Kieran Shannon: The basketball international teacher who inspired my love of the game

While some knew him as the basketball international, to me and my classmates heading into the autumn of 1981 Tom Wilkinson was our fourth-class primary school teacher

Basketball Ireland Hall of fame inductees, from left, Tom Wilkinson, Caroline Forde, Michelle Aspell and Noel Keating. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Everyone else used to call him Tom or Wilky. We called him Sir.

While the other side of the city and a few other small pockets around the country knew him as the basketball international, to me and my classmates heading into the autumn of 1981 Tom Wilkinson was our fourth-class primary school teacher in St Columba’s NS, Douglas, Cork.