"Three Points Shy" is the season-long journey of one of the greatest high school basketball teams in the history of Seminole County, Florida. Coached by skilled tactician and savvy motivator Bill Payne, and led by seniors Bruce McCray, Reggie Butler, David Thomas, Keith Whitney, and Glenn Stambaugh, the Fighting Seminoles of Sanford, FL., would punctuate their record-breaking season with a 1979-80 run at Florida's Class 4A State Basketball Championship.
Their journey would be filled with a combination of dominating wins, last-second heroics, mid-season heartache, and final stretch redemption. Along the way, there would be holiday tournament championship trophies and three incredible showdowns with the one team that stood in their way of making it to the Lakeland Civic Center's Final Four-Daytona Beach Mainland.
Rarely were two high school teams who played in the same conference ranked among the state's top 5 in Florida's High School Prep Polls. And each of the three meetings between Seminole and Daytona Beach Mainland would provide for a roller coaster ride of emotions, soul-crushing shortcomings, and ultimately a decisive measure of Sanford High's heart and mettle as a basketball team.
Fighting Seminoles would capture and carry the hopes of their small Central Florida town through a gritty season of winning streaks, setbacks, and comebacks. And along the way, the story of their starters and reserves on the bench would play out on the sports pages of The Sanford Herald, the local paper that chronicled each step of their journey.
They would break school records and total the most victories ever in a single season of high school basketball in Seminole County. At times, they would have their hearts broken as well. And there would be heart-warming sacrifices from unsuspected sources as part of their journey.
"Three Points Shy" is an enjoyable read for anyone even remotely connected to high school sports programs. It provides a game-by-game insight into the success, failure, and character of student-athletes who don the uniforms of their respective teams to represent their schools and communities. And it is a testament to the coaches who lead them and the fans who follow them.
