Jack Tatum's Last Interview. A must-read for any Buckeye fan.

BY ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI (2003)

SAN DIEGO — Some day, Jack Tatum had to tell his son the story of the most infamous hit in National Football League history. “I knew it was coming,” he said. Three years ago, it did. Lewis Tatum walked into the house. The kids at school had been talking about Darryl Stingley. Now, he wanted to hear for himself: Why had his father paralyzed a man?

They used to call him Assassin, but now they call him Dad. Tatum hadn’t met his wife, Denise, until his professional football career was over in 1980. She and the children — Jestyn, 15, and Lewis, 13 — had never watched Tatum play a down of football. Especially the kids, they just knew him as the man who was there every day in retirement, packing lunches, driving to swimming and soccer practices, and reading bedtime stories.

Yet, if Tatum wasn’t obsessed with the rest of the world understanding his truth, he was with his own son. “I told him that you never intentionally try to hurt someone,” Tatum said. “That what happened was an accident. What matters is what kind of father I am, what kind of husband I am to my wife. If someone can tell you that your dad was a dirty player, you can go back and watch some of the films and see what kind of football player he was.”

Jack Tatum stopped trying to tell the rest of the world a long time ago. It’s no use. Almost 25 years ago, with a preseason hit on the New England Patriots star, Stingley, with four words on a book jacket — “They Call Me Assassin” — most of America had its case to consider an All-American out of Passaic as a cold, unfeeling monster.

“I’m not going to beg forgiveness,” Tatum said. “That’s what people say: You never apologized. I didn’t apologize for the play. That was football. I was sorry that he got hurt. But to go out and apologize for the way I played football? That is never going to happen.

“I never did anything wrong. I apologized for the result. It was portrayed that I did something wrong — by the NFL, by papers - because that’s what they were fed. Even today, people still think I’m a bad guy.

“My only question is this: What did I do wrong?”

Tatum, 53, let his question hang in the air Friday night. He was sitting in the lobby of the Barona Casino and Resort on Friday night, about 40 minutes beyond a wild night in downtown San Diego for Super Bowl XXXVII. He had come for a golf tournament with a couple of old teammates, but couldn’t be found on an end-to-end walk of the casino floor. Grab a house phone, connect to his room, and Tatum could be found talking to his family on the phone. It was 9:30 p.m., and he had called it a night.

“I’m not a gambling man,” Tatum said downstairs, settling into a chair for something he so reluctantly and rarely does: Tell his story. The white streaks peel back through his long parted hair, tumbling down into his bushy Fu Manchu. He is still lean and taut. He still has presence. His Super Bowl XI ring glistens on his hand, the Raiders’ 32-14 victory over Minnesota punctuated with Tatum hitting Sammy White so hard, White’s helmet popped off.

Nobody remembers it. Nobody remembers his three All-AFC selections between 1971 and 1979 as a Raiders’ safety. They remember Aug. 12, 1978, a preseason game when Stingley turned toward Tatum on a slant pattern. The pass was incomplete, but Tatum stayed on course and jarred Stingley in the spine.

Tatum still sees Stingley laying on the Oakland Coliseum grass, still expects to see him stand up. Only, it will never happen. Stingley is a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair and a life believing that Tatum isn’t just remorseless over the hit, but coldly profited with his best-selling book, “They Call Me Assassin.” This will be the 25th anniversary of the hit in 2003, inspiring people to bring the story back to life and try to make sense of this unresolved element of the story:

Jack Tatum still has never spoken to Darryl Stingley.

Tatum insists he tried years ago.

Stingley says Tatum never did.

“I made some attempts but it seems people around Darryl thwarted that,” Tatum said. “It’ll happen when it’s meant to happen. You can’t keep banging your head against the wall.”

If it never does, Tatum has learned to live with it. So has Stingley, who no longer does interviews on the issue.

Tatum wasn’t just the NFL’s most feared hitter, but an exacting student of his craft. He was a great cover man, voted one of the 25 best college football players in history for his time at Ohio State, where he moved between safety, linebacker, and corner. Tatum isn’t sure anyone remembers it. Or even cares anymore. All they ever heard was this: He paralyzed a man and sold 1.2 million books bragging about it.

“They thought that I was crowing about hurting Stingley,” Tatum said. “I had to go back after the book was finished and add that chapter, because it happened after the book was finished. He was barely in that book.”

Tatum has never confessed to this, but the hit on Stingley changed him on the football field. He stopped hitting in 1978. Naturally, he was scared of hurting someone else. He never told people, because this could’ve cost him his edge on the field. Yet eventually, Wendell Tyler of the Rams ran him over late in the season. He was a small back, but “I stopped short and didn’t make the big hit,” Tatum said. His older brother, Manuel, had watched it on television. He called Jack and told him, “If you’re not going to play, get your ass off the field.”

He started hitting again, because nobody in football hit like Jack Tatum. Even now, he confessed: “If you were a little afraid, I wanted you to be a lot afraid. If you weren’t afraid at all, I wanted to try to make you afraid.”

He talked this way years ago, and talks this way now. People hate to hear it, but it was the truth. Jack Tatum was a Raider. He was the hardest-hitting safety in the NFL. That’s who he was, that’s who he’ll always be. What it’s cost him, it’s cost him. After his retirement, Tatum wanted to be a football coach, just like his beloved second father at Ohio State, Woody Hayes. He didn’t want to work in the NFL, but college. How about that: Jack Tatum wanted to be Woody Hayes.

“You could teach there,” Tatum said. “You could have a bigger role in the lives of kids. Guys who go to the pros are million-dollar ballplayers. A lot of them don’t have fundamentals, but how are you going to tell a million-dollar guy that he can’t tackle? Or that he’s got to do it this way? I wouldn’t be a good NFL coach.”

So, Tatum started to touch base with old friends in college coaching, checking on even the lowest level of assistant jobs. All of them told him that he would make a good coach, “but told me that they couldn’t afford me in the program,” Tatum said.

“I was blackballed. It’s nothing that I did, but what I was perceived to have done. But then, I started to think that maybe I didn’t want to coach. If I was coaching and a kid got hurt, it would be because I was coaching him. That’s all people would say: I taught someone to do that.”

Nobody can believe his job now: He’s a paid employee of the National Football League’s so-called “Fashion Police.” On appointment by Al Davis, Tatum works the Raiders’ sidelines on Sunday, instructing shirts to be tucked and sneaker logos covered. “I don’t know if the NFL was too happy about it,” he said, “but Al Davis wanted a guy the players would respect.

“I don’t agree with all the rules, but I enforce them.”

It isn’t just the fashion that bothers him, but rules on contact. “They’re trying to make it safer, but this is a violent game. They’re teaching tackling wrong now.”

His son isn’t a football player, which is fine with the father, who understands football is a dangerous game and people get hurt. Denise Tatum was on the telephone Saturday night, a wife who met her husband weeks after his football career ended in 1980 and said: “I never fell in love with a football player. I fell in love with Jack.” She was telling the story of him “changing far more diapers than I ever did,” staying home with the kids, of him spending five years of mornings and afternoons feeding and caring for her father afflicted with Alzheimer’s.

“He’s the most kindhearted man I’ve ever known, the absolute best dad on the planet,” Denise said. “It’s hurtful to hear what people say about [Jack] and [Stingley]. He did hurt over it. He did. He tried to reach out and do the right thing, but he was turned away. It was an accident, what happened. But he didn’t do anything wrong.

“Apologize?” She stopped for a second and took a deep breath. The 25th anniversary is on the way, the story of Jack Tatum and Darryl Stingley starting all over again.

Finally, she said, “My husband is never going to apologize.”

Hope Springs Eternal in "Brownstown"

Anyone who honestly thought one year ago that in July of 2010, the Cleveland Browns would be the best professional sports team in Cleveland, please stand. (Come on don’t be shy…just jump right up. Go ahead and brag about how right you were. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?...)

With rookie training camp underway, the veterans due in later this week, and the first preseason game less than three weeks away, this seems like the right time to start thinking about football and stop thinking about that number 23 basketball player guy.

Looking back, 2009 was a tale of two seasons for the Browns. The first twelve games of the season brought talk of how historically bad this team might be. Save for a 6-3 win in Buffalo in one of the ugliest games in the history of organized football, the Brownies didn’t win a single game. Granted, it took an overtime field goal by the Bengals and a last play fluke penalty in Detroit to get there, but the Browns limped into week 13 with a 1-11 record. There was serious talk of 1-15 and the number one pick in the draft (again). Beleaguered first year head coach Eric Mangini was on the hot seat. The only thing to be truly excited about in Cleveland was across town at Quicken Loans Arena.

Then, against the most unlikely of foes, everything changed.

I was fortunate (some said unfortunate at the time) enough to have tickets to the Browns/Steelers game on Thursday December 10^th, 2009. I bought these tickets in August in the foolish hope that the Browns would be fighting for their playoff lives and control of the AFC North against their hated rivals. I am a life long Browns fan who had been to many games to that point, but had never been to a Pittsburgh game.

An injury riddled Pittsburgh team was still in the playoff hunt, and a win against the hapless Browns would obviously improve their chances of defending their Super Bowl title. The Browns were decimated by injuries as well, and most people were expecting them to simply be playing out the string to bring another hugely disappointing season to a merciful end. Eric Mangini’s job was in peril, there was no general manager, and Mike Holmgren had not yet been hired, and everything was seemingly headed in exactly the wrong direction. On top of all of that, the Browns had lost to the Steelers 12 consecutive times, the Browns were near the bottom of nearly every statistical category in the league, and Brady Quinn was the starting quarterback. There was absolutely no rational reason to believe that the Browns were going to win this game.

But as I stood in “the pit”, a parking lot adjacent to Cleveland Browns Stadium, drinking a slushy beer and half frozen bratwurst, none of that mattered. The Steelers were in town, and maybe this team could summon up the intestinal fortitude to do the unthinkable. The game time wind chill was -12. The foam in our beer was freezing in the neck of the bottle. We were building fires in the parking lot to try to stay warm. It was beautiful. It was fun. It was everything that a Browns home game in December was supposed to be.

Behind 8 sacks of Ben Roethlisberger, and 200 all purpose yards from Josh Cribbs, the Browns exorcised their demons and beat their hated rivals. The team with nothing to play for except pride defeated the team with everything to play for. Walking out of that stadium and hearing the chants of “Pittsburgh Sucks” and “Here we go Brownies” was a memory I will never forget. Records didn’t matter. For a brief shining moment, all was right in Cleveland. The Steelers had been vanquished, and no amount of cold, wind, or snow could take that away. I saw the soul of Cleveland sports that night, and it had nothing to do with any narcissistic, egocentric basketball player. That number 23 basketball player guy was never the face of this city, no matter how big the banner hanging across from Quicken Loans Arena was.

Oh, yeah. And the Browns haven’t lost since. Behind a renewed sense of purpose, a suddenly competent defense, and (gasp!) a running game, the Browns closed the season with three more wins and a lot of momentum heading into 2010.

I always had a good laugh whenever I heard people contend that with the success of the Cavs over the past few years, Cleveland was in danger of becoming a “Cavs town”, and that the Browns were soon to be an afterthought in Cleveland sports. I read several blog articles to this effect. I remember laughing whenever I would read these articles, because whoever thought that any team could displace the Browns in the hearts of Clevelanders doesn’t know Cleveland, and doesn’t know Browns fans. The Cavs and the Indians will always play second fiddle to the Browns in Cleveland, and if the Browns somehow find themselves in the playoff hunt come December, “LeBron who?” will be a common refrain across the city.

It is with this backdrop that the eternal optimist in me looks forward to another season of Cleveland Browns football. In the coming weeks I am hoping to write a series of articles dealing with the offense, defense, special teams, coaching, and schedule for your 2010 Cleveland Browns.

Cleveland is a football town. Cleveland was, is and always will be “Brownstown”. Anyone who believes otherwise is kidding themselves.

Oh, and one final note: The Browns close the season at home on January 3^rd…against none other than the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Cleveland in January? There’s no place I’d rather be.

7 Types of People You See on the Jumbotron

More from the cats over at Guyism. Good stuff:

If you’ve ever been to a sporting event of any kind you’ve probably noticed a oversized TV hanging from the rafters or placed dead center of a scoreboard. What you’re looking at is the JumboTron. It’s great for watching replays so you can justify your hatred for the ref that just blew an obvious call. But more than that, the screen is a great place to catch all sorts of people.

7 The Attention Whore

This person will begin flailing their arms to get the attention of the camera, and then continue making a fool of his or her self once on screen. When they see someone near them on the JumboTron they make a convincing effort to steal the focus of the camera. If they know the person near them, they’ll do the “bunny ears” technique, which somehow has not died off, nor has escaped this person’s imagination despite probably being thirty.

6 The Dancer

Have you ever been to a sporting event and, during a timeout, witnessed an event commonly known as “Dance Cam?” You know, where the people make fools out of themselves by shaking whatever it may be that their respective mothers gave them. Generally this is not a pretty sight, but it can really go either way when the camera captures a member of this group. Regardless if it is time for some dance related event, this type of person is constantly strutting, shimmying, twisting, bopping, or in some cases even boogying down.

5 The Sideline Celebrity

Having a big name in the building at a major sporting event is bound to garner attention. One should expect to see the celebrity on the big screen at least once during the course of the game. But this can become a little tricky. For instance, what do you do when the biggest “celebrity” at the game is some local politician? Sure, he proposed Ordinance 943.2 to eliminate unfair taxes on imported strawberries from a bordering county, but that’s the short term. With celebrities you need to think staying power.

4 The Awkward Waver

This person didn’t want to be on the JumboTron, but now they are and they’re just going to wave until they aren’t any longer. This is also the person that if they are in the shot of the JumboTron when it is focused on someone else, they act as if they are having a conversation or doing something on their phone even if they know they’re on camera.

3 The Duck-and-Hider

A shyer version of the “Awkward Waver.” The duck-and-hider will do anything to avoid being on the JumboTron. As it turns out, this is usually a great way to draw more attention to you. If the cameraman has a sense of humor they follow this person and show them multiple times over the course of the game.

2 The Proposal Maker

There is a lot of fun to be had with this guy (or very, very brave girl. You’ve got to have confidence to be in this category. Not only do you need the balls to speak in front of a huge audience, you better be confident you’re going to get the answer you want. There are few things worse than the image of you failing at one of the most important moments of your life on a fifty-foot screen built specifically to replay memorable events over and over.

1. The Couple

Are couples at games ever not awkward? Especially with Kiss Cam. When it comes on here’s a breakdown of what happens: the guy draws attention to the two of them so he can slip her the tongue on the JumboTron. She hides her face in her hands as if it was some sort of mask that made her boyfriend not act like a tool (Side note: Kiss Cam is the reason you should not go to a game of any sort with a relative of the opposite gender. Prepare for awkwardness). There’s nothing is better than a guy going in for a kiss on the JumboTron and his partner denying him completely. You know they fight about it the rest of the night too. You may say that I’m just bitter and to that I say, “You’re right.”

West Virginia Top Academic Team

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – Not only was West Virginia the top dog in the Big East Conference, but the Mountaineers were also the top academic team as well.

Today, the Big East announced the 25 teams that have been recognized with the 2009-10 Team Academic Excellence Awards, recognizing the highest collective grade-point averages in each conference sport and Coach Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers finished the highest among all men’s basketball schools.

The winners were chosen based on the 2009-10 grade-point average of each student-athlete who appears on an institution’s squad list as the last contest of the championship segment in each conference-sponsored sport.

WVU seniors Da’Sean Butler, Wellington Smith and Jonnie West recently earned their degrees, while Joe Mazzulla and Cam Thoroughman are currently enrolled in graduate school.

West Virginia won a school record 31 games on the way to making its first Final Four appearance in 51 years in 2010. The Mountaineers also captured their first-ever Big East tournament championship with their 60-58 victory over Georgetown.

Eleven Big East schools had at least one team recognized by the conference, with Providence finishing with a conference-best five teams recognized. DePaul and Syracuse had four teams recognized, while Cincinnati, Louisville, Notre Dame and St. John’s had two each. Georgetown, Rutgers, USF and West Virginia all had single teams represented.

ESPN Green-Lights "The Decision" for 22 More Episodes.

The folks over at Onion Sports are at it again:

BRISTOL, CT—ESPN President George Bodenheimer announced Wednesday that the hour-long program The Decision, a melodrama about NBA superstar LeBron James declaring his intention to join the Miami Heat, has been green-lighted for an additional 22 episodes. "The pilot episode was obviously very gripping, as nearly 10 million people tuned in, but the series is going to have an expanded cast of characters and mostly take place on South Beach," Bodenheimer said. "Viewers will be captivated by how the decision affects LeBron as well as by a number of new decisions he'll have to make every week, like whether or not to save a drowning fan, apply suntan lotion to David Stern's back, or let one of his teammates chase down a loose ball. And don't worry, just like in the original, each episode will feature an hour of LeBron sitting on his stool and answering questions posed by a different guest star." Bodenheimer, who called The Decision daring and innovative, confirmed that either Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade will likely be killed off in the season finale.

7 types of guys that ruin pick-up sports.

More from http://guyism.com/:

A lot of men like to exercise and take care of themselves as they get older but we sometimes don’t have the time to join rec leagues and YMCA tournaments. So we usually just grab some buddies and head down to the local gym or field to get some much needed exercise. This can usually be a lot of fun depending on how serious the people you play with take their pick-up games. Usually everyone is there to have some fun and maybe burn a little testosterone, but there are always those folks that take these games far too seriously. These are a few of the guys that ruin pick-up games.

7 The guy that always calls a foul in basketball.

There is always one guy (usually the most unathletic) that will call fouls like Tim Donaghy during a play-off game he had money on. Every ticky-tack slap on the wrist and body foul get called as if his life depended on it. When he does actually get fouled he awkwardly falls to the ground and flails like Paul Pierce engulfed in flames. He ruins the flow of the game and usually ends up getting one really hard foul that is meant to remind him that he is ruining the fun for everyone else.

6 The guy that always talks shit.

Yeah, he has got something to say; so much so that the muscle he’s most likely to pull out on the field/court is in his jaw. He’s got game and he is going to tell you all about it. Gives the play-by-play like Marv Albert without (hopefully) all the biting. If he and Terrell Owens got into a shouting match, the only winners would be the deaf. He and Ron Artest would only be able to play “H.O.A.R.S.E.” together. He just never stops telling you everything that’s about to happen and it just gets annoying. Even if you’re winning, he’s usually complaining about something. If you win you can talk, but until then just shut your mouth and play ball.

5 The guy that brushes people back from the plate.

Really? I’d expect Roger Clemens to brush back his kid at a father/daughter game, but during a church picnic or pick-up game? Seriously? Sure, it’s funny if it’s one of your buddies and it’s meant jokingly, aside from that, it is simply uncalled for. This is supposed to be fun, people. Unless he hit a home run off of you last at-bat and stared majestically into the stands as it sailed over the fence, while pumping his fist and pointing. Because if that’s the case, then fire away Nolan. Otherwise, it’s best to keep the bean balls and ensuing fistfights for the parking lot after the game.

4 The sweaty guy.

That scene from Along Came Polly with Ben Stiller pretty much says it all.

3 The guy that wears his shorts too low.

I understand wanting to get your money’s worth when it comes to the elastic band on your Nike shorts, but when you have to play defense with one hand holding up your shorts, you are doing it wrong. Happens more than you think too. The worst is when a someone gets by the guy like this and his shorts fall down and he trips on them in the ensuing chase. Hey, maybe if you used that drawstring we’d be winning this game, droopy drawers. This is a man’s game, so save your peep show for the girlfriend later on and buy some longer shorts if this is going to continue to be a problem.

2 The guy that turns flag/touch football into tackle football.

I can’t really complain about this because touch football usually always ends up deteriorating into tackle football. Somebody gets a little too rough, emotions run hot and somebody ends going all Ray Lewis by taking another player down hard. It just sort of naturally happens when male testosterone and pride levels peak while playing football. It’s why we play in the first place. So just be cool and don’t let it escalate into some huge issue that ruins the game.

1 The guy that takes it all too seriously.

Who will protect this house? This dude will. He will lace up the sneakers that he claims takes half a second off his 40 time. Has the entire Nike breakaway suit that he‘ll dramatically tear-off dramatically before the first game. He has the arm band, headband, Horace Grant goggles–the whole nine yards. Hell, he may even wear one of those watches that doubles as a heart monitor (which he’ll check every 30 seconds). This guy will bark plays like he’s Mike Ditka and scold his teammates like Kobe during a TV timeout. This is life for this guy. He has all the issues stated above, except it’s magnified by his unrelenting douchiness. I think the great Jack Byrnes said it best in Meet the Parents when he said, “Jesus, Focker. It’s just a game!”

Miami Thrice? Who's The Pivot Man?

Yeah, I watched the ESPN special, and I do feel violated. I'd already had a growing hatred for Chris Broussard & Tim Legler in the weeks leading up to this fiasco - I feel so sorry for Jon Barry. Now, I turn the channel whenever they come on my TV. Thank God for NBA TV and its access to "real" talent like Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, & Eric Snow - I'll even forgive the unintelligible C-Webb. The Bachelor-esque vibe, where LeBron figuratively gives Riles his rose (and the finger to the whole state of Ohio) was at best, cheesy. Why the need to validate at the end by bringing in the Boys & Girls Club charity thing? Instead of teaching values like loyalty & family, you teach these kids that succumbing to peer pressure & going with the crowd is the cool thing? Anyway, fuck you LeBron, fuck you Miami, fuck you Wade & Bosh, fuck you Pat Riley, & fuck you ESPN. You're free to go suck-off Brett Favre now. But I digress, on to basketball-related observations....

1. So who takes the last shot in Miami? You're damn right....D-Wade. It's his team, Bosh & James are guests & always will be. Plus, LeBron's always passed on that shot anyway.
2. Who are the role players? The Heat only have 4 players under contract I think since they had to trade former #1 pick Michael Beasley for a #2 pick, just to clear cap room for The Thrice. There's a SG spot open for ya, Tim Legler...
3. The Cavs are calling James a "quitter" now that he's gone, much as I'm sure everyone in Cleveland was muttering under their breath during the playoff beat down by the Celtics. You wanna talk about a scorned lover: try Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.
4. The Legacy? The Brand? See ya. James would have been immortal in Cleveland. Now he's every bit as infamous as Art Modell. No statues outside The Q. No more "Witness" billboards. BTW...Jim Brown is looking for your ass.
5. This move instantly validates Kobe Bryant in the history books as "The Man," post-Jordan. Kobe has won 2 straight NBA titles without Shaq, just less than a month removed from hoisting the trophy for a 5th time. You know Kobe was sitting at home watching all this free-agent bullshit going down, just seething. God have mercy on the Heat should they be fortunate enough to meet L.A. in the finals next year.
6. Are the Heat even the best in the East? All these jack-offs on TV & on the radio are anointing this crew as the best in the Conference already...even though as previously mentioned they don't even have enough players to field a team yet. Please. Boston, Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta. Miami ain't getting through that.
7. The Cavs can still be a good team. Mo, Jamison, Varejao...this core can play a little, especially now that they don't have to defer to King James. It's crucial that the Cavs bring in a gritty, "glue" guy to replace #23, and if they do I like Byron Scott getting the most out of this team. Keep an eye on J.J. Hickson....I'm just sayin'.

Neers Sign Minnesota's 2010 Mr. Basketball

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Kevin Noreen, who was named Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball for 2010, has signed a grant-in-aid to attend West Virginia University in 2010-11 and play basketball for the Mountaineers, coach Bob Huggins announced today.


“We are really excited about getting a player of Kevin’s caliber this late in the process,” says Huggins. “Kevin is a multi-skilled player who will fit in our system extremely well. With our abundance of physical low post players, Kevin’s skill set should prove very valuable for our team’s future.”

Noreen is a 6-foot-10, 220-pound forward from Minneapolis, where he attended Minnesota Transitions Charter School. As a senior, he averaged 38.6 points, 16.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 3.9 steals and 3.2 blocks per game for coach John Sherman.

Noreen guided his team to the 2010 Class A state championship, scoring 24 points with 15 rebounds and nine blocks against Sebeka in the state title contest. For his efforts, he was named to the all-state tournament team. He also had games of 22 points, 22 rebounds against Cass Lake-Bena and 17 points and 11 rebounds against Rushford-Peterson during the state playoffs.

He is the all-time scoring leader in Minnesota high school history, scoring 4,086 career points. As a senior, Noreen had 14 games of more than 40 points, including seven when he scored 50 or more points. He had 1,205 points last year, his third straight 1,000-point season.

Noreen earned first team all-state honors as a senior and second-team honors as a junior. As a senior, he was named the Minneapolis Star-Tribune Player of the Year.

As a junior, Noreen averaged 32.8 points, 12.4 rebounds, 5.5 steals and 4.8 assists while shooting 66 percent from the field. He played AAU basketball for the Minnesota Pump N Run.

Noreen joins Noah Cottrill (Logan High, Logan, W.Va.), David Nyarsuk (Mountain State Academy, Beckley, W.Va., native of Juba, Sudan) and Darrious Curry (Stratford High, Houston, Texas) as signees for the 2010-11 season