Jim Nantz once commented on national television, there on the CBS network, and Jim made this very appropriate statement:
“The HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament is a Tradition Like No Other”…So profound, but yet so true….And under his breath, Jim also muttered, “And you can catch the games on GreensboroSports Radio”…..Well Jim Nantz was right on both counts…Thanks Jim….
The 2023 HAECO Invitational Basketball Tournament gets underway tonight at the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse and inside the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center…It will be boys games only this evening….Tonight we have…..
#1 Smith boys vs. #8 Southeast Guilford 6pm in the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse…
#2 Greensboro Day boys vs. #7 Ragsdale 7:30pm in the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse…
You can hear both of these games TONIGHT on GreensboroSports Radio….Smith-SEG and GDS-Ragsdale boys, with both games on GreensboroSports Radio….Dennis White will join us for the broadcasts on GreensboroSports Radio…Pregame for Game One will be right around 5:45pm…..
Plus we have:
#4 Bishop McGuinness vs. #5 Dudley 6pm in the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center…
#3 Grimsley vs. #6 Page 7:30pm in the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center…
We have been covering the Tournament since back in the 1980’s and I remember watching games in the Greensboro Coliseum with Freddie Barnes and Billy Welch playing for Dudley and the Panthers were playing Southeast Guilford HS…Barnes went to play at Penn State, and Billy Welch pursued a career in baseball…Dudley coached by Jack Chatham and Bill Chambers back in those days…
I even remember watching the old Little Four Championship Games on WFMY TV 2 back in the 1970s, and they would run the games back at around 11:30pm at night….
Fast forward to the 1990s and I was getting into the radio broadcasting end of this event, and have been on that side of the coin now for over 30 years…
For coaches like Freddy Johnson(GDS) and David Price(formerly of Dudley HS) the HAECO has and always was their equivalent of the Christmas Holidays…
There have been some good games over the years, but one that always comes back to mind, was when Greensboro Day knocked off Dudley in Overtime, and that was the first-ever tournament trip for the GDS Bengals…If GDS does not have the Thomas Roberts on their side, the Bengals do not get the Title…
Dudley with Will Graves, PJ Hairston, Josh Chavis, and the list goes on over the years…..
This year, the Smith Golden Eagles boys are the #1 seed and the Greensboro Day School Bengals are the #2 seed…Smith head coach Derrick Partee played for the Dudley Panthers and he might just get a shot to take on the Bengals after meeting them as a player, and now it could be for him/Coach Partee as a coach…He has faced them before(coaching), even last year in the finals, but has never faced GDS, with Smith coming in as the #1 seed…Makes for an interesting scenario….
This is the Big One…The one Jim Nantz said can be imitated, but never duplicated….
TONIGHT it all gets going again….Need to see your face in the place…And if you can not make it, you can tune into the Station of the Nation, at the right Location, as we give you an Invitation, to receive all the HAECO Information…Right here on your Destination, GreensboroSports Radio…Just Do It….
Steve Hankins coached Dudley in 1986 till the early 1990’s. Freddie Barnes played for him at that time. Bill Chambers last season was the 1985-86 season.
Northern Guilford played a really good game against my rams. That team came in with no fear.