January 16, 2002

Ed Paone named to South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame

By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist

When he was inducted into Ocean City High School’s Sports Hall of Fame, Ed Paone told a story about Phil Birnbaum. The longtime OCHS tennis coach, also a basketball assistant, was trying to get the young athlete to spend more time on his tennis.

“He told me I was too small to make an impact in basketball,” Paone said.

Fortunately, he didn’t listen to Birnbaum. And, next month, his name will be added to the Al Carino Basketball Club’s South Jersey Hall of Fame.

Paone will be the 19th Carino Hall of Famer from the Cape-Atlantic League (a complete list is available here) and will join four from Ocean City, including his high school coach, Jack Boyd.

Boyd was inducted in 1996 along with Stephanie Vanderslice Gaitley and Ken Leary. The first from OCHS was Dixie Howell, selected in 1982.

Paone was All-South Jersey as a senior and won the award as South Jersey’s best free throw shooter, making 80 percent of his shots. He graduated with 1,330 points, second at the time to Bill Fisher. He currently is fourth in career scoring, having later been passed by Homer Baker and current record-holder Mike Rowell.

The school free throw shooting and assist records that Paone held at the time of graduation are still records. He made 152 free throws his senior year and 376 during his career. His mark of making 78 percent of his career free throw attempts is still a record. And his marks of 154 assists in one season and 359 in a career also still stand.

Paone also shares the OCHS single-game free throw shooting record by making 14 of 14 in a 1978 game against Sacred Heart. Strangely enough, he tied the record set earlier that same year by Steve Gillin against Bridgeton.

After graduating from OCHS, Paone went on to The Citadel where he was also successful as a basketball player.

Details on ticket arrangements for the Carino Hall of Fame Dinner will be available within the next few weeks. But don’t be surprised if Birnbaum is there, pleased that, in this case, one of his former players ignored his advice.
Ed Paone Stats
*-school record

              G    FG-FGA    FT-FTA   Reb   Stl   Ast   Pts    Ave
1978-79      22   168-385  *152-190    81    40  *154   488   22.2
1977-78      25   184-403   137-176    76    65   147   505   20.2
1976-77      23   125-250    87-114    52    55    58   337   14.7
1975-76       1     0-0       0-1       1     0     0     0    0.0
TOTALS       71   477-1038 *376-481   210   160  *359  1330   18.7
                     46%      *78%





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