Who is the best basketball player ever to come out of Roanoke?
John A. Montgomery,
By John A. Montgomery
A straw poll at the Roanoke Valley Sports Club at its March 20 meeting revealed some interesting answers to the above question. Cave Spring High School alumnus J.J. Redick (class of 2002) was the overwhelming winner, as he was named No. 1 on 78 of the 100 ballots cast.
Redick became the NCAA Division 1 NCAA player of the year at Duke in 2006, four years after leading Cave Spring to a Group AAA state championship. Redick scored 43 points in the state title game. Redick was the NCAA Division I Player of the Year and ultimately played 15 seasons in the NBA.
Redick also completed his college career as the NCAA’s leader in career 3-pointers (457), eclipsing fellow Roanoker Curtis Staples, who connected on 443 at the University of Virginia. Staples claimed the NCAA career best prior to Redick, giving Roanoke a legitimate claim to being a hot-bed for long-distance shooters.
George Lynch earned 53 votes and placed second in the RVSC March 20 poll. Lynch led Patrick Henry to a Group AAA state championship in 1988 before going on to enjoy a stellar stay at the University of North Carolina, including winning the 1993 NCAA Division I championship. Lynch also enjoyed a successful NBA career.
There was a sharp drop-off in votes in the RVSC poll following Redick and Lynch. The third-leading vote getter was Staples with 15 votes. No 4 was Luke Hancock (14 votes) and Dick Kepley placed fifth (12 votes). Mike Franklin earned eight votes to finish sixth.
Each Roanoke Valley Sports Club attendee was asked to rank the top three players.
Staples helped PH win a second Group AAA state basketball championship in 1992 and later starred for UVa, while Hancock (Hidden Valley High School) became a key player at Louisville for coach Rick Pitino when the Cardinals captured the 2013 NCAA championship.
Hancock was named the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) at the 2013 Final Four. Kepley led Roanoke’s Jefferson High School to a Group I state championship in 1955 and was part of North Carolina’s 1957 NCAA championship team.
Kepley later was the head coach at Jefferson in 1970 when Franklin led the Magicians to its next state title. Franklin went on to star at the University of Cincinnati in the early 1970s.
Other names on the RVSC ballots showed some familiarity with local basketball history among those casting votes. Bernard (“Supernard”) Harris (Northside, 7 votes), James “Hoolie” Childress (William Byrd, 5) and Richard Morgan (Salem, 2) were among those named.
John A. Montgomery hails from the Midwest; his boyhood home was equidistant from Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati -- cities with baseball franchises. Consequently, he became a big sports fan – and now counts 33 MLB stadiums that he has visited.
John is a University of Virginia graduate; he was Cavalier Daily sports editor in 1976-77.
He held business management positions with The Roanoke Times and the Blue Ridge Business Journal before starting the local sports magazine Roanoke Valley Sports Journal and subsequently publishing Play by Play from 2004-14.
More than 700 of John’s stories have appeared in the Roanoke Times. His work has been published in 30 periodicals outside the area, including Sports Illustrated, the College Baseball World Series program and the Sporting News.
He is a seven-time president of the Roanoke Valley Sports Club, continues to serve on the board, and also served as board chairman of Virginia Amateur Sports, sponsor of the Commonwealth Games.