Most Bay Area residents are familiar with San Francisco's main attractions such as the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and the hundreds of restaurants the city is famous for, but most are not familiar with the city's high school basketball legacy. Despite its reputation for schoolyard basketball and the label as, according to one writer, "a monument to missed opportunities," the city's public school league, the Academic Athletic Association (AAA), has produced its share of great players and performances over the years.

Uptempo round ball was the order of the day in San Francisco as inner-city locales such as Joe Lee gym in the Bayview-Hunter's Point district, the Potrero Hill Rec, the Western Addition, just east of famed Kezar Pavilion (home of the city playoffs), Ingleside/Oceanview near San Francisco State University, and Visitacion Valley produced the city's best players.

Some of the most talented players would ultimately succumb to the lure of street life, but many others went on to play after high school in programs such as City College of San Francisco (CCSF) under Brad Duggan, producing some dynamic teams in the 70s and 80s, or at local colleges like USF.

In 1970, the late Phil Smith, a 6-foot-4 combo guard in the NBA, came out of Washington High in the city's Richmond district. Smith's brother John, a star at Wilson later in the decade, said of his big brother, "Phil was actually a great football player. He went unnoticed by the collegiate ranks but he really impressed the people at USF in open gym and he was invited to walk on with the Dons."

The elder Smith seized the opportunity by leading USF in scoring in all three of his seasons on the hilltop while earning all-American honors his senior year. Afterwards, Smith was drafted by the Golden State Warriors where he became a key role player on their only NBA championship team during his rookie season in 1974-75. A two-time NBA All-Star, Smith played nine seasons in the NBA averaging 15.1 points per game for his career.

Both Wilson and Balboa had a great deal of success over the next few years with great players, numerous league titles and five trips each to the Tournament of Champions. Also in 1970, Wayne Snelgro and Andrew Gooden, Sr. (father of Cleveland Cavaliers forward Drew Gooden) led the Woodrow Wilson Warriors to the '70 TOC championship game where they fell to undefeated Berkeley High.

The Balboa Buccaneers featured the likes of Marlon Redmond in the early 70s (later a star at USF) and Francois Wise, a powerfully-built 6-foot-5 center who went on to Long Beach State in 1976. The '76 Bucs started three sophomores, a TOC first, as they advanced to the championship game only to fall to Castlemont.

One of the sophomores, 5-foot-10 lefty Dean "the dream" Maye, became one of the leading scorers in "Bal" school history and would later coach his alma mater to some of the highest scoring seasons this state has ever seen with their famed "Jet offense".

Maye's teams, 32-3 in 1994 and scoring 92.2 points per contest and 30-3 in 1996 while scorching the nets for 104.5/game, included two of San Francisco's top recruits of the early 90s in 6-foot-8, 280-pound Marquette Alexander (CCSF and University of Hawaii), who averaged 26 points and 20 rebounds per game in '96, and scoring prodigy Winters Patterson.

A 6-foot-1 guard, Patterson, who Maye said would have excelled at football more than basketball because of his athletic prowess, put up 36.7 points an outing in 1996 and piled up 82 against Skyline of Oakland in a 128-109 victory. Patterson, who would sadly pass after a heart attack at the age of 19, still holds many NorCal scoring records.

6-foot-10 Donald Robinson, later a professional overseas, along with 6-foot-3 leaper Thaxter Arterberry, anchored one of the tallest starting fives the TOC had ever seen for the '77 Mission Bears. Other highlights from that season were a 43-point effort in a TOC game by Mission's 6-foot-3 guard Dave McCall.

Wilson, a contender for the AAA title in almost every season, featured the likes of guards David Johnwell in 1973 and the aforementioned John Smith from the class of '77. Phil's younger brother, and father of recent Pinole Valley girls stars Jontelle and Jasmine, would later star at the University of Arizona. Maye said of Smith, "he was the toughest guy I went against in high school. He was unbelievably fast." Unfortunately, Smith's NBA aspirations were cut short by injuries.

High-scoring Tommie Frazier (later of CCSF) and 6-foot-6 Lamar Baker (Fullerton State) led Washington to the 1979 tourney where they were upended by powerful St. Francis of the WCAL, but Woodrow Wilson put on a solid showing at the '80 and '81 TOC.

The 1980 Warriors (22-8), coached by Bob Miles, were led by the unforgetable Crosetti Speight (went on to USF), a 6-foot-4 senior guard and high scoring junior guard Riley LaFleur, but offensive-minded Craig Perry, a solidly-built 6-foot-3 sophomore swingman (Purdue University), stole the show while battling Bishop O'Dowd's own super sophomore, 6-foot-4 Tony Jackson (DePaul) as Wilson upset the perennial east bay power in the first round of the 1980 tourney. That team was one of just a few AAA representatives that came across the bay and won their TOC opener. Wilson came back to the Coliseum the following season after finishing the year 25-5. LaFleur and Perry were the leading scorers as the Warriors finished third in the TOC for the second straight season.

The most memorable squad to represent San Francisco at the tournament in the last thirty-five years is arguably Washington high's 1982 team. Led by the imposing duo of David Boone (St. Mary's/Marquette) and Quentin Stephens (Nevada, then known as Nevada-Reno), the Eagles upstaged Wilson's upset of O'Dowd a year earlier with a 74-73 overtime victory for the regional title in one of the best games ever played in the TOC. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound bookend forwards simply dominated the opposition in the first two rounds (81-62 over St. Mary's of Stockton and 77-62 over a strong Mt. Eden squad) then went toe-to-toe with O'Dowd's Jackson in an absolute classic that left the Coliseum crowd gasping. Jackson scored 29 points for the Dragons while Boone and Stephens countered with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 24 points, 13 rebounds respectively.

6-foot-5 swingman Richard Morton (later of Fullerton St.), a Street and Smith All-American averaging 23.1 points a game, led the Balboa Buccaneers in '83 as they battled for AAA supremacy with the Lincoln Mustangs, led by their backcourt duo of 5-foot-9 Robbie Grigsby (USF) and 6-foot-2 guard Troy Morrell (University of Washington). Both teams advanced to the tourney in '84 with Balboa, led by Morton's 30 points per game, advancing to the tourney semifinals.

6-foot-7 Dexter Howard (Pepperdine) led McAteer to its first tournament in the '85 classic, considered by many TOC followers as one of the most competitive tournaments ever. Featured that year were Logan of Union City (eventual regional champ, led by Kevin Mouton), Pittsburg, led by 6-foot-8 perimeter shooting Marzel Price (Oregon St.), Oakland powers Bishop O'Dowd (Matt Muehlebach, later of Arizona) and Skyline (the NBA's Gary Payton and 6-foot-10 inch Greg Foster), and the WCAL champion (NorCal's #1 ranked team in '85 at 29-1) Riordan Crusaders. Riordan featured a trio of stars in Chris Munk (USC), Terrance Mullins (University of Oklahoma), and Erik Newman (St. Mary's).

After 1985, the AAA began to lose some of its luster. Factors such as the quality of a public school education pushed a good measure of talent toward parochial institutions like St. Ignatius and Riordan. Also, rising crime in San Francisco's toughest neighborhoods and the high cost of living in the city triggered an exodus to the eastern parts of the bay area (namely cities like Antioch and Fairfield) and to the Sacramento region thus reducing the talent pool in the AAA.