LaPhonso Ellis, Cuonzo Martin, Bennie Lewis honored
Inside Sports
With Earl Austin Jr.
Special congratulations are in order for former East St. Louis Lincoln basketball stars LaPhonso Ellis and Cuonzo Martin and former head coach Bennie Lewis.
These three men were voted to the list of “100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament.” Fans were able to vote on-line for 82 members of the team while the remaining 18 names were selected by a blue-ribbon committee of sportswriters and basketball historians.
More than 300,000 ballots were cast and I must admit and submitted more than a few ballots myself.
The 100 Legends will be honored at next year’s IHSA State Tournament, which will celebrate its 100 anniversay, billing itself as the “Original March Madness.”
Together, the group of Lewis, Ellis and Martin made history in the state of Illinois. Lewis, who coached at Lincoln and East St. Louis, led the Tigers to four Class AA state championships in 1982, ’87, ’88 and ’89. He became the first coach in Illinois state history to lead his team to win three consecutive state titles.
Considering how hard it is to win one Class AA state title in the talent rich state of Illinois, what Lewis did in winning three in succession is the greatest accomplishment by any coach in the history of the St. Louis metro area in my opinion. Lewis was also voted the Coach of the Century by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Leading Lincoln to the first two titles of the three-peat was Ellis, the talented 6’9” forward who went on to star at Notre Dame and enjoy an 11-year career in the NBA. Injuries kept Ellis from becoming a perennial NBA All-Star. Ellis scored 27 points in the ’87 title game against Chicago King and followed up with 26 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks in the ’88 title game against Chicago DeSalles.
When Ellis graduated, everyone thought that Lincoln’s title run was over, but Martin brought the Tigers back in ’89 on an improbable run to its historic three-peat. Lincoln defeated Aurora East, top-ranked Chicago King and Peoria Central to win the title. The 6’6” Martin was a no-nosense player with a smooth game and killer instinct.
The ’89 championship game between Lincoln and Peoria Central was the best high school game I have ever witnessed live. Guard Vincent Jackson ended the three-overtime thriller with a jumper at the buzzer to give Lincoln a 59-57 victory.
Martin brought the Tigers back to the state tournament in ’90, but he was playing on a badly-injured leg. Despite playing on one leg, Martin, along with Chris McKinney, led the Tigers to a third-place finish. In 12 state-tournament games, Martin scored 198 points and grabbed 111 rebounds.
I was also happy to see former Madison High coach Larry Graham voted to the “100 Legends” list. Graham coached the Trojans to state-championships in 1977 and 1981. Graham is now an assistant coach at Lindenwood University, my alma mater, where he helped the Lions to the Final Four of the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
I was disappointed when I did not see the names Joe Wiley and Jesse Hall of the list. Wiley, a former star at Belleville High, was one of the stars of the 1966 state tournament. He led the tournament in scoring and broke the existing scoring record. He went on to become a Hall of Fame player at Saint Louis University, where he is now the team’s television anaylyst.
Hall was one of the most exciting players ever to lace up the sneakers the Class A state tournament. A human-highlight film at only 6’3”, Hall led Venice High to the Class A state championship in 1987. He also put on a show at the Class A Supersectionals in 1986, when he scored 36 points in a loss to eventual state champion Teutopolis.
Coach Lewis; a class act. Not only one of the best high school coaches of his era, he was one of the best motivators for at-risk African American males.