[Old School Hound]

You all have heard me talk about Frank Selvy a lot. Frank  is probably the best basketball player, certainly the most successful one, to ever come out of eastern Kentucky and probably the entire Commonwealth.  Of Course, Frank is a product of my school, Corbin High School. Frank was a standout at Corbin in the late 40's,  then in college at Furman in the early 50's , where he scored 100 points in a single game.  He was also the #1 draft pick in the NBA draft in 1954. He made two NBA All-Star teams.

Why am I talking about Frank in a Jerry West thread? Well, what many people are not aware of is that Frank was a teammate of Jerry West with the Lakers. Frank played his final four NBA seasons with the Lakers. In the '61/ '62 season, the Corbin legend  averaged 14.7/5.2/4.8 for the Lakers. Frank and Jerry West were the Lakers backcourt in Game 7 of the  '62 NBA finals against the Celtics. Frank led a furious last minute Lakers comeback by scoring four points in a span of 20 seconds to tie the game at 100. Then came "the shot."  West and Elgin Baylor were double-teamed by the Celtics defense  and Frank had the ball in his hands as time winded down. His 18-footer from the baseline bounced off the rim and the game went to overtime, where the Celtics won yet another title.

Frank, with a make of the 18- foot baseline shot could have ended the Celtic dynasty and changed the course of NBA history. Frank had a good NBA career but will long be be remembered for "the shot" that would have changed history. And now you know...THE REST... OF THE STORY . 

 West has said in interviews that this is the one game that has kept him up at nights. While he would have liked to have taken that shot, he acknowledges that he was double teamed and Frank had hit the tying shot a few seconds earlier.  Here's a quote about those last seconds I found from an interview that West did:


“You know, people will talk about Frank for missing that shot. I will never talk about him because he made the one that really mattered… he missed a shot that I’m sure a lot of us would have liked to have. That’s sports. That game, I just, even today, I go to bed and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I coulda had that for that last shot.’ And, again, I don’t know if I would have made it or not. It’s something that I wish I had the opportunity to do."   ---- Jerry West

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Laker teammates,  Frank Selvy and Jerry West.  RIP to both of these basketball legend, one a Mountaineer from the tiny town of Chelyan , West Virginia and the other, a small town boy from Corbin. Thanks for the memories...

Jerry, top row on the left(#44) .  Frank, same row (#11) .


[Image: https://www.latimes.com/includes/project...1_1962.jpg]