FORMER WHITEHALL RESIDENT PUBLISHES FIRST BOOK: The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors

Butte author and former Whitehall resident Debbie Sorensen recently had her first book published. "Beyond the Jump Shot. The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors," was ranked #1 on Amazon in the Youth and Young Adult Basketball book category on its release.

In her first book, Butte author Debbie Sorensen tells the fascinating life story of Kenny Sailors, who rose to basketball fame for developing the modern-day jump shot.

However, "Beyond the Jump Shot: The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors," is less about that accomplishment than the role the sport of basketball played in developing his character and later helping him to teach and inspire others, passing along values of hard work, perseverance, integrity, and respect.

Sorensen first met neighbors Sailors and his wife, Marilynne, when she and her husband moved to the Copper River Valley in southcentral Alaska in 1978. They became good friends, and Sorensen soon learned that in 1943 Sailors had played on the University of Wyoming national championship basketball team in Madison Square Garden. He also played for the Boston Celtics in 1950-51, then went into politics before switching careers to guiding and hunting.

Years later, when she decided to write a book on Sailors' life, Sorensen conducted extensive research, which included many interviews with members of his family, friends, colleagues and students.

The story begins with Kenny recalling how he'd come up with the idea of a jump shot while playing against his older, much taller brother Bud on his mother's Wyoming farm, where the boys had mounted a basketball hoop on the side of a windmill.

We soon learn more about his mother, Cora, deserted by her husband soon after Kenny's birth, but determined to raise her boys to be men. Between going to school and doing chores on the farm, the boys had little time for recreation other than at the basketball hoop.

Through short, anecdotal chapters, Sorensen takes the reader through Sailor's high school years in Laramie, where his skills on the court got the attention of Everett Shelton, the new basketball coach of the University of Wyoming Cowboys. When Sailors enrolled at the university, Shelton recruited him to the freshman team. Later, under Shelton's guidance, talented newcomers from that year became the core of the varsity team that gained national attention with their play against more prestigious teams in New York and on the East Coast and won the NCAA National Championship in 1943.

Upon returning to Wyoming, Sailors enlisted in the Marine Corps and married his finance, Marilynne. Sorensen tells the story of their courtship with gentle humor and one of the best chapters in the book is about the couple's decision to go together to California, where Sailors would be stationed, although Marines were not supposed to bring their wives. This chapter reveals the depth of the couple's love for each other and of Marilynne's own determination and strength in facing new challenges.

After leaving the Marine Corps, Sailors played professional basketball for several years, but due to the volatility of professional leagues in those days, he moved from team to team while putting away a nest egg for him and Marilynne to start their own business. During basketball off-seasons, the couple started a dude ranch in Wyoming and started a program catering to troubled boys. That program ended after a troubling incident and the focus of the ranch changed to hunting and guiding.

In the early 1960s, the Sailors fulfilled a longtime dream of moving to Alaska, hoping to start a hunting and guiding business there. Through contact with new neighbors, Kenny landed a teaching job and began coaching boys' and girls' sports in the Glenallen school district. After building a girls' team in Glenallen, Sailors worked to establish a girls' basketball program in Alaska, encouraging other schools to start girls' teams.

As he had in his basketball career, Sailors faced many challenges and setbacks in building his business ventures and raising his family, which he faced with the Christian faith and determination he had learned in his youth. Marilynne, who struggled with breathing problems from emphysema much of her adult life, shared Kenny's values of hard work and facing adversity head-on.

The couple indeed was able to establish a successful hunting and guiding business in Alaska, where they had hoped to retire, but returned to Wyoming when Marilynne developed symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, which eventually led to her death. Sailors was sustained by his faith through this loss, and many other heartbreaking losses throughout his life. After Marilynne's death, Sailors settled in Laramie, close to the university and its sports activities, and continued working with young athletes through the city's recreation program.

In her book's touching final chapter, Sorensen writes about how even in his 90s, Sailors was able to help and inspire a group of young athletes who rewarded him with a heartfelt tribute.

As Sorensen states in her introduction, Sailors' story is a good one that even readers who don't like basketball will enjoy. Told mostly in Sailors' own words and in accounts of those closest to him, the book is a compelling read. Through the many adventures, triumphs and setbacks in his life, Sailors' Christian faith and the values instilled in him at an early age sustained him and his willingness to share those lessons learned with others, especially the students he taught and coached, are indeed inspiring. Sorensen's first book is a triumph, and hopefully one of many more to come.

"Beyond the Jump Shot: The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors," can be ordered through Sorensen's website, http://www.welcomingwords.net.