The 1988 "Great Florida Shoot Out" champion Jersey City St. Anthony’s Friars defeated Miami Senior [who went on to be ranked 2nd in the nation and state champs] in the finals in front of a national TV audience on Prime Time. The 1991 Philadelphia Simon Gratz team led by Rasheed Wallace suffered their only loss of the season in Kissimmee in the semifinals but went on to be named the Associated Press mythical national champions after that. That St. Anthony’s game featured NBA players Bobby Hurley [3 time NCAA national champs, NCAA MVP, All American], Terry Dehere [Big East all time scoring leader, Seton Hall All American, NBA All Rookie Team], Rodrick Rhodes [Kentucky All American and 2nd round NBA pick in `97] and Douglas Edwards [Miami High top 5 in nation, All American Florida State, NBA]. It also featured high school All American Jerry Walker [played in Europe]. Whew! No wonder it was such a great game. The first alumni of the "Great Florida Shoot Out" to play in the NBA was 7 footer Stanley Roberts. Chris Jackson broke all of the "Great Florida Shoot Out" scoring records before spending 2 All American seasons at LSU and then right to the NBA and a new name [Abdul-Rauf].

Hurley’s notoriety is challenged by 1992 High School Player of the Year and 1993 Rookie of the Year Jason Kidd who played here his senior year of high school. Joining him on that All Rookie team was Eddie Jones via Pompano Beach Ely and Temple. Jones was launched into the national spotlight with his 1989 showing at the "Great Florida Shoot Out" where he got his first national publicity and has since teamed with Shaq in LA & now in Miami with the Heat as one of the games finest forwards. 1989 alumni Antonio Lang was last seen in Cleveland in the NBA after graduating from Duke. Jo Jo English spent 5 years in the NBA after playing with Roberts while here from Lower Richland. Lorenzo Williams has been on the Magic roster & several other NBA teams after finishing his college career at Stetson. High school [Oak Hill] & college [Virginia] teammates Junior Burrough & Corey Alexander both made 1995 NBA rosters as rookies. Charles Claxton [Miami Carol City & Georgia], Clifford Rozier [Bradenton Southeast & Louisville], Lawrence Moten [D.C. Carroll & Syracuse], Charles Harrison [D.C. Carroll & Georgetown], Brian Reese [Tolentine and North Carolina], Adrian Autry [Tolentine and Syracuse] and Tony Miller [Cleveland VASJ & Marquette] joined Jones & Lang in that amazing collection of 1989 "Great Florida Shoot Out" alumni and all were drafted in 1995 into the NBA or playing in Europe. 1992 champion Boyd Anderson outlasted 2 nationally ranked powers from KY [Louisville Pleasure Ridge] & PA [Steelton-Highspire].

1993 & 1994 returned to an 8-team field but the talent was just as intense. Neil Reed led East Jefferson, LA over a field that included 4 nationally ranked teams out of the 8. Chester, PA christened the new Civic Center in 1994 leaving Kissimmee with a national ranking and the title over a field that had 6 of the 8 teams here as defending state champions!

The 1995 champs from Bartlett, Alaska beat #4 nationally ranked Tift County, GA in the last 3 seconds and the 1996 finals went OT as the crown returned to Florida via Ft. Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons led by U of Florida signee Major Parker along with MVP Keyon Dooling before heading to the NBA. Top seeded & nationally ranked [3rd in nation] Lexington Catholic won the 1997 tourney over perennial power Jacksonville Ribault with 8 of the 10 Florida teams all state ranked, 4 teams went on to win state championships, 3 were state runners-up & one was 3rd! WOW!

1998 featured the Chris Duhon show as one of the top 5 players in the country showcased his skills before venturing off to Duke. Both of the 1999 finalist went on to win state championships as champion Gainesville could be found in the top ten in the country rankings and Cardinal Newman won its second straight state championship. And 1999 saw Shoot Out alum Elton Brand [Duke] as the #1 pick in the NBA draft. The turn of the century just continued the excitement and the level of play. Tourney founder Ed Kershner brought the Lions from Oviedo back to the atmosphere that he built in 2000 and they rewarded him with his 3rd GFSO title in a barnburner OT championship game. Keyon Dooling gets drafted in the 1st round and Ousmane Cisse stops here as one of the top 5 seniors in the country before declaring for the draft right out of high school.

2001 showcased the high flying of All American Travis Outlaw from Starkville, MS who went directly to the NBA out of high school while Harrisburg, PA went on to a Pennsylvania state championship. But the best team was nationally ranked Orlando Edgewater with super soph Darius Washington putting on a show hitting a record 23 straight free throws over 3 games & scoring a tourney leading 34 pts twice in leading them to the championship trophy. That made the 3rd year in a row that a Florida team won after the ‘out of state’ teams won 5 out of 6 from 93-98! The 22nd edition saw the return of Dan Hurley as a coach of the nation’s #2 ranked St. Benedicts Prep from NJ and he remained undefeated in Kissimmee. Danny is the younger brother of Bob Hurley and was on the national championship squad that defeated #2 ranked Miami Sr here in 1988. As a coach he had J.R. Smith [MVP] and blue chipper Alex Galindo lead his troops to a tourney championship on their way to the state prep crown. Miami NW Christian was the consolation champ & went on to a Florida state championship while St. Thomas More made it to the championship game in LA.

Another home grown team, Orlando’s Dr. Phillips, walked away with the 2007 ShootOut championship by easily defeating Stone Mountain, GA 64-47. Justyn Watson, the tournament MVP, led the Panthers with 17 points.
 

Of course, the best is always yet to come. With over 30 former "Great Florida Shoot Out” players having played professionally, Central Florida is getting to see some of the world’s finest athletes. And while we never know for sure which student/athlete we see will be the next Michael Jordan, we do know that we are having the good fortune of seeing some of the nation’s finest prep athletes come through here. And locals like Justin Thompson who led NAIA power Fifer College to the national finals in ‘95 a week before Mike Frensley led St. Peters into the NCAA “Big Show” on national TV makes all of the local Rotary clan glad to know that we have helped make this world a little better for some of the lives that we have touched.