Sports

Who is the best Kinston basketball player ever to lace ‘em up? Vote in our poll

Trophies fill display cases in the halls outside of the basketball gym at Kinston High School, pictured here on Jan. 10, 2022.
Trophies fill display cases in the halls outside of the basketball gym at Kinston High School, pictured here on Jan. 10, 2022. jwall@newsobserver.com

Many great basketball players have plied their trade at Kinston High over the years. Here are arguably the five best.

Cedric Maxwell: Best known by his nickname, “Cornbread,” Maxwell led Charlotte to the 1977 Final Four and then played a prominent role on the dominant Boston Celtics teams of the early-to-mid 1980s. He was the MVP of the 1981 NBA Finals.

Charles Shackleford: Played three seasons under Jim Valvano at N.C. State, where he was an All-ACC selection in 1988 before a 10-year professional career that ended with the Charlotte Hornets in 1999.

Jerry Stackhouse: Considered the state’s best prospect since Michael Jordan, Stackhouse played his final high season at Oak Hill Academy and went onto a memorable two-year college career at UNC, where he was an All-American. Played in the NBA for 17 seasons and is now the head coach at Vanderbilt.

Reggie Bullock: The best perimeter shooter in Kinston history, Bullock led the Vikings to two state championships and played for three seasons at UNC. A late first-round pick in 2013 NBA Draft, he has carved out a niche as a valuable role player in the league.

Brandon Ingram: The college recruitment of Ingram, who helped lead Kinston to four consecutive state championships, was among the most-followed in state history before he chose Duke over UNC. After one college season, he became the No. 2 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, and he has developed into one of the league’s best young players.

So, who do you think is the best of the bunch? Vote in our poll below.

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Andrew Carter
The News & Observer
Andrew Carter spent 10 years covering major college athletics, six of them covering the University of North Carolina for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer. Now he’s a member of The N&O’s and Observer’s statewide enterprise and investigative reporting team. He attended N.C. State and grew up in Raleigh dreaming of becoming a journalist.
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