What Happened to Every 1984 McDonald's All American Player

[@jamesjohnson9348]

Nice. Gary Grant and I were high school teammates.

[@buzzerbeater3350]

Charles Smith was a beast at Pitt. But unfortunately, his career is most known for failing to convert a layup with the Knicks vs the Bulls in the 1993 ECF Finals regrettably called the "Charles Smith game".

[@WayneBriggs]

John Williams and I played on the same Summer League Team, Slam Jam at Dominguez High School in Compton, our Junior year of High School.

[@missayawk]

Thanks for another one Ricky.At 0:48 the form on that Matt Beeuwsaert jumper was flawless. Gooseneck and all.

[@TheEsquireOfSportsFSU]

Hot Plate could do it all, man. So could Washburn and Smith. Watched all these guys who made it to the NBA from that year. I was only 5 in '84 but watched tons with my dad.

[@buzzerbeater3350]

David Rivers has the dubious distinction of being the man to replace Magic Johnson at the PG position for the Lakers. Those shoes were too big to fill.

[@buzzerbeater3350]

Roger McClendon is one of my all-time favorite college basketball players. My man was smooth. His career ended before it started. He injured his knee in an NBA workout and never played.

[@localone1597]

Great video. I'm impressed you knew the nicknames The Amityville Horror and Master Blaster! Keep the great videos coming.

[@RickyFrech404]

I live in Memphis, so gotta know The Master Blaster!

[@massimilianobelloni5613]

Thanks for reminding me of David Rivers, he was a beast in the Italian league for Virtus Bologna, so much feared by the supporters of all the other teams

[@DeCurtaRican]

Craig McMillan being considered the prize of the Arizona Wildcats’ 1984 recruiting class was a joke. Richard Hollis (Grant HS, Portland, OR) was the most talented recruit Arizona had during the 1980s. Hollis acted out when he got to Arizona, so Lute Olson cut him from the squad and revoked his scholarship, so he wound up at Nevada Reno, snd then New Mexico JC, and then at the University of Houston during the post-Phi Slamma Jamma era (1987-88 - 1988-89). In fact, Hollis was one of the featured players in a 1987-88 preseason SI article about how Bobby Knight had opened the floodgates for JC recruits going to big-time schools when his own JC recruit, Keith Smart, won him a national championship on a last-minute shot the previous year. Look up the issue. It’s a great read. I remember JCs like San Jacinto CC, Barton County (KS) being discussed in the SI because they consistently pulled in big-time college recruits who weren’t qualifying under Proposition 48. Anyway, Hollis was something else, and he should’ve made the McDonald’s All-America first team. Dude was like Michael Jordan in hs.

[@chrismalloy7960]

Larry Brown said John Williams was the smartest player he had ever coached.

[@jaidamann8365]

Craig Jackson from Montbello High School in Denver, Colorado went to UCLA. I BELIEVE (so many years have past to remember all the details) he got hurt in his Sophomore year and was never the same thereafter. Tons of potential.

[@maa7332]

He was good? The crowd booed him at UCLa in the McDonald's game.

[@RickyFrech404]

Good info! It's very tough to find some of the injury stuff, but hopefully, as I get closer to the present, I'll be able to present it even more accurately

[@DeCurtaRican]

I remember that!

[@DeCurtaRican]

@@maa7332: OP did say “potential.” That means he was talented but didn’t capitalize on it.

[@maa7332]

@@DeCurtaRican Potential... Relative to whom?

[@davidstewart799]

Gary Grant was from Canton McKinley, my hometown. 2nd best high school player behind LeBron I have seen in Ohio

[@WayneBriggs]

Tommy Tolbert and I were on the same Little League Teams for our entire careers.

[@JoeTrebes-uj2jj]

Mike Brown didn't play at Dunbar with Wingate. Mike was at Cardinal Gibbons in 82, Dave's senior year at Dunbar. Do your homework, man!!!

[@RickyFrech404]

Please show me a source for that because everything I've found says he came from Dunbar (though there admittedly isn't much out there): www.upi.com/Archives/1986/01/14/Sophomore-guard-Michael-Brown-has-quit-the-Syracuse-basketball/8633506062800/

[@RickyFrech404]

medium.com/@uarkpress/the-greatest-high-school-basketball-team-ever-4445533123a7 This also says they played together. Very open to being wrong, but I don't appreciate the "do your homework" comment when I very obviously did a ton of research for this haha

[@DeCurtaRican]

@@RickyFrech404: OP’s comment was innocuous. I tell guys to do their homework all the time. I’m from Seattle, and people literally put out false information DAILY about my favorite QB Russell Wilson. A lot of that false information comes directly from the media. They straight-up tell lies.

[@JoeTrebes-uj2jj]

@@RickyFrech404, my source is that I played against him in 82, at Mt. St. Joe while he was at Gibbons

[@michaeltukes6757]

Yo, pause on Master Blaster 😅😅

[@terrenceliburd8655]

The league should of found a place for Rivers. Hell he played well for the Lakers in the 89 finals what time he got.

[@nysaxman]

You showed a picture of legendary David Thompson and called him John Thompson. The only thing they have in common is they played at NC State.

[@RickyFrech404]

Oh dang! My mistake. Thanks for pointing this out!

[@nysaxman]

@@RickyFrech404 No problem. I grew up near NC State in the 1970s. David Thompson was my childhood idol. So I saw the picture and noticed it immediately.

[@sincerethawt]

David rivers was a dog at notre dame !! I use to think that him and doc rivers were related

[@JoeTrebes-uj2jj]

Ha! Chris Sandle played for the Arizona State BLUE Devils, not the Sun Devils?!?!😮

[@RickyFrech404]

What are you talking about?

[@mongoslade277]

Good class. David Rivers was great at Notre Dame but he was well known for wearing an afro in the 1980s. That's like playing disco music in 1984. Some people got Hot Rod Williams & Hot Plate Williams confused. Hot Plate led LSU to that Final Four as an 11 seed. NC State got Chris Washburn & would've had Danny Manning but Larry Brown gave the daddy as job as an assistant coach. He brought the son with him. Technically Danny Manning was a walk-on. His daddy paid his tuition. You called Derrick Chievous "band aid" 😂😂

[@swhitaker1003]

Danny Was coming to UNC. I despise him until this day.

[@RickyFrech404]

They called Chievous that in an old game I was watching while writing and I saw it on Basketball Reference, so I figured I'd throw it in haha

[@terrenceliburd8655]

Washburn was a lil Shaq

[@sfrank8687]

I wanted the 76ers to draft him so bad

[@WayneBriggs]

Pronounce "Beezwurt". I played against Matt in High School and traveling teams in 7th & 8th Grade.

[@MarkWestbrook-kq9wr]

Brain Shaw