1-2-3 Wildcats

The Myrtle Beach story, the buzzing fax machine (hey, this was 1997!), the movie shoot (wait, what?), the games against soon-to-be NBA and NFL players -- it's all here in the bonus episode of 1-2-3 Wildcats. Thanks to everyone for sticking with us since launch in November. And make sure you stick around to the end, for more BFitz wizardry. 

The part about He Got Game starts about the 16-minute mark. Notes on filming locations for He Got Game: Fitz, Woolley, Scott Cherry, LeVelle Moton and former UNC JV player Jeremy Holly spent one very long, hot August day along New Hope Road in Randolph County. Their filming locations are about 2 miles apart. Fitz was first out the limo, shooting on a driveway hoop with a barn behind it. He gets extended screen time as the opening player in the film. Moton is next in the movie, dribbling on a dusty, gravel parking lot of Elliott's store at the corner of New Hope Road and High Pine Church Road in Denton. The Coca-Cola sign is now gone, and much of that storefront is faded,  but it's still standing. Woolley was also filmed at the store, but he didn't make it into the film. Not far from there is where Cherry and Holly were filmed. Cherry is shooting in front of a barn about a minute in, but he's also shown spinning a ball at the 35-second mark. Holly, now a financial advisor on the West Coast, was shot in front of a seed corn sign with a local distributor's name beneath it. Those signs, along with Cherry's barn hoop, are still in place today, but the elements have taken their toll. 

This is it, the state championship game on March 22, 1997. Hickory had championship pedigree and championship experience. East Chapel Hill had ... what exactly? A great first season, no doubt, along with chemistry, talent, belief in each other and in the words of coach Ray Hartsfield. Still, they were the underdog, an angle Hartsfield hammered home in his words to the team in the locker room before the game. The game was nip-and-tuck, with neither team pulling away. Whistles were few and far between in what everyone agrees was a high-level game that lived up to the hype. Hear the memories of more than 25 people who were there that unforgettable night in the Dean Smith Center.

Hickory High School's basketball team had good reason to be confident heading into the 1997 state championship game against East Chapel Hill. The Red Tornadoes had experience, talent and championship appearances on their side. Eight players were part of the 16-0 football team that rolled to the 3A title just a few months earlier, and Hickory felt it wouldn't be wowed by playing in the Dean Smith Center, where it was walloped in the 1996 final by Burlington Williams. Ty Hunt, Daniel Willis, Will Johnson and coach John Worley share memories and discuss the team's mindset as it prepared to face the Wildcats. 

New to the show and want to get caught up? Here’s Episode 1. 

Is there another East Chapel Hill out there? Well, not that we could find. The research can't be classified as exhaustive, but it was exhausting (not a stretch).

East Chapel Hill played in many tight games in 1996-97. Their first four wins were close, and so were just about all their postseason victories. They survived a six-overtime game that clinched the conference title, overcame a deficit in the first playoff game in school history, and then found ways to eke out wins when they played on a neutral court in the 3-A Eastern Regional. Go on the road with the Wildcats, and on the bus, as they continue their run back to Chapel Hill. 

Chris Hobbs was an immediate starter at East Chapel Hill, taking the court as the Wildcats’ center before he turned 15 years old. People remember his size, strength, footwork and soft touch on the court. They also remember him being approachable, a guy who was friends with everyone. Teammates, coaches and others reflect on the life of Chris Hobbs: tea parties, dance moves, dessert deliveries, memorable games and more. 

“We played together almost every day of the year,” Brad Woolley says of the era when he and teammates Paul Kindem and Brian FitzGerald developed the bonds that made those three the nucleus of the first team at East Chapel Hill. Different players for sure, but all effective. Take a trip back, a Carolina Flashback if you will, to the days of beepers, the University Mall arcade, the Pizza Hut on Estes Drive, and of course the courts at the Chapel Hill Community Center. Come for the '90s memories, stay for a story about N.C. State legend David Thompson. 

Thank you, listeners. If you're liking the story, please subscribe and share, rate and review. We are on Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, and the top results of the Google search “1-2-3 Wildcats podcast” (with the hyphens). 

Need to get caught up on the story from the start? Here’s Episode 1. 

Want to talk East Chapel Hill hoops, answer our trivia questions, or share your memories of the Wildcats? Call our Wildcats Hotline at (919) 867-1319, or find us on Twitter at ECH Hoops Pod.

Point guard Andy Jones could find teammates for baskets even when they didn’t know they were open. His precision passing was a key factor in East Chapel Hill’s success, along with quick hands on defense and calm under pressure. He might not have been known as a shooter, but when it came time to take a big shot, Jones didn’t shy away. Note, we have the "E" for explicit on here for one word, right near the end.

Thank you, listeners. If you're liking the story, please subscribe and share, rate and review. We are on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, Player.FM, or in the top results of the Google search “1-2-3 Wildcats podcast” (with the hyphens).

Need to get caught up on the story from the start? Here’s Episode 1. And the YouTube trailer mentioned in Episode 4? Here it is.

Ray Hartsfield knew he wanted to be a coach. He learned from respected mentors at Chicago’s Harlan High School and then set off on his own, first as a football player at Prairie View A&M and later as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. Hartsfield’s background helped to form his style; he also grew as a coach along the way. The bear and the elephant mentioned in Episode 2? Those came out less often. Hartsfield was relatively new to coaching when hired in summer 1996 at East Chapel Hill, but even then, he had a calm on the sideline.

Need to get caught up on the story from the start? Here’s Episode 1. 

In driveways, youth leagues and pickup games, the players who would form the first team at East Chapel Hill bonded for years before the new high school opened in 1996. That year marked the start of a rivalry with Chapel Hill High, giving residents of a basketball-focused town more teams to talk about.

Here's your chance to get caught up if you missed Episode 1 of 123 Wildcats.