He was called the “Splendid Splinter,” copied from the nickname given to baseball star Ted Williams. It wasn't original, but it was appropriate. He weighed about 145 pounds in high school, spread sparingly over his 6-foot-2 frame.

Voted Indiana's Mr. Basketball in 1959, he was a harbinger of the go-go Sixties, when shooters were given a free rein to do their thing. He scored 56 points twice at Indiana University, once as a junior in an overtime game at Minnesota and again as a senior against Michigan State. He scored 44 in the other game against the Spartans that season for an even 100.

Decades later, when Rayl was encouraging Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote to recruit Matt Painter, Heathcote called him.

“Is this Jimmy Rayl, IU's all-time leading scorer?” Heathcote said when Rayl answered the phone.

“No, Jud, I wasn't, but if I played you guys every night I would have been,” Rayl said.

Rayl was voted the Pacers' Most Popular Player the first year of their franchise and was a starter at the beginning of the following season. But he was released shortly after fellow former IU star and Kokomo resident Slick Leonard took over as coach. There's a story behind that which Rayl didn't want to get into here, but I wrote about it in detail in "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis."

We conducted this conversation on the telephone, but I visited with Rayl at his home in Kokomo a few times. I saw the driveway where the goal used to hang on which the likes of Rick Mount, Scott Skiles, John Havlicek and Matt Painter shot. I also saw the wood paneling in the basement that two of his Pacers teammates, Bob Netolicky and Mike Lewis, helped install.

I continued talking with Rayl after this show aired and have kept in touch with his wife, Nancy, since he passed away. I was honored to speak at his funeral service in Kokomo along with Painter, Netolicky and a few others.

Jimmy to his credit was simply the kind of guy people enjoyed talking with and visiting.

First aired 2009

Tagged with: Indiana Mr. Basketball 1959, Indiana Pacers, Indiana University, Jimmy Rayl, Kokomo High School