The decade of the 1980's was arguably the best in the Grand Rapids area when it came to individual talent and teams in boys high school basketball, and one of the best to take the court in the early 80's was Garde Thompson of East Grand Rapids High School, who finished runner-up for Mr. Basketball in 1983 to Antoine Joubert! Garde went on to play for Bill Frieder at the University of Michigan winning an NIT Championship and 2x - Big Ten Regular Season championships in 1985 and 1986!!