Pee Dee Academy plans annual alumni basketball game

Sometime around the summer of 2004, a small group got together and sat on a living room floor with a vision. Now, in 2009, what started in the home of Perry and Karen Grice of Marion, with three people and a few sheets of paper, has turned into a dream come true.

Perry Grice, a 1984 Pee Dee Academy graduate, is now the president of school's Alumni Association. And, for the fifth year in a row, the Association is putting together its Alumni Basketball Game. For the past four years, graduates have come from Miami and North Carolina, Virginia and beyond for the chance to re-live the dream of playing basketball together as they did as students. "For me personally, its sort of special to play a friendly game of basketball on the same court where I made so many memories in high school. It almost makes me wish I was back in a uniform," said Bradley Smith a class of 2005 graduate.

It's also a chance for the Golden Eagles of today to pay tribute and appreciation to the ones who came before them.

"This is what it's all about. Celebrating who has come already and building for the ones coming up," Thomas Hunter, a 2002 graduate, said. The Golden Eagles of today appear excited about the opportunity to take part in some friendly competition with the heroes of the past, as well.

"I want to play in it because I've heard about all the amazing past players and just to be able to play against them is an honor to me," said Katelyn Browne, an all-star on this year's girls basketball team. "I think it's important for students today to support the ones of yesterday just to show how much they appreciated all the work and effort they put into the sport and the school."

But, this year is going to be a little extra special. For the first time in the school's history, numbers of retired jerseys will be hung in the rafters of the gym to commemorate milestones of excellence on the court. After the first game, there will be a ceremony that will retire the jersey numbers of the top three scorers in both boys and girls basketball at Pee Dee Academy.

These include, for the girls, Elizabeth Drew Abbott from the class of 1985, Anne Hunter from the class of 2005 and Bridget Elvington from 2005. On the boys side, the honorees include Bryan Bult from the class of 1990, Splinter Spivey from the class of 1998 and Thomas Hunter from the class of 2002.

"It's a big honor for me, because i know there have been a lot to play out there," Hunter said when he found out about the retiring of his number. "Hopefully, some of the kids will look up and see those numbers and say 'Hey, I want to be up there, too, one day.'"

Also, banners will be hung to honor all of the basketball players in Golden Eagles' history who have eclipsed the 1,000 career points mark. In addition to the names previously listed will be Jimmy Brown, Andy Flynn, Katy Heher, Logan Rogers, Matt Turbeville and Lindsay Whittington.

The group's goal, Grice said, is to "create a community of contacts among Pee Dee's alumni for interaction. We are here solely to support the school and all of it's members, past and present, in the continued mission of academic, athletic and overall excellence."

Pee Dee Academy's Alumni Basketball Game will be at the school inside the David C. Bult Gym on March 21. Game time is 4 p.m.