City Council Recognizing Jerry Lucas |
Monday, February 16, 2009 8:27:19 AM - Middletown Ohio |
By: Tara Kunkle
Middletown City Council will be recognizing basketball player Jerry Lucas at its meeting today February 17th. It will be presented by Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr. with a proclamation and a key to the city in recognition of his achievements, which are being on championship teams at the high school, collegiate, Olympic and professional levels.
After the city council gives the presentation Lucas will be participating in ceremonies in which Middletown High School will officially retire his jersey number. They will do this during the boy’s basketball against Hamilton.
Lucas was born in Middletown, Ohio. His basketball career went on for 20 years. He broke many high school, college, and professional records. In the 1940’s and 1950’s Middletown had one of the best high school basketball teams in the country. When Lucas was only 15 he was almost at his full grown height of 6’9”. He had a great shooting accuracy then from 30 feet and training in other areas.
Lucas was offered over 150 athletic scholarships and could pick any school he wanted. He chose Ohio State and at the time was not well known for basketball. He wanted an academic scholarship and it worked out for him since he got straight A’s. Lucas was unable to play varsity his freshman year due to the rules of the NCAA and had to wait one year. During his playing time for the buckeyes he led them to three straight NCAA Finals and a record of 78 wins and 6 losses over three seasons.
In 1960 he was added to the roster of the U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team that was to play in the Rome Olympics. He was the co-leading scorer and leading rebounder and made 84% of his shots in the Olympics.
Jerry Lucas is widely considered to be the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. He has played at every level of the game and broken many records along the way. His number 11 jersey has also been retired from Ohio State. He has been inducted into the National Basketball Association's Hall of Fame. He will always be a legend in the city of Middletown.
Here is more information on Jerry Lucas's career.
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