Haywood Highsmith, a 'self-made' basketball player from Baltimore, playing in NBA Finals
BALTIMORE - Haywood Highsmith, a former Baltimore high school basketball standout, is competing in the NBA Finals.
The forward, who played at Baltimore's Archbishop Curley High School, plays for the Miami Heat, who is playing in a best-of-seven series against the Denver Nuggets.
Highsmith was the best player at Archbishop Curley in East Baltimore eight years ago.
However, big-time colleges weren't interested so he went on to play at Wheeling-Jesuit-, a Division II college in West Virginia.
Now, he's in the NBA and chipping in at the game's biggest stage.
He scored 18 points for the Heat in the first game of the series and two points in the second game.
He debuted with Philadelphia three seasons ago.
Highsmith is now in his second year with Miami. He's not a starter but he saw playing-time in 13 of Mami's playoff games, and scored 15 points in a conference final game against the Boston Celtics.
WJZ went to Archbishop Curley High School, to the basketball court where Highsmith's hoop dreams began to take off.
Those who know Highsmith are beaming with pride now.
"I am extremely proud of him," said Brian Hubbard, Highsmith's coach at Curley. "First of all, because of the hard work he put, he is the definition of a self-made player. I mean if you watch him from his high school career through college, all the obstacles he had to face just to get to where he is right now and how humble he is."
"One of the great things about working at a high school is being able to see the success of our alumni and to see someone achieve on such a noteworthy level," Archbishop Curley principal Jeremy Joseph said. "To achieve his dreams and to be on the national stage is impressive. We are certainly proud of Haywood for his accomplishments. As a community, we want to celebrate his successes."
