Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1991
Young was a high scoring guard for Cal Luther’s teams from 1968-71, and helped lead MSU to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1969.
“This is a night that I will treasure the rest of my life,” Young said, “I’ll never forget this honor.”
Luther recalled Young’s scrappiness as a player and called him “a coach’s dream”.
“Jimmy was one of the finest basketball players who ever played here,” Luther said. (The Murray Ledger & Times, October 11, 1991, By David Ramey)
There is no way to know what kind of point totals Jimmy Young would have produced had the three-point shot been in existence when he played basketball, but one of his former coaches at MSU has some idea.
“If we had the three-point shot in those days, I know he would have averaged 30 to 35 points a game,” said Bennie Purcell, current MSU tennis coach but then a Racer assistant basketball coach who recruited Young out of Montgomery County High School in Cunningham, Tenn.
“He was the best long-range, pure shooter that’s ever been here,” Purcell said. “He was a very hard-nosed player and aggressive. He gave 100 percent every game.”
A 6-foot perimeter player who often found himself double-teamed, Young scored 1,128 points in his three varsity seasons at MSU, the 15th best total at the school. A deadly accurate shooter, he shot 48.7 percent from the field and 84.6 percent from the charity stripe, still the school record. His 89.6 percent free throw accuracy in 1969-70 also still stands as the MSU single-season record.
Young twice averaged better than 16 points a game and was twice selected All-Ohio Valley Conference. During his career, Murray produced a 58-20 record and earned the school’s second NCAA Tournament appearance in 1969.
Young currently resides in Clarksville, Tenn. (MSU Sports Information)
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| Class of 1991 Jimmy Young, Steve Coulson, David Gourieux, & Larry Mullen |
