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The
following comments
were made by the late
Ken Lindsay, WHS
graduate,
who remarked that the
best pure shooter I
ever saw in my 75
years was little
Dickey Kinder, a
spindly-legged 5 foot
6 tall and hardly
weighing 135 pounds,
soaking wet. Dickey
led tiny Winslow to
two consecutive
Regional
Championships.
Winslow’s
record, against tough
opponents, during
Kinder’s time as a
high school player was
73 wins with only 5
losses against some of
the better teams in
Indiana from 1949 to
1951.
 In
his youth, Dick was
one of slow developers
and it wasn't until
his college days, he
grew to 5 foot 11 and
weighed 180 pounds.
Dick was heavily
recruited out of high
school, but settled on
Memphis State, coached
by Dr. Eugene Lambert.
Kinder,
utilized the two-hand
set shot; however, he
had a picture-perfect
jump shot, an amazing
hook shot from the
side and front of the
basket, and the
uncanny ability to
fire broadsides on the
full run.
Dick
Kinder set both NCAA
and Memphis State
scoring records for
sharp shooting. He was
one of few players
from Indiana to ever
hold a major NCAA
record when, in 1954,
as a sophomore at
Memphis State, he had
the distinction of
hitting 22 of 26 field
goals against a
top-ten-ranked
Marshall University.
Kinder's
NCAA high-percentage
scoring record stood
for 19 years until
broken by 3-time UCLA
All-American, Bill
Walton, who hit 21 out
of 22 shots.
Ironically, Walton
scored these shots
against Kinder's old
team, Memphis State.
Walton,
while speaking in
Evansville, introduced
Kinder and apologized
because of the
closeness of his shots
to the basket. The
majority of Kinder's
shots were 19, 25
foot, and beyond
range. Today, of
course, all these
would have been three
pointers. His 22 field
goals are still a
Memphis University
record.
Branch
McCracken, Hall of
Fame Coach of Indiana
Hurrying Hoosiers once
exclaimed,
"Whenever Kinder
looks the basket, the
net flinches."
John
D. Powless, former
head coach of the
Wisconsin Badgers and
assistant coach for
the University of
Cincinnati's two
consecutive NCAA
National Champions,
called Kinder the
"purest shooter,
I've ever seen.
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Dick
Kinder, WHS
Class of 1951
passed away
March 11, 2010 |
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