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Genesis Kluttz
Professor Deneshia Smith
English 101
8 September 2015
Prevail or Fail

When you think of professional athletes, whether they be Baseball, Football, Basketball,
or Soccer players, you would like to think of them in a positive way. You would like to think of
how they are an asset to their team, how they give, back to their communities, promote
upcoming businesses and companies, and while also playing the game that they love.
Unfortunately this is not so. Many times when people think or speak of them there is always
something negative. Whether it be tattoos, haircuts, disrespect toward authority, physical abuse,
and the way they dress, the way spend their money, or unsportsmanlike conduct. However, one
the most occurring situations is not living up to expectations people convenience or boast that the
athlete has.
Standing at 6 feet 7 inches, weighing 220 pounds. Lonnie Gene Kluttz began his journey
at North Carolina A&T State University in 1969. (Advertise) He never thought his career as a
basketball player would exceed out of high school. When told and convinced by his peers that he
could go far, he made his best effort to see if he could go the distance. He was promised so much
and received so little. This made him wonder if this pursuit was really worth the time, money,
effort and if he really should continue. Do you think him second-guessing his ability mad the
difference in whether he could have made or not? (RealGM)

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Most athletes believe when coming out of colleges as a significant player that they are
going to have plenty opportunities or offers when leaving college. They think that they will play
professional ball, and play in the NBA. However, this dream is short lived. Once they see what a
task it is, and how many other talented players there are they come back to reality. In 2013, there
were 60 draft slots in that year, but only 47 went to NCAA players (others chosen were
international players not attending U.S. colleges). Percentage NCAA to Major Pro calculated
using the 47 NCAA selections. Since 2006, 12 international players have been drafted on average
each year. On 2014-2015 opening day NBA rosters, former NCAA players filled 81% of roster
spots (all but one player from Division I schools). (Jim)
It was determined that an additional 424 former NCAA student-athletes from the 2013
draft cohort played internationally or in the NBA D-League in 2014 (307 from Division I, 90
from Division II and 27 from Division III). These numbers were combined with the NBA
draftees to calculate an NCAA to Total Professional opportunities proportion (calculated as [47 +
424] / 4,071). We estimate that 3.9% of draft-eligible Division I players were chosen in the 2013
NBA draft (47 / 1,210). However, in total, 29% of draft-eligible Division I players competed
professionally (NBA, D-League, or internationally) in their first year after leaving college
(calculated as [47 + 307] / 1,210). Approximately 15% of draft-eligible players from the five
Division I conferences with autonomous governance (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC)
were drafted by the NBA in 2013 (33 / 222), while 52% played professionally somewhere in
their first year post-college (calculated as [33 + 82] / 222). (Marek)
For example, 25 year old, Lonnie Gene Kluttz had been selected by The Chicago Bulls in
Round 6 with Pick 11 in Mar 23, 1970 NBA Draft this dream was short lived. By September 1,
1973, his draft rights was renounced. Therefore, when I asked Lonnie how long was he in the

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NBA he replied, He went to about three different teams and he got cut by every single one of
them. I went to Chicago from college, Chicago drafted me, and then I was offered a trial at San
Francisco. I went there, I was cut from no contract, and they drafted this player named Cerro
Baptist. He was drafted because he had come from a big college and was their number one draft
choice in years. Cerro had never really played and the number one and number two draft picks
never played either. He said, They just came from bigger colleges and couldnt play
professional basketball. After Lonnie was dropped, twice he had just decided to go home to his
wife, and newborn child, and go to work. He then became a security manager at K Mart. He soon
went on the railroad shortly after that and that is where he had stayed for about five years. Then
he went to Venezuela and play there for a year and decided to come back home once again.
I asked did he choose to stop playing ball? He replied, Yes I stopped by choice. I could
have gone with the Globe Trotter but the Globe Trotters were offering only $17,500. They said I
could go home about once a month and get about a month home in the course of a year, and at
that time, they were playing two and three game a day and travel the world. I thought that was
not worth the money. Plus, I had already worked on the railroad and for $14,000. My son was
just born and so he decided to go home. I asked him, when he was playing whom did he want or
hope to be better than. He stated that he did not really have anyone that he wanted to be like or
even better than. Lonnie said that whomever he was playing he already thought that were no
competition. He said this is what he focused on when he went against every opponent. I asked
when did you notice things were not falling into play with basketball? He said did not until later
on because he was thought to be the best. He said, he was originally supposed play in Cincinnati
if they had placed him on waivers but they did not they sold his waver to Miami and told his to
try to go there and meet with the coach. Therefore, he met with the coach for the Miami, Cougars

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and again he was not accepted but it was because they had gotten another player with much more
year and experience in the NBA. He said that he could understand that but the other players who
they had chosen over him were chumps! and had gotten big contracts for coming from big
colleges.
Lonnie decided that he was through chasing after ball and moved on with his life. He
later on ended up in South Carolina and met a beautiful woman by the name of Stephanie Rivers
who would change his life. In 1996, December 23, Lonnie and Stephanie got married and have
be going on 19 years come this December. Within the next year around November, they had a set
of twin girls. Therefore, what if it had not been for him quitting pursuing basketball, he may not
have had the loving family and friends he has today. Even though he might not have prevailed in
basketball, he did not fail at being happy, and making the most of his decision.

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Work Sited
Advertise on DatabaseSports, Roto Sports, Inc. (2002-2011) Retrieved September 20,
2015, from databaseSports.com

RealGM, L.L.C (2000-2015) Retrieved September 19, 2015,

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Lonnie-Kluttz/Summary/67893
Jim Sukup, College Basketball News. (2015, April 14). Retrieved September 22, 2015,
from https://sso.ncaa.org/login?service=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.ncaa.org%2F
Marek Wojtera, (2015, April 14). Retrieved September 22, 2015, from eurobasket.com