RIP Toby Kimball

[selles]

View attachment 22091 https://www.newspapers.com/clippings/download/?id=10722201

What a tremendous article. Fifty years later and it still conveys so much.

 

[Uconnfanatic]

Toby and Wes were the reasons I became such a UConn fan. I was 12 when I started following the team in Toby's sophomore season. Boy could we use his rebounding prowess now.

RIP Toby! You were one of the UConn greats!

 

[RichZ]

The unquestioned star of the first UConn game I ever saw.

 

[Dove]

Before my time, too, but through Yarders know he was a great one. It will be a sad day.

 

[UConn 77]

I first started following UConn basketball in 1964 and one of my first heroes was Toby Kimball. RIP Toby.

 

[UConnNick]

Sad news. Toby was the big time star on the first Husky teams I recall rooting for as a kid.

Best wishes to his family and friends. RIP, Toby...one of the greatest Huskies of all time.

 

[Hugo]

He was 2 years ahead of me. Freshman didn't play varsity then. He only played one year with Wes Bialosuknia. They were 23-2, probably our best team until the modern era. Toby was Jeff Adrien with 3-4 more inches, sharp elbows and a nice short hook shot. He took no prisoners. Not sure if he still holds the NCAA tournament record, but in that 23-2 team's horrible tourney draw where they had to play a great St. Joe's team at the Palestra, they lost but Toby stole the show with something like 29 rebounds.

Sad for me to know that the two best Husky players in my 4 years, Toby and Wes, are both gone. Two all time great players. I actually have a Toby card from his NBA days. RIP.

We are from the same era and everything you said is right on target. I'm sure you remember that in those days you weren't allowed to dunk, but at the end of the warmups the team formed a line and simply bounced the ball off the backboard one at a time until Kimball as the last player in line slammed it home as the crowd went wild. I still consider him the toughest player ever at UCONN and that says a lot. RIP Toby.

 

[Tommyboy]

RIP Toby.

 

[Hankster]

Before my time, but a contemporary of my dad who used to rave about him. Rest in peace, Toby.

I cannot believe this. Not his death, but I was reading New Poster above and his admittance to age 55. I thought we were the same age. Much older. I was about to reply to him and explain how I remember the leaky field house and Toby Kimball. I thought I would scan the board, and up comes this. Wow. RIP Toby.

 

[UConnLen]

I was a Freshman and Toby a Sr and saw him, Wes, PJ, Spider, Penders, etc play several times. Had like 20 rebounds vs St Joes in NCAA that year

 

[Nostical]

Loved Toby Kimball. That team with Wes and Penders, etc was awesome. I remember listening to George Ehrlich on WTIC as I sat in the kitchen at our house in Bloomfield. I can still hear Ehrlich's voice getting excited when he'd say "crosscourt to Wes, back over to Penders, dribbles at the top of the key, now looks to the corner, throws it down to a cutting Kimball--who spins to the basket and--"lays it up and in".
RIP Toby.

 

[Palatine]

Awesome player. RIP.

 

[cohenzone]

I'll always remember a play that won a game vs our archrival in those days, URI. The games were usually very close. This particular game Rhody was up by one in the final seconds. We had the ball. I'm not sure who took the shot with a few seconds left, but it missed. Two URI rebounders seemed to be in position. You could hardly see Toby, but this meat cleaver of a hand cuts through the URI guys and tapped in the winning rebound.

I get that it was the Yancon and not the true big time, but the rivalries between us and Rhody and UMass were a lot more interesting and fun than every opponent in the AAC. Zero natural rivalries and every league game feels OOC. Whoopee, the big SMU game.

 

[shakes65]

Was a contemporary of Toby at Uconn and well remember the 64-65 year which was Wes' first and Toby's finale. Game against St. Joe's was a great game as Hawks were ranked in top five and were playing NCAA regional game in Palestra. Had them at the half but fell 69-61 as Matty Guokas and Cliff Anderson were too strong for us and Wes did not have his shot. Toby, however, grabbed 29 boards and Philly press likened him to Philadelphia Warriors great Neil Johnson.

Toby was a classic post player in his day, guarded the middle, and developed a left handed hook shot to go along with his right handed shot which made him particularly effective. Superb player on an outstanding team.

Was a fun-loving guy who, like Wes, made for great memories for many of us hoop fans. God bless you Toby. R.I.P.

 

[cohenzone]

Was a contemporary of Toby at UConn and well remember the 64-65 year which was Wes' first and Toby's finale. Game against St. Joe's was a great game as Hawks were ranked in top five and were playing NCAA regional game in Palestra. Had them at the half but fell 69-61 as Matty Guokas and Cliff Anderson were too strong for us and Wes did not have his shot. Toby, however, grabbed 29 boards and Philly press likened him to Philadelphia Warriors great Neil Johnson

Goukas was way ahead of his time because he was an unusually tall guard back then at 6'6" and a great shooter. We had nobody who could contain him.

 

[champs99and04]

For some reason I am just realizing now that he was white. Until this point he was just an urban legend to me. RIP.