Edgar Jeffries played at Washington State. Greg Jones was the best all around high school player in the Y-Town area. Phenomenal scorer, great handle and suffocating defender. Edgar wasn't far behind, good scorer, great defender and outstanding rebounder. Don't forget Rick Bevly from Youngstown North.

Jojo,
I know it isn't anyone that played during the summers at Pemberton Pool.

[hrspeedmerchant]

Originally Posted by coacher1450

No contest who the best was. No disrespect intended for the great players already mentioned. Dale Blaney Badger was the best. How many of those guys made the LA Lakers and just decided not to play.

Blaney didn't just decide not to play. He made the final cut.

Greg Jones

The Jones and James Rayen team of 78 may have been the best Youngstown team ever.

[QuakerOats]

Originally Posted by frame555

The Jones and James Rayen team of 78 may have been the best Youngstown team ever.

Very true.

Others:
Butch McCrae, East
Eric Posey, North
Ray Parker, South
Mike Stapleton, Salem
and of course Harding and Reserve had their share of big talent as well.

Frame,
I agree 100%.

[MILKY]

it is a shame everything dealing with youngstown basketball is about the past why is is so horrible rigt now compared to other cities and what can be done to improve it.

The only problem with the 1978 Tigers were the boys from Cleveland. Great team though. Snake: the Pemberton, Sheridan Crandall circuit was the best!

O.K....question. The thread says "best Youngstown area player". That to me means the tri- county area. However, that does not mean that they had to be successful after high school. So are we talking about guys who were dominating in high school that then moved on to successful careers beyond High School....or are we talking about high school players and what they did IN HIGH SCHOOL??? Everyone keeps adding what they did after high school. My lists were of guys who put on a show..in my opinion...in high school. Which is what this forum is about.


By the way...add Floyd Showers from Rayen to my three lists.

[bigdean1]

Richard Bevly - Youngstown North
Greg Jones - Rayen
Joe James - Rayen
Greg Dunn - Boardman
Tilman Bevely - Campbell Memorial

Big,
Nice list also.

From a pure talent standpoint, the Jackson kid from JFK-Harding is right up there with the guys that had Division I success.A phenom talent wise.

The only problem with the 1978 Tigers were the boys from Cleveland

I believe only game Rayen lost that year to Cleveland Latin, I also believe they beat Latin big during the regular season at South field house. James was hurt during the game Rayen lost.

Originally Posted by Snake Eyes

From a pure talent standpoint, the Jackson kid from JFK-Harding is right up there with the guys that had Division I success.A phenom talent wise.

Was thinking the same thing the other day.

How many players from the valley won Mr. Basketball?

Bobby Fleicher-

What years did he attend Duke?

The only player from the valley that I remember winning MR. Basketball was Bob Patton Jr., who went on to play at Stanford.

soft

Frame,
I would say the early 70's. Before they were good. Neither they nor Wake were very good at the time. Davidson was probably better than the two ACC schools at that time. However, Mr. Fleicher was a very big name in the high school ranks at that time.

Originally Posted by soft egg

The only player from the valley that I remember winning MR. Basketball was Bob Patton Jr., who went on to play at Stanford.

soft

Therefor I would say Patton Jr is the best basketball player to come out of the valley.

[coldshoulder]

Bob Fleischer was a 6'8", 215-lb. center/forward with a dead-eye shooting touch and strong rebounding skills.

He was a three-year starter for very good Liberty teams under coach Pete Prokop in '69, '70, and '71, where I think they might have gone 20-2 all three years, losing in the District Finals each time.

The '69 team (which also featured Fleischer's older brother, who played at Dartmouth) was upset by an Ursuline team led by Benny Allison, Tom Tamburino and Sam Scott. The sophomore Fleischer, with a nice outside shooting touch, was a double-figure scorer on this well-balanced team. As a junior and senior he became more of an dominant inside player.

As a senior in '71, Fleischer's group (which at one point was undefeated and ranked #1 in the state) was upset by Youngstown North, which featured Rick Bevly, Tom Hight, and future NFL player Sherman Smith.

Fleischer was heavily recruited by big-name schools, especially those in the ACC. In fact, two area players from his same class and same league (Mark Moeller of Canfield; and Craig Kuszmaul from Champion) were offered scholarships at North Carolina State; both were reserves on the Wolfpack's 1974 NCAA title team. Even though Liberty played in the Trumbull AA Conference, I believe Canfield was a member during that era. So the NC State recruiters were here going hard after Fleischer, but were impressed enough with the other two to offer them, even though neither ever became a starter at NC State. They might have even split a scholarship.

When Fleischer went to Duke in 1971-72, freshmen were still not eligible to play "varsity" basketball at the major college level. But he became a three-year starter for the Blue Devils during the 1972-73, '73-74, and '74-'75 seasons, and posted some pretty impressive numbers there, per the research I did earlier today.

--Fleischer scored 1,139 points in 3 years, a 14.6 career scoring average.

--He still ranks as Duke's 9th all-time career FG % leader, at 56%.

--Ranks 5th in career rebounding, with a 10.5 rpg average, ahead of future NBA players Mike Gminski, Shelden Williams, Elton Brand, Gene Banks, Jack Marin, and Christian Laettner.

--Ranks 7th all-time with 40 'double-doubles'.

--Ranks 2nd all-time with 13 consecutive 'double-double' games. (He had 19 'double-doubles' as a junior, when they played 26 games).

--7th-best FG % season (62% as a senior).

--7th-best rebounding season (12.4 rpg as a junior).

--4th most-ever 15+ rebound games.

Fleischer was drafted by an NBA team, and probably could have played in the league. I believe he might have played overseas for a few years after college.

How's that for a history lesson ?!?!?