Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
A half of century ago, the game of basketball was not only played completely different, but rules and violations of the NCAA were more concrete.
These days, freshman overtake college basketball as seemingly the most important players on a team, with the best players being a lock for the upcoming draft after their freshman year.
Back in the 1960’s freshman weren’t allowed to even see the court and seniors dominated the game and in 1969, senior Lloyd Kerr played on a Colorado State University team that reached the Elite Eight for the only time in school history.
The Rams lost 84-77 to Drake in the Midwest Regional championship game, but they had won two games prior to that, a 52-52 win over Dayton in the first round, where Lloyd led the team with and his twin brother, Floyd, tallied 11 for CSU.
That win set up an all-Colorado match-up between the Rams and University of Colorado — teams that in that era were not regular season opponents.
CSU won 64-56, with Floyd scoring 14 and Lloyd 12.
Kerr and his teammates were honored on Feb. 23 in a game against Wyoming in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the feat.
“We set the record there at Moby Gym our first game at Colorado State where we scored about 130 points and that attendance record lasted about 14 or 15 years,” Kerr said. “It was so much fun to play there, but yes, that loss to this day I still think about and replay in my mind.”
A Bolingbrook resident of more than 35 years, Kerr and his brother played at Washington High School in Indiana.
“Back then, they only had one tournament in the state of Indiana,” said Kerr, who grew up in South Bend, Indiana and played at Washington High School where his team made the state semifinals. “We did some things in high school that was pretty exciting back in those days.”
After college, the brothers were both drafted by the Phoenix Suns — both in the third round. It was the same draft that saw UCLA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by the Milwaukee Bucks. Abdul-Jabbar is the all-time leader in points in NBA history.
The Kerr brothers participated in the summer league, and then competed in Europe where they both played against each other towards the end of their basketball careers.
Today, Lloyd has taken a more relaxed approach to life, while still being very busy with his three children, medical career in South Bend, being involved in the community as a trustee and supported local government, while also having coached numerous boys basketball teams.
“I look back and remember things like our team being called the ‘Fabulous Frosh’, being successful in high school, rooming and playing with Floyd, having the great children I do and all of the other great things I have been blessed with, so I am very happy the way things have turned out,” Kerr said.
Chloe Kerr, Lloyd’s daughter who played basketball for Bolingbrook High School in the early 2000’s and then for the University of Southern California, said that out of everything her father has accomplished in his career on and off the court, the way he treats people and the way people respect him is what stands out to her the most.
“To carry on my father’s legacy and his name has been very important to me to do that in a respectable and correct way,” Chloe said. “Something that not only me and my other siblings see, as well as other people, is how humble and what a great man my father is.”
Kerr has two sons who were athletes at Bolingbrook, Lloyd, Jr., who played football and basketball and continued his football career at the University of Tennessee and Shin, who competed at Bolingbrook and currently coaches the Brook Town Force travel basketball program.
“The way he has fathered us, and the way he has treats people is something everyone should value,” Chloe said.