DALTON, Ga. - Ty Pendley already had the reputation of being an old-school basketball player, but this was going a bit far.
Wednesday was "Dress Like an Old Person Day" at Southeast Whitfield High School, so when the senior sharpshooter took the court for practice, he still had streaks of gray in his hair and painted-on wrinkles on his face.
Fortunately, he had shed the overalls in favor of his favorite outfit - T-shirt, shorts and sneakers. With a ball in his hands and a smile on his face, the area's leading scorer went to work as he's done pretty much every day of his life.
Basketball isn't a sport to Ty Pendley. It's a major part of his very existence.
"Ever since I could pick up a ball, I've been hooked," he said.
At 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, Pendley doesn't fit the mold of today's stars and certainly not one whose 27.8 scoring average ranks third in Georgia, all classifications, according to MaxPreps. He does, as one might expect, have a deadly outside shot, having made 52 3-pointers this season. That, however, is only a part of his game.
"Ty has worked so hard on his midrange game," Southeast coach Ben Oliver said. "His first two steps are quicker than anybody else's. Give him one step and he's already by them; he can separate in a blink of an eye.
"The fun part is when teams start to focus on him and he can really show what he can do with the ball. He's an exceptional ball-handler."
Pendley, the son of Ringgold softball coach (and former basketball coach) Shane Pendley and former Mississippi State University player Denise Pendley, always was a good shooter, but he wanted more and knew that any shot at playing in college would hinge on adding to his game.
"I was just a shooter growing up, but then I started thinking that I needed to expand my game and start taking it to the basket," said Pendley, who recently passed the 1,500-point mark for his high school career. "I've worked on my midrange shot this past year because you can get that shot any time you want. When you're driving and someone is on your hip, you're the only one who knows when you're going to pull up."
He's also adept at getting to the free-throw line, where he has made good on 169 of 187 attempts (90 percent) this season. There's still more depth to his game. Pendley leads the team in steals, assists and charges taken and is second in rebounds with 6.2 per game.
Those "hustle" stats are a direct reflection, Oliver said, of Pendley's competitive nature and work ethic.
"You will never see Ty let up, in a game or at practice," the coach said. "I started a 30,000-shot club this summer, where I wanted the kids to have that as a goal. Well, Ty passed the 30,000 mark in the middle of the summer. That's the kind of work ethic you need to succeed."
When asked to describe his competitiveness, Pendley gave a laugh and shook his head. It was not the first time he had been asked the question.
"I want to win at everything," he said. "I don't care if it's math class, I want to solve the problem before anybody else. My dad's like that. It's just my nature: I can't stand to lose at anything. I always ask Coach if we're keeping score on drills in practice. There's no point in going halfway at something."
What really gets Pendley going is when a team focuses all its defensive energy on stopping him. He's seen box-and-ones, diamonds, traps and even one team that was set on stopping him at all costs.
"We've played one team twice that double-teams him the whole way," Oliver said with a laugh. "Funny thing is, he still managed to top 20 points in both games."
Of course, when teams try to play him straight up, as Ridgeland found out Tuesday when he scored a career-high 43 points, it doesn't turn out so well, either.
The biggest battle for Pendley now is trying to get college recruiters to see beyond his lack of size. He's talked to Georgia, Florida State, Dalton State, Valdosta State, Union University and others but has yet to get a scholarship offer. For those and others, he has one bit of advice.
"It's not the size of the person, it's the size of the heart and how hard they play," he said. "I've been told my whole life I'm too small and not fast enough. I've worked on my quickness and my strength. I know I'm not going to grow much, but that doesn't affect how hard I play."
Old school indeed.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22