# OT: Ronnie Fields



## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

Made Rockford Lightning roster

http://www.basketballboards.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125352


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## T.Shock (Feb 11, 2003)

Man this kid had game back in the day. KG's running mate sadly never got his feet on the ground. Good luck to him, he won't find a spot in the L, but still.


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## Greg Ostertag! (May 1, 2003)

Being from Australia I've only really heard this guy's name not his story. From what I gather/assume he was KG's teammate at Farragut and then got in a car accident or something similar?


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## Showtyme (Jun 24, 2002)

Fields was almost as legendary as Kobe was in Philly. He was easily the best high school player during his time, and most considered him the better prospect than KG.

I've never seen him, but my friends have gone to see him and they say all the amazing things. He was a slasher, a leaper, an NBA-body with quality form and the ability to play at a breakneck speed. His J was very good for the high school level (but we know that doesn't really mean anything in the NBA).

He was definitely supposed to be better than KG. Imagine that.

I think he's probably still got skills, but it's one of the sadder stories I've heard of how an NBA prospect got completely tossed off the track before he even got started.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

After he broke his neck in the car accident, he was basically finished. A sad story, because he was a more athletic Marbury IMO. Catching windmall dunks and such. He had scary ability. 

Cest la vie, this has happened to many a talented ball player. Sometimes, good fortune plays a part in it.


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## Electric Slim (Jul 31, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> After he broke his neck in the car accident, he was basically finished. A sad story, because he was a more athletic Marbury IMO. Catching windmall dunks and such. He had scary ability.
> 
> Cest la vie, this has happened to many a talented ball player. Sometimes, good fortune plays a part in it.


Not as much of a _sad_ story as it was a pathetic one. Did anyone remember the events of May 1996?

-Gets accused of attempted rape
-crashes coach's car in Elmhurst (my hometown)
while intoxicated
-Couldn't score in double figures in his ACT

-He played for the Rockford Lighting several years ago, didn't he? 

Can someone dispel the three things I just stated? Maybe my memory is hazy.

I saw him and Garnett play in my HS gym btw.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Electric Slim</b>!
> 
> 
> Not as much of a _sad_ story as it was a pathetic one. Did anyone remember the events of May 1996?
> ...


I'm not saying he didn't do bad things, but he was hurt in the car accident as a passenger. I don't know how him not scoring well on the ACT makes him a bad person. 

I won't speak on the other things, because accusing of attempted rape?  

It's obvious that Fields was used just like many a young schoolboy legend. When he got hurt, they all abandoned him, even though they never nurtured him past his basketball ability.

So yes, it is a sad story.


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## remlover (Jan 22, 2004)

I remember seeing Fields play @ the welsh-ryan arena and was simple blown away. The things he could do on the court were amazing. 

that 95-96 farragut team had wright (freshman), KG, Fields, a couple other good players whose names i have since forgot. 

To correct Electric Slim, if my memory isnt too shakey, i remember fields getting like a 15 and a 16 on the ACT. After he failed to quality thats when all the troubles came to.

Good for him that he can still make money playing bball after all these years.


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## dkg1 (May 31, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Showtyme</b>!
> Fields was almost as legendary as Kobe was in Philly. He was easily the best high school player during his time, and most considered him the better prospect than KG.
> 
> I've never seen him, but my friends have gone to see him and they say all the amazing things. He was a slasher, a leaper, an NBA-body with quality form and the ability to play at a breakneck speed. His J was very good for the high school level (but we know that doesn't really mean anything in the NBA).
> ...


Having seen Ronnie play several times, I am going to disagree with you Sowtyme. Fields was a very good high school player, a phenominal athlete. Saying he was "easily" the best high school player of his time is a huge stretch. His handles and defense weren't anything special and his jumpshot was terrible. He dominated at the high school level soley on his athleticism. He wouldn't have been able to overwhelm opponents at the next level, especially being listed at 6"3.


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## The Truth (Jul 22, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Electric Slim</b>!
> 
> 
> Not as much of a _sad_ story as it was a pathetic one. Did anyone remember the events of May 1996?
> ...


He's been on and off the Lightning roster since high school.

For a while he was kind of the star draw in the CBA.


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## forcaje (Nov 1, 2002)

Growing up in the Chicago area I got to see some good high school players. Proviso East had the Three Muskateers in Donnie Boyce, Michael Finley, and Sherrell Ford. That was probably the best team I ever saw. I think Boyce got drafted by Atlanta and Ford was on Seattle for a short time. I can remember Ford jumping from the free throw line and catching an alley oop from Finley. Finley had major curls back in the day.

I did get to see one Farragut game with Ronnie Fields and KG. Ronnie wasn't the best basketball player I have seen but he was bar none the best athlete. Man could that guy jump. I played in a weekend recruiting camp against him at Hinsdale South and he broke the backboard on a dunk. He didn't break the glass, but he bent the rim pretty bad. If I remember right he could dunk and shoot off the dribble. The guy couldn't make a set shot to save his life.

Antoine Walker was also a great high school player, but I never got to see him play. I do remember seeing him on the news ALOT when he was in high school. Does anyone remember what high school he went to? Was it Mt. Carmel?

I did get to play against Tai Streets (sp?). I think he played basketball for a few years at Michigan before he went football. He was also a phenomonal leaper.

So there have been a lot of great players to come through the Chicago area. I won't put Ronnie as the best basketball player, but I would probably put him as the best athlete.


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## The Truth (Jul 22, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>forcaje</b>!
> Growing up in the Chicago area I got to see some good high school players. Proviso East had the Three Muskateers in Donnie Boyce, Michael Finley, and Sherrell Ford. That was probably the best team I ever saw. I think Boyce got drafted by Atlanta and Ford was on Seattle for a short time. I can remember Ford jumping from the free throw line and catching an alley oop from Finley. Finley had major curls back in the day.
> 
> I did get to see one Farragut game with Ronnie Fields and KG. Ronnie wasn't the best basketball player I have seen but he was bar none the best athlete. Man could that guy jump. I played in a weekend recruiting camp against him at Hinsdale South and he broke the backboard on a dunk. He didn't break the glass, but he bent the rim pretty bad. If I remember right he could dunk and shoot off the dribble. The guy couldn't make a set shot to save his life.
> ...


yeah, walker went to mt. carmel


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## dkg1 (May 31, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>forcaje</b>!
> 
> 
> Antoine Walker was also a great high school player, but I never got to see him play. I do remember seeing him on the news ALOT when he was in high school. Does anyone remember what high school he went to? Was it Mt. Carmel?
> ...


Didn't Tai Streets play with Melvin Ely and Antoine Randall-El? I believe Napolean Harris (Northwestern/Raiders) also played on that same team?

I saw Antoine Walker play on an Illinois All Star team against a team from Indiana when he was a senior. To make a long story short, the Walker didn't like the way the game was being officiated. As they action went to the other end of the court, Antoine stayed under the Indiana basket and argued with an official. Indiana came back on a fast break and Bonzi Wells slammed the ball through the hoop, on an unsuspecting Walker's head. It was a hilarious moment, the ball careened off his head pretty hard. Walker was one of the top 5-10 players in the country. Nobody had ever heard of Bonzi Wells. The two of them were talking smack (mostly Antoine) all game long up to that point.


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## forcaje (Nov 1, 2002)

Tai Streets and Melvin Ely both played for Thorton. I do know that. But I don't remember them playing together. I think they were a few years apart. I could be wrong, but I remember both playing, but in different years.

I was wrong, it wasn't Ronnie Fields that broke the backboard. It was Gary Bell. Gary went on to play Notre Dame, where he did nothing. Ronnie was there, but wasn't the guy that broke the backboard.


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## ScottMay (Jun 15, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>The Truth</b>!
> 
> 
> yeah, walker went to mt. carmel


. . . where one of his basketball teammates was Donovan McNabb.

Showtyme, Fields was phenomenal and highly talented, but I doubt he was ever rated ahead of Garnett by anyone. I saw Farragut in the 1995 city semis and finals, and you could tell then how special a player Garnett was. In the semi he threw two alley-oops to Fields from at least 60 feet away from the basket, and he was also something like 16-17 from the free-throw line. I was floored.

Anyway, I have the 1995 Blue Ribbon yearbook at home . . . I'll see where they rated Garnett and Fields. I'm pretty sure Garnett was #1.


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## Electric Slim (Jul 31, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>forcaje</b>!
> 
> I did get to play against Tai Streets (sp?). I think he played basketball for a few years at Michigan before he went football. He was also a phenomonal leaper.


I used to run track against Tai Streets. He did the Long, High, and Triple Jump.


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## Showtyme (Jun 24, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>ScottMay</b>!
> 
> 
> . . . where one of his basketball teammates was Donovan McNabb.
> ...


You might be right, but Garnett caused a buzz because of his unconventional game and his skinny frame. No one thought he'd be able to handle the rigors of the NBA with that kind of frame. And to be honest, he was really the first of his kind; no one knew that he'd be that good.

Fields was an athletic leaper with a really big skill set; he might not have been rated higher in terms of the high school game, but a lot of people I knew at the time thought he'd be a better NBA prospect. 6'3" isn't a bad height for a guard; a great height for a point, a bit undersized for a 2 guard.

So maybe he wasn't the #1 h.s. player of his time, but I think in the state, at least, he was arguably the best. That's a pretty revised statement, I know, but in terms of potential, I think Fields was the main man in town.


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