By Tim Gardner
Celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, the Tommy Burleson Basketball Camp, one of the High Country’s most annually anticipated sports events, will be held Monday, July 17 through Friday, July 21 in the Old Rock and adjacent auxiliary elementary school gymnasiums in Newland. It will run from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon each day.
Each year of its existence, the Tommy Burleson Basketball Camp has been held in collaboration with the Avery Parks and Recreation Department, and it annually attracts many young players from Avery and surrounding counties as well as from several states.
The camp is designed to teach players fundamentals, help them develop and hone individual skills offensively and defensively and instill the confidence that all young players should acquire in order to increase their basketball potential. Each five-day session will be crammed with the kind of hands-on teaching that will make a difference in the players’ game. From beginning to end each day, campers will be exposed to a high level of intense basketball instruction and motivation that benefits beginners and experienced players alike.
The camp’s cost for early registration is $50 per athlete, with a cost of $60 to register on-site on the first day of camp. It is open to any male or female in the third through the ninth grade of school. All campers will receive a Tommy Burleson/Avery County Parks and Recreation T-Shirt. To pre-register to attend it, phone the Avery Parks and Recreation Department: (828) 733-8266.
All-Star boys’ and girls’ games will be played in the afternoon on the last day of the camp, with an awards ceremony following each game to honor their top players. Age categories from youngest to oldest play in their respective orders in the all-star games.
“I believe very strongly that my camp will be a fun and learning experience for each participant and they will prove as players from attending it,” Burleson said. “It doesn’t matter what their basketball ability is, because every kid gets a chance to play in games during the week and receive much individual attention and instruction. My camp is all about helping young players become better players, while they have fun doing so. It also provides them with life’s lessons, through stories and motivation that they hopefully will remember for years to come.”
Burleson added that parents and other family members of the players attending the camp, as well as other guests, are welcome to attend and watch the camp, including the all-star games and awards presentations.
The camp was founded in 1983 by Burleson, the legendary basketball star who possesses a sports resume as gigantic as his 7-foot, 2-inch physical frame.
An All-America center at Newland High School and after consolidation, Avery County High, Burleson also was the North Carolina High School Player of The Year his senior season (1969-70). He is the only high school player in North Carolina history to be named to its All-State basketball team three seasons (1967-1968, 1968-1969, and 1969-1970). Burleson’s stellar play helped propel his high school teams to a combined record of 85 wins and only 8 losses.
Burleson also played in the 1970 Dapper Dan National High School All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
One of the most highly recruited players in America, Burleson usually had some of college basketball’s most noted coaches attending his high school games in hopes of getting him to play for their school. He chose to attend North Carolina State University and play there, where he was a two-time All-American at center. He, along with his fellow-star players, forward David Thompson and point guard Monte Towe, helped lead N.C. State to an undefeated (27-0) season in 1972-73 and a 30-1 record and the national championship the following season (1973-74). That remains the best two-year record (57-1) in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 69-year history.
Additionally, N.C. State also won the 1972-1973 and 1973-1974 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season titles with unbeaten (12-0) records and league tournament titles both seasons.
Burleson scored 38 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the top-ranked Wolfpack to a 103-100 overtime win versus second-ranked Maryland in the 1974 ACC Tournament Championship. That game has been called the “greatest of all-time” by many basketball experts.
Burleson was twice chosen to the All-ACC Team, including First Team status his junior season. He also was twice named recipient of the Everett Case Award, named for a former N.C. State head coach and symbolic of the ACC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Burleson was chosen to the 1974 NCAA Tournament All-Final Four Team as well.
His most prestigious sports milestone was playing on the 1972 United States Olympic Team. He also is a member of the 1973 World University Games team that claimed the Championship Gold Medal.
Burleson played center professionally with four National Basketball Association (NBA) teams–the Seattle Supersonics, Kansas City Kings, Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls. He was the third player chosen in the 1974 NBA Draft and was named to the 1974-75 NBA All-Rookie Team.
He played in 446 NBA games.
Burleson is enshrined in the State of North Carolina (1996), Western North Carolina (1985) and North Carolina State University (2013) Sports Halls of Fame. He is considered a lock to eventually be enshrined in the College Basketball Hall of Fame. Additionally, he has been named as one of the ACC’s top players of all-time by various media outlets and publications.
Basketball courts at old Newland High (in the Old Rock Gymnasium where one part of Burleson’s camp is held) and Avery County High Schools have been named in his honor and his Number 52 jersey has been retired at Avery High.
The camp’s clinicians and guest speakers annually include several more of the most well-known and successful players and coaches in college basketball history, who have joined Burleson to complete the camp’s instructional corps nucleus, giving participants first-hand insight and training from those who best know what it takes to help them improve their game and win in highly-competitive atmospheres. This year’s camp staff will include:
- David Thompson, widely acclaimed as the greatest player in ACC history and one of the best in collegiate history. He is one of only two players from the ACC to be a three-time consensus All-American and a three-time National Player of the Year (Virginia’s Ralph Sampson is the other). Thompson also was the Most Valuable Player in the 1974 National Championship Final Four and was the Number 1 pick of both the American Basketball Association (Virginia Squires) and the National Basketball Association (Atlanta Hawks) in the 1975 drafts. He eventually signed with the ABA’s Denver Nuggets. Besides playing for the Nuggets, Thompson also (like Burleson) played professionally for the Seattle Supersonics.
The alley-oop pass, now a staple of college basketball’s high-flying, above-the-rim game, was “invented” by Thompson and Towe. It was first used as an integral part of the Wolfpack’s offense by legendary N.C. State head coach Norman Sloan to take advantage of Thompson’s phenomenal leaping ability (his vertical jump was 48 inches or 4-feet) and Towe’s knack for making precision passes.
- Monte Towe, an All-ACC selection at N.C. State for 1973-74 season and a long-time college basketball coach following his tenure playing professionally for (like Thompson) the Denver Nuggets. Towe served as an assistant at N.C. State for two tenures (once under Sloan), the University of Florida (also under Sloan), the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and Middle Tennessee State University. He also was a head coach at the University of New Orleans and has been either a head coach or an assistant for Global and Continental League teams, a professional team in Venezuela, as well as a junior and community college. Most recently, he has been head coach at a private Florida high school.
- Mitch Kupchak, an American professional basketball executive and retired player and collegiate All-American, who is president of basketball operations and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A power forward, Kupchak was chosen to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference First Team during the 1974-1975 and 1975-76 seasons while playing for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. He was an All-American and named ACC Player of The Year his senior season (1975-76). Additionally, he is a member of the gold medal-winning 1976 United States Olympic team.
As a professional player, Kupchak played power forward and center on three NBA championship teams – one as a member of the Washington Bullets (1977-1978 season) and two with the Los Angeles Lakers (1981-1982 and 1984-1985 seasons).
After he retired as a professional player in 1986, he became the Lakers Assistant General Manager and later was promoted to their General Manager’s post. During his tenure as an NBA Executive, Kupchak’s player acquisitions and related work helped the Lakers win seven NBA championships (1986-1987, 1987-1988, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001–2002, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 seasons).
- Hugh Durham, regarded as one of the greatest coaches of all-time, who recorded 634 wins as head coach at the University of Georgia and Florida State and Jacksonville Universities. After a stellar playing career at Florida State,Durham served as an assistant there, before becoming head coach in 1966.Durham directed Florida State to the 1972 National Championship game and then Georgia to the 1983 Eastern Regional Championship with one of the biggest upset victories ever (82-77) over superstar Michael Jordan and defending National Champion North Carolina.
Durham is the first coach to ever lead two schools—the University of Georgia and Florida State—to their only appearance in the NCAA Tournament Final Four. He also is the only coach in NCAA history to be the all-time winningest coach (percentage or wins) at three different Division I schools.
Thompson and Durham are members of the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
And like Burleson, Thompson was named North Carolina High School Player of The Year his senior season.
Also assisting with the camp for the second consecutive year will be Gunner Garrett and Bo Morris, standout players for Gate City, Virginia High School.
Additionally, the Avery Parks and Recreation Staff of Director Robbie Willis and his assistants Teddy Bare, River Willis, Brandon Campbell, Carson Williams, Austin Lyons, Brooke Brewer, and Braydon Johnson will work in various capacities at the camp.
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