SoCalHoops High School News

NorCal McDonald's All-American
Nominees Announced--(Feb. 16, 1999)

The final list of McDonald's All-American Nominees has been out for about a week, but we just haven't had time to post it, and we want to thank Steve Beck at SportsAmerica, for forwarding us the reduced "California-only" list. The list is below for only the NorCal portion of the complete California list.

SportsAmerica is responsible for organizing and promoting the official McDonald's All-American Game, and they work with the selection committee throughout the year to insure that the nominating process is fair and meticuoulously followed.  Keep in mind that the list below is not the final list of players who will be selected as the McDonald's All-American team.  The list below is instead only the Northern California contingent which was selected as nominees for consideration.  

For a high school basketball player, to be named to the McDonald's All-American Game as a member of the team is perhaps the most prestigious honor for any high school player, with the possible exception of receiving the John R. Wooden Award as the most outstanding player in the McDonald's game. For most players who don't make the team, the next best and most prestigious award they'll receive (short of All-CIF or All-League) is to be named as a McDonald's All-American Nominee.  It's kind of like getting an Oscar nomination; not everyone gets nominated for consideration, and among those who do, only a few select get the highest honor, but it's still pretty impressive just getting nominated for consideration.  

Before the McDonald's All-American team can be selected by the members of the Advisory/Selection Committee, Sports American, Inc, has to gather names from all over the country, and it relies on many sources for information.  In many cases, the members of the selection committee submit names themselves, and SportsAmerica also relies on media and contacts regional reps who follow the game in various areas of the country.  That's where we came in this year.

For the California selection process, including both Northern and Southern California, SoCalHoops was contacted in early December and we submitted a list of potential nominees to the advisory/selection committee.  Most of the names below for the Northern California (and all of the SoCal) nominees also appeared on our list.  

The rest of the process of actually selecting the McDonald's All American team, goes something like this:  Once the list of potential names is gathered by Sports America, it's submitted to the members of the Advisory/Selection committee (which is chaired by John Wooden, and which has such people on it like Frank Burlison of the Orange County Register, Van Coleman of  Basketball Times, Clark Francis of The Hoop Scoop,  Howard Garfinkel from 5-Star Camps, Bob Gibbons, Jr. who puts out All Star Sports, Dave Krider from USA Today, Eddie Oliver who formerly organized the Beach Ball Classic and now puts out a newsletter featuring most of the big tournament listings, and Brick Oettinger, among others).

Obviously many rising seniors make this list based on an excellent junior year or for having an outstanding summer participating in summer camps and AAU tournaments. There is no set number of how many players can be nominated. Traditionally, the final list of "Nominees" totals between 1,000 to 1,700 names from all over the country. The names on the list are then verified, and SportsAmerica's staff confirms with a player's basketball coach, his assistant, or a person in the administration office that the nominee is indeed a senior and that he is their best player and that he is academically eligible. Additionally, the coach is also asked if he feels that there are other seniors on his squad who potentially deserve the nomination.

From there, it's a rather complicated process to whittle all these 1,000 to 1,700 names down to just the 20 who will eventually be selected as McDonald's All-Americans for the team.  If you want to read about that process, then by all means check out the SportsAmerica website, and the description they have of the voting process. Here's the link.

The list below consists of only those players who were selected as "Nominees" in Northern California.    There are 29 names on the list, far fewer than the 113 who were nominated from SoCal, but that's largely just a function of the numbers involved who play:  The vast majority of players in California come from Southern California, and most of those come from the Los Angeles/Orange County areas. 

SoCalHoops wants to congratulate each and every 1998-99 McDonald's All-American Nominee on the list.  You each deserve it.  

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Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com