I have a brother that lived in Philadelphia for a few years and I attended the HS basketball tournament BACK TO THE BEACH in neighboring Wilmington, Delaware for a few years.. Great HS hoops as the best teams from Philly, Baltimore, Washington DC and the prep schools like Oak Hill would play there,, I was much more serious at the time about wanting to get into scouting for basketball so I would make the 8 hour trip to watch these teams.
If you are a hoops junkie like me, Philadelphia is one of the towns you want to visit, if for no other reason the nostalgia.. To see where these kids would end up in the Big 5 schools in the city(Villanova, LaSalle, St Joe, Penn, and Temple)... Trust me, the ride is a bit daunting as Temple, for instance, is off Broad Street and the neighborhood is really rough around it.. I have driven by most of the colleges and HS that produced the famous players in the Philadelphia area. I just thought it would be fun to list some of them though I have only been into 2 of the gyms to watch games(Overbrook and Roman Catholic). I thought I would list some of the more famous HS that produced famous players and other stars so if you visit Philly, you could go to the area just for nostalgia.
OVERBROOK: Modern day would identify this as the HS of Will Smith, the actor... It is a hoops nostalgia area as it has produced close to a dozen NBA players in its history.. Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Hazzard, Andre McCarter(John Wooden's last PG at UCLA), Lewis Lloyd, Malik Rose, Wali Jones, Mike Hale, and a few others that made the NBA.. All Philly HS that are old have the Gothic architecture, which is interesting in and of itself.. Overbrook sits on a hill and is definitely not in the safest part of town in NW Philly. Great experience nonetheless. St Joes University is right on the edge of the neighborhood that has all row houses(none are detached).
ROMAN CATHOLIC; The easiest HS in the city to get to because it is right off the highway.. Dont have to go into the scary rough neighborhoods like Overbrook.. HS home of football player Marvin Harrison.... But also the hoops home of Eddie Griffin(played for the T-Wolves), Dallas Comegys, Mike Bantom, Matt Guokas, Speedy Morris.
JOHN BARTRAM: SW Philly where Earl Monroe and Joe Bryant went to school.. SADLY, turns out the scariest school of them all as teachers have been routinely assaulted at this school.
SIMON GRATZ: Close to downtown where Rasheed Wallace, Aaron McKie, and others attended... Beautiful building. Another dangerous school but great Philly hoops teams. Home of Leroy Kelly(NFL) and his brother, Pat Kelly(MLB), Roy Campanella(famous catcher).
Kobe Bryant went to Lower Merion which is a wealthy HS that is more a college prep school.. Has lecture halls like a college so its a way different setting. Pooh Richardson went to Ben Franklin HS which is also toward the center of downtown. Rip Hamilton went to Coatesville, which is outside the city aways.
Philly hoops has lots of history that is way more exciting than the Democratic National Convention so I thought I would share this as an alternative read.
If you are a hoops junkie like me, Philadelphia is one of the towns you want to visit, if for no other reason the nostalgia.. To see where these kids would end up in the Big 5 schools in the city(Villanova, LaSalle, St Joe, Penn, and Temple)... Trust me, the ride is a bit daunting as Temple, for instance, is off Broad Street and the neighborhood is really rough around it.. I have driven by most of the colleges and HS that produced the famous players in the Philadelphia area. I just thought it would be fun to list some of them though I have only been into 2 of the gyms to watch games(Overbrook and Roman Catholic). I thought I would list some of the more famous HS that produced famous players and other stars so if you visit Philly, you could go to the area just for nostalgia.
OVERBROOK: Modern day would identify this as the HS of Will Smith, the actor... It is a hoops nostalgia area as it has produced close to a dozen NBA players in its history.. Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Hazzard, Andre McCarter(John Wooden's last PG at UCLA), Lewis Lloyd, Malik Rose, Wali Jones, Mike Hale, and a few others that made the NBA.. All Philly HS that are old have the Gothic architecture, which is interesting in and of itself.. Overbrook sits on a hill and is definitely not in the safest part of town in NW Philly. Great experience nonetheless. St Joes University is right on the edge of the neighborhood that has all row houses(none are detached).
ROMAN CATHOLIC; The easiest HS in the city to get to because it is right off the highway.. Dont have to go into the scary rough neighborhoods like Overbrook.. HS home of football player Marvin Harrison.... But also the hoops home of Eddie Griffin(played for the T-Wolves), Dallas Comegys, Mike Bantom, Matt Guokas, Speedy Morris.
JOHN BARTRAM: SW Philly where Earl Monroe and Joe Bryant went to school.. SADLY, turns out the scariest school of them all as teachers have been routinely assaulted at this school.
SIMON GRATZ: Close to downtown where Rasheed Wallace, Aaron McKie, and others attended... Beautiful building. Another dangerous school but great Philly hoops teams. Home of Leroy Kelly(NFL) and his brother, Pat Kelly(MLB), Roy Campanella(famous catcher).
Kobe Bryant went to Lower Merion which is a wealthy HS that is more a college prep school.. Has lecture halls like a college so its a way different setting. Pooh Richardson went to Ben Franklin HS which is also toward the center of downtown. Rip Hamilton went to Coatesville, which is outside the city aways.
Philly hoops has lots of history that is way more exciting than the Democratic National Convention so I thought I would share this as an alternative read.
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