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I don't know why Ronnie Fields' name popped into my head today, but it did. So I googled him and came across this youtube of a short documentary about him.

I'm not commenting on the quality of the documentary, but this video has some sweet clips of one of the best dunking guards of all time. Its such a shame that this guy had his NBA career ended before it ever even started. Some considered him to be a better pro prospect than his 1-year HS teammate KG. Some of this footage was new to me (all of the shot-blocking footage, for example, which is positively sick for a 6'3" guard). If its new to you, enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwiAl8L3xUU

That kid was animal. I was only about 11 or 12 when they started talkin about him and I am up in Michigan. People were driving from Grand Rapids to go see the kid play. I wish he would have made it. Sad that a car wreck did that to the young man.

I don't have time today to watch this, maybe tonight at home.

I never got to see him play in HS but remember a highlight clip put together after he was done. The one clip I remember was a sidelines out of bounds play where he curled toward the rim from the top of the key, took a pass and literally jumped over some guy standing on the block waiting to take a charge. An amazing dunk at any level but blew me away for a HSer.

Dieselbound&Down wrote:I don't have time today to watch this, maybe tonight at home.

I never got to see him play in HS but remember a highlight clip put together after he was done. The one clip I remember was a sidelines out of bounds play where he curled toward the rim from the top of the key, took a pass and literally jumped over some guy standing on the block waiting to take a charge. An amazing dunk at any level but blew me away for a HSer.

I'm pretty sure that was his dunk over Sergio McClain. When I googled him I came across an article talking about that dunk. SLAM magazine ranked Fields the #12 dunker of all time (Vince Carter was #1) and had a freeze frame shot of that dunk on his page in the article.

All i remember was people talking about Fields getting into a serious car accident. Even for a young kid who never paid attention to high school basketball knew who Ronnie Fields was especially in the Chicago land area. Pure replica Jordan (Athletic wise). Could have been something really amazing in the NBA.

Both Fields and Garnett weren't known for their academics. When Garnett learned that he got a 16 on the ACT and failed for the fourth time to gain a score which would allow him to play basketball as a freshman, he declared himself eligible for the NBA draft. 17 is the required score for NCAA Division I eligibility for student-athletes.

Fields broke his neck driving a rental car that happened to be rented by a sports agent. I'm not sure that he was ever cleared to play NCAA ball, whether for academics or NCAA violations I don't know. Per Wiki, he was academically ineligible. Went to the CBA and bounced around leagues since.

Ronnie Fields was the single most electrifying high school basketball player I've ever seen. More than Jamie Brandon, more than Kevin Garnett, more than Derrick Rose. He was unreal. His name still evokes memories of that 50 inch vertical amd that bald head and #23 wearing high school version of MJ. Like people older than me fondly recall the late Ben Wilson, I'll always remember the great Ronnie Fields.