A Family Affair
Oak Hill Academy brings out the old and the new to reminisce about good times and play some ball!
By Rodney David King
On a muggy afternoon in the Queen city, Charlotte North Carolina, some of basketball’s royal family gathered for a special reunion.
Oak Hill Academy, the prep hoops powerhouse from Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, held its first reunion basketball game this year in the new Charlotte Bobcats arena. Sponsored by Jordan Brand and SLAM magazine, the event brought together many of the stars that helped make the name Oak Hill Academy synonymous with hoops success to honor the school and its legendary coach, Steve Smith.
Completing his 22nd year at the helm of Oak Hill basketball, Smith has managed develop over 122 division 1 players, 22 McDonalds’ All-Americas and 20 NBA draftees during his time as coach. Some of those players like Rod Strickland, Jerry Stackhouse, Carmelo Anthony and Jeff McInnis joined him to help celebrate the tradition that Coach Smith started.
“This is our family,” said Stackhouse when asked what brought him to Charlotte for the game tonight. “I came to support Coach Smith. His family became like a family to me and a lot of other players because we were all so far away from home. His family became my family.”
That familial spirit is what brought out NBA veteran Rod Strickland. A far cry from his NBA days, Rod today sports a crop of salt and pepper hair, and his moves on the court aren’t as quick as they once were, but his memories of Coach Smith and what Oak Hill meant to his development as a player came to him in a snap. “I had to play against the best competition and with the best competition. It was like being in the streets and having to bring your best game everyday.”
The game itself featured a who’s who of college, former NBA, and amateur talent. Being that current NBA players weren’t allowed to play in the game, the pro talent took to the sidelines to act as honorary coaches.
The Red team was coached by Jerry Stackhouse, Jeff McInnis, Rajon Rondo, and Josh Smith, while the Yellow team was helmed by Carmelo Anthony (who should change his name to LL Cool C, the way the little girls in the crowd screamed every time he stood up to signal a play but that’s another story.)
The Gold team, led on the court by North Carolina’s current point god Tywon Lawson and Charlotte native and Clemson star KC Rivers, jumped out to an early 7-0 lead before John “Helicopter” Humphrey stopped the bleeding for the red team with back to back alley-oops.
But that was just the beginning! By the end of the first half, the red team was down by 23 points. When asked what Coach Smith would tell his players after getting a beat down like that in the first half, Jeff joked, “He’d tell us to keep playing. We’ve got too much talent out there. Besides, our team is full of old guys, we have to get them in shape.”
Among the old guys on the red roster was former Virginia standouts Curtis Staples and Junior Burroughs, former Arizona/Kansas/Hutchinson JC star Ben Davis, Kevin Lyde and Cory Alexander.
The yellow team featured University of Louisville’s Luke Whitehead, Justin Gray, Tarik Turner, and current Oak Hill star and soon to be Duke legend Nolan Smith.
After the first half, a dunk contest was held where John Humphrey took home the trophy despite missing several dunks a la Nate Robinson. The highlight of halftime was when former greats Ron Mercer, Carmelo Anthony, Josh Smith, Jeff McGinnis, Rod Strickland and the schools first legitimate star Calvin Duncan were all inducted into the Oak Hill hall of fame. When asked how it felt to go into the ring of honor, Strick said, “It’s an honor just to be mentioned with some of these names. I’ve been playing for a long time, and to be recognized at all is a great feeling.”
After the halftime festivities, the game resumed, and the Gold team continued to take it to the Red team. But the efficient work of Kevin Lyde down low going off for 20 points and making all his field goals, kept the red team alive as they fought to tie the game as the 3rd quarter came to an end.
As the fourth quarter opened up Charlotte native KC Rivers came alive, no thanks to coaches Stackhouse and McGinnis. After jaw jacking with Stack and Jeff about who’s national championship team would beat the other, with Stack and McGinnis laughing at the thought that Rivers 2004-2005 team could hang with their 92-93 team, (For the record, I’m with Stack here, that 92-93 team was loaded) Rivers went on a barrage of his own that kept the yellow team alive and with the lead.
But by the time the buzzer sounded, the gold team would be victorious. The score was the least important aspect of the night. This was a night about teammates and friends who came to support a great coach and a great program.
26 Responses to “A Family Affair”
Jul.2 at 6:00 pm
nothin _personal says:
McInnis a coach? wow!
Jul.2 at 6:01 pm
nothin _personal says:
I posted that before, but I think it’s worth copy-pasting it:
Speaking of Mcinnis, when he was in Greece, he got into a fight with another guy (Mikki Moore?) and was chasing him around the court with a crowbar or something. Needless to say, he got kicked of the team in no time! Two years later, he was running the Clippers offence. Go figure…
Jul.2 at 6:41 pm
Ill Will says:
LL Cool C? seriously?
Jul.2 at 7:29 pm
smush says:
where was stephen jackson?
Jul.2 at 7:40 pm
mehka says:
The best scene of the day were the entourages. There was too much ice in the building!!!!
Jul.2 at 8:00 pm
OHAalum says:
That game was alright but it is kinda ackward to have about 20 guys on each team trying to play. Cory Alexander looked “experienced”, Cliff Hawkins(UK) threw the same great passes he did when he was there, Kevin Lyde(Temple) is huge and effective, KC Rivers(Clemson) shot very well as always, and John Humphrey - I know him, and I am not calling anybody I know damn “Helicopter”, sorry - threw down some nice dunks. He was doing all those dunks in 11th grade too…but damn John you are still goofy as hell. Just a ‘ol goofy ass dude. Definitely cool to see all those dudes come back (Mercer, Blake, Slay, Ivan Harris, RASHAAD CARRUTH???) but personally I just thought it was cool to watch Rod Strickland ball with the young guys. Ol high ass Rod.
Jul.2 at 8:46 pm
AJ$ says:
@smush: the gangsta was in court!
Jul.2 at 8:59 pm
Goody says:
Rod Strickland. Oh my goodness. Sure miss point gaurds like that. Could fill it up, dish, and get to the rack like Jay Kidd.
Jul.2 at 11:12 pm
AP says:
have to agree with mehka bout the entourages…melo’s was pretty intense…melo refused to take off his sunglasses as well; even durin the halftime ceremony he didnt take em off…sean may was there for a hot second as well and raymond felton was doing the meet and greet thing b4 the game as well….melo’s watch was blinged to the nth dimension as well….the dunk contest actually happened after the 1st quarter which was kinda odd..helicopter faced off against the 8th wonder and some other cat who didnt even play in the game;didnt even sit on the bench came out of the stands to dunk…desangia diop was there as well…helped melo “coach”….stackhouse could be a coach down the line…he really wanted to win standing up the whole time coaching and yelling encouragement the whole time…helicopter prob put on the best show throughout the game…dunking whenever he had a chance…one of the alley-oops mentioned was one where he bounced it off the floor to himself….one thing that shocked me bout helicopter was how short he was…man can sky
rod strickland was solid…dude looks like he stll has it…he scored a lot in the first half…Tywon did his thing as well….
one of the better entertainment in btw time outs was these lil kids who did some crazy jump rope tricks…the gold team almost came back just feeding kevin lyde in the post non stop…they came within single digits but than started chucking threes… nolan smith was real nice as well…. the game was all bout family…there was a huge family contigent from almost every single player there…it was nice to see most notable missing…steve jackson, steve black, marcus williams cant wait till nxt year where hopefully the nba sanctions the game so we can see the nba cats do their thing
Jul.2 at 11:15 pm
AP says:
thought a rodney white was sposed to write this?!
Jul.3 at 1:28 am
mac says:
the nba is worse than the nfl,let them play, these dudes don’t go hard at charity games anyway, just a few dunks (please stretch before) and some deep 3’s thats all the peole want to see anyway. but bring them all back next year….Durant, Mike Beasley, they’d sell out the arena, bring ‘em all back. damn f.y.i. they turn down KG
Jul.3 at 7:49 am
Ben Osborne says:
AP, I was confused on my man’s name. My fault. Rod Strick is a CLASSIC. Would’ve loved to see him in action.
Jul.3 at 10:04 am
Rod Strickland says:
Yeah, those were the days.
Jul.3 at 11:46 am
Russ Bengtson says:
Blinged-out watches are so 2001.
Jul.3 at 12:38 pm
Lisa Smith says:
Thanks to all my guys for coming out and supporting Coach and the school. It was a very special evening for our Oak Hill b-ball family.
Jul.3 at 1:03 pm
Boing Dynasty says:
Seriously, no Rodeny King jokes?
Jul.3 at 7:33 pm
mehka says:
Please people….no Rodney King jokes lol
Jul.3 at 10:35 pm
Robin says:
Do you have any pictures from the event?
Jul.4 at 10:07 am
mehka says:
Hey,The story was GREAT! I loved how you wrote a lil bit about everyone.
Jul.4 at 10:13 am
Goldie says:
That was a great story,And loved how you covered everybody who was at the game.Keep up the good writing!!!!!
Jul.4 at 2:29 pm
grarw says:
let’s try LL Cool Gay?
Jul.5 at 2:39 am
TYKE! says:
Cory Alexander, that’s that dude! but he went to UVA with Staples and Burroughs not thos other schools with those other guys.
Jul.12 at 10:18 am
Jaronn Jones says:
Man yall want to see a family afair come to my high school and look at how we play the Jones boys lol Career academey St.louis b there or be square
Jul.21 at 10:09 am
Casey says:
Rod Strickland is from New York so don’t get twisted.
Aug.5 at 8:47 pm
Ira Becks says:
The game was pretty good, it was good to see muy man cory alexander, staples and Tarik Turner. Big ups to the 94 squad. I wish my dog Sammy Smith would have showed up. Oh yea, can’t forget Mark Blount. Peace
Dec.1 at 2:41 pm
katee says:
i graduated with jeff and saw him play….wow he is still incredible to watch!!!!