Boooooooth
One of Bobby Cremins' favorite players -- and one of mine -- is being inducted into the University of Maryland athletic department Hall of Fame tonight.
Keith Booth, whose No. 22 jersey hangs from the rafters at Comcast Center, was one of the most important recruits in Gary Williams' 20 seasons when he came to College Park from Baltimore's Dunbar High School in 1993.
Booth got overshadowed his first two seasons by Joe Smith, but Booth was an important part of those back-to-back Sweet 16 teams. When Smith left early for the NBA after their sophomore year, Booth became the unquestioned leader of two more NCAA tournament teams.
It was Cremins, in his broken Bronx dialect, who said, "Keet Boot, he's one of my favorite playas.''
Undersized at power forward, Booth made a career of going to the foul line (a school-record 576 free throws), willed himself into an All-American and became a first-round draft choice of the NBA champion Chicago Bulls. The only thing he lacked - a perimeter game -- cut short his NBA career, but his beloved status back in College Park made him a natural when Williams was looking for an assistant coach a few years ago.
Booth is now transitioning into that career, and he played a major role in getting St. Frances standout Sean Mosley to become a Terp.
When he was introduced to the crowd for the alumni game at Maryland Madness last week, the familiar "Booooootthhhhhh" rang out in the arena. I have a lot of memories of Booth from his Maryland days, including his battles with his first-cousin, Donta Bright, when the Terps plays UMass four times over three years.
How about you? What are your memories of Booth?
Comments
I remember Booth as a junior (1996) killing UVA twice during the regular season. Each time he played them he set a new single game scoring record of 27 then 29 points. (He went on to set another record of 33 pts in the ACC tourney at Ga Tech that year).
Posted by: gbx79 | October 24, 2008 1:01 PM
I know Keith through my uncle, Rodney Elliott. They both went to Dunbar High together, and Keith was working for Dunbar a few years back. I think the one memory that stands out is during Booth's Senior Night, where him and Rodney took a picture that was classic.
Posted by: Robert Branch | October 24, 2008 10:26 PM
Rodney was a good player too. I remember seeing him light up Temple at the Civic Center.
Posted by: Herman Veal | October 25, 2008 12:18 AM
I remember Booth as the highlight of the recruiting class. It wasn't until the first game of the season that Joe Smith turned out to be the hidden gem. But Booth did not appear to have any ego problems and was great for the program for four years. It's good to have him back in CP.
Posted by: Jack | October 25, 2008 8:36 AM
I'm a current student at UM but grew up a die hard terps fan. I guess my favorite "memory" is that we still boom BOOOOOOOTTTHHH when they introduce the coaches. He was at the wake football game and we still went wacko for him.
Posted by: dave f | October 25, 2008 8:42 AM
I remember when Keith announced he was going to MD. I was watching the ACC tourn in my Leonardtown dorm room. I was so excited I almost banged my head against the ceiling jumping with joy.
Posted by: Munch | October 27, 2008 2:50 AM
I don't remember the exact year but Keith Booth led a remarkable comeback down in Chapel Hill...terps down 20 or more at halftime and he led them to victory...it was classic Keith...there's also a great quote in Sweet Redemption by Jimmy Patsos from before they came out of the tunnel to play g'town..."I'm keith booth, from baltimore"....he was the man
Posted by: chris | October 27, 2008 1:24 PM