The 1996 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an

all-star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

game played on Sunday, March 31, 1996 at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in 1996. The game was the 19th annual version of the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is an American all-star basketball game played each year for boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the hi ...

first played in 1978.

1996 game

The game was telecast live by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. Ronnie Fields did not play, having suffered an injury in February 1996 that forced him to stay away from the basketball court for a long time. Charles Hathaway was also unable to play. Shaheen Holloway, who was the starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

for the East, won the MVP award with 7 points, 8 assists and 6 steals; other players who starred were guard

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

(13 points/3 assists), center

Vassil Evtimov Vassil Iliev "Vasco" Evtimov () (born 30 May 1977) is a French-Bulgarian former professional basketball player and head coach of Cherno More Ticha in National Basketball League. A 2.08 m power forward, he played professionally in ten different ...

(the only one to record a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds) and bench players Stephen Jackson (East) and Winfred Walton (West) who were the top scorers of the game, tied at 21 points. Of the 22 All-Americans, 12 did not play in the

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

, while 2 were drafted out of high school in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th NBA draft, draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996–97 NBA season, 1996, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns s ...

: Kobe Bryant (13th overall pick) and Jermaine O'Neal (17th overall pick). Only Ronnie Fields did not play a single game in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

or the NBA.

East roster

1996 roster at page 7.

West roster

Coaches

The East team was coached by: * Head Coach John Miller of Blackhawk High School (

Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, the city lies along the Beaver River (Pennsylvan ...

) * Asst Coach Rick Bell of Peters Township High School ( McMurray, Pennsylvania) * Asst Coach Don Graham of

North Catholic High School North Catholic High School is a private Catholic Church, Catholic high school located in Cranberry Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania. The school's mascot is the Troy, Trojan, and its colors are scarlet and gold. History North Catholic High S ...

(

) The West team was coached by: * Head Coach Nate Harris of Booker T. Washington High School (

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

) * Asst Coach Levi Brown of Booker T. Washington High School (

)

All-American Week

Contest winners

* The 1996 Slam Dunk contest was won by Lester Earl. * The 1996 3-point shoot-out was won by Nate James.

References

External links

McDonald's All-American on the webMcDonald's All-American all-time rostersGame stats at Realgm.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald's 1995–96 in American basketball

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1996 in sports in Pennsylvania Basketball competitions in Pennsylvania Basketball in Pittsburgh