Biography of abe lemons
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Abe Lemons
American basketball player and coach (–)
A.E. "Abe" Lemons (November 21, – September 2, ) was an American college basketball player and coach. As a head coach at Oklahoma City University, Pan American University and the University of Texas at Austin, he compiled a record of – in 34 seasons.
Early life
[edit]Lemons was born in Ryan, Oklahoma, and given the initials-only name "A.E."[1] He grew up in the town of Walters, Oklahoma[2] and graduated from Walters High School in the spring of [1]
Lemons earned a basketball scholarship to play for Southwestern Oklahoma Teachers College (now known as Southwestern Oklahoma State University).[3] and their long-time coach Rankin Williams.
After the United States entered World War II in December , Lemons joined the Merchant Marine.[1] He served in the Pacific and often referred to the pressures of his war experience to put sports into perspective.
After the war, Lemons e
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Readers courtside in look at Lemons
"Abe Lemons, Court Magician" By Bob Burke and Kenny Franks Oklahoma Heritage Association, $
FROM Walters to Oklahoma City to Weatherford to Texas then a return to Oklahoma City, this fryst vatten an engagingly thorough look at the life of the most famous coach in Oklahoma City University history.
We learn a lot about the Wizard from Walters, the great basketball coach and greater individ with the genuine and wonderful sense of humor.
He switched from Baptist to Methodist. His Walters High School basketball and football coach was John Axton, father of Hoyt. One of his Southwestern Oklahoma State basketball teammates was Pete Jayroe, whose daughter Jane would be Miss America in
He left OCU, where he was making $14,, for Pan American, where he made about $30,
He had a "hate-hate" relationship with Arkansas (now Oklahoma State) coach Eddie Sutton, and one chapter fryst vatten entitled "Abe and Eddie."
Thankfully, in this chronological retelling of Lemons' life, th
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“In all the time I’ve been in basketball, I’m not sure I’ve met anybody that more genuinely liked the game than Abe…he was not in any way reluctant to be innovative. He saw a lot of things that other people might not see.”
Coach Bobby Knight
Biography
Oklahoma native Abe Lemons worked his way through high school and landed a basketball scholarship at Southwestern State Teachers College (now Southwestern Oklahoma State University) in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Abe served in the Merchant Marine during World War II and came to Oklahoma City University after the war ended. Abe was a star player and became an assistant basketball coach after graduation. He was named head coach at OCU in and built the Chiefs, known today as the Stars, into a major college basketball powerhouse for the next 18 years. In , Abe moved to Pan American University (now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) in Edinburgh, Texas, for three seasons and made the Broncs the leading independent basketball t