 Luisetti,c. 1943 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1916-06-16)June 16, 1916 |
| Died | December 17, 2002(2002-12-17) (aged 86) San Mateo, California, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Galileo (San Francisco, California) |
| College | Stanford (1935–1938) |
| Position | Forward |
| Number | 7 |
| Career highlights | |
| |
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |
| Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame | |
Angelo-Giuseppi "Hank"Luisetti (June 16, 1916 – December 17, 2002)[1] was an Americancollege basketball player. He is considered to be one of the great innovators of the sport. In an era that featured the traditional two-handedset shot, Luisetti developed the running one-handed shot, an early version of thejump shot. Equipped with such an offensive weapon, Luisetti became one of the most dominant players in Americancollege basketball history. While at Stanford, he joinedDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
A graduate ofGalileo High School in his native city,San Francisco, he went on to play forStanford. He became the first player to score 50 points in a game on January 1, 1938, againstDuquesne. Luisetti was named the second-best player of the mid-century (behindGeorge Mikan) by an Associated Press poll of sportswriters and broadcasters in 1950.
Luisetti's influence was aided by a celebrated game betweenLong Island University and Luisetti'sStanford Indians.[2] Long Island had a 43-game winning streak at the time of the game. The game was played in the evening of December 30, 1936, inMadison Square Garden and a crowd of 17,623 was on hand to see Long Island, the nation's No. 1 team, play Stanford.
Stanford was the defendingPacific Coast Conference champion from the 1935 season and six years later would win an NCAA championship. Still, they were underdogs. The crowd, while not expecting to see their local favorites lose, were intrigued by Luisetti, then a 6-foot-2, 185-pound sophomore. They knew that he shot the ball with one hand while he hung in the air, in stark contrast to the two-handed set shots or hook shots that were commonly attempted in those days.
Although Luisetti scored only 15 points on five field goals and five free throws, Stanford ended the LIU winning streak with a 45–31 victory. The fact that this occurred in the media capital of the country, however, resulted in something more far-reaching. The publicity surrounding Luisetti's shooting style changed the game forever.
Luisetti is often credited with inventing thejump shot, although others were doing it during the 1930s as well. One possible originator wasJohn Miller Cooper.[3] Still, Luisetti definitely popularized it.[2][4]
Some have mistakenly said that Luisetti kept both feet planted on the court when taking his shots, but it seems clear that he was a jumper. "I'd get the ball, take a dribble or two and jump and shoot on the way up. I didn't jump and shoot at the height of my jump, the way they do now. I'd let the ball go right near my face; I'd push and shoot, off my fingertips."[5] Furthermore, he shot "the ball with one hand while he hung in the air, in defiance of basketball style."[2]
He was an all-around player, whose play and shooting were exciting. "Hank could take over a game like Michael Jordan if he had to," said former Stanford teammate Don Williams. "He was an absolute artist on the basketball court."[5]
Luisetti contractedspinal meningitis while serving in the Navy, ending his basketball career.[5] He never played in theNBA, but "in 1950, the nation's sportswriters voted him the second-best player in the first half of the century."[5]
Among his other accomplishments, he was a naval officer duringWorld War II.
He died inSan Mateo, California, in 2002.
Additional facts on Luisetti:
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
