These high school athletes defined the state of West Virginia — who's the greatest?
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The Mountain State, West Virginia has seen peaks in its high school athletes that not many other states can match.
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All-time legends like Randy Moss and Jerry West attended high school in West Virginia. Future Hall of Famers and WNBA all-stars. The state is at times overlooked for its athletic prowess. It shouldn’t be.
Who is the all-time greatest West Virginia high school athlete?
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, USA TODAY is launching its 250 for 250 series, looking to answer that question by celebrating the best athletes from each state.
From fans' votes, five athletes will be selected to represent the state as legends who have defined high school sports.
With that in mind, here are the West Virginia high school athlete nominees, the ones who defined preps history.
Alexis Bordas, Girls Basketball, Wheeling Park
A three-time West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year and MaxPreps Player of the Year, Alexis Bordas is one of the greatest athletes in the state’s prep history. She led Wheeling Park to an 85-22 record over her four years, was named First Team All-State in each year, and averaged 33 points per game as a senior. She graduated with a championship and 2,606 points scored.
Pat Carter, Golf, Cabell Midland
Golf in West Virginia has a rich history of players who either crafted their game in the state or helped define the tracks, from major champions Denny Shute and Sam Snead to David Bradshaw and the legendary Bill Campbell. However, at the high school level, one name from more recent history always gets a mention: Pat Carter.
Carter won three consecutive West Virginia state tournament titles while teeing it up for Barboursville High School, a starting point for a great career that included an impressive run at Marshall University and a legacy of winning the West Virginia Amateur championship 13 times, including a historic 10 in a row.
Hal Greer, Boys Basketball, Frederick Douglass High School
Hal Greer is in a class of his own, a trailblazing talent whose career pitted him against Hall of Fame legends while also battling segregation. Greer put West Virginia hoops on the map, especially in his hometown area of Huntington, where he attended Frederick Douglass High School— a sweet-shooting origin that ended with Greer being named one of the "NBA’s 50 Greatest Players."
J.R. House, Football, Nitro High School
At the time of J.R. House’s graduation, nobody in the country had ever passed for more yards than the Nitro quarterback. His 14,457 career yards set the standard, as did his 10 touchdown passes in the 1998 West Virginia state championship, which at the time was tied for the second-most ever, trailing only a record set in 1921. He played baseball in Florida in the spring semesters, and is an MLB coach today.
Chuck Howley, Football, Boys Basketball, Baseball, Warwood High School (Wheeling)
A Super Bowl champion and Hall of Famer, Chuck Howley got his start in West Virginia, where he was an all-state football player and played three sports.
Sam Huff, Football, Farmington High School
Sam Huff played on both the offensive and defense lines for Farmington High School, where he helped the team go undefeated in 1951 and was on the All-State team in 1952.
Rodney Clark 'Hot Rod' Hundley, Charleston High School
Another talent who shaped the basketball scene in West Virginia. At 6-foot-4, Hundley was not a prototypical guard in the 1950s. His flashy ability included averaging 30 points per game, good enough to top the state's four-year scoring record … in only three years. As the nickname suggests, he was just as dynamic an entertainer, with trick shots and dribbling skills that would be considered video-game-like today. "Hot Rod" would eventually go from an All-American at WVU to the No. 1 overall pick in the 1957 NBA Draft.
Renee Montgomery, Girls Basketball, Girls Soccer, South Charleston High School
Renee Montgomery was a three-time state champion in West Virginia, helping South Charleston dominate over her tenure with the team. As a senior, she averaged 22.5 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals per game, for which she was named Gatorade West Virginia High School Player of the Year, per her website.
Randy Moss, Football, Boys Basketball, Baseball, Track and Field, DuPont High School
Randy Moss was all over the field in football and all over the fields of DuPont. In football, he played free safety, returned kickoffs and punts, and kicked and punted — in addition to wide receiver — and led the team to back-to-back titles, winning Player of the Yer in 1994. In basketball, he was named Player of the Year twice, and scored a school-record 1,713 career points, finishing off by averaging 30.2 points as a senior. In track, he won the 100- and 200-meter state championships as a sophomore, and he also played baseball. Few have ever done it like Moss.
Curt Warner, Football, Boys Basketball, Baseball, Boy Basketball, Baseball, Pineville High School
Warner was an absolute headline-making machine during his time at Pineville, with the eventual NFL running back becoming the first athlete in state history to earn first-team All-State honors in three different sports: football, basketball, and baseball. Football would be his calling card, with Warner rushing for more than 2,500 yards and picking up 48 touchdowns his senior season. From there, he would star at Penn State and then head off to the NFL, where he was the 3rd overall selection in the 1983 draft — after John Elway and Eric Dickerson.
Jerry West, Boys Basketball, East Bank High School
Jerry West’s jumper helped him stand out well before the NBA. At East Bank, he was a three-time All-State player, 1956 West Virginia Player of the Year, and became the first player in state history to score more than 900 points in season, as he averaged 32.2 points per game. He was recognized until the school’s closing in 1999 on the anniversary of his state championship when the school honorarily changed its name to West Bank High School every March 24.
Jason Williams, Boys Basketball, DuPont High School
In becoming the first player in team history to record 1,000 points and 500 assists, Jason Williams was named USA TODAY’s West Virginia Player of the Year in 1994. A teammate of Moss, White Chocolate rose from a dominant high school career to eventually play in the NBA.
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Who is the greatest West Virginia high school athlete of all time?This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: These high school athletes defined the state of West Virginia — who's the greatest?