Before he was known to late-night TV audiences as the “Big Kahuna of Free Throws,” Tom Amberry was a lanky kid from Grand Forks who could barely squeeze into a school desk.

At 6-foot-7, “Lanky Tom” starred on Central High’s basketball team — so good that the Minneapolis Lakers (before they moved to Los Angeles) eventually took notice. But World War II interrupted his career, as did a voluntary detour to podiatry school.

Still, 32 years ago this week, just two days after his 71st birthday, he achieved his greatest fame on the court.

Thomas Robert Amberry was born on Nov. 13, 1922, in Grand Forks to a Welsh-born father and a Norwegian-American mother. His father worked for the railroad while his mother stayed home to raise Tom and his two older sisters. He attended Winship School, then Ce

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