HOPKINS, S.C. — He still stands 7-1 and draws a crowd.
Back in the day, Stanley Roberts helped Lower Richland basketball win state titles in 1987 and 1988. He then went to LSU where he played with a guy named Shaq.
A 14-year professional career followed, with roughly a decade spent in the NBA.
On Friday, Roberts was back at the Diamond Mine for a special ceremony. At halftime of the game with Brookland-Cayce, Roberts was joined at center court with his former teammates and coaches for the retirement of his #53 jersey.
Roberts still lives in Baton Rouge, joking his old college coach, Dale Brown, won't let him leave. He currently works as a recruiter for Anthem insurance and he serves as an assistant basketball coach at a 1A school in Baton Rouge.
But long before Roberts left the Palmetto State, he was a part of a special time in high school hoops, back when Lower Richland basketball was a hot ti ticket. Why else would games against Eau Claire have to be played at a sold out Carolina Coliseum. Think Ric Flair versus Dusty Rhodes at the Township Auditorium. That was Lower Richland and Eau Claire basketball in the 80s.
And Stanley Roberts was in the middle of that madness as he was part of an era where high school basketball in Columbia was must see TV.