Former Hartford, UConn basketball standout Norman Bailey dies

Norman Bailey, who rose from Hartford’s playgrounds to a notable profession with UConn’s early Large East groups, has died, a UConn spokesperson confirmed. He was 61 years outdated.

Bailey, who performed at Northwest Catholic-West Hartford and at UConn from 1980-83, was 6 ft 5, however remembered for his skill to rise above taller gamers and dunk the ball at a time when that was not commonplace. Throughout his freshman 12 months, he bought free on a quick break for a throw-down in opposition to Villanova in a recreation in Hartford on Feb. 23, 1981, a play ESPN commentators later called the “dunk of the year.”

He started taking part in as a youth in Hartford’s Keney Park, then at Northwest Catholic, the place he was an all-stater, main his staff to a few convention championships, a state semifinal and a state championship recreation throughout the late Seventies. Bailey selected to go to UConn, which had simply joined the brand new Large East Convention and play for coach Dom Perno.

In three seasons, Bailey played in 68 games, scoring 552 factors, 8.1 per recreation, with 3.5 rebounds. He went on to play professionally in Europe. He lived most of his life in Connecticut, and incessantly attended UConn video games. In 2015, he was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

After his taking part in days, Bailey labored with youth within the Hartford as a detention officer, and as a supervisor for Group Options and with the Connecticut Job Corp. in New Haven. Funeral preparations are to be decided.

Dom Amore will be reached at [email protected]