One of the NBA's all-time leaders in steals, Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd got his start as a defensive standout at the prep level where he set state records for steals in a season and in a career.
According to the Cal-Hi Sports Record Book, Kidd still holds the all-time records for steals in a career (719) and steals in a season (245) in the Golden State and no other player is even very close to the
St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda, Calif.) standout.
Kidd is the most noteworthy name on the most recent entry to the MaxPreps National High School Boys Basketball Record Book.
MaxPreps National High School Basketball Record Book: Single-season steals
While Kidd is the most familiar name on the list, he's not the single-season leader. Kidd ranks fourth on the list with K.C. Ross-Miller of
God's Academy (Lake Dallas, Texas) at No. 1 with 295 steals in 2009. Ross-Miller played at the University of Auburn and has played overseas for the past seven seasons.
Notably absent from the single-season steals list are players from Louisiana. The Bayou state dominates the all-time single-season scoring list, mainly due to the fact that the smaller schools played up to 60 games in a season. In particular, Greg Procell of
Ebarb (Noble, La.). Procell, who score 3,173 points in a 68-game season in 1970, benefited from numerous steals in Ebarb's pressing defense. However, those steal totals were never reported.
Likewise, there are no steal totals for any of the
Hobbs (N.M.) teams from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Those teams used a pressing, full-court defense while averaging well over 100 points a game under Hall of Fame coach Ralph Tasker. However, the New Mexico state association record book does not include steals among its record categories.
The MaxPreps list was compiled through sources including the National Federation of High Schools record book, Cal-Hi Sports Record Book by Mark Tennis and Nelson Tennis, state association record books and the MaxPreps leaderboards.
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