Former Canuck Cager Looks Back at Teammate Elgin Baylor
Posted on March 23, 2021
It’s March 21, 1958 and the National Collegiate Championship Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament semi-final matchup features the Seattle University Chieftains (now known as the Redhawks) and the Kansas State Wildcats.
It’s late in the game at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky with the Chieftains holding a comfortable lead.
The whistle blows and into the game for the Chieftains is 6-foot-2 guard Jon-Lee Kootnekoff wearing No. 23.
A native of Mission, British Columbia, Kootnekoff takes a pass from his All-American teammate Elgin Baylor…the ball bouncing off of his hands and out-of-bounds.
“He (Baylor) looked at me and said, “Hey, I’ll look for you again,” and he did and I scored on a lay-in,” recalls Kootnekoff, 85, in a telephone interview last night from his Penticton, B.C. residence.
Baylor,who died yesterday at the age of 86 of natural causes, would go on to become one of the greatest talents in basketball history, playing 14 National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers (1958-1971) while reaching NBA All-Star First Team status 10 times along with 1959 Rookie of the Year honours.
But it is in Seattle, with their Cinderella run in 1957-1958, that Baylor would first become a household name.
In this semi-final matchup, Seattle, , ranked No. 18 in the final 1958 Associated Press Polls, would go on to beat Kansas State (ranked No. 2) 73-51.
With the win, they became the third Pacific Northwest team to make it to the championship game.
The University of Oregon Webfoots (now known as the Ducks), won the inaugural event in 1939 by beating Ohio State 46-33 and Washington State Cougars lost to Wisconsin Badgers 39-34 in 1941.
For the 1958 finale, held the next day March 22, 1958, the Chieftains, with Baylor hampered by an injury (later diagnosed as broken ribs) which occurred against Kansa State, Seattle would bow out to No. 9 ranked Kentucky Wildcats 84-72 in front of 18,803 fans.
This would be Baylor’s final year of amateur hoops, averaging an impressive 32.5 points per game and 19.3 rebounds per game in 29 starts.
In the five games during the 24-team 1958 NCAA tournament, Kootnekoff would see court time in only one other game, an 88-51 thrashing of the University of Wyoming Cowboys on March 12, 1958 at Hamon Gym in Berkley, California.
Kootnekoff had scored four points and hauled in four rebounds in the West – First Round matchup.
Kootnekoff has nothing but “great memories” of playing with Baylor.
“How much time do you have,” said Kootnekoff, who led his Mission Senior Secondary School team to the 1954 BC Inter-High School Boys’ Basketball Association provincial title with a 40-39 win over Gladstone.
“He was a gift. A gift to basketball. The first time I saw him is when he came to Port Alberni (where Kootnekoff stared for the Alberni Athletics Senior A men’s basketball team, assisting them to the 1955 Canadian Senior A Men’s Basketball title against the Sault Ste. Marie Gunners) to play some exhibition games.
“During warm-ups he put on a show and he scored 42 points in the game. I was awed like everyone else. He did magical things and he was the first fellow I saw walk on air. After the game Elgin came up to me and said “Hey dude…why don’t you apply to Seattle University as they are looking for some tall guards who could shoot.”
Thanks to Baylor’s recommendation and the fact that the Port Alberni player/coach Elmer Speidel, had captained the Seattle Chieftains only a few years prior, Kootnekoff dribbled across the border and led the freshmen team in scoring.
“In all due respect to my humility…I had a prolific jump shot. I was one of the first in B.C. high schools to have a consistent jump shot. I had the great ability to jump quite high. I perfected my jump shot and did quite well.”
In the 1950s there were few Canadians playing NCAA Division I hoops: Bob Houbregs, University of Washington; Fred Ingaldson, Montana State University and Tommy Karren, Brigham Young University Cougars come to mind.
Appearing in 19 games in 1957-1958, Kootnekoff recalls the exploits of Baylor.
“We were playing University of Portland (Pilots) and we needed to play and beat them to be ranked. Elgin was unstoppable. He got a breakaway and he did a 360 in midair, took off at the top of the key and rammed the ball backwards with a two-handed dunk. I was on the bench and had the best seats in town. Dr. J. (Julius Erving) was great but Elgin came first.”
Baylor would score 60 points in the 94-91 Seattle win.
Of Baylor, Kootnekoff concluded: “He was an outstanding citizen…very humble and he was not cocky, he was very confident.”
Kootnekoff would go on to represent Canada at the 1960 Summer Olympics pre tournament where Canada failed to qualify.
He would later coach basketball at Simon Fraser University and has been inducted into the Mission Sports Hall of Fame, Basketball BC Hall of Fame and Simon Fraser University Athletic Hall of Fame.
Written by: Curtis J. Phillips