For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page
“Jameer Nelson: ”The little man, from the little school, that’s beating everyone.” - Sports Illustrated Cover, February 2004
Longevity – 1
Never made it to the Sixers (yet), so his city tenure, like most college players, lasted only 4 years – the minimum for this list.
Peak – 4
During his senior year, he was the consensus national player of the year. Falls short of a “5″ because he couldn’t quite lead his team to the Final 4.
Popularity – 4
I think the quote from the SI cover above says it all. Jameer and the Hawks were embraced by the city (except perhaps hardcore Villanova fans) because of the underdog role they played. That Nelson is a Philly guy to begin with, growing up in Chester, certainly didn’t hurt either.
Team Success – 3
During Nelson’s tenure, St. Joes went 98-28 (.778) with 4 NCAA victories and an Elite-8 appearance. Strangely enough, they never won an A-10 tournament. During his senior season, St. Joes had the first undefeated regular season in college basketball since the 1991 UNLV squad. Sports Illustrated named this 2004 St. Joseph squad as the college basketball “team of the decade” in 2009.
Awards – 3
Nelson started off his career by winning the National Freshman of the Year award. He was a 1st team all-american in and won every player of the year award his senior year, including the Wooden Award. Two-time winner of the Robert V. Geasey trophy (best player in the Big-5).
Stats – 4
Nelson is St. Joe’s leading scorer (2,094) and assist guy (713). Among all the big-5 teams, Nelson is 10th all-time in points, 2nd in assists and 9th in steals.
Historical Standing – 1
Despite his accomplishments, I don’t expect Nelson to be called to the Basketball Hall of Fame (college and pro are the same, remember) anytime soon.
Excitement – 4
During his senior year, Nelson was unstoppable off the dribble. Most A-10 guards would look completely over-matched and Nelson could be Steve Nash on one play and Allen Iverson on another. His small stature added a level of difficulty that made everything look all the more spectacular. A nice piece on Nelson, with plenty of highlights, can be found here.
Total: 24
Nelson didn’t just take the city by storm in 2004, but the basketball-watching nation as well. St. Joes was must-see-TV and one of my favorite moments in recent memory was when Nelson led St. Joes into the Elite-8 with a victory over Chris Paul and Wake Forest, while WF alum and St. Joes basher Billy Packer did color-commentary and crow-eating on the sideline.
For the complete list and explanation of criteria and scoring, check out the Philly Fifty page
Jameer over the late, great Durrett is a large upset, presumably born of proximity of memory and
modern hype’s warping of reality. Roland “Fatty” Taylor – Kenny’s teammate - would’ve given him fits (check out his ABA steal totals; great defender). And I am a fan of Jameer Nelson. Doesn’t belong in Top 50 in my opinion. Was thoroughly surprised when I saw him listed. Can’t wait to see where Matt Guokas or Mike Bantom is ranked.
The college players were tough – and based on both your and KB’s reaction to Durrett being left off tells me I may have overlooked him. But, I can tell you my rationale behind it is simple…
Nelson – 1st team AA, National POY, 4 NCAA tourny wins, team record 98-28
Durrett – 2nd team AA, 0 NCAA/NIT wins, team record 77-28
About college difficulty: understood. Soph yr ’68-’69, LaSalle went 23-1 - #2 in country behind UCLA - losing only to Coach Frank McGuire’s & sharpshooter John Roche’s South Carolina Gamecocks in Quaker City Christmas Tourney. Team was banned from postseason play due to prior coach Jim Harding’s recruiting violations. Some think Tom Gola’s exceptional Explorers had a great shot at toppling Bruins (w/Jabbar) had they had the opportunity.
Sr yr was limited by unfortunate late knee injury which in effect doomed his pro career even though Kings made him their first pick and signed him to nice contract. At the time, Durrett was #2 scorer in country and was averaging 14 rbs. 1st round NIT defeat to Georgia Tech - due to gimpiness; tragically, was never the same player. Even so, look at who he finished ahead of in All-American results … Erving, McGinnis, Westphal, “Downtown” Fred Brown. Compare Durrett’s & Nelson’s All-American contemporaries … wide discrepancies in talent and accomplishment.
That said, tough-as-nails Jameer had a tremendous college career and impact on St. Joe’s, in tandom with Delonte.
Good info – didn’t realize that was the reason they missed the tourney that year.
You don’t have to worry about Tom Gola being on this list though!
“Gola goal”-tending! Saw him play for Warriors and Knicks. A contributing pro; legendarily, a great collegian; a popular politician (Phila. City Controller); certainly, a gentleman.
Correction: Durrett was drafted fourth by Cincinnati Royals & Coach Bob Cousy, behind Austin Carr, Sidney Wicks and Elmore Smith; they moved to KC, became Kings following his rookie yr.
How, in the name of James Naismith did it ever get to where City Series games at the Palestra (Greek for gymnasium) got reduced to talents being evaluated by statistics.
It is truly a sad state of the regression of man and sport that what comes out of those nights, turned over to observors of history is numbers.
I love the Citizens Bank support big time. To the extent I care about the Iggles, I applaud the passion of the deperate to win Eagle fans, sick as that whole league’s fans are.
But if you played, and starred in games at the Palestra back in the day, it was so unabout numbers.
I haven’t a clue about Steve Donches career numbers. And I could care less. He’s a legend off 1 Sunday afternoon jump shot. The ability to win in a totally ridiculous environment. That is the core trait of anyone earning top 50 recognition.
Completely agree on Fatty Taylor. Let’s be candid, Durrett was awesome, but Taylor enhanced Kenny’s game. Another player who definitely seserves top 50 consideration was Larry Cannon. Larry was essentially 1 dimensional, a great, great scorer. Whether he makes the list, I don’t know. 50, history considered, is very competitive. But when you think of all the points Larry scored at Lincoln, and his play for the Explorers, he’s not a name you automatically bypass.
Are you aware Wes Covington passed away? If not, I’ll post the link. Happened over July 4 weekend.
Kingfish obit
http://www.laurinburgexchange.com/pages/full_story/push?article-From+the+Cheap+Seats%20&id=14862750&instance=secondary_sports_left_column
Ron Fairly looks back in time
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/qa-ron-fairly-on-dodger-vs-giants/
One-year wonder, but boy was that season magical though in 04!
There actually is a National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, it is in Kansas City (the Naismith Hall of Fame is in Springfield, MA). So it is probably too soon to say that he will not be a HOFer, as he was the consensus player of the year, and I would guess that consensus POYs who played 4 years almost always end up there.
Thanks for the info
That said, tough-as-nails Jameer had a tremendous college career and impact on St. Joe’s, in tandom with Delonte. >>
This is an assessment with which I whole heartedly agree. At yet, I can’t be critical enough of Nelson scoring a place above Pete Rose on this list, let alone surpassing Kenny Durrett. Jameer probably deserves attention more than Clifford Anderson, who was a college player extraordinaire that outgrew college without a skill set to adjust his 6’4″ frame to a differently defined pro game at the time.
The thing about guys like Wilt and Pete is that their greatness stands up through the ages. Realistically, you could at least have a halfway meaningful discussion during Wilt’s day about who was the best of the time, Wilt, Nate, or Russ. Inclusion of Nate and Russ in the discussion wouldn’t have been disrespectful. As the years, 40-50 have advanced, there are maybe 5 names or so that could be added to that. Similarly, since Pete went downhill some 30 years ago (hanging on for about 3 final years), maybe a small amount of guys have come along to offer skills that compare at what Pete did terifically.
Tom Gola, on the other hand, is a diferent story. Basketball, more than baseball, experienced a much, much greater infusion of athletic skill than baseball. The greats of the early days, Gola, Joe Fulks, George Mikan deserve laudits for their outstanding play against the competition available. But the clear, and indisputable advancement of the talent to play the sport in the many years since clearly puts them on a level of respect for their time, but no more. Maybe Mikan still warrants a discussion of all time greats. At best. For Gola to place above Jameer Nelson, despite Tom’s greatness in his time is pretty iffy. For either to place above Durrett is credible reducing. For Pete Rose to place below all these fine athletes who are not being judged properly is wronger than wrong.
And I have a deep seeded feeling that this is gonna get even worse with Smokin Joe Frazier not making this list. Lots od adopted sons will earn places, and Joe is at least as much Philly as them, but I have a feeling he gets left off this list. And that would exceed felonious.
no need to have a feeling about Fraizer. I said in the intro I wasn’t including anyone not in the 4 major sports (i.e. didn’t PLAY in philadelphia) or people who were born here. would have gotten too complicated…
Anything categorized as the top 50 athletes in Philly history is simply easily subject to credibility question without the inclusion of Joe Frazier. Editor’s discretion is the overriding by-law, but there’s no legitimate excuse for not including him. And it’s not like dutiful obligation. He’d be a proud addition to the list. I, like many tag alongers am not a student of boxing history, but Joey Giardello would also qualify as a name that at least warranted consideration. I know of him being at least a middleweight contender, if not an actual champ. And there are probably 1-2 others. Bernard Hopkins. I can see classifying hockey as a “major” sport, but I’m sorry, it’s at least debatable. If you consider the historic presence of sports like boxing, and soccer, any objective hockey enthusiast is going to at least admit it’s debatable. Soccer dates back to at least the Atoms in the early 70′s, and I’m told the Union is pretty popular. Whether a star athlete appeared in that sport, I couldn’t tell you. And I’m not badmouthing the Flyers here. I’m definitely questioning where you draw the line on defining major since there’s obvious slippage between the Eagle-Phillie rung, and the Flyers. The slippage to bocing and soccer, and maybe even lacrosse for all I know (the Wings date back to the early 70′s also, if box lacrosse counts) is a certain level below the Flyers, but major is tough to specify.
Will certainly be interesting to debate where Frazier should rank.