Gene Shue was born December 18, 1931 (90 years ago yesterday) in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the University of Maryland (my son Bret's alma mater) and became its star basketball player, breaking all the school's scoring records as a guard.
Gene started his professional career (NBA) in 1954 with the Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco). However, his contract was quickly sold to the New York Knicks.
In 1956 Gene was traded to the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Pistons. The following year the Pistons moved to Detroit.
In that decade, NBA players, even stars like Gene Shue, did not earn millions of dollars as they do today. He and many others needed to get summer jobs to support themselves in the offseason.
In the summer of 1958, I was a camper (13 years-old) at Camp Eagle Cove in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. One day, we were visited by a boys basketball team from the Racquette Lake Boys Camp. I was a member of the team that competed against it.
What a thrill it was when we realized we would be playing a team coached by NBA star Gene Shue. When I came into the game, I was playing point guard. I remember taking one shot which didn't come close to the basket.
The Racquette Lake boy guarding me took a moment while someone was shooting a free throw to inquire of Gene whether he needed to guard me closely. He shook his head no. Wise move!
Gene Shue played six more NBA seasons amassing a career total of 10,068 points, 2,855 rebounds and 2,608 assists. In addition, he coached several NBA teams over a 23 year period.
As previously stated, yesterday was Gene's 90th birthday. Happy Birthday, Gene!
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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Next post January 2, 2022.
Wow, they had to get summer jobs to support themselves> Did the baseball and football players have to do likewise?
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