By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The last basket has been scored at the old Osceola High gym, a venue that saw dozens of eventual NBA and major college players run on its hardwood floor.

The new gym, located at the rear of the campus, is hosting its first event today, the Kowboy Kup wrestling tournament, which gets under way at 9 a.m.

Monday, the Lady Kowboys basketball team hosts Sebring at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m., the Osceola boys, 3-3, will play Liberty in their first appearance at the new facility.

The old gym, for 15 years, was the site of the Great Florida ShootOut prep basketball tournament. During those tournaments, eventual NBA stars like Rasheed Wallace, Bobby Hurley and Jason Kidd played before jammed stands. Mythical high school national champions played at the gym in 1988 (St. Anthony’s, New Jersey) and 1991 (Philadelphia Simon Gratz).

As impressive as those ShootOut tournaments were, the most exciting games for local fans came during an era from 1981-1990 when former OHS, now Oviedo, Coach Ed Kershner put together several of the best teams in the school’s history.

The 1982-83 Kowboys (37-0) won the state championship, led by the peerless tandem of guard Jimmy McCrimon and forward Frank Ford, both first-team all-state selections.

Current Osceola High Basketball Coach Steve Mason saw many of those Kowboys games in the 1980s. He became the head coach in 2009.

Mason has many memories of great games he witnessed at the gym.

“Obviously, watching Frank Ford and Jimmy McCrimon in 1983, 37-0, was huge. I remember running on the court and Frank Ford giving me a high-five. For a seventh-grader who looked up to them, it was huge,” Mason said.

He recalls what is regarded as the greatest of the ShootOuts, in 1988, when Bobby Hurley and St. Anthony’s beat Miami High for the championship in a game that decided the national championship. A thousand fans crammed into the tiny gym for the championship game, and another 400 watched in the cafeteria on a closed-circuit feed.

That was the era of Osceola High forward Justin Thompson, who because of a series of spectacular dunks over his career, earned the reputation as perhaps the most exciting player ever to wear a Kowboys uniform.

Mason said the 1991 ShootOut is memorable because of Kidd.

“Jason Kidd plays in the ShootOut and you watch and think, ‘That high school player could start in the NBA right now.’”

Mason also remembers former Osceola High guard Mike Frensley, who was perhaps 5-10 and 155 pounds, beating Kidd with a crossover move.

One of the memorable regular season games was in 1989, when the Kowboys battled No. 1-ranked Bartow and won in triple overtime.

“Ask Ed Kershner, and he will tell you that was one of his greatest wins,” Mason said.

In 1998, J.D. Bracy and Bobby Sippio led the team to the Class 5A regional finals.

The Lady Kowboys also enjoyed success, as Chantell Thomas and Ra’Shawna Sippio guided the team to 2001 and 2004 state tournament appearances.

In recent years, Coach Jim Bird’s Osceola High wrestling team developed into a state champion at the gym as several individuals won state titles.

Mason said OHS administrators considered saving a portion of the hardwood, or selling parts of it, but discarded the idea because of the high cost involved.

“The new gym has a beautiful new floor. It’s down and ready to go,” Mason said.

The old gym will be demolished soon.