This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 52:
= Keith Wilkes: UCLA basketball
= Jamaal Wilkes: Los Angeles Lakers/Clippers
= Marv Goux: USC football
= Jack Del Rio: USC football
= Khalil Mack: Los Angeles Chargers
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 52:
= Happy Hairston: Los Angeles Lakers
= Burr Baldwin: Los Angeles Dons
= Eddie Piatkowski: Los Anglees Clippers
The most interesting story for No. 52:
Keith Wilkes: UCLA basketball forward (1971-72 to 1973-74)
Jamaal Wilkes: Los Angeles Lakers forward (1977-78 to 1984-85); Los Angeles Clippers forward (1985-86)
Southern California map pinpoints:
= Santa Barbara; Westwood (UCLA); Inglewood (Forum)
= Reference books on the subject:
“Jamaal Wilkes: Memoirs of the Original Smooth as Silk,” with Edward Reynolds Davis Jr., 2015
Before he was Jamaal, he was Keith. And before that, Jackie.
Before he was smooth as “Silk,” he was a little corny as “Cornbread.”
Two weeks before Keith Wilkes’ UCLA No. 52 was retired at Pauley Pavilion in January 2013, Jamaal Wilkes’ Lakers’ No. 52 was put up on the wall at Crypto.com Arena in December of 2012. It’s understandable that the No. 52 he wore for the Clippers in the waning days before his retirement from the NBA wasn’t put in the rafters.
Eighteen years before he was inducted into Springfield’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, he was already assigned a spot in Westwood’s UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.
For the most part, it was his poetic ability to master a deadly side-winding shot that looked as if he was flyfishing, and resulted in Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn referring to it as another “20-foot layup.”
Continue reading “No. 52: Keith Wilkes / Jamaal Wilkes”
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 