Written by: Prospect-Central-Original Article (02/17/13) (1) Former College of Charleston & Georgia Tech head coach BOBBY CREMINS is credited for initially discovering the hidden talent known as "Mike Jordan." In the summer of 1979, Cremins (who was the coach of Appalachian State at the time) had Jordan's Laney High School team up at his camp as a group. Even though he didn't realize that he had just stumbled upon the G.O.A.T., he still liked what he saw and decided to call a friend and spill the beans. (2) Cremins called BOB GIBBONS, who was a young recruiting writer at the time from Lenoir, NC. Cremins simply said, "Bob, there's a kid up here you're not going to believe!" At this point in time, the 6'3'' Jordan had not even played varsity basketball for Laney High. Bob Gibbons would go onto write about how good of a prospect Jordan was, but Gibbons only had a couple hundred readers & a small regional audience at the time, thus Jordan continued to fly under the radar despite averaging 25 ppg as a high school junior.
(3) Mike Kryzyzewski & Jim Valvano would pursue Jordan very late in the game, but they were both coaching at Army & Iona respectively at this time, so UNC was the first school to get a glimpse of the future Hall-of-Famer. On a tip from MIKE BROWN, who was the athletic director of the New Hanover County school system, UNC's assistant coach BILL GUTHRIDGE took a trip to Laney High to check out the young Jordan. (4) Bill Guthridge then reported to DEAN SMITH that Jordan was an exceptional player, so Smith decided to add Jordan to his recruiting list. Assistant coach ROY WILLIAMS was then assigned to call and write Jordan - specifically to induce the young prospect to attend UNC's summer camp. Dean Smith was well aware that no one had stumbled onto Jordan's talent, so he warned his staff not to mention Jordan to any reporters. Today coaches can't comment on prospects to the media, but in 1980, it was not only legal, but happened frequently. (5) This is where Roy Williams messed up. Instead of taking Dean Smith's advice about keeping Jordan a secret, he decided to call his friend, BRICK OETTINGER, and tell him about the future superstar. Brick was in his third year of covering basketball recruiting for a publication known as "The Poop Sheet" (now the ACC Sports Journal) and decided to check out Jordan for himself. (6) In February of 1980, Brick Oettinger went with three friends to watch Jordan play, and MJ did not disappoint. In the next issue of his magazine, Oettinger wrote, "You probably haven't heard the name Mike Jordan, but he has the best combination of athleticism, basketball skills, and intangibles of any high school wing guard I have ever seen." Poop Sheet publisher Dennis Wuycik would end up using that quote in promotions for more than 20 years. (7) Even with the news starting to leak out, Jordan remained relatively unknown on the national scene and Dean Smith was anxious to keep it that way. After watching Jordan dominate his summer camp, coach Smith knew he was sitting on a special prospect, but he also knew Jordan was too good to be kept a secret and it was only a matter of time before he went national. Both Roy Williams and CLIFTON 'Pop' HERRING, Jordan's high school coach, would end up helping Jordan get that national exposure. (8) Williams called HOWARD GARFINKEL, who ran the prestigious Five-Star Basketball Camp, and arranged Jordan to attend. Clifton Herring would do the same. As it turned out, Dean Smith's worst fears came to fruition at Five-Star. Jordan killed the camp. After Five-Star, the cat was out of the bag. Howard Garfinkel would end up rating Jordan a Top 10 prospect in the country. Brick Oettinger ranked Jordan No. 2 in the country, behind only Patrick Ewing, and Bob Gibbons became the first person to rank Mike Jordan the No. 1 player in the nation. (9) To sum it up; entering the summer of 1980, Mike Jordan was largely unknown to the public and to the majority of the basketball community; by the end of that summer, he remained a mystery to the public, but was widely recognized within the basketball community as one of the nation's elite prospects. By the time Michael Jordan ended his freshman season at UNC, he belonged to the world.
In early 1891, the Canadian-American Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball at a YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. On February 24th, 1893, just 14 months after Naismith invented the sport, the first high school basketball game was played in Chicago, Illinois between a West Side YMCA team and Morgan Park Academy. The YMCA was responsible for initially developing and spreading the game, and by 1895 basketball was well established at several women's high schools across the country.
This was short lived however, as high school basketball began to lose its popularity due to the YMCA discouraging the sport because of its rough play and rowdy crowds. Other amateur sports clubs, professional clubs, and colleges quickly began to fill the void, and in 1898 the first professional league was formed, the National Basketball League (NBL). Soon after in 1901, colleges such as the University of Chicago, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, and the U.S. Naval Academy to name a few, began sponsoring men's basketball.
Chuck Taylor: 1901-1969
Fast forward another five years, and by 1906 basketball was once again in the good graces of high schools all across the nation. During the first few decades of the 20th century, basketball quickly became the ideal interscholastic sport due to its modest equipment and personnel requirements. While the popularity of high school basketball was unrivaled in many parts of America, the organizing of events, camps, and All-American games to help determine the top recruits in the country would still be a few years away.
On June 6th, 1946, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) was founded. Three years later in 1949, the BAA and the National Basketball League (NBL) would merge into the greatest basketball league in the world today, the NBA. Now I bring this up because ironically 1949 is also the year when the top high school basketball players in the country began to be recognized and ranked.
Before there were McDonald's All-Americans, before there were Parade All-Americans, there were Chuck Taylor All-Americans in the high school prep ranks. These players were among the very best in the nation and selected to participate in a summertime all-star event called the "North-South Cage Classic" held in Murray, Kentucky in the late 1940's throughout the mid 1950's.
After the week-long event concluded, five players were chosen as "All-Americans" and one player labeled "Mr. Basketball", essentially becoming the No.1 recruit in the nation. Now let me preferisce this by saying, diversity was clearly an issue during this era, so not all of the best players in the country were chosen to participate in the event; i.e. Wilt Chamberlain (1955), Oscar Robertson (1956), to name a few.
Mason Cope c/o 1949: First No. 1 Recruit
Some of the resources used in putting together this list of all the No. 1 high school basketball recruits in the country over the past seventy-two years were as follows; 2020-1998: Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI); 1997-1957: Street & Smith Magazine, Prep Stars Handbook, The Hoopscoop, and all of the HS Basketball National All-American & Player of the Year selections from various publications; 1956-1949: Chuck Taylor All-Americans.
Since there are 12 current NBA players plus 2 futureNBA players incorporated throughout these rankings, this is obviously a fluid list as a player could theoretically move up or down depending on how the rest of his career plays out. Please note that these rankings are based solely on a players professional career as opposed to their high school & college careers. The future potential of a few current NBA players was also taken into consideration when ranking these players.
A few tidbits about these rankings; Illinois (9) led the way as the state with the most players represented, followed by New York (6), and a number of other states with five. The college with the most No. 1 recruits of all-time is NorthCarolina (4), with Brad Daugherty c/o 1982 being UNC's top player (imo). Nine No.1 recruits went directly to the NBA from high school, while 2 more in Moses Malone c/o 1974 (ABA) and Brandon Jennings c/o 2008 (Italy), chose different paths. The tallest No. 1 recruit of all time is 7'4'' Ralph Sampson c/o 1979, while the shortest player is 6'0'' Kenny Anderson c/o 1989. There are currently 20 former No. 1 recruits inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Only four No. 1 recruits didn't go onto play professional basketball; Bill Raftery c/o 1959 became a coach, and yes it's THAT BillRaftery. Bruce Brothers c/o 1952 & Mason Cope c/o 1949 enlisted in the military, and Earl Adkins c/o 1953 just wasn't good enough. So...with that being said, here are Prospect-Central's rankings of every No. 1 high school basketball recruit of all-time!!!Click players name for social media feed, Wikipedia page, college & pro stats, HS profile, videos.
