In two previous blog posts, I wrote about Darnell Valentine’s Allen Fieldhouse jersey retirement ceremony and his NBA career. Now, I revisit Valentine with this in-depth and multi-part series on his high school, college and NBA career.
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Darnell Valentine first became a magical name at Wichita Heights, where he was one of the first Kansas high school players to be recruited nationally. He was invited to the prestigious Howard Garfinkel Five-Star camp the summer after his junior year in Wheeling, Virginia, where he exploded on the national scene.
In an AP story on Feb. 14, 1977, the reporter wrote that “Garfinkel was so impressed that he calls Valentine the greatest guard in the history of the camp, which graduated such guards as Phil Sellers of Rutgers and Butch Lee of Marquette.”
The ultimate praise, indeed, for this Wichita native.
Valentine continued to excel at Heights, averaging 26.0 points per game as a senior leading his team to the state championship (23-0 record) in what is considered the greatest Kansas team in prep history. Along with Valentine, who played nine years in the NBA, that squad included Antoine Carr, who played 16 years in the NBA, Doc Holden, who played at Cincinnati, and Calvin Alexander, who became a great heavyweight boxer.
Heights, who was coached by future KU assistant Lafayette Norwood, blew out opponents by an average of 40 points per game. That was the margin of victory in the state title game against Wyandotte, where Heights opened with a 25-0 lead and won 92-52.
In that AP story, the headline wrote: “Valentine continues to wow ‘em in Wichita.”
The lead paragraph: “Darnell Valentine is his name, basketball his game. And college coaches who seen the affinity of the two consider him to be the finest high school player to come out of Kansas in more than a decade.”
The story wrote that his “aggressive style and jumping ability make an inside threat beyond his size.
“Nearest thing to a can’t miss prospect from Kansas since UCLA plucked Lucious Allen out of Kansas City Wyandotte 12 years ago.”
KU coach Ted Owens, who was in hot pursuit over this phenom, gushed over hs play.
”They used to ask me the same things about JoJo White (former KU All-American and Naismith Hall of Famer) and I gave them the same answer. His great strength is he has no weakness. He has all the physical tools to be a complete player,” Owens said.
Owens continued:
“I don’t think scoring will be Darnell’s strength in college. I think he’ll be a Phil Ford (North Carolina star point guard) type of player. He plays great defense and he finds the open man. He’ll be a great player wherever he goes to college.”
Valentine, who was named to the first McDonald’s All-American team in 1977, talked about his recruitment.
“Coach (Norwood) doesn’t want them to pressure me or my mother much, so they all talk to him first and then if I want, I talk to them,” Valentine said.
Valentine insisted he wants to “go to a place where freshman can start and play a strong schedule.”
“The main thing is that I don’t want to go somewhere where I’ll lose,” he said. “I won’t go anywhere that I’m going to lose.”
He certainly hardly ever lost at Heights. Valentine loved his time there and cherished playing with his beloved teammates and friends.
"These guys are my history," he told KWCH in 2016. "They're the guys who have gone through the times that I know they have always supported me and we have a kinship and truly, when I'm happy, they're happy for me. And when they're happy, I'm truly happy for them."
Former longtime writer and columnist Bob Lutz with the Wichita Eagle, has seen his share of Wichita City League greats since the early 1960s. He raved over Valentine’s extraordinary skills.
“I wanted the world to witness Darnell Valentine playing basketball. So in my early years at The Eagle, I told all of my friends about what a marvel he was,” Lutz wrote in 2017.
“My father, who introduced me to City League basketball in the 1960s by taking me to tripleheaders at the Roundhouse, was an easy target. I remember him being with me when Heights, Valentine’s team, played at Winfield during Valentine’s junior season. Also in the stands that night was then-North Carolina assistant coach Eddie Fogler, whom I had come to know a little bit because of his determined recruitment of Valentine, who ultimately ended up at Kansas.
“Valentine was 6-foot-1 of pure muscle. He could run and jump like no athlete I had ever written about. He was so strong, so athletic, and he took over games defensively, at the point, with sheer intimidation.”
In 2012, Lutz ranked Valentine the No. 2 City League player he had ever seen behind fellow KU teammate Ricky Ross, who was also a McDonald’s All-American two years after Valentine.
“It’s tough to rank Valentine, who could take over a game as a point guard, second in anything. Watching him intimidate his opponents was one of the most enjoyable parts of my job during my early years at The Eagle, “ Lutz wrote. “Anybody who played against Valentine in those days knew they were in for one of the longest 32 minutes of basketball in their lives. He was so physical and so strong with thighs the size of tree trunks. And while nobody wanted to give Valentine much credit as a shooter, he was much better than average. I still get chills thinking of him locking down a poor, unsuspecting opponent.”
After his legendary and memorable career ended at Heights in 1977, Valentine was chosen to the McDonald’s All-American team. They didn’t play the official game that year, but instead competed in the Capital Classic in Washington, D.C., versus the Capital Classic All-Stars. The U.S. All-Stars won 112-92. According to the Capital Classic website, the “1977 US All-Star team is deemed the most powerful visiting squad ever assembled for the Capital Classic. In all, nine of twelve US players went on to play for NBA teams. The US All-Star cast included Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers), Gene Banks (Chicago Bulls), Darnell Valentine (Cleveland Cavaliers), Albert King (Washington Bullets) and Jeff Ruland (Detroit Pistons). The team boasted quickness, speed, power, and finally out ran their local counterparts 112-92.”
“We made them struggle for three and a half quarters, then they just ran away,” offered Capital All-Star Coach Red Jenkins of W.T. Woodson High School. “I didn’t think they would be that much tougher than us on the boards, it wasn’t a matter of hustle, it was a matter of size.”
Banks led the U.S. team with 22 points, followed by Valentine, Ruland and Ray Tolbert with 12 points each. Valentine shot 5-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe, while Magic scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting and 1-of-2 at the free throw line.
Valentine and Magic would go on to have some hotly contested rivalries in college and the NBA.
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