BY GWEN HAYES
Sentinel Editor
Two of the coaches in next Friday’s UNCF All Star Basketball Game were stars in the same game when they were high school seniors.
Both of the coaches played for the West squad. Natanya LaShon Miller played in the game for Jefferson High School in 1992. She was the MVP of the game and scored 25 points. Eric Hayes (pictured) played in the game for Tampa Catholic High School in 1993. He scored 13 points and had many assists. Both are now Varsity Team (girls and boys basketball) coaches for Jefferson High School.
Natanya is a native Tampan and a graduate of Jefferson High School. She is the daughter of Nancy Miller and the late Walter Miller. Her grandparents are Anna Mae and Arizona Jenkins (deceased).
Ms. Miller attended Barber-Scotia College, Concord, North Carolina, on a full athletic scholarship and earned a B. S. degree in Mass Communications. She has a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from Nova Southeastern University.
Today, Coach Miller is a 6th grade teacher at Roland Park (K-8) School of International Studies.
Coach Hayes is also a native Tampan. He is the son of James and Gwen Hayes.
Upon graduating from Tampa Catholic, he accepted a full basketball scholarship to the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), where he became a starter on the basketball team as a freshman. After 4 years, he received a degree in Information Systems, with a minor in Finance.
Hayes’ love for basketball led him into being a high school coach. He has assisted Tampa Catholic with AAU teams. He was the head coach at the International Preparatory School in Cleveland, OH, Brookville Central High School (Brooksville, FL), and Dunnellon High School (Dunnellon, FL).
Both coaches consider it an honor to coach in a game they both played in and to coach the game in the gymnasium they both call ‘home court.’
“It is definitely an honor for me,” Coach Miller said, “because I’ve at the school and in that gymnasium for so many years.”
Coach Hayes said, “It’s an honor for me to be asked to coach the game my first year at Jefferson.”
The 28th UNCF All-Star game will be Friday, March 8, 2013, 6 p. m. at Jefferson High School. The game was started by the late Dr. Sam Horton, who was principal at Jefferson at the time, to give great players who may not be super players an opportunity to be seen by college scouts, explained John Glenn, coordinator of the game. “At that time, Dr. Horton said the super stars would always get the calls, but he was concerned about the ‘good players’ getting an opportunity.”
Coaches for the East teams will be LaTosha Lewis (girls) of Strawberry Crest and Adrian Johnson (boys) of Tampa Bay Tech.
