Dr Tom Amberry, DPM was a podiatrist in Long Beach, CA who was orignally from Grand Forks, North Dakota. Tom passed away , March 18, 2017 at the age of 94.
‘Dr Tom’ is most well known for setting the world record of the most number of consecutive basketball free throws of 2750 in 1993 at the age of 71. It took him 12 hours and had to stop as the janitors needed to close the gymnasium. Following this he lectured and taught widely the skills needed to make free throws, including writing a book: Free Throw: 7 Steps to Success at the Free Throw Line.
After graduating from high school in 1940, he spent four years in the Navy. He fought in the D-Day invasion at Normandy and then against the Japanese in the Pacific theater. He played basketball in the navy. After the war he was offered a contract with the Minneapolis Lakers but he turned it down and went to go to podiatry school. It was not until after his retirement from podiatry practice that he took up basketball again and developed his free throw technique.
NBC news story:
External Links:
‘Dr. Tom,’ podiatrist who made a record 2,750 consecutive free throws, dies at 94 (Podiatry Arena)
Free Throw (Dr Tom’s Website)
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