Greatest Teams in Class A of ALL TIME

[jvaughan]

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.

 

 

There's a reason that Bolton won so many single A championships and dominated the "small" school division.... /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />

[TempleTrue]

In no order:

 

01' Ezell Harding

92-94' BGA

93-94' GoodPasture

86-88' East Robertson

 

 

how can anyone put 01' Ezell when they got beat by my crusaders in the state championship...and beat pretty hard... 13+ I think..

[jvaughan]

how can anyone put 01' Ezell when they got beat by my crusaders in the state championship...and beat pretty hard... 13+ I think..

 

 

Temple beat Ezell in 02, not 01. But that 02 team from Ezell was really good too.

[terop]

There's a reason that Bolton won so many single A championships and dominated the "small" school division.... /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />

 

why???

[MrTSSAA]

how can anyone put 01' Ezell when they got beat by my crusaders in the state championship...and beat pretty hard... 13+ I think..

 

 

 

I know they got beat... but anyone can get beat in a game... Temple was really good that year as well with Jake Skogen, J. Williams, Issiah Mouh (sp), Ryan Wadley, younger wadley, Seth skogen, and company... I know Temple beat them, but I think Ezell also beat them earlier in the year... I just think that Ezell team was as good as any team in probably ever in class A, just an opinion...

[blueandgoldfan]

With the recent state champion Manassas crowned, lets start the debate of the greatest teams of all time in Class A. I will throw out some teams that come to mind for me and you all can add your own or lament on what I think.

 

BGA of 91-92 and 92-93

Goodpature of 92-93 even though they didn't win state, they did beat BGA by 10-15 in region finals

Perry County of 94-95 and 95-96

 

 

 

Perry County 95-96 was beat in the finals by Boyd-Buchanan. I'm not suggesting that this BBS team is one of the best state champions of class A, but I have to disagree with the Perry County nomination for that year. PC did, however win the title in 96-97 (I think). They had 6-10 Kirk Haston who went on to Indiana, then the Char. Hornets.

[judgesmales]

This is an easy answer:

PERRY COUNTY 1997. 37-0. During the season they beat the AA state champions Union City who beat a great Memphis Melrose team in their state championship game. Led by Kirk Haston, Chris Jones, and Cory Brown. They played a very rugged schedule that year. The closest game they played during the tournament from district through the state championship was 20 points, thats 20 points. They averaged a 30 point win in their 3 state tournament games. They won in the state championship game by 35 points, saw it last week in the program.

I have had the privilege to see those teams from Bolton, East Robertson, and Ezell-Harding play and they were good but no where near as dominate as the 97 Perry County team. In my time of going to the state tournament, 35+ years, that team is one of the 10-15 best I have seen take the court in any classification.

[TraderB]

There's a reason that Bolton won so many single A championships and dominated the "small" school division.... /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />

 

Ok... let me see if I can explain all this in a Politically-Correct manner, without stirring up a hornet's nest.

 

Please forgive this long post, as I try to explain the Bolton High School of old vs the Bolton HS of today.

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The place (Arlington, TN) in which Bolton resides used to be a small, country, much less-affluent, close-knit town. It was very similar to the Melrose Community of Orange Mound, both in demograhics and talent pool...especially talent, but NOT the Crime rate (no offense intended). Bolton also was the ONLY High School in the area, whereas several HS surrounded Orange Mound.

 

Arlington (Eads?) was a tiny, homely town located in a small, rural part of Shelby County--Lots & lots of vacant land, everywhere..........Also lots of older people with good Christian, family values, less-affluent but prideful, and a strong work ethic. It had an extremely low Crime rate. It was a (secretly) great, place to live and raise kids. Again, it was the only High School in that area (Barret's Chappel was the "feeder" school, if my memory is working. They were known for their basketball, too). BASKETBALL was THE sport, in that little town! That's practically all the kids did, after school...... Naturally, all the little kids grew up & aspired to to play "big boys" basketball FOR Bolton.... They did. They dominated.

 

The cycle repeated itself.

 

This was kinda' the same dynamic that persists in the small town of Batesville, Mississippi: Small, less-affluent, close-knit town.... FOOTBALL is the ONLY game in town! That's practically all those kids do....they all grow up wanting to play football for South Panola. They did...... Result: Domination.

 

Fast forward to the 90's.....

 

Crime was continuing to tick up, in Mphs. Many "more-affluent" folks wanted to get out of town, fast!! So, they began an eastward "flight" out of Mphs, towards the "Country/rural" and less inhabited areas of Shelby County. The Home Builders were more than willing to accomodate that demand..... Huge, super-expensive houses began to pop up, all over Shelby County, including the little town that was the home of Bolton High School, Arlington, TN (Eads ?)....The prevailing thought/tactic (though no one has ever admitted it, Publically, to my knowledge) was that this was a "guaranteed" way to insure permanent seperation from the "less-affluent" folks, and the high crime rates of Memphis.

 

To make a long-story short, they stopped building affordable housing that the "less-affluent" folks could afford... The once "small town" of Arlington had gradually become a HUGE ("rich folks") thriving town, with all the modern-day conveniences of Big-City life, without the associated high Crime Rate.... It was also a radically different demographic than the one that persisted in Bolton's basketball heyday.

 

Many areas of Shelby County experienced this same paradigm, not just Arlington TN and Bolton High School. Collierville TN and Collierville High School did also...

 

By the way, Collierville High School won the State Championship (small schools, Class A) in Basketball, back during the 70's, also! They always had a very competitive program, back then. They also finished State Runner-up in football, to Champion Sweetwater (led by dynamic RB Kippy Brown, if my memory is working), during that same era.....Collierville Basketball has not been competitive since the late 70's/early 80's.

 

Draw your own conclusions.

 

As for Batesville, Mississippi and South Panola High School....they have not fallen "victim" (for lack of a better word) to any sort of massive influx of City-slickers (i.e. "more-affluent") that completely changed the face of Shelby County. South Panola still dominates football in Mississippi...

 

Draw your own conclusions.

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Folks, this is a crude synopsis of Bolton High School then vs now...

 

Draw your own conclusions.

[westtnman]

Ok... let me see if I can explain all this in a Politically-Correct manner, without stirring up a hornet's nest.

 

Please forgive this long post, as I try to explain the Bolton High School of old vs the Bolton HS of today.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The place (Arlington, TN) in which Bolton resides used to be a small, country, much less-affluent, close-knit town. It was very similar to the Melrose Community of Orange Mound, both in demograhics and talent pool...especially talent, but NOT the Crime rate (no offense intended). Bolton also was the ONLY High School in the area, whereas several HS surrounded Orange Mound.

 

Arlington (Eads?) was a tiny, homely town located in a small, rural part of Shelby County--Lots & lots of vacant land, everywhere..........Also lots of older people with good Christian, family values, less-affluent but prideful, and a strong work ethic. It had an extremely low Crime rate. It was a (secretly) great, place to live and raise kids. Again, it was the only High School in that area (Barret's Chappel was the "feeder" school, if my memory is working. They were known for their basketball, too). BASKETBALL was THE sport, in that little town! That's practically all the kids did, after school...... Naturally, all the little kids grew up & aspired to to play "big boys" basketball FOR Bolton.... They did. They dominated.

 

The cycle repeated itself.

 

This was kinda' the same dynamic that persists in the small town of Batesville, Mississippi: Small, less-affluent, close-knit town.... FOOTBALL is the ONLY game in town! That's practically all those kids do....they all grow up wanting to play football for South Panola. They did...... Result: Domination.

 

Fast forward to the 90's.....

 

Crime was continuing to tick up, in Mphs. Many "more-affluent" folks wanted to get out of town, fast!! So, they began an eastward "flight" out of Mphs, towards the "Country/rural" and less inhabited areas of Shelby County. The Home Builders were more than willing to accomodate that demand..... Huge, super-expensive houses began to pop up, all over Shelby County, including the little town that was the home of Bolton High School, Arlington, TN (Eads ?)....The prevailing thought/tactic (though no one has ever admitted it, Publically, to my knowledge) was that this was a "guaranteed" way to insure permanent seperation from the "less-affluent" folks, and the high crime rates of Memphis.

 

To make a long-story short, they stopped building affordable housing that the "less-affluent" folks could afford... The once "small town" of Arlington had gradually become a HUGE ("rich folks") thriving town, with all the modern-day conveniences of Big-City life, without the associated high Crime Rate.... It was also a radically different demographic than the one that persisted in Bolton's basketball heyday.

 

Many areas of Shelby County experienced this same paradigm, not just Arlington TN and Bolton High School. Collierville TN and Collierville High School did also...

 

By the way, Collierville High School won the State Championship (small schools, Class A) in Basketball, back during the 70's, also! They always had a very competitive program, back then. They also finished State Runner-up in football, to Champion Sweetwater (led by dynamic RB Kippy Brown, if my memory is working), during that same era.....Collierville Basketball has not been competitive since the late 70's/early 80's.

 

Draw your own conclusions.

 

As for Batesville, Mississippi and South Panola High School....they have not fallen "victim" (for lack of a better word) to any sort of massive influx of City-slickers (i.e. "more-affluent") that completely changed the face of Shelby County. South Panola still dominates football in Mississippi...

 

Draw your own conclusions.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Folks, this is a crude synopsis of Bolton High School then vs now...

 

Draw your own conclusions.

 

 

 

I can't help but think as I read this of the current situation in Medina / Jackson area now. Maybe this is a preview of things to come.

[TraderB]

This is an easy answer:

PERRY COUNTY 1997. 37-0. During the season they beat the AA state champions Union City who beat a great Memphis Melrose team in their state championship game. Led by Kirk Haston, Chris Jones, and Cory Brown. They played a very rugged schedule that year. The closest game they played during the tournament from district through the state championship was 20 points, thats 20 points. They averaged a 30 point win in their 3 state tournament games. They won in the state championship game by 35 points, saw it last week in the program.

I have had the privilege to see those teams from Bolton, East Robertson, and Ezell-Harding play and they were good but no where near as dominate as the 97 Perry County team. In my time of going to the state tournament, 35+ years, that team is one of the 10-15 best I have seen take the court in any classification.

 

JudgesMales,

 

I seem to recall one Perry County team, in particular, that had an outstanding player named Mike Rhodes...is that who he played for? What year?

 

I noticed that you didn't mention his name.

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Anyway, I remember Mike Rhodes nearly single-handedly leading his team to a convincing victory over one of those dynamic Bolton teams, during one State Chamipship game! That kid must have shot lights out! I remember listening to it, over the radio!!

 

I was totally stunned, and so was all of Shelby County......you mean somebody actually beat Bolton High School, during a State Basketball Championship game!!!

[TraderB]

I can't help but think as I read this of the current situation in Medina / Jackson area now. Maybe this is a preview of things to come.

 

It probably is...

[mrbigster]

Ok may now this will close your mouth. First of all nobody said that Manassas was the best every in 1A.

This was the best and go and check.

Bolton (6) 1975,1978,1979,1981,1985 1989 they move up to 2A

 

 

I've been around a long time and the best Single A teams I saw were the old Bolton teams with Coach Joe Branch at the helm..