Michael Jordan. James Worthy. Chris Paul. Steph Curry. All of these basketball stars got their start playing high school ball in North Carolina. Each of them set new marks for excellence, and will forever be remembered as Hall of Famers.
But before Paul and Curry set the NBA on fire, before Worthy became “Big Game James” and even before Jordan donned Carolina blue, one Triangle basketball team flipped the game upside down.
They were Durham’s Hillside High School Hornets, but they took on a new name once they stepped on the court: the “Pony Express.”
“94 feet, and 50 wide. We covered the whole court,” said Daniel McLaurin III, a senior forward on the 1965-66 Hornets team which earned the “Pony Express” nickname. He said the name was penned by a local writer who was impressed by the Hornets’ play.
“He named us the ‘Pony Express’ because of our abilities to get the basketball up and down the court in a few seconds, and score very quickly,” McLaurin said.
During the 1965-66 season, the Hornets played a different level of basketball than their peers. The team set multiple state records, including scoring 105 points per game, a mark which still stands today. Their single-game high of 147 also remains untouched. In an era before the shot clock or the three-point line, McLaurin said the Hornets stood head and shoulders above every other team around.
“No one was doing that in the state,” he said. “Not even the college teams, like Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, North Carolina State. They weren’t doing that. And those guys recruited top-notch ballplayers from around the country, and some outside of the country. They came in on one team, and they could not do it. All-Americans!”
McLaurin has since written a book about the team, titled “32 Minutes of Greatness,” for the length of high school games. ESPN did a feature story on the team in 2004, and McLaurin is currently working on a documentary project. But his top goal is one which still eludes him: inducting the Pony Express into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
According to McLaurin, Hall of Fame bylaws prevent the induction of entire teams, but he’s still made an effort to get his team recognized in a section titled, “Great Moments in North Carolina Sports History.” It’s been more than a decade since he began reaching out to the Hall of Fame, but the Hornets are still not honored. McLaurin said he believes there’s still resistance against inducting an all-Black team like the Hornets, which played in the era of Jim Crow.
“Everything we did was segregated: Black high schools, Black leagues,” he said. “We played in the North Carolina High School Athletic Conference, while the white teams played in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. So actually, we did not get that much recognition, anyway. So I believe it all has to do with mindset.”
Chapelboro reached out to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame for comment, but did not receive a response.
Now into his 70s, McLaurin said he doesn’t know whether he’ll live to see the Pony Express recognized by the Hall of Fame. But that doesn’t mean he’ll stop trying.
And while their names may not adorn the walls in Raleigh, McLaurin said the record books prove the Pony Express’ impact is still being felt.
“When we stepped on the basketball court, we knew that outside of that court we had problems in society because we were Black kids,” he said. “So, all of that stuff we had to deal with growing up as kids, and trying to play basketball at a very high level. And we pulled it off.”
Featured image via Durham Voice
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