[2] Wilkinson was born in Hurricane, Utah and raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He had stopped growing at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) but still possessed the dribbling and shooting abilities he had honed as a smaller high school player.

The Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team, who had originally qualified for the NCAA tournament, was victimized by an auto accident.

While attempting to fix a flat tire, Deno Nichols and Ben Jones were injured when another car rammed into the back of the station wagon.

[5] In need of a replacement, the NCAA committee turned to Utah, despite the fact that the Redskins had four losses and had just lost their first-round game in the NIT tournament.

[6] The next day, Harrison saw Herb's picture on the front page of the newspaper with his teammates lifting him on their shoulders for having made the championship-winning shot.

They joined incoming freshman star Murray Wier and three solid sophomores—Dick Ives, Jack Spencer and Dave Danner—in what would be a Big Ten Conference-winning season.

[7] Despite Clay's slightly better numbers, Herb was honored as a consensus Second Team All-American along with fellow sophomore teammate Ives.

It was Herb's ball-handling, leadership, and ability to score long-range shots that would deflate opponents' morale that played a large part in his selection.

[6] Then, the Minneapolis Lakers of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) made him such a good offer that he decided to give it a shot.

[6] Being a very religious and devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,[3] he agreed to play on the condition that he had Sundays off.