Lehi Sports
Gala celebrates Utah’s best male hoopsters of the past half-century
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
A host of luminaries representing Utah’s exceptional boys basketball talent gathered at The Barn at Thanksgiving Point Thursday (May 14) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Mr. Basketball award and some of the great players from earlier eras.
As is the case in most states, the Mr. Basketball award is presented by the flagship newspaper. In Utah, the Deseret News has been presenting the award since 1987. James Edward, who has been covering prep sports at the newspaper for decades, explained.
“The Deseret News Mr. Basketball award is just given to the best basketball player every season,” he said. “It’s been going on for 40 years.
“Some of the guys in this room, they were probably not the favorite going into the year that they won Mr. Basketball, but they had incredible seasons and everything just lined up perfectly for them,” Edward said.
Matt Bowman was the recipient in 1988, the award’s second year. He was the master of ceremonies for the event and described how the idea came about.
“A bunch of people within the Utah basketball community were chatting last summer and thought it would be fun to gather and celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Utah Mr. Basketball,” he said. Each recipient and his head coach was invited to the gala.
More than half of the honorees came, and others joined the event virtually from spots around the country and the world. It was noted that three of the coaches had passed away, but one of them was represented by his daughter.
In addition, Shawn Bradley, the 1989 recipient, was represented by two of his daughters at the event and by his mother virtually.
Bowman took parts of his original Mr. Basketball trophy and had a new trophy made from them with panels listing the year and names of all the recipients. Each one had a photo taken with the trophy pointing to his name on it as he arrived at the venue.
Following a catered dinner, Bowman conducted the rest of the proceedings. The Mr. Basketball recipients and their head coach were each introduced and asked to stand to be recognized.
Then Bowman invited two well-known Utah players from earlier eras to come up and be interviewed about the state of basketball during their time.
Scott Runia led West to the 4A state championship in 1975 as a junior, when Class 4A was the top division in the state. He was a two-time All-State player and 4A tournament MVP that year.
In one game his junior year he got 34 points while the game was being televised live in seven states. He went 14-of-19 from the field and 6-of-7 from the line in that contest. He averaged 22.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a senior and went on to a celebrated career at BYU.
Marty Haws was the 4A MVP his senior year at Hillcrest in 1984, when he averaged 24 points per game in region contests. His father Ralph was raised in Lehi and played basketball for the Pioneers during his high school years.
An outstanding multi-sport athlete, Marty lettered in football, baseball and track in addition to basketball. He was the 4A football MVP in 1984 as well and was the state champion in the 100-yard dash. He also had a great career at BYU and went on to play basketball professionally in Europe.
Marty Haws (photo courtesy BYU)
Marty mentioned that he saw Scott play in the state tournament. His father checked him out of school and took him up to watch the action at the University of Utah.
The Utes were the better basketball team in those days and Runia said he was planning to play for them until a General Authority on assignment from the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints paid him a visit.
He ended up at BYU, but he said things there got better. He played with Danny Ainge for three years. He added that he enjoyed watching Marty play when he came along a few years later.
The two of them discussed what basketball was like during their eras in high school. Bowman invited those present to make a list of great Utah players prior to the beginning of the Mr. Basketball award who might have been considered for that honor if it had existed during their time.
Several Lehi players were included on that “honorary Mr. Basketball” list: Chris Lind (1974), Evaristo Soares (1976), Mark Tuckett (1981), Jeff Burningham (1983), Bob Barnes (1983) and Darren Jones (1986).
All the Mr. Basketballs in attendance signed a ball that was then auctioned off for the benefit of Meals on Wheels, a charity that delivers nutritious meals and essential support to senior citizens, helping them stay healthy, connected and independent in their homes.
The evening concluded with a tribute to the Lewis family and their connections to the Mr. Basketball program (see separate story).
Lehi athletic director Quincy Lewis said, “It was a really neat event. At the end they had more than 25 former Mr. Basketballs on stage for a picture … pretty cool. Mr. Basketball is the longest running high school award. The proceeds went to Meals on Wheels. It was just a great event all the way around.”
Each Mr. Basketball received a commemorative hoodie with his number on it. Bowman said all of the costs for the event were covered by the ticket sales, generous sponsors and private contributions.
The top photo shows the members of the 1988 state championship basketball team with present Lehi athletic director Quincy Lewis on the left end of the back row standing next to his father, Coach Tim Lewis, with Matt Bowman and Brendon Dayton to the right. In the front are Sean Dixon and Kurt Bailey. The bottom photo was taken during the Gala.
