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Jerry Lucas
Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State University, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a professional player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
As a collegian, Lucas led the Ohio State Buckeyes to three straight NCAA finals (1960–1962), winning the national championship in 1960, and finishing as runner-up in 1961 and 1962. He is the only three-time Big Ten Basketball Player of the Year and was named the NCAA Player of the Year in 1961 and 1962 by the United States Basketball Writers Association (now Oscar Robertson Award), the Associated Press, and the Sporting News.
As a professional, Lucas was named All-NBA First Team three times, All-NBA Second Team twice, an NBA All-Star seven times (including six years in a row), was the 1964 NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 1965 NBA All-Star Game among other honors and awards. He is one of eight players to ever achieve the basketball Triple Crown, and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.
Jerry Ray Lucas was born on March 30, 1940, in Middletown, Ohio, a community of 30,000+ halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati. Middletown then called itself "The Basketball Capital of Ohio", based on the success of the basketball teams from the town's one high school. The Middies had already won five Ohio state high school championships between 1945 and 1955 before Lucas ever played at Middletown High. Local support for the team was remarkably high in the early and mid-1950s. A tall youth, Lucas was encouraged to take up the game and soon dedicated himself to the town's game.
In addition to strong local support for Middletown High basketball, the city was also home to a remarkable summer outdoor basketball scene that had developed at Sunset Park. Previous Middletown players who had gone on to play at the college level had successfully recruited other college players to play there in the summer. By the time Lucas was age 15 in 1955, Sunset Park was one of the best summer basketball scenes in the region. By then, Lucas had also grown to 6'7" and had the opportunity to scrimmage against these college players, advancing his game greatly. Lucas was, in fact, outplaying college-level big men before he played his first game for Middletown High.[citation needed]
The budding basketball star had, by then, also started to display a remarkable, if unusual intelligence. A straight-A student with a penchant for memorizing his school work, Lucas had started to develop memory games for himself as early as age nine. One trick he would be known for was his ability to take words apart and reassemble them quickly in alphabetical order. "Basketball" became "aabbekllst". He also applied his intelligence successfully to his coaching in the game.
Lucas started play at Middletown as a sophomore in the 1955–56 season. Even at 15, Lucas was a remarkable athlete who could play above the rim. His coach, Paul Walker, had already won three Ohio state champions at Middletown, and Lucas consistently found himself surrounded by strong teammates. As a sophomore, Lucas focused his game primarily on rebounding and passing, but still became a scoring star. Middletown's schedule often featured strong teams from Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, but remained undefeated. A February game held at Cincinnati Gardens against rival Hamilton, itself a nearby former state champion, drew over 13,000 at a time when crowd sizes of that kind were uncommon at any level of the game. The two state powers repeated that feat there in 1958.
In addition to being an excellent rebounder, Lucas also made 60% of his shots from the floor and 75% of his free throws. Wearing number #13, he was often compared to Wilt Chamberlain during his high school years. The 1955–56 Middletown team went undefeated, winning the state championship, and the 1956–57 team did too. He suffered just one loss as a senior, a 63–62 defeat in a state semi-final game against Columbus North. That loss ended a state-record 76 game win streak. Lucas carried a 34-point scoring average through his high school years, and received national press when he surpassed Chamberlain's high school total in points.
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Jerry Lucas
Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State University, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a professional player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
As a collegian, Lucas led the Ohio State Buckeyes to three straight NCAA finals (1960–1962), winning the national championship in 1960, and finishing as runner-up in 1961 and 1962. He is the only three-time Big Ten Basketball Player of the Year and was named the NCAA Player of the Year in 1961 and 1962 by the United States Basketball Writers Association (now Oscar Robertson Award), the Associated Press, and the Sporting News.
As a professional, Lucas was named All-NBA First Team three times, All-NBA Second Team twice, an NBA All-Star seven times (including six years in a row), was the 1964 NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 1965 NBA All-Star Game among other honors and awards. He is one of eight players to ever achieve the basketball Triple Crown, and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.
Jerry Ray Lucas was born on March 30, 1940, in Middletown, Ohio, a community of 30,000+ halfway between Dayton and Cincinnati. Middletown then called itself "The Basketball Capital of Ohio", based on the success of the basketball teams from the town's one high school. The Middies had already won five Ohio state high school championships between 1945 and 1955 before Lucas ever played at Middletown High. Local support for the team was remarkably high in the early and mid-1950s. A tall youth, Lucas was encouraged to take up the game and soon dedicated himself to the town's game.
In addition to strong local support for Middletown High basketball, the city was also home to a remarkable summer outdoor basketball scene that had developed at Sunset Park. Previous Middletown players who had gone on to play at the college level had successfully recruited other college players to play there in the summer. By the time Lucas was age 15 in 1955, Sunset Park was one of the best summer basketball scenes in the region. By then, Lucas had also grown to 6'7" and had the opportunity to scrimmage against these college players, advancing his game greatly. Lucas was, in fact, outplaying college-level big men before he played his first game for Middletown High.[citation needed]
The budding basketball star had, by then, also started to display a remarkable, if unusual intelligence. A straight-A student with a penchant for memorizing his school work, Lucas had started to develop memory games for himself as early as age nine. One trick he would be known for was his ability to take words apart and reassemble them quickly in alphabetical order. "Basketball" became "aabbekllst". He also applied his intelligence successfully to his coaching in the game.
Lucas started play at Middletown as a sophomore in the 1955–56 season. Even at 15, Lucas was a remarkable athlete who could play above the rim. His coach, Paul Walker, had already won three Ohio state champions at Middletown, and Lucas consistently found himself surrounded by strong teammates. As a sophomore, Lucas focused his game primarily on rebounding and passing, but still became a scoring star. Middletown's schedule often featured strong teams from Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus, but remained undefeated. A February game held at Cincinnati Gardens against rival Hamilton, itself a nearby former state champion, drew over 13,000 at a time when crowd sizes of that kind were uncommon at any level of the game. The two state powers repeated that feat there in 1958.
In addition to being an excellent rebounder, Lucas also made 60% of his shots from the floor and 75% of his free throws. Wearing number #13, he was often compared to Wilt Chamberlain during his high school years. The 1955–56 Middletown team went undefeated, winning the state championship, and the 1956–57 team did too. He suffered just one loss as a senior, a 63–62 defeat in a state semi-final game against Columbus North. That loss ended a state-record 76 game win streak. Lucas carried a 34-point scoring average through his high school years, and received national press when he surpassed Chamberlain's high school total in points.