Chattooga High School basketball player Jay Shropshire is photographed Thursday, March 22, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.SUMMERVILLE, Ga. – Maybe your bracket has been busted and your favorite team is sitting at home.
Chattanooga-area basketball fans can still have a rooting interest in a final four.
Chattooga High School senior Jay Shropshire will compete in the American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk Championship next weekend in Phoenix, not far from the site of this year’s Final Four for the NCAA men’s tournament. How the 6-foot-1 jumping jack earned the invitation is as much about the Summerville community as it is about Shropshire’s talents.
Shropshire – the Region 7-AA and Northwest Georgia Tip-Off Club Player of the Year after leading the Indians to a 26-2 record and an appearance in the state quarterfinals – beat out 15 other athletes in a nationwide fans’ vote to earn an invitation to Arizona. The other three competitors were selected by a panel of experts.
“As soon as we found that out Jay would be included in the vote, my wife and I knew our community – considering the kind of support they have given us – would go all out to get Jay in,” said Chattooga coach Jared Groce, who with his wife put together a video of some of Shropshire’s highlights.