The Myrtle Beach story, the buzzing fax machine (hey, this was 1997!), the movie shoot (wait, what?), the games against soon-to-be NBA and NFL players -- it's all here in the bonus episode of 1-2-3 Wildcats. Thanks to everyone for sticking with us since launch in November. And make sure you stick around to the end, for more BFitz wizardry. 

The part about He Got Game starts about the 16-minute mark. Notes on filming locations for He Got Game: Fitz, Woolley, Scott Cherry, LeVelle Moton and former UNC JV player Jeremy Holly spent one very long, hot August day along New Hope Road in Randolph County. Their filming locations are about 2 miles apart. Fitz was first out the limo, shooting on a driveway hoop with a barn behind it. He gets extended screen time as the opening player in the film. Moton is next in the movie, dribbling on a dusty, gravel parking lot of Elliott's store at the corner of New Hope Road and High Pine Church Road in Denton. The Coca-Cola sign is now gone, and much of that storefront is faded,  but it's still standing. Woolley was also filmed at the store, but he didn't make it into the film. Not far from there is where Cherry and Holly were filmed. Cherry is shooting in front of a barn about a minute in, but he's also shown spinning a ball at the 35-second mark. Holly, now a financial advisor on the West Coast, was shot in front of a seed corn sign with a local distributor's name beneath it. Those signs, along with Cherry's barn hoop, are still in place today, but the elements have taken their toll.  New to the show and want to get caught up? Here’s Episode 1.  Want to share memories of the 1997 championship game? Leave a voicemail on the Wildcats Hotline at (919) 867-1319. Want to see and read more about NC filming locations for He Got Game? Find us on Twitter: ECH Hoops Pod.   Media credits: PBS, WNNC, WRAL, WTVD, John Colby/Colby Music/ESPN, Touchstone Pictures, Greg Humphreys/Hobex, John Booker/I Was Totally Destroying It, Nikki Meets The Hibachi (John Gillespie, Elaine Tola), FOX, YouTube  Executive producer: Brian FitzGerald.  Email the host: neilamato@gmail.com.  Thank you for listening!  Search Keywords: 123 Wildcats 1-2-3 Wildcats East Chapel Hill Wildcats Basketball Podcast High School Hoops 

This is it, the state championship game on March 22, 1997. Hickory had championship pedigree and championship experience. East Chapel Hill had ... what exactly? A great first season, no doubt, along with chemistry, talent, belief in each other and in the words of coach Ray Hartsfield. Still, they were the underdog, an angle Hartsfield hammered home in his words to the team in the locker room before the game. The game was nip-and-tuck, with neither team pulling away. Whistles were few and far between in what everyone agrees was a high-level game that lived up to the hype. Hear the memories of more than 25 people who were there that unforgettable night in the Dean Smith Center. New to the show and want to get caught up? Here’s Episode 1.  Want to talk East Chapel Hill hoops, answer trivia questions, or share memories of the 1997 championship game? Leave a voicemail at (919) 867-1319 or find us on Twitter: ECH Hoops Pod.   Broadcast credit: WNNC  Executive producer: Brian FitzGerald.  Email the host: neilamato@gmail.com.  Thank you for listening!  Search Keywords: 123 Wildcats 1-2-3 Wildcats East Chapel Hill Wildcats Basketball Podcast High School Hoops 

Hickory High School's basketball team had good reason to be confident heading into the 1997 state championship game against East Chapel Hill. The Red Tornadoes had experience, talent and championship appearances on their side. Eight players were part of the 16-0 football team that rolled to the 3A title just a few months earlier, and Hickory felt it wouldn't be wowed by playing in the Dean Smith Center, where it was walloped in the 1996 final by Burlington Williams. Ty Hunt, Daniel Willis, Will Johnson and coach John Worley share memories and discuss the team's mindset as it prepared to face the Wildcats. 

New to the show and want to get caught up? Here’s Episode 1.  Want to talk East Chapel Hill hoops, answer trivia questions, or share memories of the 1997 championship game? Leave a voicemail at (919) 867-1319 or find us on Twitter: ECH Hoops Pod.   Broadcast and music credits: WNNC, YouTube, ESPN, Hobex ("Back in the 90s" used with permission).  

Executive producer: Brian FitzGerald.  Email the host: neilamato@gmail.com.  Thank you for listening!  Search Keywords: 123 Wildcats 1-2-3 Wildcats East Chapel Hill Wildcats Basketball Podcast High School Hoops