Jerome Franklin Shipp (September 27, 1935 – October 5, 2021) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played for the U.S. national team at the 1963 FIBA World Championship,

1963 Pan American Games The 1963 Pan American Games, officially known as the IV Pan American Games () and commonly known as São Paulo 1963, were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil. Host city selection For the first time, two cities submitted b ...

and

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

, winning a gold medal at the latter two competitions. Shipp was also a three-time Amateur Athletic Union All-American for the

Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an orga ...

Bartlesville, Oklahoma Bartlesville is a city mostly in Washington County and Osage County, Oklahoma. The population was 37,290 at the 2020 census. Bartlesville is north of Tulsa and south of the Kansas border. It is the county seat of Washington County. The Cane ...

during the 1960s.

Early life

Shipp was born in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

on September 27, 1935. However, he was raised in Blue, Oklahoma, and attended Blue High School.

Basketball career

College

Shipp enrolled at Southeastern State College (now called

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern or SE) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had a total enrollment of 5,376 in 2022. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an act designating Du ...

) in the fall of 1955. He played for the Savage Storm for four years, from 1955–56 through 1958–59, and he is recognized as "one of the greatest basketball players in the history of outheastern Oklahoma State University/nowiki>". Shipp led the conference in scoring twice, was a three-time all-conference performer, and set two different conference records: points in a game (54) and most

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

s made without a miss (19). In 1978 he was inducted into the school's hall of fame, and in 2007, Shipp was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.

Amateur Athletic Union

After graduation, Shipp was selected in the 1959 NBA draft by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

. He was taken in the 9th round as the 64th overall pick. Shipp, however, opted to play in the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) instead in order to retain his "amateur" status. Back then, only amateurs were allowed to compete in international competition while representing their country, such as the Pan American,

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

and

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

. During the next five years, Shipp played for the AAU powerhouse

. He played in three consecutive national championships with them between 1962 and 1964, winning the title the first two times. During these three seasons he was also named an AAU All-American. Shipp finished his career as the highest scoring non- center in Phillips 66ers history ( Bob Kurland, a center, was the team's all-time leading scorer).

Team USA

Representing the United States, Shipp won two gold medals in less than two years while playing for the basketball team. At the

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, the U.S. swept the competition en route to a perfect 6–0 record. He averaged 15.0 points per game, the highest on the team, while making 42 field goals and six free throws. On the 1963 FIBA World Championship team, the U.S. cruised out of the preliminary round with a 3–0 record. They stumbled in the final round, however, going 3–3 (6–3 overall) and did not win a medal, finishing in fourth place. Shipp led the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game in nine games played. At the

held in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Shipp played alongside future Hall of Famers

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

and Larry Brown, as well as veritable basketball stars

Walt Hazzard Mahdi Abdul-Rahman (born Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr.; April 15, 1942 – November 18, 2011) was an American professional basketball player and college basketball coach. He played in college for the UCLA Bruins and was a member of their first natio ...

, Jeff Mullins and

Joe Caldwell Joe Louis Caldwell (born November 1, 1941) is an American former professional basketball player. Caldwell played six seasons (1964–1970) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and five seasons (1970–1975) in the American Basketball As ...

. It was Shipp, however, that led the team in scoring. He guided Team USA to an unblemished 9–0 record while averaging 12.4 points per game—2.3 more per game than Bradley, who was second on the team in scoring. In a 69–61 win over

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

during the Group Stage, Shipp scored a personal tournament-high 22 points and accounted for nearly one-third of the team's total offense. In the championship game against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, who also entered the contest with an 8–0 record like the United States, he scored 10 points in the 73–59 win to earn the gold medal.

Later life

Toward the end of 1964, fresh off two AAU national championships, three AAU All-American honors, and two gold medals with Team USA, Shipp was nominated as a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award. It is an award given annually by the AAU to "the outstanding

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

athlete in the United States". He spent the rest of his life in business, much of it with

ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in t ...

. Shipp was inducted into the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

and

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA) Halls of Fame. Shipp died on October 5, 2021, at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipp, Jerry 1935 births 2021 deaths 1963 FIBA World Championship players American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1963 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Oklahoma Basketball players from Shreveport, Louisiana Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics New York Knicks draft picks Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in basketball People from Bryan County, Oklahoma Phillips 66ers players Small forwards Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players