Saturday, January 30, 2010

Records Are Made To Be Broken

If you say the name Phil Ford today any where in America to a basketball fan they can tell you who he is. They may not be able to tell you what he did while at Rocky Mount High,but from Carolina to the NBA this country knows of Phil Ford.

Back in his day at Rocky Mount Gyms filled just to watch him play. Coaches swooned at the thought of Phil Ford playing at their college. It was of course Senior High back then so Ford could only wear the blue and gold for three years. To say the least the name Phil Ford carries legendary status in Rocky Mount as well as across the country.

Tuesday night Tashawn Mabry broke the Rocky Mount scoring record which was held by Phil Ford. Much like Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's home run record no one wanted to see it happen. Maris broke the record in a 162 game season while Babe Ruth hit his 60 homers in 154 games. Mabrey a Gryphon senior is playing his fourth year of varsity.

It took 36 years for someone to come along and break the scoring record. It had to happen sometime and now is as good as any. Despite Phil Ford's legend in Rocky Mount, he never won a state title. Rocky Mount has won two over the years but Phil Ford was not part of either. That also means that Tashawn Mabry hasn't been a part of one either.

If Mabry could lead this year's Gryphon team to a state title then he would not only up Phil Ford in scoring but in championships too.

The past three years the Gryphon basketball team has been they will go as far as Mabry leads them. When this year started there was not much talk of this team being any better than the last three. You see the past three teams have been pass the ball to Tashawn and stand and watch him.

This years team however as this year has progressed has shown that they are a talented bunch who can play basketball better than they watch. This team is about nine deep of very good basketball players. No longer is it how far will Tashawn carry us but, now it's how far will he lead us.

36 years from now the legend of Tashawn Mabry may totally depend on how far this team goes when the playoffs begin. Records are made to be broken and Tashawn Mabry now holds the scoring record at Rocky Mount High and it is still growing. His legend may only be beginning.