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Anthony "Jo Jo" Hunter (1958-) - University of Maryland and Colorado Basketball Star, and DC High School Legend


DonRocks

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I grew up reading about Anthony "Jo Jo" Hunter in the Sports pages, watched him win the MVP Award in the 1976 Capital Classic, and then had season tickets to the University of Maryland games, where he was a minor star, but never reached his full potential.

Sometime in 2007 - "Set Him Free! - The Jo Jo Hunter Story" by Ryan Thorburn on dcbasketball.com

Jan 16, 2013 - "The Comeback" by Dave McKenna on grantland.com

Is this true?! If so, why haven't I heard *anything* about it? The only reason I found it is because I was doing some research to start a thread about Hunter. I'm not sure I believe it, because I can't find anything else about it, anywhere.

Can anyone verify that Jo Jo Hunter is still with us? I would NOT assume the above link is true, as I cannot find *any* confirmation of it, and the local basketball community would have chimed in.

Screenshot 2018-11-28 at 18.17.55.png <--- NOT true

Notice also that the numeric date on that website says 5/23/2017, but the written date says April 23, 2017 - given that I cannot find anything else about it, this almost looks like one of his friends was playing a joke on him (maybe someone beat him in one-on-one on that date, and was taunting him?)

More importantly, note that Hunter was absolutely not born in 1962 - if he played in the 1976 Capital Classic, he was born in the late 1950s: I can promise that he's older than I am, and I was born in 1961.

 

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The “legend” of JoJo Hunter was quite impressive as I recall reading and hearing.  I knew nothing of this legend nor had seen him play in high school.

I did watch a wee bit of him in his second year at Maryland.  It was a vexing terrible season.  The squad had all kinds of “name” talent (including Hunter and Albert King) and a miserable record.  They couldn’t or wouldn’t play as a team.   

Such a big big big name and a career that didn’t materialize as predicted and then a dive into personal hell.  

I did see some great play by him in tiny spurts.   Very tough life story.

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25 minutes ago, DaveO said:

The “legend” of JoJo Hunter was quite impressive as I recall reading and hearing.  I knew nothing of this legend nor had seen him play in high school.

I did watch a wee bit of him in his second year at Maryland.  It was a vexing terrible season.  The squad had all kinds of “name” talent (including Hunter and Albert King) and a miserable record.  They couldn’t or wouldn’t play as a team.   

Such a big big big name and a career that didn’t materialize as predicted and then a dive into personal hell.  

I did see some great play by him in tiny spurts.   Very tough life story.

I'll do penance for this, but I didn't like the way he flayed out his left elbow during his jump shot.

Albert King - now *that* was another can't-miss underachiever - he was nearly the LeBron James of his generation coming out of high school. When he was at Maryland, I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for him to become a first-team All-American. I mean, he was great, but not *as* great as I was anticipating he'd be.

One *seriously* over-hyped player from that era was Wayne "Sugar Bear" McCoy from Long Island Lutheran - I saw him in the Capital Classic also, and I was thoroughly unimpressed. He even botched a two-ball dunk at the halftime competition - Parade Magazine (then one of "the" authorities) declared him National High School Player of the Year as a *Junior*.

Then there was Earl Jones, the All-Everything phenom from Mount Hope, WV (he had a solid career at UDC along with Michael Britt).

You've got to give LeBron credit: He lived up to the hype (all-time NBA playoff scoring leader!)

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On 3/8/2018 at 7:14 PM, DonRocks said:

Is this true?! If so, why haven't I heard *anything* about it? The only reason I found it is because I was doing some research to start a thread about Hunter. I'm not sure I believe it, because I can't find anything else about it, anywhere.

Can anyone verify that Jo Jo Hunter is still with us? I would NOT assume the above link is true, as I cannot find *any* confirmation of it, and the local basketball community would have chimed in.

Notice also that the numeric date on that website says 5/23/2017, but the written date says April 23, 2017 - given that I cannot find anything else about it, this almost looks like one of his friends was playing a joke on him (maybe someone beat him in one-on-one on that date, and was taunting him?)

More importantly, note that Hunter was absolutely not born in 1962 - if he played in the 1976 Capital Classic, he was born in the late 1950s: I can promise that he's older than I am, and I was born in 1961.

I have rock-solid, second-hand information that this website is incorrect.

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