• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

My recent encounter with an NBA legend

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

The Process God

Birthing All-Stars
Joined
Jul 24, 2010
Messages
4,896
Reaction score
5,349
Points
113
Decades ago, my grandfather was one of the managers at Eagle Rubber, which, at the time, was located in Ashland, OH. They made, among many things, all kinds of balls for different sports. At one point, Eagle Rubber was making a signature ball for Jerry Lucas, one of the best players of all time and THE best player to come out of Ohio. Jerry Lucas made a stop over at my grandfather's company to check things out, and my grandfather told me that, when he shook Jerry Lucas' hand, his hand literally almost broke. I can attest to that because, when he shook my hand today, my hand almost broke too.

Several months ago, my father was at work. He is a pastor, and he got a call. He got a call from a man named Jerry Lucas. My father instantly recognized the name, but he did not think it was really Jerry Lucas. He was pleasantly surprised and, quite frankly, shocked when he found out that it was indeed THE Jerry Lucas. Jerry Lucas wanted to come to my father's church to speak, and my father obliged.

Fast forward to today. This morning, I woke up to a text saying that there was a massive issue at work. I throw on some clothes and rush out the door, not even acknowledging the guest at the house, who I only saw at the corner of my eye as my parents tended to him. I went outside, and a beautiful blue truck was sitting outside. I didn't take much note of anything, and I went to work. Luckily the issue got solved, and I went home.

I walk into my kitchen and there standing was Jerry wucking Lucas. I looked at my dad with that dear-in-the-headlights look, and my dad nodded his head, and Jerry was just nonchalant about it. That was JERRY LUCAS who was at my house earlier, and I WALKED RIGHT PAST HIM! :chuckles: I walk behind Jerry, and I snapped a photo of him and immediately put it on facebook, saying "JERRY LUCAS IS IN MY KITCHEN!!!" Jerry had spoken earlier on Sunday (I did not attend it), and he was going to speak again that night (I did attend that seminar). He stayed at my house between those two seminars (which is why he was there), and my father and I got to sit down with Jerry Lucas for five hours and shoot the shit.

Jerry Lucas is a MAN OF GOD. He had never read a word of the Bible before, and a mentor of his gave him a Bible to read, and he converted to Christianity soon after. He gave his life to God and quit basketball before his time was up. Over the years, Jerry Lucas has passed up tens of millions of dollars from cutting his career short and passing up other jobs such as analyst positions (he'd be one of the best in the NBA if he were an analyst, trust me) in order to bring the Gospel to churches across the world. His wife is also famous for being on the show, "The Dog Whisperer."

Jerry Lucas is a genius. An absolute genius. I wouldn't be surprised if his IQ was in the 200 range despite his claims of "probably" having an average IQ. His special talent is memory, and just about every other mental aspect you could imagine is just as good with Jerry. He is internationally renowned as "Dr. Memory." My father actually pulled out a book of Jerry Lucas' that he had gotten years before he ever received that call from him. The book was a book on how to memorize the books of the Bible. He has been on talk shows over the decades, and he has memorized the names of up to 800 people. The crowds even had duds and fakes to throw him off, and he would tell them to sit down because he did not know them. He has not missed a name EVER in this trick.

We talked about his family and how, since he went the path of faith, has lived on much less money than he could have otherwise made, so he still struggles with every day finances like you and I. He only charged my church 350 bucks plus free will offerings to come and speak 3 times. He has gone around to churches, speaking about God's gift of memory and how to more effectively utilize it. He does this at the expense of having a life of luxury. I can only hope that more people in the NBA can have faith in God that is as strong as his.

I, of course, asked him all kinds of basketball questions. I asked him about Wilt Chamberlain. Jerry told me that Wilt was the strongest player to ever play the game and that, despite what he is officially listed at, Wilt was actually 7'3" to 7'4" and weighed 330 lbs, not 7'1" 275. He said that he (Jerry) was listed shorter than he really was as were many players. He said that the very tall guys just didn't care to be listed above 7 feet just like the small guys didn't care to be listed below 6 feet even if they were above 7 feet or below 6 feet. He said that they were all measured in socks (as opposed to in shoe measurements being the "official measurements" of today. Even then, the tall guys' heights were low. I asked him if he had seen the poster of the typical NFL lineman from the 1950s compared to today and how much bigger, faster, and stronger they were and how that is somewhat similar to the physical aspects of how NBA players have changed as well due to achievements in the field of exercise science (which I have a degree in) and nutrition. He said yes. With that in mind, I asked him if Wilt would be amazing today, and he immediately said that he would still dominate and possibly be even better because of today's knowledge. I also asked him if Wilt really slept with 10,000 women. He said that Wilt claimed that it was 20,000 and that Wilt liked to exaggerate things. :chuckles:

Jerry told me how he became one of the best rebounders of all time, having averaged over 20 rebounds per game in a season. Jerry would shoot the ball from different angles and different arcs, and he found 12 points around the rim like a clock. He mathematically knew where the ball was going to go as soon as it left the hands of anyone on the floor. He told his coach at OSU, "I'm not going to block out. Why? Because I know where the ball is going to go. I don't need to block out." Jerry dominated the best college basketball players at the age of 14, and he is the only other player to rival LeBron's hype out of high school. One time, 15,000 people went to a high school basketball game where he was playing. Just nuts. Go read about the guy. His life is an amazing story.

He said that Oscar Robertson was not fun to play with because he was a stat stuffer. If he only got 5 points the first half, he would have the ball in his hands 95% of the time so that he could get his 32 points despite winning or losing. "If Oscar got 5 points in the first half, anyone could beat us. If he got 20, nobody could beat us," Jerry said. He said that, once he got on the same team as Oscar, his number one goal was to make sure that Oscar never got another rebound. :chuckles:

He also said that Bill Russel was the toughest player he had ever played against. He was just not a fun person to be around back then because he was angry at the world especially with the race issue at the time. Russel is now a much different person and seems extremely gentle, so this surprised me.

Jerry said that players could shoot better back then than they can now and that he can't believe how poorly today's NCAA players shoot. He is a very matter-of-fact, to the point man. He speaks in short sentences, and he speaks with purpose always. That was difficult for me because I am long-winded and like details whereas Jerry is Mr. Broad Strokes

Jerry has memorized phone books and massive lists of everything you could imagine. He does it by putting images to everything. For example, he was able to get the crowd to memorize long lists of random objects by putting funny, clever images that he illustrated to them. He has been using these techniques with is children for decades. It's fun and it's possibly going to be revolutionary in the way that people learn. I was amazed because I couldn't FORGET what he taught me. The stupid list is still in mind mind of random objects because he connected one after another in his illustrations.

Presidents. Capitals. Books of the Bible. Languages. Spelling and grammar rules. You name it, he's made illustrations and ways of memorizing it. He's made literally hundreds of thousands of these illustrations with many of them being animated and 3D. In 18 months, he'll be releasing a website that is supposed to hold all of his memory techniques and illustrations, and it's all illustrated as a part of a galaxy. It sound really cool. These illustrations don't take long to memorize. He had the entire crowd memorize all the names of the Old Testament books in minutes.

He's going to speak tomorrow and be on his way, but I just feel so blessed to have met one of my favorite all-time players and an awesome man after God's own heart. I also got two pictures of him autographed such as a picture from his OSU days and another from his NBA days. :thumbup: I just thought I'd share my experience with an NBA legend with RCF, so I hope you enjoyed reading.

For all you doubters out there, here's photo proof. Asses. :chuckles:

Here's the picture I took of him when I first saw him in my kitchen.

20120318162524495.jpg


Here's a photo of him while he was speaking.

2012031818081670.jpg


Here's a photo of me with Jerry Lucas. The OSU shirt was coincidental and very lucky because I had just thrown it on that morning when I was rushing into work to check on things. :chuckles: For height reference, I am 6'3" in bare feet, and Jerry has probably shrunk a few inches. He was always hunched over when I saw him. He was probably several inches taller in his prime. He was still ducking doors and watching his head in my house at the age of 71. The dude is still strong as wucking hell as he almost broke my hand when he shook it with those banana hands of his.

20120318192759197.jpg
 
wucking awesome.

loved the rebounding anecdote.

and you need a camera with auto-focus. :chuckles:
 
wucking awesome.

loved the rebounding anecdote.

and you need a camera with auto-focus. :chuckles:

Yeah, my Droid usually takes good pictures, but I was too wucking excited to care about a focused picture because it was Jerry wucking Lucas! :chuckles:
 
Uhm, anyone gonna mention why he's looking at a picture of a dog?

I was still in shock mode when I took that picture since I had just walked in the door, so my memory may be off (ironic since I've spent the whole day with Dr. Memory :chuckles: ), but he was showing my dad a video presentation of his new website that he will be launching. I think the dog picture may be just part of an example of how his memory tricks work. The dog could have also been from something his wife was doing since she is a part of the show, "The Dog Whisperer." I don't know really. haha
 
Wow, that's awesome.

He sounds like a wonderful man. I'm glad you got to spend so much time with him.

I have devoted my life to Alzheimer's care and fundraising, so his memory stuff is very interesting to me. Did he speak at all about how this could possibly slow Dementia symptoms?
 
tumblr_l7nqwqCLQw1qzpwi0o1_400.jpg




:chuckles:

Actually that us pretty amazing. And cool.
 
Man. He's one player I wished I watched play in person. The only NBA legend I have ever talked to is Austin Carr. Im jealous.
 
Some folks are blessed with perfect memory recall, but Discovery channel did a show on a guy who said his memory was strictly average, and he improved his ability to remember things by working out much like an athlete works out until he was setting records for memory recall ability. And yes, he used the same kinds of tricks Jerry was talking about ... associating words with images and bunch of other techniques to basically trick the brain in to moving the memory out of short term in to long term.
 
Wow, that's awesome.

He sounds like a wonderful man. I'm glad you got to spend so much time with him.

I have devoted my life to Alzheimer's care and fundraising, so his memory stuff is very interesting to me. Did he speak at all about how this could possibly slow Dementia symptoms?

No he did not. At least not during the seminar that I attended. He spoke two other times this weekend, and I did not attend those other two. He mainly focused on how it could just change society especially through implementing his techniques in schools across the world. Even with is memory techniques the damage caused by dementia would still be there. Sadly, even people with dementia forget people whose images they have had imprinted on their mind for decades. They won't even recognize their own children even if, 10 years ago, they couldn't NOT think of their children's image in their mind if you said their name. I imagine it would be the same with Jerry's memory techniques although I'm sure he has many more techniques that he didn't show me. Dementia destroys the brain in both the cells themselves as well as the connections between neurons.

Theoretically, just like with muscular dystrophy who slows down atrophy by weightlifting, I'm sure a person who exercises their mind will make better use of what is left. We have brain cells that die every day, and they're never replaced. What's interesting is that our brains get more efficient over time despite this. I'm sure Jerry's techniques could help keep one's mind sharper even with deterioration occurring.
 
I just read an interesting editorial on neurogenisis in last months new scientist. It remarked on how there is very little evidence in humans to conclude that new brain cells are actually useful. It makes sense really. If you put a new processor into a computer it will perform better, becuae it is sepcialised to perform the same functions as the old cpu. But new neurones are just cells. The brain is more the the sum of its parts, new brain cells dont make a better brain. What Mr Lucas has mastered is the pathways used to convert short term storage into more permanant storage, a great skill but not that useful to the battle against dementia. It is often remarked that people suffering from dementia can remember old memories and the associated emotions much clearer than more recent events, maybe with repeptition and using jerrys techniques there might be some occupational value there. I'm not an expert, just passing on what i read
 
No he did not. At least not during the seminar that I attended. He spoke two other times this weekend, and I did not attend those other two. He mainly focused on how it could just change society especially through implementing his techniques in schools across the world. Even with is memory techniques the damage caused by dementia would still be there. Sadly, even people with dementia forget people whose images they have had imprinted on their mind for decades. They won't even recognize their own children even if, 10 years ago, they couldn't NOT think of their children's image in their mind if you said their name. I imagine it would be the same with Jerry's memory techniques although I'm sure he has many more techniques that he didn't show me. Dementia destroys the brain in both the cells themselves as well as the connections between neurons.

Theoretically, just like with muscular dystrophy who slows down atrophy by weightlifting, I'm sure a person who exercises their mind will make better use of what is left. We have brain cells that die every day, and they're never replaced. What's interesting is that our brains get more efficient over time despite this. I'm sure Jerry's techniques could help keep one's mind sharper even with deterioration occurring.

Oh I know the damage is still there, I meant that by doing these mind exercises of his if it would slow the disease from onset. The Alzheimer's Association says that doing activities to keep your mind active are a prevention of the disease, or at least slows it down a bit. I know there is no stopping it. Such a cruel, horrible disease.

Do you know why people don't recognize their children/spouse? It's because the disease puts them in another time, typically it's when they were raising young children. So they are in a completely different reality that is not present day. They know they have children, but in their reality their son is 12 years old, so when a 50 year old man walks in the room they don't see that person as their son. That's why so many women think their grown sons are their husbands, the son resembles the young spouse of her reality. We've had to take down the mirrors from patients rooms because they think they are 40 years old and would flip out when they saw an 85 year old looking back in the mirror. So sad.
 
I just read an interesting editorial on neurogenisis in last months new scientist. It remarked on how there is very little evidence in humans to conclude that new brain cells are actually useful. It makes sense really. If you put a new processor into a computer it will perform better, becuae it is sepcialised to perform the same functions as the old cpu. But new neurones are just cells. The brain is more the the sum of its parts, new brain cells dont make a better brain. What Mr Lucas has mastered is the pathways used to convert short term storage into more permanant storage, a great skill but not that useful to the battle against dementia. It is often remarked that people suffering from dementia can remember old memories and the associated emotions much clearer than more recent events, maybe with repeptition and using jerrys techniques there might be some occupational value there. I'm not an expert, just passing on what i read

You're right. They can't remember that they just ate dinner and will repeatedly ask to eat 5 minutes after a meal, yet they can remember everything about childhood and talk about their youth like it was yesterday. It's such a sad disease but it is fascinating in a way, as well. The mind is so interesting.

With Dementia the last things you learn are the first to go. That's why the last thing that goes at the end stage of the disease is they forget how to swallow and eat. Makes sense since swallowing/eating is the first thing a human being learns.
 
We've had to take down the mirrors from patients rooms because they think they are 40 years old and would flip out when they saw an 85 year old looking back in the mirror. So sad.

I don't mean to joke about this horrible disease, but I imagine the same thing happens to Lebron when he sees his hairline in the mirror.
 
I don't mean to joke about this horrible disease, but I imagine the same thing happens to Lebron when he sees his hairline in the mirror.

LOL, it happened to me when I turned 40 last year.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top