Reluctant but proud, Dampier in Hall of Fame

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Louis "Louie" Dampier might be painfully shy, but the call of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has pried him from his shell this week, and the former University of Kentucky and ABA star seems to be enjoying the moment.

After receiving his Hall of Fame jacket Thursday, Dampier told a story about his recent invitation to a birthday party for a friend's grandson. The little boy asked him who was the best basketball player ever and laid out his options: Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Larry Bird or Kobe Bryant.

"I thought, 'Man, this is going to be a tough question to answer with that group of players.' Then he said, 'Or Louie Dampier?' I didn't know exactly who was the best, but I knew who was the worst," said Dampier, an All-American for the Wildcats in the 1960s and the ABA's all-time leading scorer. "I kind of relate that to being inducted into the Hall of Fame. There might be a lot of players who were and are better than I was, but I'm in and I'm going to accept it."

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A modest man who runs from the spotlight, Dampier is arguably the best shooter in UK history and inarguably the ABA's leader in games, minutes, points and assists. He played with the Kentucky Colonels for all nine seasons of the colorful league – literally, with its red, white and blue game balls – and finished his career with the San Antonio Spurs when the ABA and NBA merged in 1976.

Why does Dampier feel out of place in the same Hall of Fame that has already enshrined Jordan and Bird and will someday do the same with James and Bryant?

"You know, I can read," he joked. "The ABA is kind of looked down on a little bit, but we made a lot of great players in the ABA that came out and had great careers in the NBA. It's just great to be entered with those guys and all the idols that I had when I was playing in the ABA and the idols I had when I was growing up."

Dampier, who retreated inside himself after losing both parents by the age of 18, never imagined a day he'd enter the Hall of Fame – at least not in basketball. His first and favorite sport was baseball. Even after the Indiana native finally adopted his home state's beloved game, Dampier wasn't dreaming big.

"My first thought was, 'I want to be on my high school varsity basketball team.' Then I had a little bit of success there and then I started thinking, 'Maybe I will get to play college ball,'" Dampier said. "Not until after maybe my junior or senior year (at Kentucky) did I think I would have a shot at playing pro basketball."

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Now he joins current Cats coach John Calipari as the ninth and 10th UK representatives in the Hall of Fame. Dampier and Calipari are side by side on the dome inside the hall where pictures of every inductee are displayed.

"I guess they're in alphabetical order," said Dampier, for whom nearly every sentence comes with an aw-shucks shrug. "I really got to know Coach Cal at the Final Four (this year). He's a great guy and a great coach and I feel privileged to be beside him on the wall."

The feeling is mutual.

"He's the best long-range shooter in our program – maybe any," said the more long-winded Calipari, who as they were preparing time-limited Hall of Fame speeches asked Dampier: "Are you going to yield me some of your time? He never talks about himself. This is a humble (man). He'll defer. He's about his family. He's one of the neatest persons I've ever met and that God has ever put on this earth."

Dampier said his only thought before taking the stage for Friday night's enshrinement speech would be to get through it and go celebrate.

"I'm just going to say a lot of thank-you's for the people who have been so important in my life," he said. "I'm not going to talk about myself."

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He chose another former UK star and Kentucky Colonels teammate, Dan Issel (Hall of Fame class of 1993), to do that as his presenter.

"We're just the best of friends. I had other choices," Dampier said, "but I wanted to keep it simple and keep it with Dan."

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Email him at ktucker@courier-journal.com.