Monday, March 28, 2005

Coach K Out of Retirement

Oh, we're not talking about THAT Coach K. We're talking about a Coach K that we can all love. That would be Coach Roger Kaiser. Nice story on his involvement in youth basketball.

He was an All-American player at Georgia Tech in the 1960s and had won four national championships and more than 660 games as a college coach at West Georgia and Life University. He's also a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame — and he was coming out of retirement to coach middle school kids from north Fulton, Cobb and Cherokee counties.


The 12-to-14-year-olds had heard about Kaiser, 66, but were a bit skeptical of the legend, especially his renowned ability to put the ball into the basket. So they held a little shooting contest: The kids would try to hit five free throws before the coach could make 10 three-pointers.


"I didn't believe him at first, " said Ian Kelly, 14, of Marietta. "So I challenged him."


It was, by all accounts, no contest — Kaiser by a landslide.


"I can still shoot," he said with a smile.