Van Lear Basketball

Van Lear Basketball

This is the 1955-56 basketball team at Van Lear High School.  They were a young team, but Larry Joe Adams was a high scoring senior in an era of high scorers.  His jump shot landed him a scoring average of over 36 points per game according to witnesses and a surviving scorebook.

In an era of great scorers these facts were lost to the other great scorers of the time and the region, such as “King” Kelly Coleman.  The mid 1950s are underappreciated in the world of Kentucky high school basketball.

Adams was an All-State Honorable Mention player in his senior year, one of only two in the school’s history.