Finders’ Keepers
Finding SLAM’s Diary Keepers that have been lost under the NBA pile-on.
by Matt Caputo
SLAM has always made it their business to give a voice to high school players. Since 1995, the “Basketball Diary” section has given up space so a star high school player can bless the masses with their two cents. In that time some pretty heavy cats have held down the diarists spot. Stephon Marbury, Mike Dunleavy and Lebron James are just a few of the thirteen players to pimp the pen for the SLAM nation and proceed to make millions playing in the NBA.
With the exception of a few players who are still in college, only three SLAM diarists have failed to make it the NBA. Even more eerie is the fact that the three players, Ronnie Fields, Edmund Saunders and Ray Young inked their respective columns in consecutive years (’96, ‘97, ’98). Below is an update on our faithful diarists who fell short of making it to the League.
Ronnie Fields // 1996
Ronnie Fields was Kevin Garnett’s high school teammate and is the closest thing to a superstar that the CBA has. He was known as the “King of Hops,” thus confirming that his jump shot wasn’t worth squat. His dunk over former Illinois star Sergio McClain was rated 12th out of the 50 greatest dunks of all time. His numbers as a senior at Farragut are mind scrambling. He averaged 32.4 points, 12.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 4.5 blocked shots, four steals and 4.5 dunks. He finished his career third in Chicago Public League history with 2,619 points. In his senior year, Fields had nine games of 40 or more points and a high of 51.
After committing to DePaul, Fields was in a serious car accident. The injury, combined with the fact that he wouldn’t have been academically eligible to play as a freshman, sealed his fate. He never played a minute of college basketball. He spent the large part of his career as the heart of the Rockford Lightning, a now defunct CBA franchise. He’s also picked up paychecks in Greece, Venezuela and the USBL. In 2006-2007, Fields joined the Minot Skyrockets, another CBA team.
Edmund Saunders // 1997
Edmund Saunders played at Holy Cross High School in Waterbury, CT and helped them win a state championship in 1995. After penning SLAM’s diary, he helped UConn win the NCAA National Championship. Since then, he has remained largely under the radar. Besides some workouts with the Nets and a Summer League shot running with the Charlotte Hornets, Saunders has been making money playing mostly overseas. He’s been able to pick up championships in Iceland and the WBA and he’s made all-stat appearances in the ABA, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Uraguay.
Ray Young // 1998
Since leaving the pages of SLAM, it seems like Ray Young, who ran at Notre Dame HS in Cali, may have given up on the game all together. After spending five years at UCLA (one redshirt year), Young shuffled around the Pro-Am circuit and spent time in the CBA and USBL. In 2004, he went to camp with the New Orleans Hornets but was waived in October. In 2005, Young played in the Vegas Summer League with Golden State. Since running with the Warriors’ summer squad Young has been keeping a low profile.
21 Responses to “Finders’ Keepers”
Aug.21 at 2:26 pm
Gerard Himself says:
Interesting. I always love that “where are they now” stuff.
Aug.21 at 2:26 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Nice work, Matt. And if anyone’s seen that LeBron kid — from Iowa, I think? — I’d love to know what he’s up to.
Aug.21 at 2:31 pm
Steve O says:
I used to work a summer camp in CT and Edmund used to come speak there. he is a pretty cool dude. good stuff.
Aug.21 at 2:43 pm
Matt Caputo says:
Nice work returning my Jack Ryan DVD, Ryan!
Aug.21 at 2:46 pm
Ryan Jones says:
No doubt, appreciate the loan. They had some dope footage in that flick.
Aug.21 at 2:51 pm
Matt Caputo says:
Yeah man, it was a good look out how hoops culture uused to be out here. ….BTW - I think you’re cool with my man Woj.
Aug.21 at 3:16 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Adrian?
Aug.21 at 3:17 pm
Matt Caputo says:
That’s my people. He’s close with my brother, he recruited me, big bro and my pops for a little research help for his new book.
Aug.21 at 3:27 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Didn’t know, that’s very cool. Yeah, I was a scrub part-time sports writer when he was the columnist at the Bergen Record. I’m not in touch with him, but we’re cool.
Aug.21 at 3:28 pm
Tarzan Cooper aka Jesus Shuttlesworth says:
He averaged 32.4 points, 12.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 4.5 blocked shots, four steals and 4.5 dunks GOTDAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aug.21 at 3:29 pm
gatsby says:
I gotta see that Ronnie Fields dunk!!
Aug.21 at 3:40 pm
jbn74sb says:
Ray Young could play some serious D while at UCLA.
Aug.21 at 3:45 pm
PG27 says:
Ronnie Fields was featured on the show Hoops TV I think a couple years back.I was watching some of his highlights and he was pretty amazing.He had hops(demonstrated by that dunk you mentioned),a decent jumpshot and was able to get to the basket at will.He was even in a music video with his teammate KG.To bad he never made it to the NBA……
Aug.21 at 3:51 pm
H to the izzo says:
What about Mike Dunleavy Jr.?He wasn’t a bust or anything but still its Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Aug.21 at 4:01 pm
Gumdrop says:
What are the odds on Devendorf making it?
Aug.21 at 4:23 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Call me biased (seriously), but I think Devendorf has a decent shot at the League: good handle, good shot, strong, aggressive. I think he’d be a solid backup PG.
Aug.22 at 4:27 pm
Ryu says:
Watching cilps about Ronnie Fields on YouTube, knowing about his unlucky past, makes you think what could he become…
Aug.22 at 5:11 pm
Tarzan Cooper says:
ryan, thats what people said about greece-bound mcnamara
Aug.23 at 12:58 pm
Zee says:
I saw Ray Young visiting his grandmother, right around the time the warriors summer league was going on. Dude was driving a sick all white mercedes and was with a pretty young thing, so laying low must be treating him well.
Aug.23 at 5:53 pm
Scott says:
This reminds me… where are the “where are they now” sections from the mag? They used to be one of my favourites, and now that all these new features keep popping up, it would be good to bring that back - it’s not like there aren’t any cats left out there that can be featured…
Aug.23 at 6:49 pm
Caputo says:
retro is whats up!