Wildcat Larry
10-30-2005, 05:40 PM
I saw this post by WildcatRick in the basketball forum and thought it would fit in good here in the UK History forum, too.
In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in the Blade's sports section. Blade sports writer Steve Junga talked with Truman Claytor, who starred at Scott High School and played in and won a national championship for the University of Kentucky Wildcats in 1978.
One of the purest shooters to ever play basketball in Toledo's City League almost didn't get the chance to play for one basic reason - he simply couldn't shoot.
That was the dilemma Truman Claytor faced in November of 1969 when he tried out for the seventh-grade team at Robinson Junior High and was cut.
But Robinson eighth-grade coach Richard Jones took young Claytor under his wing, taught him shooting mechanics and, most importantly, gave him hope. Claytor - who was otherwise skilled with the basketball and blessed with strong work ethic - did the rest.
He was Robinson's top scorer the next year, started on the Scott JV team as a freshman, then played three varsity seasons at the start of the greatest era in Scott's rich basketball history.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051030/SPORTS04/510300352
In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in the Blade's sports section. Blade sports writer Steve Junga talked with Truman Claytor, who starred at Scott High School and played in and won a national championship for the University of Kentucky Wildcats in 1978.
One of the purest shooters to ever play basketball in Toledo's City League almost didn't get the chance to play for one basic reason - he simply couldn't shoot.
That was the dilemma Truman Claytor faced in November of 1969 when he tried out for the seventh-grade team at Robinson Junior High and was cut.
But Robinson eighth-grade coach Richard Jones took young Claytor under his wing, taught him shooting mechanics and, most importantly, gave him hope. Claytor - who was otherwise skilled with the basketball and blessed with strong work ethic - did the rest.
He was Robinson's top scorer the next year, started on the Scott JV team as a freshman, then played three varsity seasons at the start of the greatest era in Scott's rich basketball history.
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051030/SPORTS04/510300352
