10th Annual Tyrone Johnson Showcase
AMBER GREGG (standing) and CIERRA MARTIN (sitting wearing black shirt)
It’s always good heading down to Austin the play in the Tyrone Johnson Showcase, this marked the 10th year that event has been going on. Let me first give you a recap on what the event is about who Tyrone Johnson was. Tyrone Johnson was a former basketball player for the University of Texas and as a product of Central Texas schools and athletics, gave his all to help student athletes make the most of their abilities and to make opportunities available to them.
He spearheaded the first fall league for Austin Independent School District (AISD) athletics and was instrumental in helping form the first sophomore league in Austin. As a coach, he led the Anderson High School Trojans to three district championships and two state championship finals, the closest Austin had come to winning a state championship. His life was cut short by a heart attack at the age of 49 on a hunting trip in 2001.
Now let me tell you something about the guys who run the Austin Elite program and Tyrone Johnson Showcase. Fonzell Martin and Tommy Gregg have been doing this a very long time and to say they know they know their stuff would be an understatement. Both have daughters that went on the play Division 1 basketball, Martin’s daughters Cierra (UTSA) and Kaylan (Texas State) while Gregg’s daughter Amber (UTSA) was one of the top five players in the state back in 2007.
Kaylan is still playing at Texas State as she is about to enter her junior year, so that means that when Cierra and Amber were doing battle against my daughter, she had to be about eight or nine. Some of these memories now have me knowing what the old folks used to mean when they talked about the good old days.
This week I’ll be bring you some fresh new names of players who are on the verge of breaking out, have broken out or have simply exploded. From 7th graders on up, I saw some talent and even though I was running on fumes, I stayed focused and energetic because of the talent. Speaking of talent, check out some of the names of players who have participated in the Tyrone Johnson Showcase
