Episode #4. Kevin Gaynor

Listen to Kevin Gaynor talk about the day Rollie first arrived and transformed Lexington, MA from a quiet sleepy town on the outskirts of Boston into a state wide powerhouse of a basketball factory.

Episode 3. Rollie

Episode #2. Lloyd

Where Defense Began: Episode #1. Ronnie Lee

Episode 1. Season 1. Ronnie Lee.

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Macro Synopsis: Where Defense Began

Intro:

Lexington, MA is a small town outside Boston measuring sixteen square miles and like so many other suburbs - quiet and peaceful. Parents want the best for their children and strive for elite education. More children participate in youth soccer than any other program next to Russian math, the school is consistently ranked as one of the finest public institutions in Massachusetts. The highschool is a division 2 sized school, yet surprisingly, in basketball it competes in basketball with the largest city schools.

This is a story about the Lexington high school basketball program and how over a span of close to half a century, it achieved unlikely success on par with the best city schools in the state, and how changing demographics and attitudes have affected the program, which through 2007 had only had four coaches before World War II.

The first coach, Edward “Doc” Abell (Massachusetts High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame) 1938-1961. Doc took a number of teams to the eastern Mass “Tech” tournament, including Doc’s last year 1962. PICS.

At that time, only eastern MA teams competed in three very broad divisions.

The rise to unquestioned excellence really begins in 1962-63 when Doc Abell retired. Rollie Massimino was recruited from a storied New Jersey program and in his first year captured the state-wide Division 3 title.

Shot On Screen: Rollie. And I thought there was no way Lexington would pay me 9000.

Rollie established the key tenants and wrote a little book that he gave to players in which he outlined the 10 Commandments of Lexington basketball. This would serve as the bedrock of the teaching over the next fifty years…. Rollie won a Division 3 state title in his very first year. (Shot of Plague)

Lexington was then indicative of the small town it had always been. Proving with the right constitution, a town like Lexington could compete for state titles (in the D3 space). A philosophy that would win Rollie a NCAA championship with Villanova University. A key turning point in the program’s history was in 1967 when a Boston police officer was watching Rollie coach his eldest son Russ, a future #6 NBA draft pick.

Lee sought out Rollie and determined that he wanted his son, who would be entering high school as a phenomenal prospect, to play for him. Fortuitously, a new program to bus inner city youth to suburban schools sponsored by The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity. METCO, was just being adopted by Lexington and Ronnie Lee became one of the first METCO students. Ronnie would make the varsity as a 6 foot 4 inch Freshman (he’d grow to 6’8”).

Ronnie Lee heralded Lexington into the mighty D1 ranks of the city’s elite programs. Ronnie Lee won back-to-back state titles in the early 1970’s under coach Stan Boynton, Rollie’s successor from 72-74. Ronnie Lee finished a perfect 50-0 over the course of his final two seasons.

Ladies and Gentlemen without further due... Ron Lee Editors Notes. Ronnie was not NBA Rookie of the Year. He was NBA all-defense team as a rookie. Lexington under Rollie before Ron Lee was still D1 however back then D1 was classified in, A, B and C being the smallest of the D1's back then. By the time Ronnie Lee was a senior they were D1 against everybody. I'm almost certain of this but not 100% some others could possibly shed light.