As promised earlier this summer following a similar analysis for football, a list of upper-level All-Ohio boys and girls Basketball honorees all-time from News-Herald coverage area schools has been compiled.

Before revealing the trends and statistics that came from this analysis, it is important to lay out some background and disclaimers. Because several of the layers of premise are exactly like they were for the football analysis, they are repeated in this space.

Interesting trends, facts emanate from all-time area All-Ohio football compilation | Analysis

• The first All-Ohio Boys Basketball team was chosen in 1939, while the inaugural girls basketball All-Ohio list was picked in 1978. While in the middle portion of the 20th century there was a separate All-Ohio list by United Press International, the one deemed the “official” version is from The Associated Press. The AP transferred selection responsibility to the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association in 2018.

• This study is focused on first-, second- and third-team honorees, as well as player and coach of the year selections. It does not include special or honorable mention due to volume and necessity. A task challenging as it is would frankly be too monumental also including the scores of special and honorable mentions.

• Ledgemont and Newbury, which closed while still News-Herald coverage area schools in the last decade, are included in this analysis.

• Villa Angela-St. Joseph and St. Joseph were compiled as one entity because its history is considered constant, but Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Cathedral Latin are not because their history has long been deemed separate.

• One unique exception to coverage area vs. non-area was made. Regina, the shuttered all-girls school in South Euclid, was part of The News-Herald coverage area for its last decade-plus of existence except for its final school year in 2009-10. Out of respect to the Royals’ lineage, and given the fact the school has now been closed for 13 years, Regina is included in this analysis.

• Compilation came from the annual All-Ohio lists in the Ohio High School Athletic Association history and records section. This was typically a photocopy of the list that appeared in newspapers statewide. As a result, the lists may not account for typos or inadvertent omissions in a given year. Also, unfortunately, two data points that would have been used are lost to time and not immediately available, both on the girls side: 1981 Class AAA and 2009 Division II. So while great care was given in perusing each year’s available list and ensuring otherwise, it is possible this may be incomplete.

Now that that’s all been laid out, here are the findings for this All-Ohio basketball analysis:

• Counting every instance of first-, second- or third-team recognition, coach of the year honors or player of the year plaudits including Mr. or Ms. Basketball, there have been 539 upper-level All-Ohio selections in boys and girls basketball from News-Herald coverage area schools — 293 for the boys and 246 for the girls.

• The first All-Ohioan in boys basketball came in 1945, when Benedictine’s Donald Kissel was a Class A first-team choice. Fellow Bengal Mike Medich became the second honoree the following season in 1946, also as a Class A first-teamer. The first boys basketball All-Ohioan from a Lake County school was Fairport’s Bill Nagy, a third-team selection in Class B in 1951. The first Geauga County honoree on the All-Ohio team in boys basketball was Hawken’s Bill Talley, a second-teamer in Class A in 1976. (Hawken is physically located in Chester Township, despite its Gates Mills mailing address.)

The first girls basketball All-Ohioan was Euclid multi-sport legend Debbie Williams. Also a prolific thrower in track and field in her Panthers’ tenure, Williams was a Class AAA first-team choice in 1978. Chagrin Falls’ Sue Wise was the second girls basketball player from a News-Herald coverage area school to earn All-Ohio as a second-teamer in 1979 and a first-teamer in 1980, both in Class AA.

• While the All-Ohio list began in 1939 for boys basketball, Kissel didn’t become the first “area” honoree until 1945, and there were 11 between Kissel’s in 1945 and 1970 overall. There were just three in the entirety of the 60s: Fairport’s Mike Thomas (1965 Class A first team), Euclid’s Al Vilcheck (1968 Class AA first team) and Kirtland’s Jeff Mills (1968 Class A second team).

In early-years comparison, starting with Williams’ year in 1978, there were 38 local plaudits handed out for All-Ohio girls basketball from 1978-92.

• The boys basketball program with the most honorees, including player and coach of the year selections, in a runaway is VASJ/St. Joseph with 52. The Vikings’ first selection came in 1970, when Pat Lyons was a Class AA first-teamer. VASJ/St. Joseph is followed by Richmond Heights (29), Mentor (23), Benedictine (22), Euclid (15) and Harvey (13).

On the girls side, Regina had the most with 36, all from 1999 on. North has the second-most with 27, followed by Gilmour (24), VASJ (18; the first Vikings’ honoree was Angie Suggs in 1992, and Villa Angela didn’t have an All-Ohioan in girls basketball), Chagrin Falls (15) and Perry (13).

• Of the 293 All-Ohio recipients in boys basketball, 105 have been first-teamers or divisional players of the year of Mr. Basketball. VASJ/St. Joseph has had seven divisional players of the year, starting with Clark Kellogg in Class AAA in 1979. Benedictine (Chris Leanza, 1999 D-II and Cameron Wright, 2010 D-II) and Cornerstone Christian (Mike Bothwell, 2016 and 2018 D-IV) are the only other boys programs with more than one.

For the girls, of 246 All-Ohio upper-level recipients all-time, 79 have been first-teamers, divisional players of the year or Ms. Basketball. There have been four two-time divisional players of the year: North’s Kaayla Chones (1998 and 1999 D-I), Regina’s Shay Selby (2007 and 2008 D-III) and Tay’ler Mingo (2009 and 2010 D-III) and Gilmour’s Naz Hillmon (2017 D-III and 2018 D-II). Chones also took home co-Ms. Basketball in 1999, and Chagrin Falls’ Hallie Thome was 2015 Ms. Basketball.

• There have been 15 boys divisional coaches of the year and 17 girls divisional coaches of the year. The first area boys basketball coaches to capture top honors in their division were Benedictine’s Frank Novak and Harvey’s John D’Angelo, who shared top D-II honors in 1990. Mentor’s Bob Krizancic has been honored four times in his Cardinals’ tenure (2008, 2010, 2019 and 2021).

The first area girls basketball coach recognized on the All-Ohio team was Cardinal’s Dennis Lory in D-III in 1994.

• There have been 18 combined three- or four-time upper-level All-Ohioans in basketball locally, 12 for the girls and six for the boys. Cornerstone Christian’s Madison and Michaela Cloonan were each three-time upper-level All-Ohioans, including first-team distinction for Michaela in D-IV in 2020. Three programs have had three in this category: North girls (Destiny Leo, Lynsey Englebrecht and Chones), Regina (Selby, Siedah Williams and Simone Redd) and VASJ/St. Joseph boys (David Lighty, DeMonte Flannigan and Nate Barnes).

The only four-time upper-level All-Ohio basketball players in News-Herald coverage area lore have been Selby and Flannigan. Selby was second team as a freshman and sophomore and first team as a junior and senior from 2005-08, all in D-III. Flannigan was a first-teamer as a freshman in 2010 and junior in 2012 and second-teamer as a sophomore in 2011 and senior in 2013.

After perusing decades of All-Ohio football and basketball lists this summer, it’s safe to say the compiler won’t yearn for glancing through another list of names for a while. But the findings of the exercise proved interesting just the same and preserves that history going forward.