The DeMatha Boys

DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., doesn't have your average high school basketball program. It has, quite simply a sharp shooting, smooth-handling, defense-swarming, slam-dunking dynasty.

Led by legendary Coach Morgan Woetten, who founded that dynasty more than two decades ago, the Stags are the standard by which other high school programs are measured.

Currently the top team in the nation (as ranked by USA Today). DeMatha has won more national championships than any prep team in history.

They don't beat most average teams, they destroy them.

Every year for as long as anyone can remember, every single DeMatha player--no matter how far down on the bench--has been offered a full college basketball scholarship.

DeMatha alumni include Maryland's Adrian Branch, North Carolina State. Sidney Lowe and Dereck Whittenberg, and a host of hoop gods who have gone on to bigger and only slightly better things.

But two recent DeMatha grads decided to forego the big time of basketball scholarships and packed arenas. For Bob Ferry and Pat Smith, choosing Harvard has meant pursuing semi-anonymous basketball careers.

"At DeMatha, you were a big fish in a big pond," said Ferrry, the Crimson co-captain and second leading scorer. "The level of intensity is not as high here as it was there," he says, explaining that at Harvard, more emphasis is placed on academics.

Coming to Cambridge was quite an adjustment for the trailblazing whose college experience has been the opposite of most fellow DeMatha stars: he joined a college squad with players less talented than his high school teammates.

"At DeMatha, we had a lot of great athletes," the two time All Ivy Second Team selection says. "Here, we have a lot of great players."

Smith concurs. "The quality of athlete at DeMatha, for that level, was much higher," he says.

All In the Family

Ferry has basketball running through his veins. His father, Bob Ferry Sr., is general manager of the NBA's Washington Bullets, and his brother, Danny, is considered one of the top five high school prospects in the nation.

Bob was heavily recruited by North Carolina and Duke, and he did not at first seriously consider enrolling at Harvard. But Bernie McGregot '73 former assistant coach at DeMatha, told Ferry about the Crimson program, and he "put the bug in my car," the senior recalls.

Harvard Coach Frank McLaughlin then began to woo Ferry because, the coach says. "My family and Bob's family have known each other a long time." In addition, McLaughlin was familiar with the DeMatha program from his days as an assistant at Notre Dame.

Smith, a junior, joined Ferry in Cambridge the following year. "It was comforting to know that someone was here who could handle it," he says.

The two guards, perfectly matched in the backcourt as the shoot the lights out big guard and the "hard-nosed" ballhandler (as Ferry calls Smith), didn't play much together at DeMatha, however.

Smith, a scrappy occasional starter in his two years at DeMatha, didn't see a lot of playing time when Ferry, an all-league star, was in the game.

Further, the two "never really hung around" off the court, according to Ferry, Smith, who transferred to the school as a junior, says he "didn't get to know Bob real well," adding that the two nonetheless got along well, and developed a friendship that strengthened when they occasionally roomed together on the road. Their mutual respect is obvious.

Lerry calls Smith a "fierce competition," a player who "was always getting tunover" and who "did what it took to win." Returning the compliment. Smith recalls Ferry as a "team' leader" at DeMatha, who "always played well in the big games.'"

Chemistry

Although, according to Ferry, DeMaiha and Harvard play a similar style of "push-the-batt-up" basketball, both players admit that they don't really have any special on-court chemistry together left over from high school days.

The big advantage of having at tended DeMatha together, really, is that they're both better players because of it.

"Going to high school together only helps as long as they're two good players." McLaughlin agrees.

Another benefit of having attended a hoop mecca is that the DeMatha Boys know what winning is all about. "At DeMatha," says Smith, "there's a winning foundation, a tradition."

At Harvard--thanks in no small part to the contributions of Ferry and Smith--that tradition is just getting started