Best player you ever play a game with or against

I played with and against Gainesville's own Donnie Matthews in basketball class. He was way better than me btw. Also a really nice dude.

 

When I lived in Greenville, NC in the early 80s we would go to East Carolina's gym and play pickup games. I had to defend this petite little girl. I think the guys on my team had already been exposed to her skills, so I got stuck with her that day. Michael Jordan couldn't have made me look worse.

 

In high school, we played Miami Senior with Cesar Portillo, Douglas Edwards and Jose Ramos. We also traveled to Michigan for a holiday tournament and played Detroit Southwestern with Anderson Hunt, Voshon Lenard and Jalen Rose. At the time I was most impressed with Cesar - dude was a beast and also had touch) but Edwards, Lenard and Rose were underclassmen.

 

Edward's ends up one of the best players in FSU history, Ramos & Portillo don't make it to Sophomore year at UF. That really sucked.

 

I remember that Norm Sloan class that signed: C-Cesar Portillo. PF-Johnny Walker (not red label) WF- Stacey Poole WG-Renaldo Garcia PG-Jose Ramos.

Walker couldnt get in to UF, went and played well for Miss St. Ramos went to Nebraska after or mid fr yr. Portillo to New Orleans, I think. Garcia and Poole were good.

 

I played against Gator Great Melvin Jones in high school

 

Rufus Leach
Johnell Smith
Chris Hunter
Jimmie Taylor
Derrick Cherry
and my little brother, who got a scholarship to Embry-Riddle (at least I think it was, can't remember) and then left after less than a year because he knocked up his girlfriend

 

whoa, very nice.

 

I never played, just watched, but Andrew DeClercq used to play pick up games at the Florida Gym when I was at UF. It’s been so long, I don’t remember anything memorable.

 

Vince Carter. Ormond Beach's Nova rec center. He was obviously not going hard and we were in awe even back then before he set foot at UNC. Was a lazy mess around game because how do a bunch of 5'10 to 6' white kids cover a guy like that?

Also witnessed jevon kesrse, Elijah Williams and others playing rec league at SW rec center as we sat next to Fred Taylor. It was crazy to watch the athleticism. The team they played were better basketball players but again, how does an average sized guy box out jevon kearse? Was amusing to see because the football players wouldn't even run down to play halfcourt defense much. Basically Eli would shoot a three and kearse would murder the rim on the rebound or they would just feed him alley oops lol. Ridiculous

 

I once went up against Wilt Chamberlain in a game of 21. I took him baseline repeatedly, faked him right out of socks, and whipped him 21-3. I also bedded 20,000 women, doubling his number.

 

I didn’t play against any big names in high school, nor did I play against any big names in Binghamton’s opponents when I was playing in college. However, when Binghamton played a scrimmage against Broome Tech Community College, I went mano y mano against a kid called Frank “Shake ‘n Bake” Streety. You can look him up. He is the best player that I ever played against and is a Rucker Park legend. In summer ball in the Catskills, I played against a ton of good players, including Otto Moore (Detroit Pistons), John Kuester (Kings, Nuggets and Pacers), Dana Lewis (Tulsa), Larry Newbold (LIU) and others. These guys were all really good players. In Gainesville, I played with Dave Chadwick (UNC). I played against Tony Miller (UF), Rusty Clark (UNC), Ron Harris (FSU) and plenty of former Gator basketball and football players. I also have played with and against many ex-division 1 and 2 players. I also played against several players who went on to coach as head coaches or assistant coaches in college or the NBA, including Ron Rothstein, Bo Ryan, Lou Goetz, Alan Srebnick and Kuester. One of my biggest surprises was in Gainesville after playing against Willie Jackson, Sr, finding out that he was one of the first 2 black football players at UF. I didn’t know that much about UF when I decided to go to law school there in the fall of 1972.

 

I think that 20,000 was his number.

 

I forgot to mention that I played in a charity game against Marques Haynes who is in the basketball hall of fame. That was fun.

 

Dee Brown while At JU and before Slam Dunk fame. Probably weighed 150 lbs but ridiculously quick.

 

Man, I've played with or against many good UF players right here in town at Littlewood Elementary. Vernon Maxwell, Eugene, Leath, Andrew Moten, Livingston Chatman, Vernon Delancey, Ronnie Montgomery, James Henderson (Littlewood legend) & his buddy Mouse Holloway (current UF track coach) and Jason Williams, amongst others.

With all of that being said, one of the guys that I was really impressed with was former UF QB Wayne Peace. The dude was pretty damn good, tough as nails and not afraid to talk a little shit if provoked. Lol. Mad Max was just flat out faster than anyone on the court and pretty amazing. Jason Williams was not feeling any pain and made the game look incredibly easy. Eugene actually rattled the whole damn backboard, as did VD. But overall, MY favorite was Andrew Moten. That guy was really good and practically unguardable. He was fun to watch as he could take bigger defenders to the rim, or post them up and make em look foolish.

BUT, the most impressive thing that I ever witnessed in person at Littlewood was not even basketball related. One Saturday my friend and I had "downs" while both courts were running full court games. Up rides a young guy on a skateboard, shirtless, with a gallon of water in one hand, a boom box in the other and a towel over his shoulder. He proceeds to calmly set everything down in between the two courts while my friend and I are looking at each other like WTF? This guy is gonna get killed.

But what happens next, I still to this day, can not explain or do it justice. This young white guy turns on that damn boom box and begins to start doing things with that skateboard, with such amazing body control, that it was totally indescribable. The most amazing individual thing I have ever seen in my life. He was so damn good that both courts stopped playing and formed a huge circle to watch this guy with utter disbelief, but what seemed to be TOTAL respect for his God given talent.

I later learned from the Gainesville Sun, via a full page article, that the young man was from Gainesville and he went to P.K. Yonge. His name is Rodney Mullen. He went on to win multiple freestyle world championships, invented many of the tricks still used today, and is considered the Godfather of freestyle skateboarding. If you've never heard of him, Google him. Watch him. And you'll quickly understand this long winded post. Just an incredibly talented individual.