As someone who once lived half of their life in the great state of Virginia, it would be a crime if I did not tell people the story of who I believe was the greatest high school athlete the state had ever seen. There have been many within the state that someone could argue like Allen Iverson, Mike Vick, Lawrence Taylor, and Alonzo Mourning to be the greatest, but for me I only think of one name.
That name is Ronald Curry.
Never heard of him? Well let me enlighten those who don’t know about what Ronald Curry did as a high school athlete.
Ronald played at Hampton High School in Hampton, VA during the late 1990’s, and at the same exact time as Michael Vick. Vick played at Warwick High School in Newport News, VA only about 10 miles from Curry.
Both players were quarterbacks, and both players were electrifying, However, many saw Curry as the better college prospect.
Curry had led Hampton to three straight state titles in football, and in his junior year scored 76 touchdowns in total by passing, running and returning kicks. On top of that Curry was an outstanding basketball player who not only led his basketball team to a state title his senior year, but was named National McDonald's Basketball player of the year and MVP of the McDonald's basketball All-American game in 1998.
High school athletes who dominated two sports on a level like this were a rarity, especially to the point where many saw Ronald as a future professional star in both sports. This would be even more special in today’s day in age as high school athletes continue to more and more focus on one sport.
All that was next was for Ronald to decide what college he would take his talents to. Initally Curry selected the University of Virginia, the in-state rival of Virginia Tech, which was the school Mike Vick selected. Many thought their battles would continue into college.
Unfortunately for those fans, Curry changed his mind and later committed to play basketball and football for the University of North Carolina. Curry based his decision on the fact that UNC had a much better basketball program at that time then UVA, and on top of that had a top notch football program that was being coached by Mack Brown.
Unfortunately Mack Brown left for the head coaching gig at Texas before Curry could take a snap, and the UNC football program went down with him. This also led to Curry having three different offensive coordinators during his time at UNC, and in time leading to him not living up to his potential.
Curry was a good college quarterback, but not compared to what everyone thought he was going to be. By his senior year, he wasn’t even considered a mid-round NFL draft pick as a quarterback.
His college basketball career didn’t do much better. While he had flashes of good moments and played alongside future NFL player Julius Peppers, he wasn't a star, and left basketball all together after two years.
Curry would switch his position to wide receiver and would be drafted in the 7th round by the Oakland Raiders, in the 2002 NFL draft.
While Curry was never able to live up to expectations he did carve out a nice career for himself that lasted all the way until 2009.
For those who did see him in his prime, they will never forget the incredible athlete they saw that for most was unlike anything they had ever seen before.
