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12 The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Former Basketball Star Willis Reed Dies
Willis Reed
Willis Reed, a for
mer Grambling State Univer
sity basketball star, Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of
Fame, and College Basket
ball Hall of Fame Inductee
has died. Reed, who had con
gestive heart issues, died on
March 21. He was 80.
Reed, who was born
on June 25, 1942, in Dubach,
La., earned a basketball schol
arship to Grambling State in
1960. While at GSU, he daz
zled fans and dominated the
court, closing his collegiate
career with 2,280 career points
where he led the Tigers to an
NAIA National Championship
in 1961. As a senior, he av
eraged 26.6 points per game
and 21.3 rebounds per contest.
While a student, Reed became
a member of Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity, Inc.
In 1963, he helped the
United States win a gold med
al in the Pan American Games
held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Upon completing his
amateur career, he was draft
ed to the New York Knicks in
the second round of the 1964
NBA Draft. Following his first
season in the league, Reed was
named the NBA Rookie of
the Year and made the NBA
All-Rookie First Team.
During his illustri
ous professional career, Reed
won two NBA Champion
ships, earned two NBA Finals
MVP awards, was named the
NBA’s MVP in 1970, was 7x
NBA All-Star, accumulated
one NBA All-Star game MVP
award and was a 5x All-NBA
selection. Reed also earned
one NBA All-Defensive Team
recognition and was selected to
NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniver
sary Team.
His No. 19 jersey was
also retired by the New York
Knicks.
Upon his retirement
from the NBA in 1974, Reed
embarked on a coaching and
administrative career begin
ning in 1977 when became
the head coach of the Knicks.
From 1981-85, he served as
the head coach of Creighton
University’s men’s basketball
program. He also spent time as
a volunteer coach at St. John’s
University.
After exiting the col
lege ranks, he made assistant
coaching stints with the Atlanta
Hawks and Sacramento Kings.
In 1988, he assumed head
coaching duties of the New
Jersey Nets. He moved into
the Nets’ front office one year
later where he was hired as
the general manager and vice
president of basketball opera
tions, a position he held until
1996 when he was promoted
to senior vice president of bas
ketball operations. During his
tenure, he helped craft New
Jersey into a title contender.
The Nets reached the 2002 and
2003 NBA Finals.
In 2004, Reed took
the position of vice president
of basketball operations with
the New Orleans Hornets. He
retired in 2007.
Reed was honored by
Grambling State in 2022 when
he became the first basketball
player in school history to have
their jersey retired. The court
inside the Fredrick C. Hob-
dy Assembly Center was also
named in his honor.
Bowles To Play
in HBCU All Star
Game
Eleik Bowles
Savannah State Uni
versity senior forward Eleik
Bowles has been invited to play
in the second annual HBCU
All Star game during The Final
Four weekend in Houston, Tex
as.
The game will be
comprised of the top 24 players
from HBCUs across the nation
making up the two rosters for
the contest. The contest is set
for Sunday, April 2 at 3 p.m.
CST on the campus of Tex
as Southern University in the
Health &Physical Education
Arena and airs live on the CBS
Television Network and will
be available to stream on Par
amount-!-.
Kenneth Blakeney
Some of the best bas
ketball players in the four His
torically Black Colleges and
Universities NCAA Division I
and II conferences will take to
the court. The player selections
will be split into two teams
of 12 for the historic annual
game, which are named after a
pair of HBCU legends - Team
Willis Reed versus Team Dick
Barnett.
Bowles will play for
Team Barnett which will be
made up from players from the
Mid-Eastern Athletic Confer
ence, Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference and Inde-
Benjy Taylor
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pendents. Team Reed will be
made up of players from the
Southwest Athletic Conference
and the Central Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference.
The 6-foot-4 Bowles
was named to the All-SIAC
First Team in the conference’s
post-season awards after lead
ing the Tigers in nearly every
stat this season—including
points, held goals, three-point
held goals, blocks, steals, and
minutes. He hnished the year
averaging 16.1 points, 4.4 re
bounds and 1.8 steals per game
while shooting 41% from the
held.
Kenneth Blakeney
(Howard University head
men’s basketball coach) and
Benjy Taylor (Tuskegee Uni
versity head men’s basket
ball coach) will coach Team
Barnett while Donte’ Jackson
(Grambling State University
head men’s basketball coach)
and Jay Butler (Virginia Union
University head men’s basket
ball coach) will coach Team
Willis.
Morehouse Hires New Football Coach
Morehouse College
has hired Gerard Wilcher as
the Maroon Tigers new head
football coach.
A 1992 graduate
of Morehouse with a degree
in hnance, Wilcher comes to
Morehouse from Rice where
he spent the past five seasons
as the Owls defensive backs
coach.
Prior to Rice, he
had stops at Delaware State
(2016-18), Seton Hill (2014-
16), Leigh (2005-14), Cornell
(2001-04), UMass (1997-
2001), Cheyney (1995) and
Morehouse (1992-94) where
he worked with on both sides
of the ball. He served as a de
fensive coordinator while at
Delaware State, Seton Hill and
Leigh.
Wilcher did intern
ships in the NFL with the Chi
cago Bears (1999), Arizona
Cardinals (2002), Philadelphia
Eagles (2008) and Denver
Broncos (2015). In addition,
Gerard Wilcher
Wilcher worked as a graduate
assistant at Boston College
(1995-97) and was a student
assistant following his playing
days at Morehouse in 1992.
He takes over a
Morehouse team that posted a
1-9 record in 2022 under Rich
Freeman.
Sol C. Johnson High Names New Head
Football Coach
Steve Smith has been
named Head Football Coach at
Sol C. Johnson High School.
Coach Smith is taking the
reigns after serving five years
as the Offensive Coordinator
at Johnson under former coach
Kenderrick Bonner.
Coach Smith was
born in Atlanta, Georgia, and
is a 2006 graduate of Love-
joy High School. At Lovejoy,
he was a two-sport track and
held and football athlete, play
ing for the legendary coach A1
Hughes.
After high school, he
spent one year at Florida In
ternational University before
transferring to Georgia South
ern University. A proud Dou
ble Eagle, Smith received his
master’s degree in Kinesiology
with an emphasis on Coaching
in 2014. Coach Smith began
his varsity coaching journey at
19 at a local high school near
Georgia Southern.
Steve Smith
While at Johnson
High School, he has been the
head coach of the track pro
gram since 2020. He is married
to Dana Hilton, and they have
two sons, Steven “Tre” Smith,
age 4, and new addition Samir
Smith, born March 2023.
Savannah State Football Kicks-Off
The Spring
Practice Opens To Public/Media On Friday
DaMarion Colbert - by Savannah State Athletics
Savannah State foot
ball has opened the 2023 spring
practice season.
The Tigers kicked
things off on Wednesday last
week with a closed practice.
Spring practice opened to
the public beginning Friday,
March 24.
Savannah State is
set to go Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, and Saturday for the
next three weeks, culminating
with a scrimmage on April 15.
During the week, they will
practice 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. On
Saturday’s, they will practice 9
a.m. to 11 a.m.
Heading into his sec
ond year at the helm, Head
Football Coach Aaron Kelton
will held a spring team com
prised of about 72 players, 68
of which return from last year’s
team. The Tigers will also look
to add several walk-ons this
spring.
The 2023 schedule is
set. Savannah State will open
the season on Sept. 2 at South
eastern University in Lakeland,
Florida. Following a Sept. 9
game in Daytona Beach, Flor
ida against Bethune-Cookman,
the Tigers will play their first
home game on Sept. 16 against
Clark Atlanta.
Season tickets and
single game tickets will go
on sale April 1, exclusively at
ssuathletic s.com/tickets.
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