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Clint Keown

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crazed_hoosier2

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Mar 28, 2011
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Those who followed HS basketball back in the late 90s might remember a player from Evansville named Clint Keown. He was an Indiana All-Star in 1998.

Clint passed away today in an automobile accident.

Went on to play 2 seasons at UE for Jim Crews and then transferred to D2 South Carolina Aiken. He had a standout career there in both basketball and baseball. He played minor league baseball briefly.

The guy was almost larger than life here in Evansville. He became a tremendous prop gambler and poker player. He bet with the likes of Kevin Hart, Nelly, and Tobey Maguire. The stories he racked up doing that were legendary. He once hit 90 out of 100 free throws on roller skates for $50k.

More recently, he became a fantastic amateur golfer - a game he didn’t pick up until his 20s. One of the best players in the area.

Apparently he was over in Robinson, IL to play golf with a friend. RIP to a local legend.
 
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Clint was a good dude. He actually won a bunch of money off me during a week of golf in Bloomington,. There are some great stories out there about him. Amazing athlete. He had really settled down. 2 kids. Tremendously sad.

Here is a great story about Clint:

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crazed_hoosier2 said:
Those who followed HS basketball back in the late 90s might remember a player from Evansville named Clint Keown. He was an Indiana All-Star in 1998.

Clint passed away today in an automobile accident.

Went on to play 2 seasons at UE for Jim Crews and then transferred to D2 South Carolina Aiken. He had a standout career there in both basketball and baseball. He played minor league baseball briefly.

The guy was almost larger than life here in Evansville. He became a tremendous prop gambler and poker player. He bet with the likes of Kevin Hart, Nelly, and Tobey Maguire. The stories he racked up doing that were legendary. He once hit 90 out of 100 free throws on roller skates for $50k.

More recently, he became a fantastic amateur golfer - a game he didn’t pick up until his 20s. One of the best players in the area.

Apparently he was over in Robinson, IL to play golf with a friend. RIP to a local legend.
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I think he was playing pickleball in Illinois.
 
Grew up being around the Keown kids. Clint was a good dude and would talk to anyone. His brother Casey recently opened Casey's Dugout, a pizza joint on the east side of Evansville and Clint helped him promote it. Heart goes out to this family who also lost Clint's other brother Corey some years ago.
 
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crazed_hoosier2 said:
Those who followed HS basketball back in the late 90s might remember a player from Evansville named Clint Keown. He was an Indiana All-Star in 1998.

Clint passed away today in an automobile accident.

Went on to play 2 seasons at UE for Jim Crews and then transferred to D2 South Carolina Aiken. He had a standout career there in both basketball and baseball. He played minor league baseball briefly.

The guy was almost larger than life here in Evansville. He became a tremendous prop gambler and poker player. He bet with the likes of Kevin Hart, Nelly, and Tobey Maguire. The stories he racked up doing that were legendary. He once hit 90 out of 100 free throws on roller skates for $50k.

More recently, he became a fantastic amateur golfer - a game he didn’t pick up until his 20s. One of the best players in the area.

Apparently he was over in Robinson, IL to play golf with a friend. RIP to a local legend.
Click to expand...
Like 20 Eville guys were over there playing golf. They were in aTesla running out of battery life. They were heading to a doctor friend of Clint’s to charge up. Hydroplaned, hit a guardrail, into a ditch then hit a bridge. His friend Matt Redd in critical condition with trauma to the head.

His prop bet hitting 90 out of 100 three pointers while banking them in is crazy.

He practiced playing tennis with a skillet and took on all comers allowing them to use a tennis racket.

I got into it with a couple times at Victoria National when I warned his pigeon he was about to get slaughtered.

We lost a good doctor in Washington in a Tesla accident this summer. He was using autopilot, fell asleep and wrecked.
 
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stollcpa said:
Like 20 Eville guys were over there playing golf. They were in aTesla running out of battery life. They were heading to a doctor friend of Clint’s to charge up. Hydroplaned, hit a guardrail, into a ditch then hit a bridge. His friend Matt Redd in critical condition with trauma to the head.

His prop bet hitting 90 out of 100 three pointers while banking them in is crazy.

He practiced playing tennis with a skillet and took on all comers allowing them to use a tennis racket.

I got into it with a couple times at Victoria National when I warned his pigeon he was about to get slaughtered.

We lost a good doctor in Washington in a Tesla accident this summer. He was using autopilot, fell asleep and wrecked.
Click to expand...
Tennis with a skillet. Yeah, that’s Clint.

I told him once that he was a modern-day Titanic Thompson. Thompson was renowned for doing crazy prop bets like that. And, like Clint, was also a genuinely good golfer who mainly used it to hustle. Thompson reportedly beat Byron Nelson one time.

Ironically, Thompson was known to visit Evansville in his travels. I remember hearing that, on his way into town once, he came across a guy in Posey County loading a truck with melons. He paid him to count the melons and then show up down at the McCurdy Hotel a few hours later - but to forget he ever saw him.

When the truck showed up, Thompson bet the guys he was with he could guess the number of melons in the truck within 2.

Clint really was one of one. I have never known anybody else like him and I doubt that I ever will. And, as others have said, he was a genuinely good guy too. To the surprise of most who knew him, he had moved on from all of that the last few years - getting married and having kids.
 
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crazed_hoosier2 said:
Tennis with a skillet. Yeah, that’s Clint.

I told him once that he was a modern-day Titanic Thompson. Thompson was renowned for doing crazy prop bets like that. And, like Clint, was also a genuinely good golfer who mainly used it to hustle. Thompson reportedly beat Byron Nelson one time.

Ironically, Thompson was known to visit Evansville in his travels. I remember hearing that, on his way into town once, he came across a guy in Posey County loading a truck with melons. He paid him to count the melons and then show up down at the McCurdy Hotel a few hours later - but to forget he ever saw him.

When the truck showed up, Thompson bet the guys he was with he could guess the number of melons in the truck within 2.

Clint really was one of one. I have never known anybody else like him and I doubt that I ever will. And, as others have said, he was a genuinely good guy too. To the surprise of most who knew him, he had moved on from all of that he last few years - getting married and having kids.
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These @stollcpa are fantastic

Very sad
 
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Another quick story I remembered.

About 5 or so years ago, Memorial was playing in the football state championship just after Thanksgiving. Clint was with a group of guys that had gone to Bloomington.

To the horror of a couple of the other guys he was with (including one other former D1 basketball player) he was adamant about going to see Coach Knight…at his house.

He won the discussion and these guys literally pulled up in front of RMK’s house. Clint knocked on the door and Karen answered. He asked if Coach was home and if they could see him. She said she’d go see how he was and came back and agreed to let them see him.

They went inside and spent about 15 minutes talking to RMK. Clint told Knight that he had recruited him at IU in the late 90s (he showed Coach pictures he had saved on his phone from a recruiting visit) and that he had gone on to play for Jim Crews at UE.

They posed for pictures — that were passed all around Lucas Oil Stadium at the football game — and left for Indianapolis.
 
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crazed_hoosier2 said:
Another quick story I remembered.

About 5 or so years ago, Memorial was playing in the football state championship just after Thanksgiving. Clint was with a group of guys that had gone to Bloomington.

To the horror of a couple of the other guys he was with (including one other former D1 basketball player) he was adamant about going to see Coach Knight…at his house.

He won the discussion and these guys literally pulled up in front of RMK’s house. Clint knocked on the door and Karen answered. He asked if Coach was home and if they could see him. She said she’d go see how he was and came back and agreed to let them see him.

They went inside and spent about 15 minutes talking to RMK. Clint told Knight that he had recruited him at IU in the late 90s (he showed Coach pictures he had saved on his phone from a recruiting visit) and that he had gone on to play for Jim Crews at UE.

They posed for pictures — that were passed all around Lucas Oil Stadium at the football game — and left for Indianapolis.
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I laughed so hard when I saw those pictures. I told Clint that he was the only person I know that had the balls to do something like that.
 
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ulrey said:
I deliver to his mom’s business. She’s awesome. I feel for her losing two sons. Horrible.
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Julie and his aunt Pam are both great people. His family has definitely had some hard times the last few years. Clint changed when his son Colby was born and he’s said many times that Colby was the best thing that’s ever happened in his life. It’s been a very sad day for me.
 
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crazed_hoosier2 said:
Tennis with a skillet. Yeah, that’s Clint.

I told him once that he was a modern-day Titanic Thompson. Thompson was renowned for doing crazy prop bets like that. And, like Clint, was also a genuinely good golfer who mainly used it to hustle. Thompson reportedly beat Byron Nelson one time.

Ironically, Thompson was known to visit Evansville in his travels. I remember hearing that, on his way into town once, he came across a guy in Posey County loading a truck with melons. He paid him to count the melons and then show up down at the McCurdy Hotel a few hours later - but to forget he ever saw him.

When the truck showed up, Thompson bet the guys he was with he could guess the number of melons in the truck within 2.

Clint really was one of one. I have never known anybody else like him and I doubt that I ever will. And, as others have said, he was a genuinely good guy too. To the surprise of most who knew him, he had moved on from all of that he last few years - getting married and having kids.
Click to expand...
I have a book in my office library about Titanic. There’s a story about him moving a road sign with the miles to Evansville as part of a bet he nailed a guy on?
 
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indianasportstickets said:
Clint was a good dude. He actually won a bunch of money off me during a week of golf in Bloomington,. There are some great stories out there about him. Amazing athlete. He had really settled down. 2 kids. Tremendously sad.

Here is a great story about Clint:

www.pokerstake.com

Home

Welcome to PokerStake, the best place to buy and sell poker tournament stake. PokerStake provides stakings of the best poker players, live news of poker world, and various communities for poker fans.
www.pokerstake.com www.pokerstake.com
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The last time I saw him at Oak Meadow about a year ago he talked to me after his round. He told me he had settled down. When I saw your post about settling down it reminded me.

RIP Clint. Prayers for your family.
 
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What a sad turn of events, but what a great thread full of awesome stories. I can only imagine the stories that will be told during and after the service.
 
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We were talking about him Labor Day. My daughter brought up that she saw him and his wife at their preschool open house. My grandson and his kid are the same age but in different classes'

My son told us how Clint wanted to make a bet that he would finish in the top 4 of the City Golf tournament.He knew better than to bet against Clint on anything. He would often run into him on the golf courses, UE games or Kiplee's.

Both kids were pretty sad today in our family texts. It really hits home that my grandson will grow up and attend Memorial with his son. My daughter doesn't know his wife very well but she knows several of her close friends. They've been trying to understand how these things happen. We need to remember how fragile life is and be as careful as you can for those around you.
 
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iubud said:
We were talking about him Labor Day. My daughter brought up that she saw him and his wife at their preschool open house. My grandson and his kid are the same age but in different classes'

My son told us how Clint wanted to make a bet that he would finish in the top 4 of the City Golf tournament.He knew better than to bet against Clint on anything. He would often run into him on the golf courses, UE games or Kiplee's.

Both kids were pretty sad today in our family texts. It really hits home that my grandson will grow up and attend Memorial with his son. My daughter doesn't know his wife very well but she knows several of her close friends. They've been trying to understand how these things happen. We need to remember how fragile life is and be as careful as you can for those around you.
Click to expand...
Love your last sentence. I had an odd day. I got a text that the daughter of one of our soccer crowd buds died of cancer today. Soph in high school. I actually ran into him at the hospital when he was waiting on results. Went crazy fast. Then this afternoon I stopped by my outlaw’s grandparents. He is going to die in the next few days. Made it to 90. Seems like quite a feat. Like winning the ultimate game of survivor

Despite the sadness this is a great thread. Characters worthy of a novel
 
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stollcpa said:
His friend Matt Redd in critical condition with trauma to the head.
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I’ve been getting updates on Matt’s condition. I know him, too - though not as well.

Matt Redd was Ev. Harrison’s best hoops player during the time Clint played. This would’ve been after Cheaney, Kell, Lowery, and McCarty. Like Clint, Redd also graduated in 1998. At one time he was slated to walk on for Bruce Pearl at USI. I don’t know if that materialized though.

IMG-1766.jpg


Clint and Matt were rivals on the basketball court who were (or eventually became) best of friends, frequent golfing partners, and now this.
 
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crazed_hoosier2 said:
I’ve been getting updates on Matt’s condition. I know him, too - though not as well.

Matt Redd was Ev. Harrison’s best hoops player during the time Clint played. This would’ve been after Cheaney, Kell, Lowery, and McCarty. Like Clint, Redd also graduated in 1998. At one time he was slated to walk on for Bruce Pearl at USI. I don’t know if that materialized though.

IMG-1766.jpg


Clint and Matt were rivals on the basketball court who were (or eventually became) best of friends, frequent golfing partners, and now this.
Click to expand...
I pray that Matt gets better. My brother is friends with him and his brother. They all went to Harrison when they had some stud athletes. I think Matt is slowly improving each day but it's going to be a long road in recovery.
 
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Played ball with him when I lived in Evansville...Believe he was a soph in HS at the time...maybe. Use to play at an elementary school, with chained nets....dunking rims....Then played against him at the athletic club. High spirited kid. Saddening to hear this.

I went to USI 92-94. Stayed for a year after leaving school. So Clint was probably a frosh/soph in HS then.
 
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