Headed For The Big League
Eric Wallace '04

Eric Wallace’s promise as a great basketball player was evident very early on. For years he has shown up on the radar of recruiting analysts who rate talented young players.

But it has been his dedication to academic achievement, combined with his extraordinary talent that has put him on the list of elite basketball players around the country.

“I thank my parents for enrolling me at Summit as a young student because the foundation I got there made me realize that I needed to put emphasis on being a student first,” says Eric. “Summit allowed me to go into high school with an advantage.”

During the past two years, as a sophomore and junior at Glenn High School, Eric won the prestigious Frank Spencer Award as the top boys high school basketball player in Northwest NC. Many believe that he would have become the only person to ever win the award three years in a row if he had stayed and played in the area. According to his former Glenn coach, Lee Reavis, much of what makes Eric such an outstanding player is his work ethic—giving it all on and off the court.

Ever since the December, 2005, Frank Spencer Holiday Classic basketball tournament, people are still talking about “The Dunk,” in which he soared over an opposing player and completed a one-handed dunk that left everyone in the Coliseum with mouths agape—even the referees who are supposed to remain neutral. Eric remembers taking “two dribbles from about the 3-point line” and suddenly feeling calm and composed. “Afterwards, I looked straight up into the rafters and pointed,” says Eric. “I was like, thank God. I had never done anything like that before.” It may have been a memorable dunk for the masses, but several Summit staff vividly remember his dunking abilities as a young boy. P.E. teacher Capers Carlton remembers Eric as a seventh grader saying, “watch this” as he stood flat-footed under the basket and went up for a dunk. Junior High science teacher and boys’ varsity basketball coach, Phil Wood, says Eric was the first eighth grade player he ever saw dunk a ball.

As a 6’6” 220 lb. small forward, Eric has come a long way since then. When considering what would be best for his future, Eric and his family decided he should enroll in Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, VA, for his senior year. The school is known for producing top-caliber players with a disciplined background. It was a difficult transition for Eric to follow such a strict schedule—rising at 6 am with a day filled with academics, military formations and responsibilities, nearly three hours of basketball practice, and study sessions.

“Our uniforms must be worn correctly, our hair length has to be within a certain range and there is no free time at any point in the day,” says Eric. “The major challenge has been giving up freedom and living by strict rules I am not used to.” Again, he credits Summit with preparing him for the accelerated workload. “Work that seems overwhelming to many of the other cadets is easy for me,” he says.

In addition to playing high school ball, Eric spends every summer traveling around the country playing on an AAU team. The top tier talent he encounters makes every game tough. “Some players on the other teams are as talented as I am, or more so, and they all have the same goal—to win a college scholarship,” he says. “Basketball is fun, but I treat it like my career because that is what it is for me.”

Eric is well on his way to achieving that goal. Rated in the top 100 recruits in the nation, he signed with Division I powerhouse Ohio State University in November. “When a player seriously plays basketball, he automatically pictures himself playing in the NBA,” he says. “If a player makes it to the professional level, it is because he had both the ability and the drive to train hard.” As for those players who leave college early to play in the pros, Eric notes that they are leaving to start their career and that many of them go back to school in the off-season to finish their degrees.

When asked what he loves most about the game he says many of the reasons are intangible. “When I am on the court it seems that I can be whatever I choose,” he says. “Many times playing basketball is a stress relief for me and it keeps my mind on something better than getting into trouble.” Trouble is never a word that is associated with Eric. He has been called a coach’s dream player. “Summit gave me an advantage socially, academically and morally,” he says. “And it challenged me to excel.”

The future looks incredibly bright for Eric. Phil Wood envisions him as the next Bill Bradley, a professional basketball player who later became a Senator. And, come next fall, no doubt there will be some die-hard ACC fans rooting for a certain Big-10 team.

Good luck Eric. We are proud to say we knew you when.