Greg "Boo" Harvey (born October 1, 1966) is an American former basketball player who is best known for his collegiate career at St. John's University between 1987–88 and 1989–90. He starred as the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

for the Redmen, and as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

was the recipient of both the

Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor shorter-than-average players who excelled on the court despite their size. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter-in-la ...

and

Haggerty Award __NOTOC__ The Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award is given to the All-New York Metropolitan NCAA Division I men's college basketball player of the year, presented by the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and the Met Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) ...

Early life

Harvey was born in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

. He made a name for himself on the courts in New York City, throughout the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) circuit, and at Andrew Jackson High School. Harvey started as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

, and in his four-year career he led AJHS to an 88–7 record. They reached the city finals three times and were champions once. Harvey averaged 38 points per game as a senior in 1984–85 and finished his career with a school record 2,039 points. This record cannot be broken due to Andrew Jackson High School's closure in 1994.

College

San Jacinto

After high school, Harvey wanted to attend

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

to play basketball. His poor academic performance, however, prevented him from being allowed to enroll. In order to boost his grades to qualify for academic eligibility, Harvey decided to play

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

basketball at

San Jacinto College San Jacinto College is a public community college in the Greater Houston with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Channelview, De ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. In his two seasons at San Jacinto, a national powerhouse in men's basketball, the team won back-to-back Region XIV titles and compiled an overall record of 73–1. In 1985–86, Harvey's freshman year, they became the fourth team in

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

history to go undefeated and win the national championship.

St. John's

After his stint in Texas, Harvey went back to Queens in 1987. He said that the time spent away from home made homesick, which is why he decided to attend St. John's University instead of Syracuse. The school is located in Queens, making the decision easy for him. Harvey also admitted that St. John's did not recruit him while he was in high school because they already had

Mark Jackson Mark A. Jackson (born April 1, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard from St. John's University, he played for the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah ...

at the

position. By the time he returned in 1987, the Redmen had a spot available for him, so he jumped on the opportunity. Harvey started as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

in 1987–88. He averaged 11.9 and 4.8 assists in 27 games played, but failed to show any

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

range, connecting on only 15-of-39 three-point attempts. Harvey did not thrive playing in a half-court offense, something he later said he found difficult to do. In what should have been his senior season in 1988–89, Harvey was forced to sit out due to academic ineligibility from the year before. He was also suspended for one game by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

for playing in an unsanctioned summer league game. A referee was killed by a player toward the end of that game over a disputed call. Despite being forced to miss the season, Harvey retained his NCAA athlete eligibility to finish his career the following year. He also credited his year off as a catalyst for his understanding of how to run a half-court offense by being forced to watch it daily. Entering his final season in 1989–90, Harvey was ''Sport Magazines 12th-ranked senior point guard in the country. Towards the end of the season, however, he had climbed as high as third on the list. When fellow senior teammate

Jayson Williams Jayson Williams (born February 22, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 11 seasons, primarily with the New Jersey Nets. He played his first three seasons with the ...

went down with an injury, Harvey stepped up and averaged 23.4 points and shot 20-of-44 from three-point range. Earlier in the season, he hit three buzzer-beating, game-winning shots: beating DePaul, 55–54 on November 22; beating Georgetown 63–62 on February 21; and beating

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, 76–75 on February 26. He also increased his scoring average to 16.5 points while leading the Redmen to a 24–10 overall record. They made it to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament before losing to

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. Harvey was honored with both the

, which is given to the best men's basketball player who is or shorter, and the

, given to the best male collegiate basketball player in the greater New York City area.

Professional

Despite a standout college career, Harvey was not drafted by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, nor did he ever make a final roster. Harvey played in Greece for Philippos Thessaloniki during the 1990–91 season; in Jyvaskyla, Finland for HoNsU B.C. during the 1991–92 season; and in Wels, Austria for Trodat B.C. from 1992 to 1995, where he was the 1995 MVP of the Austrian League All-Star game.

References

External links

Finnish League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Boo 1966 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Austria American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball players Andrew Jackson High School (Queens) alumni Basketball players from New York City Philippos Thessaloniki B.C. players Point guards San Jacinto Central Ravens men's basketball players Sportspeople from Queens, New York St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players