Bo Kimble Now Goes One on One

Damon and Pythias were characters of Greek legend whose friendship was so inspirational that, when Pythias was sentenced to death, Damon pledged his life as collateral, giving Pythias time to arrange his affairs.

Such friendships are not rare in the checkered history of man. Today, in the new psychobabble, they call it male bonding but it used to be called, simply, love for one another.

In the modern annals of friendship, probably few have attained the level of that between two young Philadelphia basketball players. They couldn’t have been closer if they were joined at the hip. They shared a common life, a common goal. When one caught cold, the other coughed. When one was hurt, the other bled.

They did everything together. They played as kids, they played as young adults. They double-dated, they ate together. They were inseparable. It was hard for people to recognize them when they showed up alone.

They were 1 and 1A. They played basketball as a unit. They knew each other’s moves so well that each man was like two.

They grew up within blocks of one another in the teeming projects of Philadelphia. They swore to keep off drugs, to keep out of crime together. They dreamed together.

When one of them decided to move 3,000 miles away, clear across the country to attend college, the other followed. Anything else was unthinkable. When one of them got unhappy in that situation and decided to transfer, the other followed. Even though it meant sitting out a year.

But when one of them died on the basketball court, the other could only stand helplessly by. It was the one adventure they couldn’t share.

They always knew their friendship would end only in death--but they thought that was far down the road. Some time off in the 21st Century, when they would be reliving and rehashing old memories, replaying old games. Telling war stories, the favorite pastime of old comrades.

The story of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble came in duplicate. Their closeness confused people. Was it Hank Kimble and Bo Gathers? People thought they were the same model with interchangeable parts. Kimble recalls one of the reasons he wanted to leave USC was that Coach George Raveling persisted in calling him Hank.

They were a devastating force on the basketball court. When their problems at USC resulted in loss of their scholarships, they enrolled at Loyola Marymount, thanks to the intercession of Gathers’ priest-friend in Philadelphia.

They made that little unknown school the toast of college basketball. They were the most exciting scoring unit in the collegiate game, the basketball equivalent of a brush fire. They scored at will. They moved so fast their games were a blur. They threw in so many points, it sometimes looked as if they were using two basketballs. National TV homed in on their games because even a 200-point score seemed possible.

And, then, suddenly, Bo Kimble found himself alone. Suddenly, shockingly, his buddy, his co-star, his alter ego was gone. There was no one in the post, no one in the next locker, no one to sit next to on the team bus.

“We took the same classes together, we went to the same movies, watched the same television together,” recalls Bo Kimble. “We even hoped to play on the same team together in the pros, even though it was a longshot.”

The Hank and Bo show was now a single. A whole city wept but Bo Kimble felt more than bereavement. He felt orphaned.

Linked in life to his inseparable partner, he was also linked in death. It was almost as if Bo Kimble had no real identity of his own.

Yet, Bo had led the nation in scoring this past season. As a part of an act, he was one-half of a nearly unstoppable fast break. He had played at Hank’s side--some said in Hank’s shadow--for almost all his life. Together, they were superstars.

But some people work best in tandems only. Would Bo Kimble be one of these? Could he pick up the pieces, adjust? Could he work without his, as it were, big brother? Or would he be lost?

Bo--real name: Greg Kevin--gave a partial answer when he led Loyola Marymount into the NCAA regionals where the Lions--no disgrace--lost to eventual national champion Nevada Las Vegas.

“We missed Hank’s power, Hank’s intimidation, in that game,” says Bo. “There is no doubt we would have won with him.”

Can Bo make it without Hank’s power, intimidation? Will the Bo show make it? The answer may come partially in the NBA draft June 27. Bo feels he will be one of the 11 lottery picks. A partial confirmation came when the selectors for a special one-on-one competition to be held at the Trump Plaza Hotel in Atlantic City on June 25 picked Bo Kimble as one of the eight best college players of the season to compete.

He will be facing the college elite, Syracuse’s Derrick Coleman, Michigan’s Sean Higgins, La Salle’s Lionel Simmons; Oregon State’s Gary Payton, LSU’s Chris Jackson, Texas’ Travis Mays and Virginia Tech’s Bimbo Cole in a $100,000 shoot-off that will be shown to the nation on pay-per-view television.

How will it be to start a season without Hank Gathers at his side?

Bo Kimble smiles. “He’ll be there,” he says quietly.