Kenyon caught it, while being pressured by Robert Gonzalez. He would be the man to shoot it….

‘No one in this gym works harder than Gene shooting the basketball,’ said (Bear Coach Kirk) Andrus. ‘He shoots over and over – he shoots that shot over and over. It was fitting that he had the ball in his hands. No one deserves it more.’

Kenyon stepped back, he stepped forward, he let it fly…GOOD!

That’s how SiskiyouYouth.com contributor and KCWH radio station owner/broadcaster Rick Martin described the final seconds of regulation in the Mt. Shasta Bears’ win over the Weed Cougars to secure a share of the Shasta Cascade League championship. Martin would go on to write about Kenyon also making the lay up that gave the Bears the lead for good in overtime.

I rarely base my Impact Award selections on statistics. Usually, I’m aware that the player has good stats, but I don’t really know them until I look them up. The funny thing is that the stats almost always are good enough to say,” Hey, this is one of the best players.”

And so it is with Kenyon. He was second in scoring on the Bears (9.5 ppg). First in field goal percentage, including 3-pointers (54%). And, first in free throw percentage (64%) among the starters. You could say he’s a sharpshooter. He also had the second lowest number of turnovers among the starters. A low amount of turnovers is a good thing because, in basketball, no one likes a baker.

I had texted Coach Andrus sometime after the game against Weed, and about 12:30 in the morning (or night, if you prefer), I received a text back “Are you still awake?”

“For about 10 more minutes,” was the reply.

Fifteen minutes later, Andrus called. Forty-five minutes later, we said good night. About 40 of those minutes were spent on Kenyon hitting the shot to send the game to OT.

Andrus must have said a dozen times how much Kenyon deserved to be the one to make that shot—how hard he worked at it in practice, and how he thought Kenyon probably rehearsed that shot in his dreams a million times.

Andrus said he has spent a tremendous amount of time in gyms, and had hit a few last second shots of his own, but that watching Kenyon hit the buzzer-beater was his greatest moment ever in a gym.

Now, that’s being an Impact Player.

The Impact Player Award is given on a monthly basis and goes to Siskiyou County high school athletes, male or female, that have had a significant impact on the success of their team. I select the players based on my own observations, often in consultation with the player’s coaches.

Up to four awards may be given each month and are not school specific; they can go to a player at any school that Siskiyou Youth covers. Winners receive Impact T-shirts that were designed by Golden Grotto. The T-shirts and award are cosponsored by SiskiyouYouth.com and NorCal Classic Hits radio, KCWH, 102.3/101.7

Gene Kenyon Photo by Suzzanne Lunney