Bo Kimble

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Gregory Kevin "Bo" Kimble (born April 9, 1966 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) is a retired American basketball player .

He gained great fame during his studies at the University of Loyola Marymount between 1987 and 1990. During this time he formed the most aggressive team in, especially with his teammates Eric "Hank" Gathers, Jeff Fryer and Terrell Lowery and an offensive concept from Coach Paul Westhead the history of college basketball.

High school and college

Prior to joining the Loyola Marymount Lions, Kimble played with his best friend, Hank Gathers, for Dobbins Technical High School in Philadelphia. Driven by this most talented duo in school basketball, Dobbins won the championship in 1985. These successes led coach Stan Morrison and his assistant David Spencer (who later became a very good friend of Kimble and Gathers) to bring both athletes to USC , a prestigious sports college in California . But at the USC Trojans , especially for Gathers, things did not go as desired. Gathers decided to quit school and head for Loyola Marymount, and Kimble did the same. Because of the transfer rule in the NCAA , both were condemned to watch in their first season and did not intervene again in the game until 1987/88.

The Kimble Gathers Show began from day one on the Loyola Marymount floor. Kimble, the introverted sniper, and Gathers, extroverted and enormously powerful, complemented each other in an unprecedented way, opposing teams were downright annihilated. LMU broke all offensive records of the NCAA and had in Gathers (32.7) the best basket hunter of the 1988-89 season, in Kimble (35.3) that of the following season. Encounters in which both players scored over 30 points were not uncommon.

Death of Hank Gathers

During the 1990 West Coast Conference tournament, seconds after a spectacular alley-oop dunk from Lowery to Gathers, Gathers collapsed and died a little later at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital. Kimble later described his drive from the Barley Pavilion , the Lions' venue, to the hospital as "a walk of about 10 minutes, but which seemed to take a lifetime."

In memory of his late friend, Kimble threw his first free throw with his left hand instead of the usual right hand at the beginning of each subsequent game, converting everyone. Gathers was always a bad free throw shooter, so that he sometimes threw with the left in training in desperation.

Despite all concerns and massive media influence, the rest of the Loyola Marymount team decided to continue the tournament without Hank Gathers. An irrepressible will to win and unrestrained fan support should compensate for the lack of a charismatic leader. "For You, Hank" could be read in the halls. And Kimble, who had to struggle with the death of "Hank the Bank" years later, was now playing like an intoxication. Even the defending champion in college basketball, Michigan, found no remedy for Kimble's passion and dedication. Kimble, Fryer and Lowery made 101 points together, the favorite was shown and knocked out of the tournament with an incredible 149-115 (a college game only takes 40 minutes!).

NBA

After doing well in college, Kimble was drawn by the Los Angeles Clippers in eighth place in the 1990 NBA Draft . At that time, the Clippers played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, the same building where Gathers and Kimble were active for USC. Despite high expectations, Kimble did not become a star in the NBA. Injuries, unfavorable coaching decisions and, last but not least, psychological problems from processing the deaths of Gathers prevented this. After two years in Los Angeles, Kimble was given in exchange to the New York Knicks and became part of one of the best NBA teams of the 1990s. He himself only played nine games due to injury and suicidal tendencies and then ended his career in the NBA.

The life after

In 1991 Kimble played basketball player Matthew Lockhart in the drama "Heaven is a Playground", whose characteristic traits and behavior were very reminiscent of the real Kimble.

Kimble completed his life's work with the book "For You, Hank", published in 1992, in which he describes both the life and the loss of Gathers and deals extensively with the smallest details. Certainly a kind of coming to terms with the past for him, a milestone for those who are really interested in basketball.

On January 29, 2005, at halftime in a 63:46 win over Pepperdine, Gathers, Kimble, and other members of the then-Loyola team were inducted into the University's Hall of Fame.

Web links

• Bo Kimble - player profile on basketball-reference.com