Jameer Nelson was selected 20th by the Denver Nuggets in the 2004 NBA Draft and traded to the Orlando Magic, where he became a 2009 All-Star, before he suffered a season-ending injury in his right shoulder on Feb. 2, 2009. At the time, Nelson was averaging 16.7 points and 5.4 assists a game. He made a speedy recovery and was able to play for the Magic against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals.
Jameer Nelson during the 2009 NBA Finals.
Photo by Getty Images
My Greatest High School Moment
This is an easy one, when I won the state championship my senior year playing for Chester. Playing high school basketball is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life. I also think playing for Chester is what really prepared me for major college basketball and eventually the NBA.
You first have to understand what living and playing basketball in Chester is like. There is pressure there at an early age. The whole community rallies around the basketball team. It’s like we carry the torch for the whole city, because sometimes that’s all the city has. Chester basketball carries a positive message that not everything in Chester is bad. It is a city that has serious economic and drug problems. I don’t know if there was a kid on my team who didn’t know a drug dealer, or who had a relative who was in prison or just getting out of prison.
I was lucky. I had my father and mother. A lot of guys on the team just had one parent. I also had great coaches around me Coach [Fred] Pickett was like a father to all of us, and his staff were like a bunch of big brothers. I still give Coach [Larry] Yarbray [the current Chester High coach] credit for making me into the point guard I am today. Then there was Coach [Keith] Taylor who took a lot of time with me, talking about leadership and the responsibility of wearing Chester black and orange.
Coach [Keddy] Harris was a great motivator, who never let you get down on yourself, regardless of the situation.
That whole staff instilled in me a confidence that I still carry with me today. They made you believe you could do almost anything on the court. I believed in what we could so much that I remember walking in my senior year on Mr. [Chester athletic director Randy] Legette ordering rooms in advance for Hershey [where the PIAA used to hold its basketball championships].
I remember telling him, “Go ahead, order the rooms, we’ll be there.” I remember it because we lost to Coatesville in the District 1 championship. But we didn’t think anyone could stop us. We got to the state finals and we crushed Uniontown [73-48, on March 26, 2000 behind Nelson’s 19 points and 11 rebounds]. We weren’t going to lose that night.
I think something that helped that year was committing early to St. Joe’s. I never play for myself regardless of whether it’s pick-up game or in the NBA. But I knew where I was going to school, and I knew I didn’t have any extra pressure on me to perform. I could just play the game and do anything that needed to be done for us to win.
I look back on that time and it is a little emotional. My father [Floyd “Pete” Nelson, who died in a tragic accident in August 2007] was there to live the state-championship moment with me. I’m happy that he got a chance to see me win something big—winning a state title means a lot to the people of Chester. I got to share it with my family, and remember holding my little brother, Maurice, up when we cut down the nets after winning the state title.
Whew, now Maurice is a junior at Chester and I tease him that it’s his turn to win a state title for the Clippers. I still keep in touch with that whole coaching staff and with a lot of people from the community. I’ll never forget where I came from, because it’s my background and the people I had around me who made me who I am. I can look back and say it was one of the greatest times of my life.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a frequent contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
