Top 5 In TN history

[gomocs]

Richie Fuqua and Anthony Roberts of Chattanooga Riverside, late 60s for Richie and early 70s for Anthony.

[GovMan]

Chris Gettlefinger - Knox Catholic/UK

Jon Johnson - Bearden/ Maryland

Allen "Big AL" Ammons - Friendsville / Roane State / Aluminum Company of America

Bill "Padge" Padgett - Alcoa/ Maryville College

Elston Turner - AE / Ole Miss

 

Give me this five ... with Vernon Osborne (Alcoa) as head coach & Bill Wallace (Friendsville) as assistant and we'll take on all those Middle & West Tennessee NBA All-Stars !!!

[eagle79]

David Vaughn-Whites Creek

[Lionsrule]

What about Dontae Jones from Stratford. I'm pretty sure he led Miss. St. deep into the NCAA's and played in the NBA for a short stint. Recently, he scored 41 points 22 of which were in the first quarter for the new ABA team in Nashville. I even heard he was better than Ron Mercer but his attitude held him back.

[TnVols23]

David Marsh.... 1967 McDonald's All-American from Alcoa. Led the team to a state championship his final year.

[skunk]

Skip Brown

A.W. Davis

Anthony Roberts

Derrick Hord

Elston Turner

Johnny Johnson

Tony Delk

JaMichael Mills

Jovann Johnson

Dan Moody

Mark Elliott

 

Best I saw

 

Roll Tribe Roll

[dudumonaghan]

Josh "Buster'' Keltner is now a police officer/S.R.O. at the Lewis County school district.

[mphstigerfan]

Would "White Lightning" Keltner also be known as Booger Keltner of UCAR fame?

[VolunteerGeneral]

For everyone on here who was born before 1980, Monk Montgomery of Kittrel.  He could score on ANYBODY.  Also Albert Ellison of Linden, Sylvester Gray of Bolton, Ron Mercer-Goodpasture, Tony Delk-Haywood Co., Mike Rhodes-Perry Co. Anthony Roberts-Riverside, Bailey Howell.  Shawn Marion and Trenton Hassell were good players at Clarksville, but improved greatly after graduation.  You would think that a team with both of them would dominate, but they didn't.  They did make it to the state once.  Cannon Whitby averaged close to 40, but took 50+ shots a game playing for his father.  He probably still hasn't crossed the half-court line for defense.  Ted McLain and Les Hunter and Perry Wallace of the mid-60's Pearl team were all incredible.  David Vaughn Sr. of Cameron in 70 and 71 was dominant. Penny Hardaway didn't even play almost all of his senior year becasue of grades and a drive-by shooting in the foot. The game has changed so much that it is really hard to compare the different eras.  Yes, guys are more athletic now and can jump out of the gym, but VERY few can shoot the ball with any consistency.  They just don't practice shooting anymore.  A guy hits one three now and he thinks he is a shooter.  Or worse, he gets a dunk and all these idiots in the stands think he is a stud, even though he just got beat back down the floor by his man for a lay-up because he was celebrating his showtime dunk.  Fundamentals are a thing of the past.  Unfortunately so is BASKETBALL ability.  Now we just have athletes.  There is my $ .02.

825429457[/snapback]

 

 

Wow someone remembers MONK! I had the priveledge of getting to know Monk when I was at MTSU. I got to look through his old scrapbooks. Never saw him play, but he must have been great.

[VolunteerGeneral]

Wow! A very interesting topic.  Hard to pick just five.  How about this...

 

My "old school" five (before c. 1980):

1.  Albert Ellison (led Linden to 3 state championships before classification)

2.  Bailey Howell (Middleton legend, played for Mississippi State and the great Boston Celtic teams)

3.  Perry Wallace (Pearl state champ, broke color barrier in SEC for Vandy, great player)

4.  John Gunn (Melrose state champ, Memphis State, stricken with fatal cancer much too young)

5.  Mike Rhodes (led Perry County to back-to-back state titles, Vandy 1,000 point scorer, greatest individual performance in TSSAA history versus Knox Catholic in 1977)

 

Old School honorable mentions: Larry Spicer, Memphis North/Baylor; Lee Fowler, Columbia Central/Vandy; Johnny Darden, Springfield/UT; Elston Turner, Knoxville/Ole Miss; Johnny Newman, Memphis?/Ole Miss; Sylvester Gray, Bolton/Memphis State (may have played in early '80's); Cecil Dowell, Bolton/Ole Miss; Anthony "Woosie" Roberts, Chattanooga Riverside/Oral Roberts; Steve Eaton, Chattanooga City/Western Kentucky; Jimmy Braddock, Chattanooga Baylor/UNC

 

My post-1980 top five (not including current h.s. players):

1.  Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (Memphis legend -- high school, AAU and college, great pro player before knee injuries started taking toll)

2.  David Vaughn (Nashville White's Creek state champ, Memphis State, NBA)

3.  Vincent Yarbrough (Cleveland state champ, UT, NBA, uncanny instincts and talent)

4.  Kirk Haston (Perry County runner-up and state champ; Big Ten player of year for Indiana, NBA)

5.  Lang Wiseman (Bolton four-year starter, outplayed Penny Hardaway in state finals, had good UT career, 4.0 GPA and medical degree)

 

Post-1980 honorable mentions (not including current h.s. players): Shawn Marion, Clarksville?/Austin Peay/NBA; Trenton Hassell, Clarksville?/Austin Peay/NBA; Popeye Jones, Dresden/Murray State/NBA; Todd Day, Whitehaven/Arkansas/NBA;  Marcus Haislip, Marshall County/UT/NBA; Tony Delk, Haywood County/Kentucky/NBA; Malcolm Mackey, Brainerd/Georgia Tech/NBA; Ron Mercer, Goodpasture/Oak Hill Academy/Kentucky/NBA; Orlando Lightfoot, Chattanooga City/Oklahoma/Idaho; Tony Harris, Memphis East/UT; Jovann Johnson, Science Hill; C.J. Black, Brainerd/UT; Fred Jenkins, Columbia Central/UT; Robert O'Kelley, White Station/Wake Forest; Stanley Caldwell, Union City/UT; Carlus Groves, East Robertson/UT; Cannon Whitby, Obion County/Arkansas; David Woodard, East Robertson/JUCO; Trey Pearson, South <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=159&SportID=3' target='_blank'>Fulton</a>/Ole Miss/Murray State; Marcus Maybin, Clarksville?/Louisville; Ron Heury, Whitehaven/Memphis State; Jay Price, Brainerd/UT; Jason Holwerda, Chattanooga Christian/Vandy; Seth Skogen, Tennessee Temple/Mercer

 

Now, who did I leave out?  Who doesn't belong on this list?

825428605[/snapback]

 

 

This is quite a list! thumb

 

Glad someone remembered John Gunn. What a tragedy.

 

Might add Larry Finch, Hank McDowell, Andre Turner, William Bedford, Baskerville Holmes, Alvin Wright and Johnny Nuemann(sp?)

 

Bill Cook and Kevin Anglin were no slouches either.

[bigchief]

Lionsrule, Dontae Jones was only eligible for 3 semesters out of the 8 he was in high school and one of those was fall of his freshman year. He didn't hardly get to play in high school because he was lazy in class. He made his rep playing in the summer for the Travelers, among others.

[mas1821]

bump......... I really wanted to see gomab's point of view on this and he's AWOL!! hence "mostly for gomab" c'mon man speak up!! =) I like what has come of it so far... Got to read up on a lot of players I didn't know about... Keep 'em comin...

Edited November 17, 2004 by mas1821