OT: Soup Campbell

[RichZ]

Passed away 5 years ago today. Still the best HS player I ever saw play in person.

 

[mauconnfan]

Passed away 5 years ago today. Still the best HS player I ever saw play in person.

Certainly played on the best HS team I ever saw in person, floated around in the big tall frame with a soft left handed touch.

Best player I think I ever saw was Super John though, CT HS that is in person. Both great CT players from the same school. Soup played with younger brother Jiggy.

 

[uconnfan68]

Certainly played on the best HS team I ever saw in person, floated around in the big tall frame with a soft left handed touch.

Best player I think I ever saw was Super John though, CT HS that is in person. Both great CT players from the same school. Soup played with younger brother Jiggy.

Both AAs. Best HS team in the country, for 2 straight years. Best team I ever watched.

 

[Palatine]

Great player. 6-9 and could really move. Dissed UConn to play at Providence. Then we bounced his 1976 Friar team out of the NCAA (by beating them in the ECAC final) and we went to the Sweet Sixteen behind Joey Welton, Al Weston and Tony Hanson. We recruited Soup hard. We would have ben really good if he came. RIP.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Man, best I saw....maybe Bagley......no make that Rod Foster. Still remember when Larry Brown came to recruit him. Dozens and dozens of cars lined up and down the street.

 

[RichZ]

Certainly played on the best HS team I ever saw in person, floated around in the big tall frame with a soft left handed touch.

Best player I think I ever saw was Super John though, CT HS that is in person. Both great CT players from the same school. Soup played with younger brother Jiggy.

I was thinking about that. Back in the late 60s/70s when I was still playing rec league level and after the battle with peritonitis left me unable to play for a couple years, I went to a lot of HS games - especially the MBIAC and state tourneys. I think 76 was the best year. John Garris led Bassick (my wife's HS) and Mike Gminski led Masuk. They had an epic regular season battle won by Masuk, but Bassick won the MBIAC championship. Then Harding won the State Class L championship, led in the tourney by Phil Murphy - a forward who might've been 5-11, and skinny as a rail, but had the longest arms ever, and could jump like a kangaroo. He could stuff it with 2 hands from a standstill under the rim. Gave up 8 or 9 inches and probably 40 or 50 pounds to Garris, but outplayed him in the championship.

Nowadays, I couldn't pick a CT highschool star out of a lineup if I had to. SIGH.

 

[UConnDad]

Best high school kid I ever saw in person was Ernie Cobb. He played in the school boy classic at the JCC in Bridgeport. Barely crossed half court and was within his range. Nothing but net! Then became infamous at BC.

 

[mauconnfan]

I was thinking about that. Back in the late 60s/70s when I was still playing rec league level and after the battle with peritonitis left me unable to play for a couple years, I went to a lot of HS games - especially the MBIAC and state tourneys. I think 76 was the best year. John Garris led Bassick (my wife's HS) and Mike Gminski led Masuk. They had an epic regular season battle won by Masuk, but Bassick won the MBIAC championship. Then Harding won the State Class L championship, led in the tourney by Phil Murphy - a forward who might've been 5-11, and skinny as a rail, but had the longest arms ever, and could jump like a kangaroo. He could stuff it with 2 hands from a standstill under the rim. Gave up 8 or 9 inches and probably 40 or 50 pounds to Garris, but outplayed him in the championship.

Nowadays, I couldn't pick a CT highschool star out of a lineup if I had to. SIGH.

That's because now if they're that good they have no loyalty to their home town and head to a "Catholic" school or Prep. It will never be like that again, those were the days as they say.

 

[RichZ]

Best high school kid I ever saw in person was Ernie Cobb. He played in the school boy classic at the JCC in Bridgeport. Barely crossed half court and was within his range. Nothing but net! Then became infamous at BC.

Cobb's story and Caron's started off so much alike, and ended so differently.

 

[RichZ]

That's because now if they're that good they have no loyalty to their home town and head to a "Catholic" school or Prep. It will never be like that again, those were the days as they say.

That's not new. How do you think Notre Dame of Fairfield won 4 MBIAC titles in a row in the 60s? Sure they had Al Clinkscales as a coach, and built a team around Dave Bike, but somehow they seemed to get key transfers from Harding and Central's freshman teams every year. Seemed like the Bridgeport high school freshman teams were like the farm system for Notre Dame.

 

[swami7774]

Passed away 5 years ago today. Still the best HS player I ever saw play in person.

I once lucked into playing (I use the term very loosely) with him and Sly Williams in a 4-on-4 game at the New Haven Y in the later 80s. Don’t think I ever touched the ball. Sly was a piece of work. Soup seemed to be a good guy.

 

[swami7774]

Best high school kid I ever saw in person was Ernie Cobb. He played in the school boy classic at the JCC in Bridgeport. Barely crossed half court and was within his range. Nothing but net! Then became infamous at BC.

Ever see “Playing for the Mob”? Good show. Cobb denies everything.

 

[swami7774]

Great player. 6-9 and could really move. Dissed UConn to play at Providence. Then we bounced his 1976 Friar team out of the NCAA (by beating them in the ECAC final) and we went to the Sweet Sixteen behind Joey Welton, Al Weston and Tony Hanson. We recruited Soup hard. We would have ben really good if he came. RIP.

We beat Hofstra with an epic comeback in Round 1, then got run out of the gym by the then-undefeated Rutgers Scarlet Knights(who went on to the Final 4 that season).

 

[jibsey]

There was a kid in the late 60’s from Troy High in NY that was a shooting savant Roosevelt Phillips, but he wasn’t college material. His team was the equal of Lew Alcidor’s Power Memorial.

 

[Madmannsucks]

How on earth could us old timers forget Calvin Murphy. OMG!!!!!!! Now I am going to say, not even close.

 

[swami7774]

Man, best I saw....maybe Bagley.no make that Rod Foster. Still remember when Larry Brown came to recruit him. Dozens and dozens of cars lined up and down the street.

I remember seeing Rod Foster highlights on Channel 3 sports. He had a pretty good backcourt partner in Ulysses Garcia. I never knew where he ended up.

 

[G0UCONN]

Earl Kelley has to be in discussion of best player ever saw play in HS. An absolute unstoppable scoring machine.

 

[TRest]

I remember seeing Rod Foster highlights on Channel 3 sports. He had a pretty good backcourt partner in Ulysses Garcia. I never knew where he ended up.

I saw Foster in high school, he played at St. Thomas Aquinas in NB when they had a nice run. Ended up at UCLA and made a Final Four I believe.

 

[TRest]

Eagan had a cottage a few doors down from us when I was a kid. His kids would shoot baskets decked out in Rockets gear, I think he coached there at the time.

 

[Palatine]

Lee Otis Wilson had some of the best range of any Connecticut high school player. He shot deeper than Vital does. If he had played with the three point line....

 

[Skiblets]

I remember seeing Rod Foster highlights on Channel 3 sports. He had a pretty good backcourt partner in Ulysses Garcia. I never knew where he ended up.

Garcia went to UHart I believe and had a pretty good career there...

 

[Danzz]

Eagan had a cottage a few doors down from us when I was a kid. His kids would shoot baskets decked out in Rockets gear, I think he coached there at the time.

Johnny and his brother Eddie grew up a block away from me on Branford Street. Johnny used to play occasionally at Miss Missel's court on Tower Ave across from MT. Sinai Hospital but most of the time he played in Keney Park.. He was a great, great player who had a pretty long NBA career and a coaching stint with the rockets. He still lives in the Houston area.

 

[G0UCONN]

Garcia went to UHart I believe and had a pretty good career there...

Garcia didnt play with Foster at St Thomas Aquinas. The Farrell brothers did.

Think Garcia went to NW Catholic (with Norm Bailey) but could be wrong.

 

[G0UCONN]

I saw Foster in high school, he played at St. Thomas Aquinas in NB when they had a nice run. Ended up at UCLA and made a Final Four I believe.

My uncle was his coach. They were fun to watch. I recall going to game where played Middletown and Corny and gym was fully sold out for freshman game.