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Stewart Stephenson rarely scored a lot of points for some of Earl Morris' best Decatur High basketball teams, and he didn't grab a lot of rebounds, either.
He rarely earned any postseason honors — not all-state, all-Tennessee Valley Conference or even DECATUR DAILY all-area.
But Stephenson apparently had a special quality as the team's floor leader at point guard and best perimeter defender that boosted the Red Raiders to fourth in the state in 1969 and a state championship in 1970.
"When Stewart was on the floor, we played better," said Morris, who is retired. "We played smoother and looked better.
"We didn't even start him until a third of the way through his junior season in 1969. We weren't playing as well as we would've liked, and discussed making a change. It wasn't that the boy Stewart replaced in the lineup wasn't doing well. In fact, that boy still played about the same minutes.
"It's just that we had better chemistry with Stewart on the floor. Stewart made us go."
In case you're wondering if that's an example of a former coach trying to say something nice about one of his former players, consider the 1969 Class 4A state tournament, and you'll see how much Stephenson meant to Decatur and why he's part of this year's Morgan County Hall of Fame induction class.
That was the first state basketball tournament after the Alabama High School Athletic Association integrated the field. Predominantly African-American schools could compete along with everyone else, and Birmingham's Carver and Parker high schools had top-flight teams.
Parker had Wendell Hudson, who went to Alabama and led the Southeastern Conference in scoring, and Alan Murphy, who later helped Louisville to the Final Four.
The Thundering Herd's best player, however, was Alvin McGrew, who took a pro baseball contract instead of moving on to college basketball. Another player, Ernest Odom, played football at Alabama.
Decatur and Parker met in the state semifinals in Alabama's Memorial Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, and the Red Raiders led 55-51 with 6:22 to play. They had the ball, and Stephenson, then a 6-foot-2 junior, was pushing them down the court on a fast break along with teammates Tony Julian and David Robertson.
According to reports from THE DAILY, Stephenson went for a layup when Parker's Eugene Washington slammed him into the floor. Morris and Stephenson said he flipped backward and landed on the back of his head.
"I blacked out," said Stephenson, 54, who still lives in Decatur. "When I came to, Jim Goostree, the Alabama trainer, was there and had his hand in my mouth, trying to keep me from swallowing my tongue. I blacked out again, and when I woke up, I was on the stretcher."
Decatur physician Kermit Pitt also attended to Stephenson, but not without troubles just trying to reach the scene. He had been in the stands and charged on to the floor when Stephenson fell.
"I was told that Dr. Pitt almost got arrested," Stephenson said, laughing. "Nobody was supposed to come out of the stands, and when Dr. Pitt did, he had two police officers stopping him. He kept saying that he was a doctor."
According to DAILY reports, Morris approached an official and asked him what happened. The official allegedly responded, "Get off the court." In addition, Decatur was charged with its last timeout.
Teammate Doug Fisher replaced Stephenson and made one of two foul shots for a 56-51 lead, but Decatur fell apart after that.
Parker caught Decatur and went ahead at 62-60 with 3:54 after a technical foul was called on a Red Raiders player. Morris said afterward that the official never would've called the technical foul if he hadn't been mad at him for the earlier disagreement after Stephenson got hurt.
Parker wound up winning 81-68.
The next day, the Thundering Herd beat Carver 72-70 in the finals, setting a record for the most points scored in the Class 4A championship game.
Back then, the state had a consolation game, and without Stephenson, Decatur fell 83-59 to Selma's A.G. Parrish, which was led by a pair of future Alabama players in Paul Ellis and Glen Garrett.
"With Stewart out, we couldn't handle Parker's pressure," Morris said. "He controlled the game. Parker was quick and athletic, and bringing in another player, you can't expect the same results."
Stephenson said he doesn't know if Decatur would've won the 1969 state title if he hadn't gotten hurt.
"When I talk to the seniors from that team, they'll say, 'If you hadn't gotten hurt, we would've won the state championship.' But I don't remember a whole lot about that game. I got knocked out," he said, laughing.
The loss to A.G. Parrish ended Decatur's season at 23-6, and the highlights included a 72-53 win in the Class 4A, Region 8 finals over Lee-Huntsville.
Lee was the defending state champion, and its best player was Condredge Holloway, who eventually played quarterback at Tennessee and for more than a decade in the Canadian Football League.
Stephenson guarded Holloway and outscored him 18-16. According to THE DAILY, more than 3,000 attended the game at Decatur High.
In 1970, Decatur came back with an even stronger team, and Stephenson was back as a senior to lead the team at point guard.
Although Morris preached defense to his players, he wound up putting together one of the best offensive teams that North Alabama has seen. The Red Raiders typically scored in the 80s and 90s and scored 100 points four times.
"We had a team that could fast break and score," Stephenson said. "I still remember one game where the other guard, Ricky Hardin, had 32 points and I had 28. Our center, Randy Morgan, only had two points, but wound up with about 30 rebounds.
"Randy would pull down the rebound, throw it down court to Ricky or me, and we would score before anyone else got back down court."
One of those instances came Feb. 20 against Gadsden, which was the 1968 state runner-up and later joined Decatur in that year's state tournament. Decatur won 108-86 as Stephenson had 18 points and nine rebounds.
In the 4A, Region 8 tournament, Decatur rolled through Cullman 100-57 and Bradshaw 79-56 before defeating Lee again 72-71 when the Generals missed two shots in the closing seconds. Holloway had 18 for Lee in that game.
Stephenson never broke double figures in the tournament, but Morris complimented him first in his comments after beating Lee.
"I thought Stephenson did an excellent job of guarding Holloway," Morris told THE DAILY at the time.
In the state tournament, Decatur ran past Gadsden again 95-78. Stephenson had 11 points and seven rebounds. Gadsden got 20 points from 6-6 post player Venard Hendrix, now the head boys basketball coach at Athens High.
Even with all of that scoring power, the Red Raiders hardly were the favorites. Parker was back and beat Foley 79-56 in the first round. Druid of Tuscaloosa had a powerful team, too, and beat Vigor 110-72 in the opening round.
In 1968, Druid had won the last championship of the Alabama Interscholastic Athletic Association, which governed the state's African-American schools before integration.
In the semifinals, Decatur beat Dothan 72-59 despite being down by 12 during the second quarter and seven at halftime. Stephenson scored 20 points as the Red Raiders needed his shooting more than usual.
Druid beat Parker 74-72 with many observers figuring the winner of that game would win the state championship.
Not so. Decatur beat Druid in the finals 90-80 in front of a crowd of 12,500.
Not only did the Red Raiders break Parker's record for most points in a 4A final, it set a record for most points in any final. B.B. Comer set the old mark in 1954 in an 83-71 win over Hatton.
Decatur's mark stood until 1983 when Carver-Montgomery beat Carver-Birmingham 96-84 in the 4A finals.
"We had a pretty good team. So did Druid," said Stephenson, who still watches the 1970 finals on tape every now and then. "If we played again, what would happen? I don't want to think about it — we played that once, and we won."
Morris never allowed his team to watch either of Druid's preliminary games at the state tournament. He had watched Druid late in the season, because he knew it was a possibility the two teams eventually could meet.
Morris didn't want his team intimidated by Druid's ability to score quickly, but he didn't tell his players that until much later after the tournament.
"I didn't know that until a few years ago when some of us had lunch with Coach Morris, and he shared that with us," Stephenson said.
Morris said the key to that victory was the ability of Stephenson and Hardin to handle Druid's full-court defensive pressure. That played a big role, especially because Decatur struggled to stop Druid from scoring.
"It was one of those games where they couldn't stop us from scoring, and we couldn't stop them," Morris said.
After Decatur, Stephenson advanced to Athens State, where he played for four years and one of his teammates was Hendrix. He led the Alabama Collegiate Conference in free throw percentage in 1972.
When Stephenson's playing career ended in 1974, he didn't stay away from basketball for long. He began officiating high school basketball in 1977 and eventually began doing junior college and college, too.
He said some of his most interesting games came when he was on the floor for an Austin contest. Austin was coached by Joe Jones, and Stephenson said that Jones rode him and other officials so hard that friends would tell him, "There's no way I would officiate one of his games."
Stephenson said he didn't mind, however.
"That's because with Joe Jones, once the game was over, it was over," he said. "I would see him in the hall minutes after a game, he would shake hands and offer to get you a cup of coffee. I would've officiated a Joe Jones game any day of the week."
Stephenson has become so well respected in the ranks of officiating that the state hasn't had a high school Final Four without him. When the state went to the current Final Four format in 1994, Stephenson worked the event and has done it every year since.
His biggest assignment there came in 2004 when John Carroll beat Parker 75-73 in the 6A finals. John Carroll had Ronald Steele, now at Alabama but then considered the top boys basketball prospect in the state.
A crowd of more than 17,000 filled the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex to watch the game.
"Every referee wanted to do that game," Stephenson said.
Has Stephenson ever missed a call? He readily admitted that he has. He remembered a game at Lawrence County High when Gary Johnson coached the Red Devils.
A Lawrence County player made a basket and was fouled. Stephenson and the other official on the floor saw the foul but neither saw the ball go through the hoop.
They ruled that the player was due two free throws, instead of a basket and one free throw.
At halftime, a trusted friend told Stephenson that the ball had gone in the basket.
"Before the half, I told Gary Johnson, 'Coach, on that basket, we blew it.' He said, 'OK, I can live with that,' " Stephenson said.
These days, Stephenson has trimmed his schedule so that he only does high school games. The travel of the college games wore on him.
He doesn't know when he'll give up high school games, too.
"I've thought about it," he said. "As long as my body holds up, I'll do it. I wanted to get 30 years in and after that, I would go year to year. I'll have 30 years next year."
Morgan County Sports Hall of Fame
Stewart Stephenson will enter the Morgan County Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Decatur Holiday Inn. A reception will be at 6 p.m. The Hall of Fame also will induct Rick Chenault, Phil Garrison, Mark Hampton, Bruce Jones, George Nancarrow and Tommy Ed Roberts. Stories on them are appearing this week in THEDAILY.
Hall of Fame board member Doug Turney is in charge of ticket sales at 773-2466 during 5-9 p.m. Hartselle native Don Logan, the former chairman of Time Warner's Media and Communications group, will be the keynote speaker. Logan and his two sons own the Birmingham Barons.
Stewart Stephenson's career highlights
Lettered in varsity basketball in 1968-70 at Decatur High.
Helped lead the Red Raiders to fourth place in the 1969 state tournament and a Class 4A championship in 1970.
Made all-Tennessee Valley Conference in 1970.
Played at Athens State College during 1970-74. Led the Alabama Collegiate Conference in free throw percentage in 1972.
Made the all-ACC tournament team in 1972.
Has officiated high school basketball since 1977 and has worked the AHSAA Final Four every year since 1994. Also officiated junior college, NAIA and NCAA basketball for about two decades.
For all the salivating over playing at a faster tempo, the Nebraska men’s basketball team seems to be finding it likes the rhythm of a half-court game.
At just 42.6 percent, the Huskers might not be shooting it the way Barry Collier would like four games into the 2005-06 season.
But entering tonight’s marquee matchup against Marquette in the Bob Devaney Sports Center, their coach certainly has no qualms about the fact they’re getting to the free throw line an average of 27 times per contest — nearly 16 more than their opponents.
“It is noticeable,” said Collier of the disparity. “One of the major things is getting your players to do what they do well. Well, Jason Dourisseau is an excellent slasher, so he slashes, and slashers get fouled. And Aleks (Maric) is a post-up guy, so he’s in there (getting hacked).”
The 6-foot-11 sophomore center Maric is 17-for-29 from the line. Next in line at free-throw attempts are three guards: freshman Jamel White (15-for-20), senior Jason Dourisseau (10-for-15) and sophomore Joe McCray (9-for-12).
“It’s a by-product of being aggressive,” said Dourisseau, who also leads NU in field goals (20) and attempts (36). “Some of it’s the new offense (involving) a lot more things that we try to get the ball in the paint. If you get it inside, there’s a really good chance that you’ll get fouled or you’re going to score. The main thing is just being aggressive.”
As well as not relying too heavily on three-pointers. Nebraska is averaging 15 shots from that range, almost eight fewer than its opponents.
Dourisseau, though, believes another reason why the Huskers are keeping teams off the line is because they’re having success executing their base half-court defense.
Preseason forecasts have the Wildcats riding high.
Villanova coach Jay Wright knows there is no getting around the expectations. He was in a meeting when he heard the president of his university say, "We're going to the Final Four."
"He said it in a fun, optimistic way," Wright said. "But you see it's out there. You see the expectations are there. You hear our students yell it. You walk on campus, they walk by: 'Final Four this year, Jay!' It's fun. That's what college basketball is all about."
Wright knows as well as anyone that for loaded teams and schools on the rise, it often comes down to one play - or one call - during the NCAA tournament. If that goes your way, you're moving on, into the March Madness stratosphere.
"Here's the good thing: Our fans, I love their passion," Wright said. "They have these expectations every year anyway. Sometimes they're unfounded. It just so happens, I think this year they're deserved."
Villanova's top nine scorers are back from a 24-8 team that reached the Sweet 16 and came within a point, and maybe that infamous phantom step, of beating North Carolina, the eventual national champion. Plus, there are some promising freshmen looking for playing time.
"Anybody who talks about us, they just think it's a natural progression - Sweet 16, Final Four," Wright said. "They don't realize how much time and work and good fortune that takes."
Last season was the key one for Villanova's program. With schools such as Louisville and Cincinnati going into the Big East this season, 'Nova needed to show it was going to be up with the best of them. In his fourth season on the Main Line, Wright needed to get to the NCAA tournament.
As juniors, guards Allan Ray and Randy Foye needed to show they were top-flight Big East guards.
All that happened - and more. Kyle Lowry quickly emerged as a headache for opposing teams. The Wildcats didn't fold up after Curtis Sumpter, seemingly irreplaceable, went down in the NCAA tournament.
So now the ante gets upped. Most preseason forecasts have the Wildcats in the top five nationally. Notice that for Louisville and coach Rick Pitino's first Big East game on Jan. 5, an attention-getting game on national television, the league chose Villanova to be the opponent.
During his four-year career at Paterson Catholic, Marquis Webb was a natural wing player with an innate ability to score. He once dropped 60 points on Glen Rock in a league game.
Now, after a two-year experiment in which the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Webb served as the starting point guard at Rutgers, he will return to his natural position as a wing player for his junior season.
"I think it's going to be an improvement for our team, putting me out there on the wing, getting more shots," Webb said during Rutgers Media Day on Tuesday. "That's what I've been working on all summer, not just to take shots but to make shots, and knowing that this team is (relying) on me to produce."
Coming off a season in which the Scarlet Knights finished 10-19, 2-14 in the Big East, head coach Gary Waters notified Webb of the change last summer. The plan is for junior Quincy Douby, a natural shooting guard who averaged a team-leading 15.1 points per game, to play the point guard position for about 10 minutes per game, with freshman Anthony Farmer taking over the duties the rest of the time.
After averaging 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds at the point last season, Webb will be freed of the sometimes-cumbersome burden of running a basketball team to play both the small forward and shooting guard positions.
"(Waters) told me he was going to move me to the wing because we needed more points on the board," Webb said. "Quincy can't score all the points by himself."
Said the coach: "Marquis has to be free to play and defend."
Webb said he hopes to average at least 15 points a game, while simultaneously creating matchup problems "for bigger guys being unable to guard me." Considered the best defender on the team, Webb will also have to guard bigger players than before. And now with the revamped Big East bringing competition like Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette into the league, Webb knows that won't be an easy task.
"I know playing in the Big East, every night you're going to have to come out and compete," Webb said. "There's not one game that you can come out here and lollygag. You got to be on your 'A' game every night, because if you're not you can mess around and get crushed."
The 6-3 Douby, who reaffirmed his commitment to Rutgers during the offseason after rumors swirled that he might transfer, saw Webb play on the AAU circuit in high school and knows that he is a natural scorer. He said it will help the team having Webb move out to the wing.
"He knows how to put the ball in the basket," Douby said. "It's hard for him to guard the best player on the team and bring the ball up and run the plays every time, it tires you out.
"He's got a real strong body and it's going to be hard for guys to guard him. Going to the basket, getting fouls, running in transition, getting easy opportunities. So far in practice, he's been playing on the wing and he has been looking real effective."
Associate head coach Fred Hill, who will work with Farmer and Douby as the point guard coach, agreed that the move returned Webb to his natural position.
"For sure, you want to try to put players in a position to succeed and let them play to their strengths, and certainly that's a great addition to have Marquis really go back to a wing position, which is his more natural position and allow him to do things that will make him a better basketball player," Hill said.
The downside of the move, of course, is that the 6-1 Farmer is a rookie. He averaged 18.8 points and 4.6 rebounds while earning second-team All-State honors last season, but he is still a rookie.
"That's a Catch-22 that you find yourself in," Hill said. "You throw a rookie freshman into the fire right away, and that's a very difficult thing to do, period. It's extremely difficult to do at the Big East level. But Anthony's a competitor, he's very coachable and I think we're going to have to see a day-to-day and a game-to-game improvement. He's going to weather some tough days, and I'm sure he's going to have some very good days, but I think he's got the mentality and the demeanor to handle that tough assignment that's going to be put in his hands."
Waters said the team had four goals for the season: getting to the Big East tournament, for which 12 of the 16 teams in the league will qualify; qualifying for a postseason tournament (He did not specify the NCAA Tournament.); reaffirming the RAC as one of the premier homecourts in the nation; and preparing better for road games. Rutgers went 7-8 at home last season and 2-10 on the road.
Both Waters and Webb added that the success of the Rutgers women's team had further inspired the men to do well. Coach C. Vivian Stringer's team won the Big East regular season title last year and then reached the Philadelphia Regional Final of the NCAAs. The women's team, which features fellow Paterson native Essence Carson, is ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in one preseason poll.
"It definitely motivates us more because we want both of our programs to be successful," Webb said of the women. "They come out here and work hard every day, and we're just trying to implement the same thing that they're trying to do."
NOTES: Rutgers opens the preseason on Nov. 12 at Bucknell and the regular season Nov. 20 at home against Austin Peay... .Waters said that 6-10 freshman forward/center Zack Gibson, one of seven frontcourt players, could be red-shirted. "That's a feasibility," Waters said. "The positive thing is that the NCAA has a new rule in effect, and that new rule is you can play them in the two exhibition games and make a decision after that."
Want more proof that success breeds success? Take a look at the University of Montevallo men's basketball team.
Last season, the Falcons finished one game away from the Elite Eight - Division II's version of the NCAA men's Final Four - and finished 26-7 with their second straight Gulf South Conference championship.
Danny Young leads his team into 2005-06 with its highest preseason ranking ever at No.3 and with two players on the Division II Bulletin's Super 16 Selection list. Senior guard James Hall and junior forward Marcus Kennedy are the only players from the South Region to make that list.
Young heads into his third season with a 49-17 record at Montevallo and a real shot at national prominence this year. Tipoff for what might be a special season is Nov.15.
While the door has not been shut, it appears the Purdue basketball team is preparing to play the 2005-06 season without junior point guard Tarrance Crump.
Crump, arrested Sept. 25 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, striking a pedestrian and leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury, still is enrolled in the university and has not yet been charged by the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office.
Painter said that Crump, the only Boilermaker who did not attend Tuesday's Purdue Men's Basketball Tipoff Banquet, has not participated in the Boilermakers' past two practices.
"Right now, he is taking some time away until we kind of clear everything up," Painter said after Tuesday's banquet at the University Inn.
"If this was something that was in my hands, I could comment, but it is not in my hands. We have to let the dust clear a little bit before we can make a decision. The decision may be made for us."
The point guard's future at Purdue likely will be determined by the charges filed against him.
"In fairness to Tarrance, and in fairness to all parties involved, I really can't comment about details," Painter said. "But in a short amount of time, I will be able to."
While giving the audience a preview of the 2005-06 Boilermakers, Painter talked about point guards Korey Spates and Bryant Dillon but did not mention Crump.
Given the uncertainty of Crump's collegiate future, Painter said the NCAA's Oct. 7 ruling that Spates is eligible for the 2005-06 season is pivotal.
Forward Carl Landry said after the banquet that while the Boilermakers are hoping Crump has an opportunity to play, the team is confident in Spates and senior Bryant Dillon.
"If we didn't have Korey, we could be down to one true point guard, which is Bryant, but he also can play multiple positions," Landry said. "That's a huge relief.
"The Tarrance situation is unclear now. But we have a backup point guard (Spates) that is talented and someone I have confidence in. Korey has heart and competes every day."
In closing remarks to a banquet crowd of approximately 300, Painter reminded fans that two Big Ten teams advanced to the 2005 Final Four -- a place he eventually wants to take Purdue.
"I have this opportunity because we had (players) at Southern Illinois who worked hard," Painter said. "In coaching, guys want to take credit for a lot of different things, but it is the players who play. That's where the credit should lie.
"We have a lot of work to do. We don't need to sit around and talk about it. We need to go do it. We're going to practice hard, and we are going to get ready for these exhibitions. I think (fans) are going to like this team and like our new guys and our seniors. We are going to get them rolling."
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