016 shortly after his 95th birthday.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Jump Shot’s Beginnings
Chapter 2: Becoming a Player
Chapter 3: Wyoming Hoops
Chapter 4: A Special Someone and a Special Season
Chapter 5: Conference Champs and NCAA Bound
Chapter 6: National Champs
Chapter 7: The Jump Shot’s Evolution
Chapter 8: Back in Wyoming
Chapter 9: Going Pro
Chapter 10: Steamrolled Out of Providence
Chapter 11: Retirement
Chapter 12: Hunting Wyoming’s Wild Country
Chapter 13: Cowboying Up and on to Alaska
Chapter 14: Alaska Life
Chapter 15: Alaska Adventures
Chapter 16: Back to Basketball in Alaska
Chapter 17: Return to Wyoming
Chapter 18: A Hall of Famer
Sources
Kenny Sailors Basketball Awards and Statistics
About the Author
About the author
Lew Freedman is a former Alaska resident who spent 17 years at the Anchorage Daily News as sports editor and columnist. The author of 58 books, Freedman is a graduate of Boston University with a degree in journalism and he earned a Master's degree from Alaska Pacific University. He currently resides in Indiana with his wife Debra.
Summary
Kenny Sailors was a basketball star, and the inventor of the jump shot. He attended the University of Wyoming and was MVP in 1943 in college AA basketball. After WWII, he spent five years as an early player in the new NBA. As a youngster, Kenny was five-foot-seven but his older brother was six-foot-two so when playing basketball, Kenny had to jump up over his brother to get off a shot. That is how the jump shot was born, and Kenny used it in college and professional basketball. He played in Denver and several other cities whose team names have now changed, but he also played for the Boston Celtics with Bob Cousy. After he left the NBA, he moved to Alaska and in 1965 settled in the Glennallen area, where he was a fishing and hunting guide in the Wrangle Mountains for thirty-five years. Kenny Sailors passed away January 2016 shortly after his 95th birthday.
Foreword
Kenny Sailors invented the one-handed jump shot and then popularized it. Award-winning sports book author Lew Freedman shares Kenny’s remarkable story from growing up in the Depression, to the cover of Life magazine and the NBA, to running a hunting and outfitting business in the wilds of Alaska. http://kennysailorsjumpshot.com
