As an 11-year-old sports junkie, I watched on television as former Baylor School tennis standout Roscoe Tanner lost a five-set Wimbledon final to Bjorn Borg.
Less than a year later, I was glued to the tube as former Central High golfer Gibby Gilbert finished runner-up to Seve Ballesteros at The Masters.
Watching athletes from Chattanooga-area high schools excel on the biggest stages in sports has always been a thrill, whether that was Tanner at the All England Club in 1979 or weightlifter and Notre Dame graduate Olivia Reeves at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
I have long boasted that one could argue football’s greatest offensive and defensive linemen played at Chattanooga-area high schools, with John Hannah at Baylor and the late, great Reggie White at Howard. Let me now present the case that 2025 was the best year ever for athletes who once prepped here, as reflected by this fantastic five:
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Gilgeous-Alexander went from being one of the best basketball players in the world to the very best in 2025, leading Oklahoma City to its first NBA championship since the franchise relocated from Seattle in 2008. The player more commonly known as “SGA” averaged 32.7 points per game for the Thunder and became the fourth different player ever to win league MVP, lead the league in scoring and earn finals MVP, joining the fairly well-known trio of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.
The Canadian-born star spent his 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons at Hamilton Heights, where the eventual 6-foot-6, 195-pounder averaged 18.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists during his senior year. SGA signed with Kentucky and spent one season with the Wildcats, earning MVP honors at the 2018 Southeastern Conference tournament.
2. Nick Kurtz
Kurtz, a 2021 Baylor graduate, was the unanimous selection for the American League Rookie of the Year award after hitting .290 with 36 home runs and 86 RBIs in 117 games with the Oakland A’s. The first baseman made Major League Baseball history on July 25th by becoming the first rookie to hit four home runs in a single game, with Kurtz going 6-for-6 during that 15-3 rout of the Astros in Houston, adding a double and a single for 19 total bases.
As a boarding student from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Kurtz helped lead the Red Raiders to TSSAA Division II-AA championships in 2019 and 2021, with their chances at the 2020 title evaporating with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. He then spent three stellar seasons at Wake Forest before becoming the fourth overall selection in the 2024 draft.
3. Harris English
English entered 2025 as a four-time winner on the PGA Tour and quickly added his fifth title by claiming the Farmers Insurance Open in January. He would go on to make 21 of 23 cuts and finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at both the PGA Championship and the British Open. English’s big year earned him $8.84 million, a spot on the United States Ryder Cup team for a second time, and his current world ranking of 13th.
As a Baylor golfer from 2005-07, the boarding student from Valdosta, Georgia, helped lead the Red Raiders to three state championships.
4. Jahmyr Gibbs
Gibbs led the National Football League last season with 20 total touchdowns, and he became the first player ever to accumulate 70-plus yards in every game throughout the league’s relatively new 17-game schedule. He averaged 113.5 combined rushing and receiving yards per game a year ago and is just behind that clip this season with 107.9 as the Detroit Lions have one contest remaining.
He has rushed for 1,143 yards and 5.1 yards per carry this season, and his 48 career touchdowns before turning 24 years old are the most in NFL history, topping the 47 by legendary Lions great Barry Sanders.
A popular top pick each year for fantasy football players, Gibbs starred at Dalton High School before signing with Georgia Tech, spending two seasons with the Yellow Jackets and then transferring to Alabama for his third and final college year. During his time with the Catamounts, he rushed for 897 yards as a sophomore, 1,431 as a junior and a stunning 2,554 yards as a senior, when he reached the end zone 40 times.
5. Rhyne Howard
Howard, the top overall pick of the 2022 WNBA draft, averaged a career-best 34.9 minutes per game in her fourth season with the Atlanta Dream, who easily had their best year in franchise history with a 30-14 record. She averaged 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest, earning all-star status for the third time and finishing in the top-10 of the MVP voting for the first time.
She was Tennessee’s 2018 Gatorade Player of the Year as a Bradley Central senior, when she averaged 22.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 54% from the floor. Howard would go on to Kentucky, where she was a two-time SEC player of the year.
Bonus selections
Reeves added to her gold medal collection at the Norway-held World Weightlifting Championships in October, and two former Boyd-Buchanan athletes, Ace Bailey and Brodie Johnston, had years to remember as well.
Bailey, who transferred from Boyd-Buchanan following his freshman year to McEachern High in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs, averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in his one season at Rutgers. The 6-9, 200-pounder was the fifth overall selection of the 2025 NBA draft, receiving a $9 million rookie salary with the Utah Jazz.
He has started 21 of Utah’s first 30 games this season, averaging 10.4 points and 3.3 rebounds.
Johnston was a freshman on Vanderbilt’s baseball team this past spring, hitting .260 with 15 home runs and with 55 RBIs in 56 games. The third baseman earned MVP at his first SEC tournament.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.