YouTube Gold: Young Artis Gilmore

In his later days in the NBA, 7-2 Artis Gilmore seemed slow and ponderous.

The young Gilmore thought was something else.

He started at Gardner-Webb before transferring to Jacksonville where, unbelievably, he averaged 24.3 ppg and 22.7 rpg for his career.

He helped Jacksonville to the 1970 NCAA Finals, losing to UCLA.

Gilmore chose to sign with the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels in 1971, where he became part of a wonderful team with Dan Issell and Louis Dampier. This video is from that era.

It’s black and white and pretty deteriorated, but even so you can see a mobile, graceful center who could maneuver inside, dunk or drop a shot off the backboard.

Some minor trivia about the A-Train: at Jacksonville, he teamed with 7-0 Pembroke Burrows for one of the best Twin Towers in NCAA history.

But the most interesting bit of trivia about Gilmore may be his wife’s name: Enola Gay.

Presumably Mrs. Gilmore is named after the Boeing Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.