Clarence Shattuck, left, and Lloyd Kempf at the Senior Nationals
Stephen Curry has nothing on Soddy Daisy's Clarence Shattuck (well, maybe a little bit).
Judge Shattuck, playing in an upper age bracket after reaching his 89th birthday, sank 19 of 25 free throws to come out in first place at the National Senior Olympics at Des Moines, Iowa.
Collegedale's Chuck Robertson - a year younger than the judge -also took part in the basketball Nationals.
Judge Shattuck, who long held sway in General Sessions Court, was planning to go to the national event with a Tennessee team. But age and infirmity left the squad short of five players.
Judge Shattuck said he was not planning to attend, then he got a call from 92-year-old Lloyd Kempf, of South Dakota, who was trying to field a team.
"I had played against Lloyd before, and at one time we were on the same team," Judge Shattuck noted. He decided to go to the tourney and was able to catch a ride from Chattanooga.
He said he and Lloyd were actually "playing down" since they wound up competing against those ages 85-89.
He said, "Our team didn't do very well, but we did beat the team that wound up finishing second."
There were over 12,000 attendees at the event that included competition in 12 different sports. The only larger event was the over 13,000 at Albuquerque, where Clarence Shattuck also hit the court.
Judge Shattuck said he and other Soddy Daisy kids got interested in basketball in 1947 - the year Soddy Daisy High School won the state championship.
He said, "The team from this little community became the Hoosiers of that tournament."
He went on to be a starter for the Trojans his junior and senior years.
Judge Shattuck said he did not go out for the Tennessee Tech squad when he attended there. But he said he played intramural and his squad once defeated a team that included three Tech scholarship players.
He attended law school at UT with Sam Payne, and they began playing basketball together - as well as handball and racquetball.
Judge Shattuck still plays with a group of regulars at the Hixson Recreation Center on Tuesdays and Fridays.
He thinks this might be his last trip to Nationals though.
"Maybe I will take up something like corn hole," he laughed.