High School and Colleges
The eldest of nine children, Frazier attended Atlanta's David Tobias Howard High School. He quarterbacked the football team and played catcher on the baseball team. He learned basketball on a rutted and dirt playground, the only facility available at his all-black school in the racially segregated South of the 1950s. After having a great career at Howard, Frazier attended Southern Illinois University. Although he was offered other scholarships for his football skills, Frazier accepted a basketball offer from Southern Illinois University.
Frazier wasted no time in becoming one of the premier collegiate basketball players in the country. He was named a Division II All-American in 1964 and 1965. In 1965, Frazier led SIU to the NCAA Division II Tournament only to lose in the finals to Evansville 85-82 in overtime. In 1966, he was academically ineligible for basketball.
In 1967, with Frazier playing at point guard, SIU won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), beating Marquette University 71-56 in the final at Madison Square Garden in New York. Frazier was named MVP of the 1967 tournament.
There was also controversy about SIU's "small school" status which kept them out of the more prestigious NCAA tournament.
Read more about this topic: Walt Frazier
Famous quotes containing the words high, school and/or colleges:
“That is very high praise, which is given you by faithful witness.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“Today, only a fool would offer herself as the singular role model for the Good Mother. Most of us know not to tempt the fates. The moment I felt sure I had everything under control would invariably be the moment right before the principal called to report that one of my sons had just driven somebody’s motorcycle through the high school gymnasium.”
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“But here comes Generosity; giving—not to a decayed artist—but to the arts and sciences themselves.—See,—he builds ... whole schools and colleges for those who come after. Lord! how they will magnify his name!
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—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)