For Sailors, the one-handed jump shot was born out of necessity. While growing up on a small farm in Wyoming, Sailors’ brother Bud put a hoop on the windmill. Bud was five years older, and at 6-foot-5, towered over his younger sibling, who stood about 5-7 at the age of 13 before he reached his full height of 5-10.
“Every once in a while he would ask if I’d like to play a game of one-on-one, and kind of grin at me,” Sailors said. “He was a good ball player — he played for the high school team.”
Bud blocked shot after shot against the youngster, who finally got tired of the lopsided results and devised another way to compete.
“I got to thinking that if I could dribble up to him –- I was a pretty good dribbler -– and then just jump as high as I could in the air and shoot the ball that I may not make it but at least I would try,” Sailors said.
