Dan King

Thomas Daniel "Dan" King


Born:
January 7, 1931
Paris, TN

Died:
January 20, 2003
Louisville, KY


Career
1947-48 Grove High School - Paris, TN (High School)
1948-49 Grove High School - Paris, TN (High School)
1949-50 Grove High School - Paris, TN (High School)
1951-52 Western Kentucky University (College)
1952-53 Western Kentucky University (College)
1953-54 Western Kentucky University (College)
1954-55 Baltimore Bullets (NBA)
1959-60 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1960-61 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1961-62 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1962-63 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1962-63 Western Kentucky University (College) Freshmen - Assistant coach
1963-64 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1963-64 Western Kentucky University (College) Freshmen - Head coach
1964-65 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1965-66 Edmondson County High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1972-73 Bishop David High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1973-74 Bishop David High School - Kentucky (High School) Head coach
1975-76 Pleasure Ridge High School - Kentucky (High School) Assistant coach

Born to Lawrence and Lillian King, Dan King was baseball and basketball star at Grove HS in Paris, Tennessee. He was offered contracts by the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers but chose to go to college instead. King would star on the basketball team at Western Kentucky as well as pitch for the baseball team. He played for the Baltimore Bullets before the team disbanded shortly into the 1954-55 season. He continued to play baseball around Kentucky for a few years before concentrating on teaching and coaching for Edmondson High School. He later coached at Bishop David HS (now known as Holy Cross) and Pleasure Ridge HS. King was also a noted softball player, elected to the ASA Hall of Fame in 1987.

Dan married Norma Jean Ashlock in 1956 and they had one son.

Dan's cousin Chick King played baseball for five seasons in the major leagues.

Source:
Obituary, ewgrove.com


Stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kingda01.html
https://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=kingda01

Johnny "Red" Kerr

John Graham "Red" Kerr


Born:
July 17, 1932
Chicago, IL

Died:
February 26, 2009
Chicago, IL


Career
1949-50 Tilden High School - Chicago (High School)
1951-52 University of Illinois (College)
1952-53 University of Illinois (College)
1953-54 University of Illinois (College)
1954-55 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1955-56 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1956-57 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1957-58 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1958-59 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1959-60 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1960-61 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1961-62 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1962-63 Syracuse Nationals (NBA)
1963-64 Philadelphia 76ers (NBA)
1964-65 Philadelphia 76ers (NBA)
1965-66 Baltimore Bullets (NBA)
1966-67 Chicago Bulls (NBA) Head coach
1967-68 Chicago Bulls (NBA) Head coach
1968-69 Phoenix Suns (NBA) Head coach
1969-70 Phoenix Suns (NBA) Head coach

Born to Matthew and Florence Kerr on the South Side of Chicago, Kerr was a gifted soccer player at Tilden High School until a late growth spurt put him at 6'9 and allowed him to gravitate to basketball. He received a scholarship at Illinois and helped the team to the Big Ten title and Final Four appearance in 1952. He graduated from Illinois with 1299 career points and was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals in the 1954 NBA Draft.

As a rookie, Kerr helped the Nationals to the NBA title in 1955. A three-time All-Star, Kerr would play 12 seasons in the NBA and had set the record 844 complete games played. After the 1965-66 season with the Baltimore Bullets, Kerr was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the expansion draft, but became their head coach instead of a player. His playing days behind him, he finished with over 12,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. Kerr would coach the Chicago Bulls for two seasons and then the Phoenix Suns for two. He was lured to the Virginia Squires of the ABA where he served as the team's GM, signing players like Julius Irving. He returned to the Bulls in 1973 as the team's business manager and later worked as a broadcaster.

Kerr married Betsy Nemecek in 1954 and they had five sons and one daughter. One son, John Jr., died at the age of 3. He also took in the three daughters of his sister-in-law, Drusella, when she and her husband Evan died within months of each other in late 1971 and early 1972. Drusella and Evan's daughter Laurel Jean Ellis would be murdered in 1974 while attending Grand Valley College in Michigan. Her murder would go unsolved for many years until DNA tests linked a man named Lamont Marshall who had been found to have commit other murders and violent acts in the area.

Source:
MLive, April 2010
Obituary, Chicago Tribune, February 27, 2009

Stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kerrre01.html
https://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=kerrjo01

Mike Kearns

Michael Joseph Kearns


Born:
June 18, 1929
Trenton, NJ

Died:
January 31, 2009
Hamilton, NJ


Career
1944-45 Trenton High School - New Jersey (High School)
1945-46 Trenton High School - New Jersey (High School)
1946-47 Trenton High School - New Jersey (High School)
1947-48 Princeton University (College) Freshmen
1948-49 Princeton University (College)
1949-50 Princeton University (College)
1950-51 Princeton University (College)
1954-55 Philadelphia Warriors (NBA)

Out of Trenton, New Jersey, Mike Kearns would play basketball at Princeton, graduating in 1951. He was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the fifth round of the 1951 draft, but more importantly, he was selected by the U.S. Army and served during the Korean War. After the war, he joined the Warriors in February of 1955. He would play in only six games, scoring only a single point.

Mike married Beverly Bronson in 1964 and they had two sons and a daughter.

Source:


Stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kearnmi01.html
https://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=kearnmi01

Ed Kalafat

Edward Lawrence Kalafat


Born:
October 13, 1932
Montana

Died:
October 7, 2019
St. Paul, MN


Career
1947-48 Anaconda High School - Montana (High School)
1948-49 Anaconda High School - Montana (High School)
1949-50 Anaconda High School - Montana (High School)
1950-51 University of Minnesota (College) Freshmen
1951-52 University of Minnesota (College)
1952-53 University of Minnesota (College)
1953-54 University of Minnesota (College)
1954-55 Minneapolis Lakers (NBA)
1955-56 Minneapolis Lakers (NBA)
1956-57 Minneapolis Lakers (NBA)

A football and basketball star at Anaconda HS in Montana, Ed Kalafat was drafted in the first round of the 1954 NBA draft by the Lakers, where he would play for three seasons. He was working at First National Bank in Minneapolis in the off-season, and after the 1956-57 season, he left basketball behind to continue in banking.

Kalafat married Judy Daggett iu 1954 and they had three daughters.

Source:
Montana Standard, January 17, 1993

Stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kalafed01.html
https://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=kalafed01

Herm Hedderick

Herman Arthur Hedderick


Born:
January 10, 1930
Erie, PA

Died:
August 20, 2014
Latrobe, PA


Career
1945-46 Mill Creek High School - Pennsylvania (High School)
1946-47 Mill Creek High School - Pennsylvania (High School)
1949-50 Canisius College (College)
1950-51 Canisius College (College)
1951-52 Canisius College (College)
1954-55 New York Knicks (NBA)

Born to Raymond and Katheryn Hedderick, Herm grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania,
Hedderick played both baseball and basketball while at Canisius. He was drafted by the Celtics in the 1952 NBA Draft and was also signed by the Cincinnati Reds that year, pitching for their Class B team in Salisbury. After serving in the military in the Korean War, he was traded to the Knicks in the 1954-55 season and appeared in five games. He would play one more season of minor league baseball with the Reds farm system in 1955, too.

He and his wife, Sally, had a son and a daughter.

Minor League Baseball Stats
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hedder001her

Source:
GoErie.com

Stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/heddehe01.html
https://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=heddehe01

Chuck Grigsby

Charles Lee Grigsby


Born:
August 15, 1928
Dayton, OH

Died:
July 15, 2003
Kettering, OH


Career
1946-47 Stivers High School - Dayton (High School)
1948-49 University of Dayton (College) Freshmen
1949-50 University of Dayton (College)
1950-51 University of Dayton (College)
1951-52 University of Dayton (College)
1954-55 New York Knicks (NBA)
1960-61 Stivers High School - Dayton (High School) Head coach
1961-62 Stivers High School - Dayton (High School) Head coach
1962-63 Stivers High School - Dayton (High School) Head coach
1963-64 Stivers High School - Dayton (High School) Head coach
1964-65 University of Dayton (College) Assistant coach
1965-66 University of Dayton (College) Assistant coach
1966-67 University of Dayton (College) Assistant coach
1967-68 University of Dayton (College) Assistant coach
1968-69 University of Dayton (College) Assistant coach

Drafted by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1952 NBA Draft, Grigsby would instead serve in the army for a couple years. After his discharge, in September of 1954, he was traded with Ray Felix to the Knicks for Al McGuire and Connie Simmons. He would only play in seven games for the Knicks, scoring 16 points before being released. He would return to the high school he graduated from as a basketball coach. leaders Stivers HS for four seasons before accepting an assistant coach job back at the University of Dayton. After five seasons as assistant, he left Dayton but would later return as a broadcaster.

Source:


Stats:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/grigsch01.html
https://www.justsportsstats.com/basketballstatsindex.php?player_id=grigsch01