“Sailors, Where’d ‘Yuze’ Get That Leapin’ One-Hander?”

by Kenny Sailors

All through my playing days at Laramie High School, the University of Wyoming, in the Marine Corps, and in the A.A.U. my coaches were OK with my jump shot – even encouraged me to use it. With it, I could easily shoot and score over any man guarding me, even much taller men, because they usually kept both feet on the floor or didn’t jump much at all. I remember only once was my shot blocked – and that was from behind.

But when I began my pro career in the fall of 1946 with Cleveland, our coach Dutch Dehnert had other ideas. [See Image Below] He didn’t want me to dribble so much, and he didn’t like my jump shot, either.

Dutch had nothing to do with my selection by Cleveland, and he had never seen me play. After he watched me at the beginning of the season working out with teammate Frankie Baumholtz he came up to me and asked - in his New York accent,

‘Sailors, where’d yuze get that leapin’ one-hander?’

I told Dutch I had been shooting a jump shot since I was a kid and that I could score with it. He said it wouldn’t work in the pro leagues - neither would my emphasis on dribbling as part of making plays for the offense.

Dutch was an old-timer who had played on the original New York Celtics back in the 1920s, and he was set in his traditional ways. [See image below - Dutch is on the right in the back row.]

Dutch wanted me to pass more and to dribble less, and he told me to give up the jump shot. He said he’d teach me a ‘good two-handed set shot.’

I didn’t want to give up my jump shot or my dribbling skills. Both were an important part of my game. Plus, I had learned to shoot the jump shot off my dribble. They were connected. Anyway, I had never shot a two-handed set shot in my life.

So Dutch kept me on the bench. He didn’t know what to make of my jump shot. It was just too crazy for him, I guess. A teammate told me I wasn’t long for this league if I didn’t play more. What went through my mind was, ‘Don’t sell the farm, Ma, I’m comin’ home.’

I decided to talk to Cleveland’s General Manager - a nice guy and the one who had originally recruited me. I asked for a trade so I could use my jump shot and play more. I said I just didn’t fit in Cleveland. He told me to sit tight – that things would be different ‘soon.’

About a week later Dutch was relieved as coach, and the GM took over in his place. I started the very next game. I had a good season the rest of the way, our team played better, and we made the playoffs. The new coach had no objection to my jump shot and my dribbling. I was set free.

If I had listened to Coach Dehnert and given up my jump shot in order to play more my career probably would have ended there. I would have been a little guy standing flat-footed with a two-handed set shot – easy to block - and not likely to have lasted much longer in the pros. The fact I didn’t obey him is probably why I went on to have a good pro career – rather than none at all.”

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Typed from Kenny’s written notes and some interviews by Bill Schrage, an archivist for Kenny Sailors