I can help you out with Earl Jones, who was considered to be the best player in the country in 1980. After he retired from pro basketball after playing overseas, he found work as a car salesman for a dealership outside D.C. He did well at the Division II UDC, winning a national title in 1982. But injuries ended his NBA career before it really began. He was a three-time Parade First Team All American in H.S. and probably would have fared better if he had accepted his invitation into the 1980 NBA draft, rather than play college ball at a Division II school.
I remember Street and Smith had a huge write up on Earl Jones when i think he was a junior. I still have the magazine. He was supposed to be the next big thing. Transferred from Mt. Hope , W. Va to Spingarn H.S in D.C for better competition. After the basketball season ended he stop attending classes and missed more than 60 days of school which ruled out attending any D 1 school, thats why he ended up at UDC. Also he and Patrick Ewing were the only H.S players to tryout for the 1980 Olympic team. I'm gonna paraphrase a quote from Earl Jones years later on why he didn't attend a D1 school. " Any school could've got me in, Patrick Ewing was able to go to Georgetown and when i met Patrick at the tryouts he couldn't even speak English" .True quote. This was my era and i was a hoops junkie during this time from HS to Pros.
I was a hoops junkie and I had that Street and Smith magazine. The 1980 McDonalds All American team was special to me because that is the same year I graduated high school. I remember that write up on Earl Jones. It was in the 79-80 magazine which was Earl's senior year. Earl had been listed on the first team of the 78-79 magazine as the only junior in the six team listing. That was huge because of how many great players that was on that 79 team. As you said Earl didn't like school and as a result he ended up going D-2 UDC. That disappointed me back then because i wanted all the 80 guys to be successful. It surprised me too for Earl to be going to UDC after all of that hype. Back then you had no idea why that happened because you had no access to info like you do since the start of the internet. Seems like I heard something like Earl was shy and did not want to attend a big school. I found out that was not true. I read the book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s" and in there they talked about Earl as if he was some kind of country bumpkin. I think Earl eventually worked for the US Postal Service. Since you were a hoops junkie and a collector of Street and Smith, what did you think when you got the 81-82 magazine and found out Michael Jordan was rated as the top player headed to college, when the year before his name was not even in the magazine as one of the top players in the 81 class. I was totally surprised because I thought that Patrick Ewing would be the top rated player. Also I had never heard of Michael Jordan at that time. He came out of nowhere. It took me some years to find out how that happened. The thing was that UNC had tried to keep Jordan a secret. Actually just now I have run across more info about that time that I didn't know about Jordan. He said that UCLA was his dream school but they did not recruit him initially. Here is a great article talking about Jordan's recruitment. www.basketballnetwork.net/college/michael-jordan-says-north-carolina-wasnt-his-first-choice
Earl taking shots at Patrick Ewing not being able to talk was only true in that Ewing was from Jamaica and had a thick Jamaican accent. He had only been in the US five years at that time. I know some Jamaicans who have been in the US for decades and they still have that thick accent.
@@beaujac311 Actually my parents are Jamaican and MY name is Patrick also. I was born in England, but lived in Jamaica from 5- 8 yrs old and came to NY at 8 yrs old Yes we speak broken English called patois ( pronounced PATwah). I think Earl was just being salty because of how his career ended up. He just probably couldn't understand him but it's still English.
@@beaujac311 My class was after yours ...1980-81. Ewing was the number one player in that class. Not only did I get my annual Street and Smith, but that year because it was my senior year,also any other magazine on the news stand with in-depth H.S basketball coverage, plus I also subscribed to Basketball Weekly, Basketball Digest and another Basketball newspaper ( can't remember the name) and later Eastern Basketball to further keep up on the East Coast players when I joined the USAF in 81. I had heard about Ewing since he was a sophomore, but at the time didn't see any pictures of him so I assumed he was white 😂. Ironically we're both named Patrick of Jamaican descent so automatically he became my favorite player and I followed his entire career. The story I heard about Jordan not making any of the 6 preseason Street and Smith All American teams is this,: Dave Krider ( he also did the HS column in BW) who helped assemble the team and was the H.S reporter for S & S received a call from Brick Oettinger who was the H.S reporter/ guru from N.Carolina who insisted Dave put MJ on the 1st team because he had a monster showing at Five- Star and was deserving of a 1st team spot. Dave was unable to put MJ on any team because the magazine had already gone to print ( the end of August) with MJ listed as a high honorable mention ( I think). Brick was very upset, but nothing could be done. Even though he didn't make any of the Street and Smith A-A teams MJ did make the McDonald's Game and was again slighted/ disrespected. MJ was the FIRST to ever score 30 pts in the McDonald's Game, and he also hit the game winning free throws......but DID NOT GET MVP!!!! The game was played in Wichita, Kansas which had 2 of the top 25 players that year, SG Aubrey Sherrod and C Greg Dreiling. Also the famed DeMatha H.S coach Morgan Wooten who was on McDonald's Game committee and one of his players, Adrian Branch played in the game. Needless to say Sherrod and Branch shared CO-MVP honors. And Jordan obviously took it personal every time he played Maryland. 😂
@@missayawkI appreciate very much that you responded. It is almost like being back at that time again. I did not know that about Jordan taking it out on those two guys for not getting that McDonald's MVP. You thinking Ewing was white reminds me when I first saw that last name. I was in the eighth grade and one of my teachers son had that last name. I saw that name and thought that it was a typo. I pronounced it E- wing. But anyway I could talk all day about basketball during that time. I will ask you this. These people who never saw Sam Bowie play try to make it sound as if Portland chose a bum instead of taking Jordan. Those people don't know how skilled and athletic Bowie was before the injuries. What did you think of Bowie?
Saw Melvin Turpin in a mall. He’s the biggest person I have ever seen up close. I’ve cover Duke, Carolina, and NCState. Still nobody filled a doorway like Mel Turpin.
We remember him in Spain, he played one season in the ACB league here and he was well known because of his talent, his overweight issues and his liking for "fiesta" After that I think he returned to the NBA to play his last season... I don't know what was the problem with him, because he was very good but wasn't able to capitalize his talent, and sadly he ended tragically
@JulioLeonFandinho Mel Turpin was Very Good. Kentucky started two centers in 1984. The other guy was the 2nd pick in the 1984 draft, and Mel Turpin was better than him. He was a top 10 draft pick though
Coaches Bobby Knight and George Raveling were the FIRST to see what MJ was to become before ANYONE else. If you said MJ was gonna be better than Dr. J back then, you would've been admitted to an insane asylum. George Raveling had a quote in Sporting News newspaper BEFORE MJ played his first NBA game.....(paraphrasing) " One day other players are gonna be compared to him" That quote back then was CRAZY and George probably should've been tested for drugs, but it was prophetic. I still have that newspaper. On the cover MJ is dressed in scrubs and the caption reads : THE NEXT DR. J ?
My college roommate played against Doc Rivers in high school in Chicago. Doc was a legend at Proviso East, my college roommate played at New Trier East. Great player, great coach. hIs son Ausitn plays in the NBA
Glen Mayers has to be one of the biggest mysteries ever. Transferred to Pensacola (FL) JC for his sophomore season but can't find any info after that other than he's mentioned in someone's Instagram page that his nickname was "Brownie" and that he's passed away.
Lonnie McFarlan - sat out his senior year to work on academics and could have returned for one more year of eligibility but it looks like he graduated and decided to move on to non-basketball pursuits.
Jim Master's claim to fame was getting dunked on ( I mean TEABAGGED) by Patrick Ewing in the 1984 Final Four or Elite 8, when Georgetown demolished Kentucky in the 2nd half holding them to less than 28% from the field while Ewing and Michael Graham terrorized Turpin and Bowie. A silhouette of that dunk was gonna be used as St. John's University's logo. T-shirts were even printed up ( i still have one) until someone realized that was Ewing dunking and since he wasn't a St. John's alum the whole thing was scrapped. That Kentucky/ Georgetown game is here on RUclips. The time stamp for the dunk is 42:23.
That was that Final Four Kentucky had no business being in. They "beat" Illinois in the Elite 8. The game was in Rupp Arena, Kentucky"s home court. Illinois got cheated something awful. That game was a farce. Georgetown held Kentucky to like 9 or 11 points in the 2nd half
I remember that game well. Kentucky had size with the "twin towers" but were. sort of a slow, plodding team. They were ambushed by Georgetown's perimeter pressure in the second half. It wasn't pretty for Kentucky. @@mongoslade277
@@mongoslade277 I think that was the best game I ever saw Georgetown play. They played like their logo. A bunch of savage bulldogs. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
He was just scratching the surface of what he was to become I was fortunate to see him in high school my uncle who was a basketball junkie would come all the way from DC to Bmore when I was like 8 or 9 years old so I got see guys like Adrian Branch Len Bias Sherman Douglass as well as the Bmore greats from Dunbar who came along a few years later
Gary Springer played with Kenny HUTCHINSON not ANDERSON.....at Ben Franklin H.S.
Thanks for the catch. Just a slip of the tongue!, but appreciated!
That's right Anderson. Archbishop molloy
I can help you out with Earl Jones, who was considered to be the best player in the country in 1980. After he retired from pro basketball after playing overseas, he found work as a car salesman for a dealership outside D.C. He did well at the Division II UDC, winning a national title in 1982. But injuries ended his NBA career before it really began. He was a three-time Parade First Team All American in H.S. and probably would have fared better if he had accepted his invitation into the 1980 NBA draft, rather than play college ball at a Division II school.
I remember Street and Smith had a huge write up on Earl Jones when i think he was a junior. I still have the magazine. He was supposed to be the next big thing. Transferred from Mt. Hope , W. Va to Spingarn H.S in D.C for better competition. After the basketball season ended he stop attending classes and missed more than 60 days of school which ruled out attending any D 1 school, thats why he ended up at UDC. Also he and Patrick Ewing were the only H.S players to tryout for the 1980 Olympic team. I'm gonna paraphrase a quote from Earl Jones years later on why he didn't attend a D1 school. " Any school could've got me in, Patrick Ewing was able to go to Georgetown and when i met Patrick at the tryouts he couldn't even speak English" .True quote. This was my era and i was a hoops junkie during this time from HS to Pros.
I was a hoops junkie and I had that Street and Smith magazine. The 1980 McDonalds All American team was special to me because that is the same year I graduated high school. I remember that write up on Earl Jones. It was in the 79-80 magazine which was Earl's senior year. Earl had been listed on the first team of the 78-79 magazine as the only junior in the six team listing. That was huge because of how many great players that was on that 79 team. As you said Earl didn't like school and as a result he ended up going D-2 UDC. That disappointed me back then because i wanted all the 80 guys to be successful. It surprised me too for Earl to be going to UDC after all of that hype. Back then you had no idea why that happened because you had no access to info like you do since the start of the internet. Seems like I heard something like Earl was shy and did not want to attend a big school. I found out that was not true. I read the book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s" and in there they talked about Earl as if he was some kind of country bumpkin. I think Earl eventually worked for the US Postal Service.
Since you were a hoops junkie and a collector of Street and Smith, what did you think when you got the 81-82 magazine and found out Michael Jordan was rated as the top player headed to college, when the year before his name was not even in the magazine as one of the top players in the 81 class. I was totally surprised because I thought that Patrick Ewing would be the top rated player. Also I had never heard of Michael Jordan at that time. He came out of nowhere. It took me some years to find out how that happened. The thing was that UNC had tried to keep Jordan a secret. Actually just now I have run across more info about that time that I didn't know about Jordan. He said that UCLA was his dream school but they did not recruit him initially. Here is a great article talking about Jordan's recruitment. www.basketballnetwork.net/college/michael-jordan-says-north-carolina-wasnt-his-first-choice
Earl taking shots at Patrick Ewing not being able to talk was only true in that Ewing was from Jamaica and had a thick Jamaican accent. He had only been in the US five years at that time. I know some Jamaicans who have been in the US for decades and they still have that thick accent.
@@beaujac311 Actually my parents are Jamaican and MY name is Patrick also. I was born in England, but lived in Jamaica from 5- 8 yrs old and came to NY at 8 yrs old Yes we speak broken English called patois ( pronounced PATwah). I think Earl was just being salty because of how his career ended up. He just probably couldn't understand him but it's still English.
@@beaujac311 My class was after yours ...1980-81. Ewing was the number one player in that class. Not only did I get my annual Street and Smith, but that year because it was my senior year,also any other magazine on the news stand with in-depth H.S basketball coverage, plus I also subscribed to Basketball Weekly, Basketball Digest and another Basketball newspaper ( can't remember the name) and later Eastern Basketball to further keep up on the East Coast players when I joined the USAF in 81. I had heard about Ewing since he was a sophomore, but at the time didn't see any pictures of him so I assumed he was white 😂. Ironically we're both named Patrick of Jamaican descent so automatically he became my favorite player and I followed his entire career. The story I heard about Jordan not making any of the 6 preseason Street and Smith All American teams is this,: Dave Krider ( he also did the HS column in BW) who helped assemble the team and was the H.S reporter for S & S received a call from Brick Oettinger who was the H.S reporter/ guru from N.Carolina who insisted Dave put MJ on the 1st team because he had a monster showing at Five- Star and was deserving of a 1st team spot. Dave was unable to put MJ on any team because the magazine had already gone to print ( the end of August) with MJ listed as a high honorable mention ( I think). Brick was very upset, but nothing could be done. Even though he didn't make any of the Street and Smith A-A teams MJ did make the McDonald's Game and was again slighted/ disrespected. MJ was the FIRST to ever score 30 pts in the McDonald's Game, and he also hit the game winning free throws......but DID NOT GET MVP!!!! The game was played in Wichita, Kansas which had 2 of the top 25 players that year, SG Aubrey Sherrod and C Greg Dreiling. Also the famed DeMatha H.S coach Morgan Wooten who was on McDonald's Game committee and one of his players, Adrian Branch played in the game. Needless to say Sherrod and Branch shared CO-MVP honors. And Jordan obviously took it personal every time he played Maryland. 😂
@@missayawkI appreciate very much that you responded. It is almost like being back at that time again. I did not know that about Jordan taking it out on those two guys for not getting that McDonald's MVP. You thinking Ewing was white reminds me when I first saw that last name. I was in the eighth grade and one of my teachers son had that last name. I saw that name and thought that it was a typo. I pronounced it E- wing. But anyway I could talk all day about basketball during that time. I will ask you this. These people who never saw Sam Bowie play try to make it sound as if Portland chose a bum instead of taking Jordan. Those people don't know how skilled and athletic Bowie was before the injuries. What did you think of Bowie?
I enjoy these videos because most will become NBA stars or benchwarmers or legends or some won’t panned out in college nor in NBA. Overall great video
Saw Melvin Turpin in a mall. He’s the biggest person I have ever seen up close.
I’ve cover Duke, Carolina, and NCState.
Still nobody filled a doorway like Mel Turpin.
R.I.P. Mel Turpin
We remember him in Spain, he played one season in the ACB league here and he was well known because of his talent, his overweight issues and his liking for "fiesta"
After that I think he returned to the NBA to play his last season... I don't know what was the problem with him, because he was very good but wasn't able to capitalize his talent, and sadly he ended tragically
@JulioLeonFandinho Mel Turpin was Very Good. Kentucky started two centers in 1984. The other guy was the 2nd pick in the 1984 draft, and Mel Turpin was better than him. He was a top 10 draft pick though
Vern Fleming has a twin brother named Victor that played at Xavier University and was selected by Portland ( 2nd round i think) in the 1984 draft.
Vern Fleming was a member of the Gold Medal winning 1984 USA Olympic Basketball Team along with Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing.
Vern Fleming was the starting point guard on that 1984 Olympic Team. Him & Alvin Robertson was the backcourt. Jordan played forward
@@mongoslade277 Coach Robert Montgomery Knight was the coach.
Coaches Bobby Knight and George Raveling were the FIRST to see what MJ was to become before ANYONE else. If you said MJ was gonna be better than Dr. J back then, you would've been admitted to an insane asylum. George Raveling had a quote in Sporting News newspaper BEFORE MJ played his first NBA game.....(paraphrasing) " One day other players are gonna be compared to him" That quote back then was CRAZY and George probably should've been tested for drugs, but it was prophetic. I still have that newspaper. On the cover MJ is dressed in scrubs and the caption reads : THE NEXT DR. J ?
@missayawk George Raveling at Iowa had a creative mind. What if he kept Hank Gathers & Bo Kimble at USC?? That Ewing dunk on Jim Master was brutal!!
@@mongoslade277 I think Jim Master was shook that whole game and then the dunk made him realize...." I don't think I wanna play no more"
I liked this McDonald's All American class too, solid players across the board...
My college roommate played against Doc Rivers in high school in Chicago. Doc was a legend at Proviso East, my college roommate played at New Trier East. Great player, great coach. hIs son Ausitn plays in the NBA
This is very well done...thank you.
Glen Mayers has to be one of the biggest mysteries ever. Transferred to Pensacola (FL) JC for his sophomore season but can't find any info after that other than he's mentioned in someone's Instagram page that his nickname was "Brownie" and that he's passed away.
I think Springer, after having a great freshman year, suffered a real bad knee injury, and he was never the same after that.
Very possible. Finding info about injuries is pretty tough unless I can find old magazines and those aren't always available online
That is true
Lonnie McFarlan - sat out his senior year to work on academics and could have returned for one more year of eligibility but it looks like he graduated and decided to move on to non-basketball pursuits.
Jim Master's claim to fame was getting dunked on ( I mean TEABAGGED) by Patrick Ewing in the 1984 Final Four or Elite 8, when Georgetown demolished Kentucky in the 2nd half holding them to less than 28% from the field while Ewing and Michael Graham terrorized Turpin and Bowie. A silhouette of that dunk was gonna be used as St. John's University's logo. T-shirts were even printed up ( i still have one) until someone realized that was Ewing dunking and since he wasn't a St. John's alum the whole thing was scrapped. That Kentucky/ Georgetown game is here on RUclips. The time stamp for the dunk is 42:23.
That was that Final Four Kentucky had no business being in. They "beat" Illinois in the Elite 8. The game was in Rupp Arena, Kentucky"s home court. Illinois got cheated something awful. That game was a farce. Georgetown held Kentucky to like 9 or 11 points in the 2nd half
I remember that game well. Kentucky had size with the "twin towers" but were. sort of a slow, plodding team. They were ambushed by Georgetown's perimeter pressure in the second half. It wasn't pretty for Kentucky. @@mongoslade277
@@mongoslade277 I think that was the best game I ever saw Georgetown play. They played like their logo. A bunch of savage bulldogs. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
Wow these were all good players dude your good
Len bias was a beast would of been legendary
Kinda sad that I'll only get to mention him as a snub when I get to 82...
He was just scratching the surface of what he was to become I was fortunate to see him in high school my uncle who was a basketball junkie would come all the way from DC to Bmore when I was like 8 or 9 years old so I got see guys like Adrian Branch Len Bias Sherman Douglass as well as the Bmore greats from Dunbar who came along a few years later
Early in Earl Jones high school career, experts thought he had the potential to be one of the greatest players ever.
Damn I forgot all about Lonnie my Og
Pete Holbert is in the medical sales field and at one time was the roommate of Len Bias
Ahsmwm
Someone please post the 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 2001, 2002, and 2017 Mcdonald's All American Men's games.
Kenny Anderson would be too young to play with Gary Springer. Plus Kenny went to Archbishop Malloy HS.
Yeah, it's Kenny Hutchinson. I have it in my script, but had a slip of the tongue that I didn't catch. Thanks!
In America, 70’s and 80’s…Darrell is pronounced DARR-elk not dar-RELL.
Rod Foster. 1979
We need a timestamp.
That's a good idea. I will try to go through and add them to these soon