With D.J. Kennedy recently signing a contract with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, with Kennedy and DeJaun Blair being reunited in Dallas and with Terrelle Pryor now starting at quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, it got me thinking of a Fabulous 5 basketball team from six years ago.
The Fabulous 5 is picked every year by the Post-Gazette scholastic sports staff. The 2007 Fab 5 is one of the most impressive groups ever. Why? Because of where the five went after high school. The headline on that photo was "Going Places." The players held suitcases as props (by the way they were MY suitcases - ha ha).
The picture of that Fab 5 is below. Now let's go over the players. The front row is Pryor of Jeannette and Jon Baldwin of Aliquippa. In the back, left to right, is Blair of Schenely, Herb Pope of Aliquippa and Kennedy of Schenley.
Wow! Has there ever been a Fab 5 of players who did so much after high school? Blair starred at Pitt and has played in the NBA for four seasons with the San Antonio Spurs before signing with the Mavericks in the offseason. Kennedy had a successful career at St. John's and even played two games with the Cleveland Cavaliers two years ago.
Pryor played at Ohio State and is now showing promise as the Raiders' QB. Baldwin played at Pitt and was a first-round NFL draft choice. He now plays for the San Francisco 49ers.
I don't know what Pope is doing these days but he played a season at New Mexico before transferring and enjoying success at Seton Hall.
So, four of the five went on to play either in the NBA or NFL. And the fifth had a very good college career. You'll have a hard time finding a Fab 5 as good in the past 30-35 years.