By Paul Durham
Wilson Daily Times
Twenty-five years after Fike's first -- and only -- boys basketball state championship, the memories remain fresh for many of the Golden Demons.
Many more memories will be revived Friday night when the 1983-84 N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A champions will reassemble at the school for a silver anniversary observance. Team members in attendance will be recognized at halftime of the Fike-Rocky Mount varsity boys game.
While most of the 1984 Golden Demons haven't seen each other since high school, the common denominator for all of them over the years was not only winning a title but playing for legendary head coach Harvey Reid Jr.
Reid, who passed away in 1990, is the winningest high school basketball coach in North Carolina history with 818 victories, including six state championships. He won two N.C. High School Athletic Conference state crowns at Elm City's Frederick Douglass High prior to integration then three more NCHSAA 2-A titles at Elm City High in the 1970s.
But Reid, who was assisted by the late Jimmy Howard, seemed to take special satisfaction in the 1984 Demons' accomplishment. No player on the team stood taller than 6-foot-3 and down the stretch in the state playoffs, Reid used his starting five -- dubbed the "Fit Five" -- almost exclusively.
"He made us believe in the impossible and we did the incredible," said reunion organizer Charles Howard, a starting forward on the '84 team.
"Winning the state 4-A championship with five guys and as small as we were -- that was an incredible thing to do."
Howard, a 6-3 junior forward, was joined in the starting lineup by 6-3 senior Andre Virgil, 6-2 sophomore John McNeil, 6-0 senior guard Michael Hilliard and senior point guard Brian Harris. Sixth-man Willie Harris led the group of reserves: Scotty Bridgers, Arthur Braswell, Tim Lucas, John T. Smith, Pat Marshall, Michael Williams, George Ruffin, Greg Ballard and Kevin Watson.
Fike struggled early in the season and lost both regular-season games to highly regarded Kinston, which featured 6-9 Charles Shackleford who would go on to play at N.C. State and Tony Dawson, who played for Florida State.
The Demons also lost to Beddingfield in the first round of the Eastern Carolina Classic holiday tournament.But down the stretch, Fike caught fire. The Demons defeated Hunt in the 4-A Big East Conference tournament semifinals then finally snapped Kinston's domination in the tournament championship.
That win proved to be a turning point for the Demons.
"Kinston was pretty much stacked," recalled Hilliard, now a Fayetteville resident. "We knew that if we could get together and get past Kinston, we could do it."Howard was in agreement.
"Kinston was pretty much stacked," recalled Hilliard, now a Fayetteville resident. "We knew that if we could get together and get past Kinston, we could do it."Howard was in agreement.
"That was a big, big boost for us," he said. "We knew we had a chance to run the table then. We never really spoke about it but we had the look in our eyes and knew that if we listened to Coach Reid, who was a state championship coach, he could get us there."
In their first-ever playoff appearance, the Demons defeated Fayetteville Westover 52-47 to earn a berth in the East Regional at Hunt. The Demons downed Raeford Hoke, which had current Fike head coach George Drawhorn as an assistant, in the regional semifinals giving them one more shot at Kinston.
With the starters playing every second (and 63 of a possible 64 minutes in both regional games), Fike outlasted the Vikings 58-51 for its first trip to a state championship game in boys basketball.
In the state championship game in Greensboro Coliseum, McNeil continued his late-season surge by scoring a career-high 27 points in the Demons' 64-52 handling of Roxboro Person.
McNeil would end up signing with NCAA Division I Pittsburgh after graduating two years later but never played for the Panthers. Instead, he played at Chowan College before finishing up at Div. II Elizabeth City State.
Howard initially signed with Div. II Belmont Abbey before transferring to Div. I N.C. A&T State University. Brian Harris, Hillliard and Virgil all spent time in the military. Most of the former players no longer live in Wilson but Howard said the expected turnout should be 10 to 12 of the original 15.
"It will be the first time I've seen a lot of the guys since graduation," said Brian Harris, now a physician in the Clayton area. "I'm excited about that and catching up with everyone.
"There's no doubt the main topic of conversation will the man who put it all together."The thing that stands out to me about the whole time at Fike was being able to play for Coach Reid," Brian Harris said. "He's one of those coaches that has continued to have an impact on you."
