In the top 20 high school basketball package in yesterday's editions, Dunbar's Keith James was incorrectly identified as Keith Jones in a photograph, and No. 18 on the list should have been the 1987-1988 Dunbar team that featured seniors Sam Cassell, Kevin Green and Lewis Lambert.
The Sun regrets the errors.
In the eyes of the nation, Baltimore high school basketball arrived one cold February afternoon in 1973 when Dunbar upset DeMatha High of Hyattsville, 85-71, at the Baltimore Civic Center.
Previously a pit stop for college recruiters scouring the East Coast for talent, Baltimore suddenly was a hotbed.
Ten years later, the Dunbar magic struck again when the school produced the best team ever to represent the city.
After consulting with scores of local coaches and basketball observers, The Baltimore Sun has selected the 1982-83 national champion Poets No. 1 on its all-time top 20 list of area teams. It is one of seven Dunbar teams to make the top 20.
After decades of playing only in the Baltimore area because of Maryland Scholastic Association travel restrictions, Dunbar was nationally known by the 1982-83 season because of its success in out-of-town tournaments, its graduates who had filtered into major-college programs and its appearance in national high school polls.
From the all-time top team (and the 1981-82 Dunbar team, No. 4 on the list) came four players who progressed to NBA careers: Muggsy Bogues, the late Reggie Lewis, Reggie Williams and David Wingate, who graduated from Dunbar in 1982.
In fact, the early '80s were the crowning period for Baltimore high school basketball. Even before Dunbar could accomplish it, Calvert Hall won the national title in 1981-82, going 34-0. That same year, the Poets went 29-0, but a showdown between the two teams never materialized.
"Everyone wanted to see it," said the coach of that Dunbar squad, Bob Wade. "They were two outstanding teams."
The top 20 is made up mostly of champions from the past three decades. The only pre-1970 teams are the undefeated City team from 1965-66 and Towson High's 1962-63 club.
There are two main reasons for that trend. First, the MSA rules in effect before Dunbar's 1973 breakthrough prevented local teams from traveling and competing against the East Coast's best. Second, the number of talented local players increased tremendously beginning in the '70s.
"Recognition just wasn't there for Baltimore before. People didn't know about us," said Pete Pompey, coach of the No. 2-ranked Dunbar team of 1991-92 and a player at Douglass in the late '50s.
"Plus, in the modern day, benches are so much stronger and our teams are going against top-flight competition and winning. We all know people like Charlie Leach and Dickie Kelly were excellent players, but there weren't as many of them. After the first five guys, quality dropped fast.
"Just think that by 1983, Reggie Lewis wasn't even a starter in high school."
Said Wade: "Television has also done a lot to change it. Kids can see so many games now and can emulate pro and college players. A lot of schools -- Forest Park, Douglass and others -- were good in the old era. But there are many more good players around today with higher skill levels."
It all started when Skip Wise scored 39 points -- 18 in the fourth quarter -- when Billy Snowden and Larry Gibson stopped Adrian Dantley, when Dunbar shot 74 percent in the second half and the Poets pulled off the stunner against DeMatha, which was recognized as one of America's best programs under Morgan Wootten.
That 1972-73 Poets team finished 19-0 and was in the midst of a 48-game winning streak. Today, they surely would have been a strong contender for a national title, but the specially arranged game against DeMatha -- for Dunbar to abide by MSA rules, it had to be played in Baltimore -- was the Poets' only game against out-of-town competition.
Jerry Phipps, who coached City to back-to-back 20-0 seasons in the mid-1960s, pointed out the problem of the previous era. "We were the best-kept secret in the East because they wouldn't let us go anywhere," said Phipps.
That wasn't a problem for Mark Amatucci, coach of the 1982 Calvert Hall club that ranks No. 3 all-time.
"We beat everybody in the country," Amatucci said of the team that went 34-0 but did not play Dunbar. "We played teams from Washington, Philadelphia, Long Island. It was a team with great chemistry."
Lake Clifton was another powerhouse for more than 10 years under Woody Williams, whose clubs secured two spots in the top 20. The 1986-87 Lakers were undefeated until the Fuel Fund game -- matching the Catholic League and MSA champions -- when St. Maria Goretti's Rodney Monroe beat them on a long last-second shot.
"We had some teams that could match up against anybody," said Williams, now at Mervo. "But I can still see that shot by Monroe. When he threw it up from 60 feet, I said to myself, 'Oh my God, it might go in.' "
It did.