Has reminded me of my very early years as a basketball fan. I was a young high school guy in the mid fifties at Chapman High School in Inman and because, at that time, we had a very good hi school program, I became real interested in hoops! Coach Fred Fraley, who played on the Furman team with Frank Selvy, was the Chapman coach in those days. Basketball was a different game then than now basically because schools had not integrated. In this small town there was another high school team called Bethune that was considerably better than Chapman but of course they never played. After school I often participated in pick up games with these Bethune players and I quickly learned that these dudes knew how to play the game! One of my fondest memories from early childhood is playing against the star player of this all black team. This guy was amazing and I swear he played hi school at Bethune for five at six years! I think they made him quit playing when he turned twenty one. The most interesting part of this story is the guys name was .... CLEMSON ELLIS. If my Clemson could have had this Clemson at the time our basketball culture may be different. Times have changed for the better and basketball certainly has too. Wish I could live those days over as a teenager . I bet Clemson Ellis is playing on a playground somewhere right now.
I’ll be pulling for the Tigers tonite because that what real Clemson men do but I pull for the Clemson Ellises of the world too because basketball is a great sport. Go Tigers