Lebanon Cedar basketball legend sinks 80 free throws on his 80th birthday

John Lentz set out on Tuesday with one simple goal: Make 80 free throws on his 80th birthday. 

What started as something fun to do in his mind morphed into a celebration of the former Lebanon High School basketball legend’s past accomplishments before the press, his family and friends, and several hundred adoring 7th- and 8th-grade Lebanon Middle School students. 

“What turned out to be going to the YMCA with a friend of mine who’s gonna retrieve the ball and get it back to me, turned into an event that has me totally … flabbergasted,” Lentz said, moments before sinking 80 free throws in about 15 minutes. “So it’s a wonderful thing, and here we are.”

Lentz loved having the rock in his hand at a young age, telling LebTown that he manned just about every position on the court during his playing days that lasted through his graduation from Elizabethtown College. 

“Well, at a very young age, I actually played at 11 in YMCA, a state-bitty basketball championship team. And then, of course, from there I played junior high school basketball,” Lentz of Lebanon said.  “Then in high school, I started on the JV team. I played three games there and then was promoted to varsity.”

During his high school years, his stock on the court rose greatly. 

“And then from there, my junior and senior year, I led the Central Penn League in scoring, and then my senior year I was first team All-State,” said Lentz. That was a noteworthy achievement since Lebanon High School played teams from much bigger cities. 

LebTown was told and Lentz confirmed that people packed the Lebanon High School gymnasium to see him play, and if you weren’t in the door by the time the junior varsity game started, your chances of getting a seat for the varsity game were slim to none.

“That is a true story, and I have pictures to validate that, where they were lined up on the steps at the gym out on 8th Street and down over across the railroad tracks, waiting to get to see the Lebanon Cedars play basketball in the Central Pennsylvania League, which is a very good league,” Lentz said. 

A March 20, 1963, article in the Lebanon Daily News noted that Lentz was only the second Lebanon Cedar basketball player to be named to the “All-state scholastic team by United Press International.” The story states that Lentz was Lebanon High School’s all-time leading scorer and Central Pennsylvania League champion for two consecutive seasons.

The article also says Lentz scored 575 points his senior year (449 in league play) and ended his high school career with a record 1,141 points. 

“Well, I’ve just always played basketball. It’s something I just love, and fortunately, I was blessed with some physical attributes that lend themselves to playing basketball. I had a 38-inch vertical leap, so I could dunk with two hands,” Lentz said. “So many things just came natural to me. And you can only give God the glory for that.”

Lentz said his record was broken by Sam Bowie, who went on to play at basketball powerhouse Kentucky after setting the all-time Lancaster-Lebanon League record of 2,000 points. The first person to achieve that goal, Bowie set that record in 1979 just over 15 years after Lentz graduated in 1963.

“I was the first senior to score 1,000 points. And that record held until Sam Bowie blew it out of the water. I mean, everybody knows who Sam is,” added Lentz.

Lentz’s accomplishments are even more impressive when you know that he was constantly double teamed by his opponents, according to the 1963 LDN article.

“I would typically set up on a wing and then once the offense started to flow, you know, run off of picks,” said Lentz, who added he really wasn’t a point guard. “If anything, I was more of a forward because of my ability to jump. I was a strong rebounder. I got a lot of second chance baskets, by the way.” 

The stiff competition the Cedars faced in local and league play, such as in the “very difficult” but also “great” Central Penn league, enhance his achievements.

“Yeah, a lot of talent. Reading, Lancaster, York, Central York, Steelton, William Penn, Harrisburg. They were all the big city schools,” Lentz said. “There wasn’t a lot of suburban basketball to speak of at that time. Everybody went to those big city schools.”

Years after hanging up his sneakers in retirement, Lentz decided to give it one last go to see if he could achieve his birthday wish. While he had practiced a week ago Monday, he admitted to not even owning a basketball. The one he used Tuesday was loaned to him by the YMCA.

“So they were nice enough to loan me this basketball. And interestingly enough, it has a number 80 (written) on it,” he said.

As the big moment arrived, Lentz said he had a case of the nerves.  

“I’m probably more nervous now than I was back then, frankly,” said Lentz as several hundred students took their seats in the middle school gymnasium. “But this is wonderful, I’ll do my best. And probably gonna have to take some pauses from now and again to make sure that I can remain strong enough to get to the end.”

Lentz started out a little slow, but warmed up quickly. As an announcer kept track of each free throw made, much to the delight of the students who screamed their approval, the scoreboards at either end of the court kept track of each successful attempt. The name of the visiting team was replaced with the word “Lentz” above where each successful shot was logged on the scoreboard.

Lentz got hot at times, sinking several shots in a row, including consecutive makes from 44 through 47. The closer he got to 80, the louder and more animated the students became, rising to their feet for those final few throws. Having only stopped a few times to rest, Lentz hit his 79th shot, missed his first attempt at 80 and then made the second one to reach his goal. 

Several friends stormed the court and the students shouted their approval of the local legend’s return to the court of the team that is still near and dear to his heart. 

“How about those Cedars!” Lentz proclaimed to enthusiastic student cheers. “I got to tell you, when you do something that you love, you can do it for the rest of your life. So the message here is find what it is that you like doing, (and) work at it. Work it as a work of love, and you will succeed. You just keep coming, you keep coming, and you keep coming.”

Lebanon Middle School principal Carlos Sanchez offered encouragement to the students prior to Lentz’s comments.

“So many of you are involved in athletics and so many of you should be involved in athletics and think about this: Mr. Lentz is a proud Lebanon graduate and he was an outstanding basketball player back in the day,” Sanchez said. “He’s going to say a couple words, not long, but hear his message and remember that this is a lifelong thing when you play sports.”

Sanchez also said there’s a reason to play sports beyond the time spent on the court. 

“Not only because of the success, but because of the people you meet, the teammates that you’ve played the game with. And you notice there’s some people here that came to watch him and he’s had a lifelong friendship with these teammates that made him become the person that he is today,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez presented a new basketball that was signed by the Lebanon Cedar junior high basketball team and some school swag to the birthday celebrant. Sanchez also led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday” to the birthday boy. 

Lentz said afterwards that his free throw percentage was 80% in high school. He laughed when he was told that his average was about 30 percentage points better than NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, who played college basketball at Louisiana State University and several pro teams during an outstanding career. 

“My wife kept count and she said I made 80 out of 122 attempts (an average of nearly 65.6%),” Lentz said, which drew some kidding from one of his friends who said that percentage would get him benched by the Cedars coach.) 

Lentz laughed that comment off, saying it was time to hand off the rock to a younger generation and that would be the last time he ever stepped onto the basketball court. 

As the close group of friends prepared to exit the gym upon the completion of the mission and following a group photo, Lentz said he was buying the first round in celebration at the Blue Bird Inn, which seemed a fitting way to celebrate a milestone birthday and a memorable achievement by a local basketball legend.