Basketball pioneer dies at 95

Many think the pioneering spirit in Wyoming is often limited to the legendary mountain men and outlaws who lived and died more than a century ago. 

Wyoming lost one of its modern pioneers last weekend; the man who introduced the jump shot into basketball.

Kenny Sailors, 95, died at Spring Wind Assisted Living Center in Laramie Saturday morning. He had suffered from declining health since a heart attack that occurred in December of 2015.

Sailors is credited with developing the modern jump shot in basketball, a technique now considered one of the sport's fundamentals.

"It was a great innovation," Green River High School's head girls basketball coach Rick Carroll said. "It changed how the game was played."

Carroll said the jump shot expands the offensive possibilities for players and forced improvements in defensive strategies as players had to find ways to block jump shots lobbed over their heads. Carroll also believes Sailors' jump shot also helped improve the pace and viewer-friendliness of the game, helping basketball become more exciting.

Sailors led the Wyoming Cowboys to the 1943 NCAA Championship and was named the 1943 National Player of the Year, as well as earning All American honors. Sailors left Wyoming and enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1943, serving until 1945 in the South Pacific during World War II. He returned to Wyoming for the 1945-1946 season, again earning All-American honors during the season.

He also was one of the first professional basketball players, joining the Basketball Association of America during its first season in 1946. He played for the BAA for three seasons. After the BAA changed to the NBA, Sailors played two more seasons, retiring in 1951. He became a licensed hunting and fishing guide, working in Jackson Hole until 1965. He then moved to Alaska and continued guiding hunting and fishing expeditions until his retirement in 1999. He also coached girls and boys basketball in Glennallen and Angoon, Alaska.

During his time as coach, he again pioneered the sport by introducing the first state girls basketball tournament in Alaska. He coached his girls team in Glennallen, Alaska to three consecutive state championships. 

He was inducted to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo., in 2012. Sailors and his coach, Everette Shelton, are the only two inductees from Wyoming in the hall of fame.

Representative Stan Blake, D-Green River, authored a bill honoring Sailors for his achievements.

He said the bill came about after watching a video on Facebook featuring former coach Bob Knight discussing Sailors' importance to the sport and his worthiness for inclusion into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Blake filed the bill two days before Sailors' death.

"It's a sad loss for Wyoming," Blake said. "His was the only (jersey) number retired for Wyoming."

"He touched so many lives. For years after he moved back to Laramie, he would come to Cowboy and Cowgirl practices and games.  He was a great mentor for our student-athletes," UW Athletics Director Tom Burman said in a statement released by the university.