Cliff Hagan

Clifford Oldham Hagan was born on December 9, 1931, in Owensboro, Kentucky — a small river city that would produce one of basketball's most singular talents. Nicknamed "Li'l Abner" during his playing days, Hagan stood 6'4" and possessed a weapon that confounded defenders across three decades: a devastating, ambidextrous hook shot he first discovered as a teenager watching Bob Lavoy of Western Kentucky University launch the then-rare move from the forward position. Transfixed, Hagan retreated to the Owensboro YMCA that summer and taught himself the shot with both hands, eventually perfecting it to the point where he could execute it without even glancing at the basket — reading the floor lines beneath his feet as his guide. After leading Owensboro High School to the 1949 Kentucky state championship, Hagan enrolled at the University of Kentucky under the legendary Adolph Rupp. As a sophomore in 1951, he helped the Wildcats win the NCAA national championship. By 1953 he had set a UK single-game scoring record of 51 points, and in 1953–54 he averaged 24 points per game while leading the only undefeated season in Kentucky basketball history. He was a two-time consensus All-American, and UK retired his jersey number 6 in his honor. Drafted by the Boston Celtics, Hagan instead fulfilled two years of military service with the U.S. Air Force, winning the Worldwide Air Force basketball championship in both seasons. In 1956 he joined the St. Louis Hawks — the result of a blockbuster trade that sent him and Ed Macauley to St. Louis for the draft rights to Bill Russell. Hagan made the most of it. In Game 6 of the 1957 NBA Finals, he hit what is widely believed to be the first playoff buzzer-beater in NBA history. A year later, he led the Hawks past the Celtics in six games to win the 1958 NBA championship, averaging 25.2 points and 9.7 rebounds in the Finals. He was a five-time NBA All-Star and twice named All-NBA Second Team. In 1967, at 36, Hagan joined the Dallas Chaparrals of the new ABA as a player-coach, becoming the first player ever to appear in an All-Star game in both major professional leagues. His hook shot's influence reached beyond his own career: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar later credited watching Hagan's mastery of the shot in the 1960s as inspiration for the "skyhook" that would become the most prolific scoring weapon in NBA history. Off the court, Hagan served as Athletics Director at the University of Kentucky from 1975 to 1988, overseeing the opening of Rupp Arena and the 1978 national championship. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978 — the first Kentucky player so honored. He helped found the Cliff Hagan Boys & Girls Club in Owensboro in 1967, a legacy of community service that endured long after his playing days. Cliff Hagan married his high school sweetheart, Martha Jean Milton, on September 4, 1954, and together they raised four children. He died on October 15, 2026, at age 94, leaving behind a legacy as deep and lasting as the arc of his beloved hook shot.