YouTube Gold: What Happened To The 1979 McDonald’s All-American Team?
One of the greatest high school classes in basketball history
This year’s upcoming NBA Draft has been widely derided as one of the worst of all time. One school of thought is that no matter who drafts first, someone is going to get fired. That’s pretty bad.
Things were really different in 1979. First players were very unlikely to leave after one year and second, the high school class of 1979 is often described as legendary. And why not?
It included future legends like James Worthy, Ralph Sampson, Dominique Wilkins and Isaiah Thomas, along with some solid pros like John Paxson, Steve Stipanovich, Byron Scott and Greg Kite.
Two promising players lost their careers to injury - Clark Kellogg and Sam Bowie. And of course Sidney Lowe and Derrick Whittenburg carved out their own unforgettable careers in college.
This video traces what happens to the various players. One of the saddest stories was that of Teddy Grubbs. A talented Chicago native, he stayed home to play for DePaul.
He had some serious legal issues but worse than that, Grubbs developed schizophrenia and his life obviously became quite difficult.