Lamar reached legendary status at Blackham
Few people can really claim to be legends in their own time.
But nobody disputes the fact that Dwight "Bo" Lamar is one.
When long-time Ragin' Cajun basketball fans drive down Johnston Street and pass by Blackham Coliseum, they collectively see one mind's-eye image.
They see that No. 10 jersey and the big Afro on top, elevating higher than most people thought possible on his jump shot, firing off rainbows that threatened the lights in the venerable building.
As the years have passed, the distances on those shots have grown. So have the stories. That's what being a legend is all about.
But the facts and the record books don't lie. In the storied history of USL/UL basketball, even in the current era of the 3-point basket, nobody shot it like Bo ... never before, and almost certainly never will again.
"He had as much confidence shooting as anybody that ever played the game," said long-time coach Beryl Shipley, the architect of the school's greatest basketball era. "He felt like he could hit from anywhere."
A lot of times, he did. Lamar led the nation in scoring twice - once in 1970-71 (36.0 points per game) in USL's final year as a college-division team, and again in 1971-72 (36.3) in the Cajuns' first year in what was then called the NCAA's University Division. He remains the only player ever to lead both.
At the same time he and his teammates - and in no small role, the Cajun fans - made Blackham one of the nation's college basketball hotbeds.
"The crowd is your home-court advantage," Lamar said. "The basket's 10 feet high everywhere. It's what the crowd did that made it special. The fans fed off the team, and the team fed off the fans. It worked both ways. We had a good team and we had a heck of a crowd."
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
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Originally Posted by Turbine
