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Greatest Teams in Class A of ALL TIME


Vandychris
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As an Alcoa High grad who witnessed a lot of good Class A ball back in the late 70's, early 80's, my vote for the best team goes to the 1979 Bolton team. Alcoa played them in the state tourney that year with a good team and got absolutely waxed. As I recall, Bolton jumped out of the gate something like 24-0 on Alcoa. Bolton, imo, was as good as any team in any class that year.

 

Alcoa was very good in those days but couldn't get over the West Tennessee hump. In fact, we lost to the eventual state champs four years in a row:

 

1979-Bolton, first round

1980-Middleton, semifinals (Future Memphis State star player Bobby Parks went for about 38 against us)

1981-Bolton, semifinals in OT...

1982-Friendship, finals by 2 points

 

 

 

 

I remember former Alcoa player David George telling me how awesome that Bolton team was.

 

 

This is very, very easy:

 

 

The Wildcats from BOLTON HIGH SCHOOL -- during the 1970's and early 80's (Coach Joe Branch, I believe) !!!!

 

Bolton High school absolutely OWNED and DOMINATED the Small school division (Class A) AND, also routinely defeated the best BIG (AAA) schools that Memphis had to offer!

 

End of the Debate!

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Yes, folks--its the same (now AAA) Bolton High School, located in Arlington (Eads?) TN....for all you CoachT posters who might be too young, or simply ignorant of Bolton's stellar Basketball history!!

 

Bolton had so many dominant teams and won so many State Championships, that I can't even remember which was best, or how many Titles it was.... Perhaps, some of the older, old-timers on this board might remember.

 

I'll try to throw out some key players, that I can recall....Otis Jackson, James Wiggins, Cecil Dowell, John Gales, Sylvester Gray....(the list goes on and on)

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Bolton High School was synonymous with State Championships and dominance.

 

 

 

Cecil Dowell played at Ole Miss and was a thorn in UT's side the whole time.

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I have to agree with Judgsmales, the best class a team that I have ever seen is that 1997 Perry County team. They had size, speed, quickness, and great shooters. Seems like they also brought in off the bench 6'8, 6'5, and some very quick guards. I remember the championship game they were in, Columbia Academy packed a tight zone to stop Haston and Perry hit about a dozen 3 pt shots. They also defended very well. But did they really average a 30 point margin of victory in the state? If so that is absoulutely unheard of.

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Good string. I've enjoyed watching this thread and remembering many of these teams. The '97 Perry County team belongs in any discussion, as do the mid-80's Bolton teams. The late 80's East Robertson program was strong as well.

 

Perry County gave up two significant advantages by adding football and moving into their new gymnasium. They can still compete, but no longer are they practicing basketball 9 months out of the year or playing in a gym where the visitors win 1 out of 10 games. This year's team showed that it may have what it takes to turn the program around. Hopefully they do.

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One of the better teams around that went to a few state tourneys but never won the big gold ball was the teams from Denmark West or West High located in Madison County right outside of Jackson. They had some real good teams up until they closed the school. Im more familiar with the late 80's to early 90's teams that had classic battles with Middleton and even battled and beat a lot of larger AAA schools. Still to this day of watching high school basketball every week, West High had the most spirited, loudest, ferocious fans I had ever seen. They rarely lost in that little sweat box they called a gym. Think Duke fans at a high school gym. I witnessed Tony Delk scoring 40 points in the second half to come back to beat them at home....

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One of the better teams around that went to a few state tourneys but never won the big gold ball was the teams from Denmark West or West High located in Madison County right outside of Jackson. They had some real good teams up until they closed the school. Im more familiar with the late 80's to early 90's teams that had classic battles with Middleton and even battled and beat a lot of larger AAA schools. Still to this day of watching high school basketball every week, West High had the most spirited, loudest, ferocious fans I had ever seen. They rarely lost in that little sweat box they called a gym. Think Duke fans at a high school gym. I witnessed Tony Delk scoring 40 points in the second half to come back to beat them at home....

 

I remember going to play at Denmark West......when did they shut down????

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One of the better teams around that went to a few state tourneys but never won the big gold ball was the teams from Denmark West or West High located in Madison County right outside of Jackson. They had some real good teams up until they closed the school. Im more familiar with the late 80's to early 90's teams that had classic battles with Middleton and even battled and beat a lot of larger AAA schools. Still to this day of watching high school basketball every week, West High had the most spirited, loudest, ferocious fans I had ever seen. They rarely lost in that little sweat box they called a gym. Think Duke fans at a high school gym. I witnessed Tony Delk scoring 40 points in the second half to come back to beat them at home....

 

Do you know Fred McKinney?

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I remember going to play at Denmark West......when did they shut down????

 

I'm not sure but the old Denmark coach took over for Jackason SS. T Willie Tyson took SS to the state a couple of years in a row. He coached Chism his freshman and sopmore seasons. Great old school type coach. his kids were allways in GREAT shape.....alot of the denmark kids go to SS.

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West High closed after the 1992 year I believe. Actually Yankee T Willie Tyson was West Junior coach and he went on to coach at South Side. Sam Greer was the West High coach and he went to JCM in 1993. This lead to a few battles between good friends. Yes I know Fred. He was a real good undersized center in high school...

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West High closed after the 1992 year I believe. Actually Yankee T Willie Tyson was West Junior coach and he went on to coach at South Side. Sam Greer was the West High coach and he went to JCM in 1993. This lead to a few battles between good friends. Yes I know Fred. He was a real good undersized center in high school...

 

Thanks for the correction. Tyson did a very good job at SS. To be honest I wish he was sdtill there. Fuller is Ok and a good friend but I liked Tyson. Do you know Fred McKinne? He played at Denmark and was drawing alot of attention (some high major) then blew his knee out and ended up and Jackson State. I think he holds the single game scoring record at JSCC (not sure though) of 50+ in one game. He played in the CBA as well. Fred is a good friend of mine....good guy. He was a beast.

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Thanks for the correction. Tyson did a very good job at SS. To be honest I wish he was sdtill there. Fuller is Ok and a good friend but I liked Tyson. Do you know Fred McKinne? He played at Denmark and was drawing alot of attention (some high major) then blew his knee out and ended up and Jackson State. I think he holds the single game scoring record at JSCC (not sure though) of 50+ in one game. He played in the CBA as well. Fred is a good friend of mine....good guy. He was a beast.

 

Yea I know who Fred is Yankee. The team they had his senior year was awesome and very exciting. They averaged about 6 dunks a game. T-Willie could flat out coach. His first teams was the kids he had in junior high. They were ranked in the state a couple of times and lost in the sub state games. Then he took Weddle, Chism and crew to back to back state appearances where they played one of the best games ever against Bolivar I believe...

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