Memphis East's Special Trip To DICK'S Nationals Makes Major Impact

NEW YORK — As the crowd buzzed at Christ The King High School, the hunger grew. It didn’t stop for three days. This was by no means the ideal situation, sitting idle without a chance to play, but at least Memphis East got a feel for it all and what could have been.

The Tennessee Secondary School Activities Association may have denied one of the best teams in the country the opportunity to compete at DICK’S Sporting Goods High School Nationals this past weekend, but it couldn’t stop the No. 4 Mustangs from attending. It couldn’t strip the once-in-a-lifetime trip away for good.

Thanks to Shelby County Schools, which paid for the travel, and Paragon Marketing, which aided the sightseeing, the entire Memphis East team, coaching staff, including head coach Penny Hardaway, and a couple of board members made the trip to the annual tournament. The back-to-back Tennessee 3A state champions made an impact throughout the journey, too.



In addition to sitting in the same spot in the bleachers throughout the entire tournament — something incredibly notable considering no participating team did anything close to it, especially after being eliminated — the Mustangs also took in many of the sights and sounds of the Big Apple.

They went to the New York Knicks and Miami Heat game at Madison Square Garden.



They went to Niketown and were honored there for their 33-3 season and state title.



They visited the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.



They hung out, and even sang, at Times Square.



There were a lot of things to remember about this season. Memphis East deserved to compete for a national title. But regardless of everything that transpired leading up to it, add this trip to the list of memories and understand this squad made a difference, even without playing.