send me an email. [email protected] i still know a bunch of people up that way. actually going to ironwood for my moms 90th this weekend.
Who's the best high-school basketball player you've seen play in person?
- Thread starter skysdad
- Start date
Rose Hill is the school both Mayo and Bill Walker played at
Jeff Hall was the coach, he played on the 1986 UL championship team
both are from the Huntington W.V area
Mayo played his senior year at Huntington High with Patrick Patterson
they won the state title
watched Wiggins play many times
when he decided to turn it on he was unstoppable
I may be in the minority’s here but I have always thought Jeff Hall is the reason we didn’t win in ‘86.
Ellison was a fantastic college player but Hall played over his head in the final.
Ellison was a fantastic college player but Hall played over his head in the final.
I thought Bill Walker was gonna be great in the NBA.
One time we played North College Hill, OJ was suspended, Bill had 58 points and 32 rebounds against us.
I watched his South Lakes team in the state championship game his senior year at the recently torn down University Hall at UVA.
I'm from the Roanoke area, so over the years I've gotten to see some good players come through the local schools - George Lynch, Curtis Staples, Troy Daniels ( currently of the Lakers), JR Reynolds, etc. - but the one I enjoyed the most by far (for obvious reasons) was JJ Redick during his time at Cave Spring. His shot was an absolute thing of beauty even when he was 15. It has been fun following his whole journey.
I watched all those guys as well but JJ was absolutely unbelievable...but Grant was the best I watched in HS
Denver if u are from Columbia did you ever see Buddy Harper play.Imo he was just as good as Jermaine and if he had made better decisions he would have played just as long in the league
I remember the name. I will look him up. I’ve heard stories of Alex English, but he was before my time.
I watched my brother play hs basketball and he was the best shooter I'd ever seen. However his defensive skills were lacking in the eyes of his coach who would play only rich kids (I was raised in a middle class family), so he was pretty much confined to the bench. He still played D-III ball in college and had some memorable moments.Of course I am anything but objective I know, putting family first.
As far as overall best, I would say a couple Sky probably recalls, I know one-Tommy Cole at Burlington Williams(later div 2 Elon College), Danny Traylor, a 7 ft center (played at Winston-Salem Reynolds HS, later for Frank McGuire and South Carolina)and Bob McAdoo (Greensboro Smith hs, later UNC and the NBA). OFC
As far as overall best, I would say a couple Sky probably recalls, I know one-Tommy Cole at Burlington Williams(later div 2 Elon College), Danny Traylor, a 7 ft center (played at Winston-Salem Reynolds HS, later for Frank McGuire and South Carolina)and Bob McAdoo (Greensboro Smith hs, later UNC and the NBA). OFC
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Btw Sky, those Burlington Williams announcers on radio were entertaining, but some of the most biased I ever heard. Bill Huff (sp?) comes to mind, and cant remember other guy. Is Bill Huff still with us??? Biased, but a funny guy!
OFC
Tommy is a good friend of mine and believe or not I never saw him play in high school. Saw him at Elon though a few times. There was one game where Elon was down by a point with just a few seconds left on my the game. Elon had the ball and Coach Bill Miller called time out with Elon getting the ball at half court. I was about two rows behind the Elon bench and could hear what play Coach Miller was calling up. Cole was to take the shot. The funny thing is that Cole was looking into the stands as the play was called not paying one bit of attention. End result Cole gets the ball in the corner and swished the shot with about 1 second left. Cole tried out for the Celtics with a broken jaw. He was the final player cut that year because Jo Jo White made the final guard. Cole did not pursue his career anymore. He became a very succesful high BB coach winning two state championships at two different high schools Graham and his alma mater Burlington Williams. He is still coaching at Williams at age 69 and took his 2019 to the championship game losing only by a few points to a much more talented team. He also was an excellent slow pitch softball player and is in the North Carolina Softball Hall of Fame. Happy to call him a friend. Tommy and his family are however big unc cheater u fans with the exception of his oldest son Worth. His only daughter Emily was unc cheater u's manager in the early 70's. OFC
Bill passed a few years ago and was also a friend. Yes he was a homer. Always had pipe in his mouth. OFC
Sky thanks for the story!!!My brother told me he thought Tommy tried NBA, but I had no idea he came that close. Just missing out because of JoJo White shows how truly good he was.Oh well, "he cant help it, hes a tar heel." Bill Miller, 'Ol Wild Bill! That conjures up all sorts of memories! Good stuff! OFC
Bill used to have a call-in radio show not too many years ago before he passed. I think him and his partner talked about all sorts of things. He had a very faithful audience.He was good cutting commercials, cracked my brother up talking about "The Graham Soda Shop and Graham Grill." I remember they carried the UNC coaches call in shows and games so we only listened when Bill was on. Funny thing is, always thought Bill was a Tar Heel too.R.I.P. OFC
I have Bill Miller stories too. I can do a pretty good job of impressing his voice. When we were kids we used to sneak into Alumni Gym to play basketball. We always did to play about an hour or so and in comes Miller yelling " get the hell out of my gym." He's always seemed to have a sly grin on his face and now as the years have passed he probably knew we were there from the get go but let us play a while. Another story. He a dog named Mike. One time he was walking Mike by the tennis courts and a red headed girl made a great shot. Miller yells out. "At a boy red. Nice shot." She turns and says I'm not a boy coach." He's then says I call everybody boy. Come here Mike, atta boy Mike. " See what I mean Red." Graduated high school with his son. OFC
Denver I wish I could say one was "before my time." Lmao! OFC
I'm not sure who Bill pulled for. He was really a good guy. Glad you mentioned him. Miss him. OFC
Miss him too Sky....Can just hear him now doing that jewelry store commercial: "Whatever the season, whatever the reason!"
OFC