As a part of this post I looked into lists of scorers in Minnesota high school basketball history. A thousand points doesn't come close to being near the top and I'm sure there are schools in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that have had the same experience as the school that I'm talking about right now. But there in lies the caveat, this isn't a metro school. It's not even a public school.
It's a Christian, private, boarding school in Fergus Falls, MN. The average attendance is sub 200 for grades 7 - 12 yet they've had three 1000+ point scorers in the last four years. The first did it as a junior or there would be 3 in 3.
Full discloser: I'm a graduate of Hillcrest and still keep an eye on what is happening with the sports at the school. So that's how I know about it and alumni status absolutely plays into the reason that I'm taking the time to write about it.
As a matter of fact though, I think it's important for greatness to be recognized too. And this is greatness, plain and simple. In the 81 years that the school has resided in it's current location only 4 or 5 players had done it before the three. That's one ever 20 years, for those of you who need help with the math. Not one nearly every year.
To drive it home even more, the first of the three set the school record for most career points and the third one, who just completed it on Tuesday night, set the single game scoring record for the school. Greatness.
All the players who achieved it in the history deserve recognition for it too, because it is special and my brother was one such achiever so I get the wow factor of it. But to have the recent run that there has been is just fun and unique.
And I know that there are players in MN who have scored 1000's of more points then any of the three did, in the same number of years, but I don't think that takes away from the significance whatsoever.
For a small school, that doesn't make sports the most important thing for the student, to have the recent history that it has is truly special.
Simple recognition of that is all I want to do here. That those boys and the school as whole have experienced something over the last few years that many never will. It's the kind of the three ball that may never happen again at Hillcrest, but if it does, hopefully it's appreciated for the experience that it is!
If you know of similar stories or other special stories in sports let me know in the comments section!
Full discloser: I'm a graduate of Hillcrest and still keep an eye on what is happening with the sports at the school. So that's how I know about it and alumni status absolutely plays into the reason that I'm taking the time to write about it.
As a matter of fact though, I think it's important for greatness to be recognized too. And this is greatness, plain and simple. In the 81 years that the school has resided in it's current location only 4 or 5 players had done it before the three. That's one ever 20 years, for those of you who need help with the math. Not one nearly every year.
To drive it home even more, the first of the three set the school record for most career points and the third one, who just completed it on Tuesday night, set the single game scoring record for the school. Greatness.
All the players who achieved it in the history deserve recognition for it too, because it is special and my brother was one such achiever so I get the wow factor of it. But to have the recent run that there has been is just fun and unique.
And I know that there are players in MN who have scored 1000's of more points then any of the three did, in the same number of years, but I don't think that takes away from the significance whatsoever.
For a small school, that doesn't make sports the most important thing for the student, to have the recent history that it has is truly special.
Simple recognition of that is all I want to do here. That those boys and the school as whole have experienced something over the last few years that many never will. It's the kind of the three ball that may never happen again at Hillcrest, but if it does, hopefully it's appreciated for the experience that it is!
If you know of similar stories or other special stories in sports let me know in the comments section!
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