photo by steed media service

The mark of pride is permanently etched on the mahogany face of the Richmond High School boys basketball coach, Cedric Toney. The boys squad has engineered a merciless search-and-destroy campaign en route to an undefeated season. But this day is different. The former NBA star stole a reluctant glance at the other end of the court prior to the celebrity basketball game and eyed the older, bigger players. Then he looked at his players of apparent inferior talent and knew that his celebrity team was about to get decimated.

“I would just like for the team to go out and have fun and not get hurt, and then pull out a victory,” he gulped before releasing a hearty laugh into the festive atmosphere inside Richmond High School basketball court, the place where visiting teams’ winning streaks come to die.

Toney spent 10 years in the NBA, playing his final year for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1993-94 season. The suburban Cleveland resident pines for the tropical climate of some of the cities in which he laced them up on the hardwood, including Phoenix, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Now that his children are in college, he and his wife, also a Cleveland native, may discuss a locale where the summers linger longer in the year. But right now, Toney would just like to avoid a bloodbath on the court. “Well, being that we just met each other, I hope we can jell real quick, because I’m looking at the other end, they look like they have some athletes down there,” he says. -terry shropshire

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