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- Great article on Ernie Hobbie – ‘The Shot Doctor’
- After the article, there are two videos showing him teaching
shooting.
PETER
IACOBELLI, Associated Press
Mar. 18, 1989 2:58 PM ET
PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) Ernie Hobbie has brought the
schoolroom to the schoolyard and has many of basketball's biggest names as
willing students in the elusive art of free throw shooting.
Hobbie, an elementary school principal currently helping the New
Jersey Nets, has also worked with the New York Knicks and major college
programs like Syracuse and Georgia Tech.
Hobbie has tinkered with the shots of the Nets' Buck Williams
and Roy Hinson; the Knicks' Gerald Wilkins and Sidney Green; Ralph Sampson of
the Golden State Warriors; Mark Price of the Cleveland Cavaliers; and Rony
Seikaly and Dwayne ''Pearl'' Washington of the Miami Heat.
But, according to Hobbie, you don't have to be NBA caliber to
have a shot at making a free throw.
''I'm convinced anyone can go out back without any practice and
if you say, 'I'm going to extend my arm high and put my five fingers into the
middle of the basket,' you're going to have a decent stroke.''
For Hobbie, the stroke is where it starts. He breaks the motion
into several parts and, like a teacher, uses clever, easy-to-remember phrases
his students can recall in pressure situations.
''Lift, left'' or ''lift, right'' means extend your shooting arm
high into the basket; ''catch, up, you kethup on french fries'' means set the
ball and go up straight with the shot.
''It's muscle memory,'' Hobbie said. ''You're doing the same
thing every time. That's the key; training your mind and muscle to recall the
same motion.''
Once the stroke is down, Hobbie works on a balanced stance and a
positive attitude.
''I tell kids to make sure the data in the computer (the brain)
is only positive. The word 'miss' can't be in your thoughts at all,'' he said.
''You're going to see the ball go through the net. You're going to keep doing
that over and over again.''
For many of Hobbie's pupils, it's working. Georgia Tech has been
the top foul shooting team in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season at 75.8
percent, up from last season's 72.1. Dennis Scott, Tech's star guard, was a 65
percent shooter last year and is now over 81.
The Nets are up to 73.9 from the line after hitting just 67.9
percent in November. Dennis Hopson, the club's best shooter, has improved from
69 percent last year to just under 85 percent this season.
Hobbie, often called the Shot Doctor, even makes house calls.
Seikaly, a rookie center from Syracuse, needed an adjustment when Hobbie was in
Florida earlier this year.
''He has simplified my foul shooting,'' Seikaly said. ''He has
reduced the margin of error and gotten me balanced, always working on the same
thing. The rest is up to you.''
The theory sounds simple, but it's one Hobbie practiced long
before he preached.
A devoted basketball fan, he twice made 310 straight free throws
before missing. At one basketball camp he attended, Hobbie stroked 599 out of
600. Two years ago, he hit 100 straight as a birthday present for a high school
player he counseled.
''I just think shooting is easy,'' said Hobbie, 59. ''Shooting
is the most enjoyable. And you can aquire that skill by yourself.
''That's why an old man like me, with a bad back and a bad hip,
if you let me alone, I can still go out an shoot the ball.''
Hobbie forged his shooting style in the era of the underhand free throw. While coaching the freshman team at Cranford High School in New Jersey, he broached the subject to varsity coach Bill Martin.
Hobbie forged his shooting style in the era of the underhand free throw. While coaching the freshman team at Cranford High School in New Jersey, he broached the subject to varsity coach Bill Martin.
''My brother Eddie (who played for Cranford) didn't shoot
underhand very well, but he could shoot one-handed all night long. I remember
one time at an informal meeting, I said to Bill that I hoped my other brother
Bobby doesn't have to go through what Eddie did with that stupid underhand. I
guess it was the wrong thing to say.''
Martin immediately put the Hobbies on the spot, with brother
Bobby, coached by brother Ernie, the only player in the Cranford program
allowed to shoot one-handed.
''He (Bobby) shot likees came along and broke it,'' Hobbie said.
For years Hobbies came along and broke it,'' Hobbie said.
For years after, Hobbie was invited to local camps, clinics and
high school practices. He only began working with colleges five years ago, when
he was asked by then coach John Weinert to help a poor-shooting Bowling Green
club. Later that season, the Falcons made 24 of 26 foul shots against Toledo,
including 19 straight.
Hobbie's reputation as a shooting teacher grew, and soon schools
like Toledo, Jacksonville, Seton Hall, Fordham, Central Connecticut and
Virginia were asking for help.
''I found he was the most knowledgeable one on free throws,''
said Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. ''He teaches a great technique and gives
players a lot of confidence. He's very positive and it has really improved our
shooting.''
But Hobbie is quick to pass the credit and the blame to those
who deserve it - the players.
''I'd like to think that I'm like a doctor who writes a
perscription and I give it to the patient. It's up to him to follow the
perscription,'' he said. ''If you don't do a thing about it, it's not the
doctor's fault.''
One player who followed Hobbie's perscription was his son,
Jerry, who made a school-record 87 percent of his free throws at Fordham in
1981-82.
Because of his success, Hobbie has been encouraged to run
basketball camps or write books on shooting. However, like most teachers, his
reward comes watching his students succeed.
''At a game in Syracuse, Stevie Thompson (whom Hobbie had worked
with) saw where I was sitting and went 'high, left', then hit two at the end of
a game against Seton Hall.
''My wife said to me 'That gave you more satisfaction than if
they paid you $1 million.' I said absolutely. People don't understand that."
The Original Shot Doctor:
Coaching Poor Shooters:
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