Class of 2023
Steve Shepard
Steven Bernard Sheppard (born March 21, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player from New York City, who was nicknamed "Bear".
Steve Shepard born and raised in Bronx led Clinton HighSchool to a PSAL City Championship in 1971. The 6'6"forward took his talents to University of Maryland, Sheppard participated on the United States national basketball team which won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Sheppard was then selected by the Chicago Bulls as the eighth pick in the second round of the 1977 NBA draft. In two NBA seasons (1977–1979) with the Bulls and Detroit Pistons, Sheppard scored 367 points and grabbed 178 rebounds.
Hugh Evans
Evans born in Squire West Virginia he relocated to New York City and became director of a community center in Bronx in 1968 Mitchell community center becominga mentor and role model for hundredsof young people. He paid $100 to sign up for an officials’ camp – later calling it "the best investment I ever made and officiated amateur basketball games in the summer league held at Rucker Park in Harlem. The camp director soon asked him whether he would be interested in refereeing professional games. Evans subsequently agreed a part-time contract with the NBA in 1972 to officiate 47 games, before becoming a full-time referee the following year. He became the second NBA referee to come from a historically Black college or university after Ken Hudson.
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Bobby Cremins
"Robert Joseph Cremins Jr. (born July 4, 1947 in The Bronx) is a retired college basketball coach. He served as a head coach at Appalachian State, Georgia Tech, and the College of Charleston.
Early years
Cremins attended All Hallows High School in the Bronx, New York, where he was born to Irish immigrants from County Kerry. In 1966, he entered the University of South Carolina (USC) on a basketball scholarship, where he played under coach Frank McGuire. While Cremins was there, the South Carolina team won 61 games, with 17 losses, while Cremins was the starting point guard for three years for the Gamecocks. Cremins, known as "Cakes", was also the captain of South Carolina's 1969–70 team which went 25–3 and won USC's first (and only) ACC regular season title. He graduated from USC in 1970 with a B.S. degree in marketing, before playing professional basketball for one year in Ecuador.
Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis (7/14/43- 9/7/23) High school basketball coach with the third most wins in public school athletic league history. Coach Mathis won five Bronx championships and two PSAL championships. Coach Mathis had a profound on the lives of countless young men and women.
Having starred at Savannah State in Georgia and gone on to prolong playing his career with multiple teams in the ABA, Mathis found his way to New York City. He was eager to try his hand in the coaching trade and developing young men as student-athletes and better them as people first, student-athletes second.