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Show V I. C I i v .... - '. C i i. ; V " r - ; ' v - f. v vt C ' t V j - . . ' ' ; ""'w - iv v r"' , . ? 7 FOOT JIM EAKINS, a former Brigham Young University and ten year professional basketball player, talks to Youth Basketball Association contestants during a basketball clinic at Uintah High School, Saturday. i . r . t u ' " i ": -f ' ' 1 !; ".... ,.W ' ' ' s 1 , V. , . . fV- . - -! t - i- t . A STUFF SHOT is performed by Jim Eakins in a basketball clinic, Saturday. Eakins played for such professional teams as the Utah Stars, Kansas City Kings and Milwaukee Bucks. ! ' ' - 'V-v ' i-. x --Z a -j . j I . ; ; , SI lERRih JONES, left, passes the basketball to Valinda Chivers during basketball clinic action, Saturday. f BYU svear emd 1-yeor pro, Jim EcaEiins coinduefs clinic Jim Eakins, a former hoop star at Brigham Young University in the late 1960's and a ten year professional basketball eager, conducted a clinic during the Youth Basketball Association Program at Uintah High School, Saturday. Eakins was a member of the Brigham Young University cage team which posed a record of 20 wins and 5 losses, and defeated New York University, 97 to 84, for first place in the NIT (National Invitational Tournament) Tour-nament) in 1966. Eakins competed in the game, but the sophomore eager didn't score any points. Scoring in double figures for the Cougars in the win over NYU were: 6'10" Craig Raymond, 21; Hill, 21; Steve Kramer, 20; Dave Nemelka, 15 and Jeff Congdon, 11. The Cougars also defeated Temple, 90 to 78 and Army, 66 to 60, in the NIT. "We won the NIT crown in 1966. We beat New York University in the finals. It is always a thrill to be on a championship cham-pionship team like that. I was a sophomore and I started in the games with Temple and Army, and I played quite a bit. I just played a solid game," stated Jim Eakins. BYU finished with a 14-10 record in 1967 and tied for first place in the Western Athletic Conference with Wyoming. The Wyoming Cowboys defeated the Cougars in a playoff game at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and were stomped by UCLA, 109 to 60. The Cougars posted a 13-12 record during Eakins' senior year in 1968. "We had a playoff game with Wyoming at the University of Utah on a neutral court in 1967. We tried hard, but we had 12 offensive charges called on us and that was one of the reasons we lost to Wyoming," said Eakins. The 7 foot center, Eakins, was one of the members of the Oakland team in the American Basketball Association during the 1968-69 season. Eakins scored 1,011 points and had an average of 13 points. He competed in 78 games and fired in 351 field goals. Eakins was a member of the Washington ABA team during the 1969-70 season and he scored 528 points. Eakins played for the Virginia and New York ABA teams, and was a member of the Utah Stars during the 1974-75 season and for part of the 1975-76 season. "I was a member of the Utah Stars in 1974-75 season and when they folded in 1975 I really enjoyed playing for the Stars. My wife is from Utah. The ,games I remember the most were several games with Denver. We played real well against Denver. We won a game - against' Denver with one second left. s We were down byjorie point and I threw the' ball up tothe nbdp'." Ron Boone of Utah and two Denver players were up in the air when the ball went through the hoop. They all put the ball through the basket and we won the game in the playoffs with Denver during the 1974-75 season," stated Eakins. Eakins was the number six free throw shooter in the ABA in the 1974-75 season. He connected on 291 out of 34 free throws for .836 percent. Some of he other members of the Utah team, which placed fourth in the ABA dur.ng the 1974-75 season, were: Ron Boone, now a member of the Utah Jazz; Moses Malone, now a member of the Houston Rockets; Jimmy Jones, Randy Denton, Gerald Govan, Roger Brown, Al Smith, Wali Jones, Clyde Dickey and Hank Williams. Denver downed Utah m the plavoffs, 4 games to 2 games. The Utah team won the ABA title in 1971 and placed second in 1974. The Stars won western division titles in 1972, 1973, and 1974. The top players on the championship cham-pionship teams were Ron Boone, Zelmo Beaty, Willie Wise, Jimmy Jones and Glen Cooms. The BYU graduate, Eakins, played in the National Basketball Association for the Kansas City Kings and the Milwaukee Bucks and he has battled some great centers during his ten year professional basketball career. Eakins retired two years ago from pro ball. "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers is the greatest consistent con-sistent center year in and year out. He is a mountain and does everything. The best center for one season was Bill Walton of Portland when he was healthy. He was a little bett Jabbar in that season. Moses M i ' a great young player. He could?' or 19 years in pro ball bWa, ': started playing right out school." Eakins battled the Univer Utah in a number of basketball as a member of the BYU Cougar?3 just a great rivalry. It js greatest rivalries in college They are both great universities for the University of Utah umi play BYU," commented Eakia i A basketball clinic was conduM Eakins at Uintah High School 1. 1 day afternoon. "I am seven (Jf when I stand up straight. I ij ; I and grew and grew and forgot h until I got to be seven feet. The J' ' is no different up here than it f there. I'm the first to find outWA' snowing. I was 5'3V in fifth gra! ! 6'0" in seventh grade. I was6'6' 1 grade and was 6' 10" when I gra(i 1 from high school. I reached the ' mark at BYU. If you want to k 1 footer then start growing because is plenty of room up here," said jj Eakins added, "When I was gtt, up I never heard of passing. ! shooting . I had to learn to break mv. habits. The Youth Bas'J ! Association has two goals, one.J j fun and two, to learn something rj is important is that you come out ' ! 1 games and give it your all and, best." ' |