In this week's WTHHT, we look back on a player who has a connection to me.  Not quite at the Marty Conlon level, but James Blackwell did attend Fox Lane HS in Upper Westchester County NY, not too far from where I lived.  After a spectacular high school career, James went to prep school for 1 year at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.

After getting his grades where he needed them to, he was accepted into prestigious Dartmouth College where he graduated in 1991.

During the summers of 1993 and 1994 I would go to the Westchester County NBA Summer League in White Plains.  This was a really cool experience for me as it brought me face to face with Shawn Bradley, Calbert Cheaney, and Greg Anthony, all whom I received autographs from.  I got to see Conrad McCrae ride his bike to the game weaving in and out of the traffic congestion near the County Center.  My brother got a sneaker from Todd Day after 1 game.  And we also got to follow Dwayne Schintzius in his tiny Mercedes coupe that he drove from the back seat.

 

James Blackwell was on the Celtics team during that summer of 1994.  Wearing #8 and barely standing 6'0, he played pretty well (but not as well as Wesley played, who looked like the second coming of Oscar Robertson in those leagues).

During that 1994-95 season, James started with the Hornets where he'd play 4 games but was released in December of 1994.  The Celtics hadn't forgotten about him and in February of 1995, signed him for two 10 day contracts.  He'd play 61 minutes in 9 games for the Celtics and score 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting, grab 8 rebounds, dish out 6 assists and come up with 3 steals.  Just like in the summer league, Blackwell wore #8.

After his NBA days James played overseas in France, Spain, Italy, Israel and Turkey, until he retired in 2002.  While in France he won a title with Michael Ray Richardson.

Today James lives in Lawrencville, GA with his wife and three children.  He works as a Sales Rep for Cintas Corporation.

So there ya have it.  While it's disappointing that the only picture I could find of James is him with his boys at Chuck E Cheese, have no doubt that he's in my mind from his days at the Westchester County Summer League, where guys like Todd Day, Dwayne Schintzius, and David Wesley all made a name for themself.  Just like this guy was the last player to wear #34 before Paul Pierce, James Blackwell really was #8 before Antoine.

***1/19/13 Addendum***

Looks like James was arrested in May of 2010 for "hold for other agency."  I've looked it up and this term means when someone is being held for another town or city.  So I don't think this necessarily means that James did something, but perhaps he's wanted for questioning.  Stay tuned to Celticslife for any new developments.

For a list of all the "What the Hell Happened To" Series please click here. 

tb727 11/14/2010 04:05:00 PM Tweet Edit « Prev Post Next Post »