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LUISETTI, HANK 1916-

BASKETBALL STAR

Basketball Youth

Born bow-legged, young Angelo Joseph "Hank" Luisetti of San Francisco had to wear leg braces. It did not stop him from playing schoolyard basketball. Shorter than most other kids, Luisetti compensated by learning to shoot with one hand from farther out. He played high-school basketball and earned a scholarship to Stanford.

The Modern Game

Basketball began rather primitively at the turn of the century as a passing game. By the beginning of the 1930s national individual scoring leaders averaged about 10 points a game, and most players still used a two-hand set shot, The game was still evolving into its modern form. Luisetti helped. He had many natural abilities: he could pass behind his back; he moved well around the court; and he carved out defensive as well as offensive strategies as he played. Though he was recognized as an offensive star because of the national attention his unorthodox shooting style attracted, Luisetti was very much an all-around player.

Leading Stanford

Luisetti led Stanford to three Pacific Coast Conference championships between 1936 and 1938. He could shoot from nearly every position on the court and run and shoot. He was named all-American three years in a row, and twice he was Collegiate Player of the Year. His 15 points were the difference in his eastern debut at Madison Square Garden—a stunning Stanford 45-31 upset over Long Island University, which had won forty-three consecutive games. In one game he brought Stanford from behind by scoring 14 points in five minutes. Encouraged by his teammates, Luisetti scored 50 points in a single game against Duquesne in his senior year, though he left the game with three minutes still to play. When he graduated he was the all-time college scoring champion with 1,596 points and a 16.5 points per-game average.

Amateur Afterlife

After a role in a Hollywood movie cost him his amateur status for a time, Luisetti broke another scoring record in the AAU national tournament in 1939-1940. He later played for the Phillips 66 Oilers but suffered numerous injuries and ailments, which put an end to his playing career. He became a successful basketball coach and was voted second place in the Associated Press's poll of the best basketball player of the half-century. Luisetti had revolutionized the game for the second half-century, and in 1959 he was voted to basketball's Hall of Fame.