We are celebrating 200 years of Alachua County since its inception on Dec. 29, 1824.

There have been a lot of great athletes spanning the last two centuries, so I’d like to reflect on a list of some of the all-time greats in Alachua County history.

The challenge was the fact that there were so many outstanding athletes to consider, so I’ve put together a top 10 that is “among the best” to compete at area schools.

The criteria are a bit mixed, as some excelled after they graduated from high school while others left their mark following a remarkable prep career.

Special thanks to former Gainesville Sun sports editor Arnold Feliciano and former Gainesville Sun prep editor John Patton for their input, and a shout out to Marty Pallman for his feedback.

Marty’s dad, Chip, played at Georgia Tech with one of the athletes on my list, which is listed chronologically.

Dale Van Sickel

Dale Van Sickel attended Gainesville High School and later became the first University of Florida athlete, in any sport, to receive first-team All-American honors.

He was recognized as a first-team All-American as a two-way defensive end and a wide receiver on the great Gators football team of 1928 and received honorable mention All-American honors again in 1929.

In 2007, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) recognized him as one of the “100 Greatest Players of the First 100 Years” of Florida high school football. He is generally regarded as the best high school football player produced in the state of Florida before the 1930s.

Eddie McAshan III

McAshan was among the first group of black students to enroll at Gainesville High in the late 60s. The former All-America two-sport athlete played quarterback for the Hurricanes.

When he signed with Georgia Tech, he became the Yellow Jackets’ first Black player. On Sept. 12, 1970, he became the first African American to start at QB for a major Southern institution. Jesse Jackson called him “the Jackie Robinson of Southern college football.”

McAshan wrapped up a banner career that saw him break 17 Georgia Tech records and he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1995.

Vernon Maxwell

Maxwell starred at Buchholz in the 80s in football (all-state defensive back) and basketball, averaging 31.6 points per game during his senior year and leading the Bobcats to their third straight 20-plus win season. He won the Mr. Basketball award as a senior in 1984, an award given to the top overall high school basketball player in the Sunshine State.

He ended up attending the University of Florida where he led the Gators to their first NCAA tournament appearance in program history his junior year, which included a trip to the Sweet 16 in 1987. As a senior, he led UF back to the NCAA Tournament and finished his career with 2,450 points, which is currently third all-time in SEC history behind Pete Maravich of LSU (3,667) and Allan Houston of Tennessee (2,801).

“Mad Max” played 13 seasons in the NBA and won back-to-back titles with the Houston Rockets (1993-1994).

Jearl Miles-Clark

Clark, who was born in Gainesville, attended Buchholz in 1984 where she won a high school state title in the 400.

The five-time Olympian won gold medals in 1996 and 2000, but the latter was stripped because teammate Marion Jones was revealed to have used performance-enhancing drugs. She also participated in two Olympics, the 400 and 800, and is a former world champ in both events. She still holds the American record for the 800 at 1:56.40.

Miles-Clark, who won a silver medal in the 4×400 relay in 1992, was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2010.

Cornelius Ingram

“C.I. has to be in it,” Patton said. “He left Hawthorne top five all-time in state hoops scoring, was a finalist for Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball, played both sports for a year at UF, was ‘the Face of Florida Football,’ a national champ and was my male prep athlete of the decade.”

In addition to his success as a player in the late 90s and 2000s, Ingram just finished his 10^th season as head coach of the Hornets football team with his fifth straight state championship game appearance, including back-to-back state championships in 2022 and 2023.

Ingram, who is also head coach of the Hawthorne girls basketball team which will aim for a three-peat in early 2025, was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fifth round (153rd overall) of the 2009 NFL draft.

Marcie Hampton

“Easy top 10 on this list, Miss Volleyball in the state, state champion,” Feliciano said.

Hampton helped lead P.K. Yonge to the Class 2A state title in 2000 and 2002. The outside hitter was a two-time high school All-American (2001 and 2002) and in 2002 was named both Miss Volleyball and the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year.

Rated as the No. 4 player in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com in the class of 2004, Hampton went on to play for the Gators and finished her career as Florida’s career leader in attacks (4,204), while also ranking second in digs (1,384), fifth in kills (1,471), and sixth in points (1,692.5) when she graduated in 2007.

“I have been the beat writer covering four Miss Volleyball winners [Taylor Williams, Marcie Hampton, Michelle Stalbaum and Annie Cate Fitzpatrick],” Patton said. “I wasn’t the beat writer for Jalyn Stout, but did cover six of her matches in high school. I also covered Kelsey Bowers, who was the runner-up in 2004 and arguably the top player on quite possibly the greatest team in state history, and countless others who went on to play Division I volleyball. Marcie is the best high school volleyball player I have ever covered.”

Niya Johnson

Johnson led the P.K. Yonge girls basketball program to two state titles (2010 and 2012). On her Senior Night in 2012, she scored 17 of her season-high 49 points in the fourth quarter in an 85-77 upset of Class 7A No. 1 Buchholz, where she is currently coaching.

She was a McDonald’s All-American who went on to win a national title at Baylor University and was drafted and played in the WNBA.

As a high school coach, she led Buchholz to its first playoff appearance in seven years in 2020 when the Bobcats won their first district title since 2013.

Linval Joseph 

“One person I do think belongs top 10 is Linval Joseph,” Patton said. “He won state titles in weightlifting and track & field and has been in the NFL since he was drafted in 2010. He has a Super Bowl championship, too.”

Joseph attended Santa Fe High School (Alachua) where he was a four-year letterman in football. He won a state title as a junior with a 415-pound bench press and a 320-pound clean jerk, and he won a shot-put state title as a senior. In all, he earned a total of 10 varsity letters (three each in track and weightlifting).

He was a second-round NFL pick (46^th overall) out of East Carolina University and is currently playing for the Dallas Cowboys after beginning his career with the New York Giants (2010-2013).

Tamari Davis

In 2017, NBC track and field analyst Lewis Johnson called Davis “the fastest 14-year-old girl in the history of the planet” while she was attending Abraham Lincoln Middle School in Gainesville.

After setting a new age-group world record in the 200-meter dash with her time of 23.21 seconds, she won the Class 3A state title in the 200 her freshman year at Gainesville High School. Her time of 22.48 was the third-fastest high school girls 200 time at the time. She also set the freshman class record.

She transferred to Oak Hall School, where she won the 100 and 200 state titles. She signed with Adidas at age 16.

Davis won two gold medals in the 2023 World Championships Budapest 4X100w relay and the 2024 World Relay Nassau 4X100m relay.

Ben Shelton

Shelton, the son of Gators mens tennis head coach Bryan Shelton, became the first Buchholz boys tennis player to win a state title when he won an individual Class 4A singles state championship as a sophomore in 2019.

After graduating from Buchholz a year early, he led the Gators to their first team national championship in 2021 and he won a men’s singles title in 2022. He was also named the ITA National Player of the Year in 2022.

The No. 3 nationally ranked player among 18-year-olds (USTA) and the No. 4 nationally ranked player in the Class of 2021 (Tennis Recruiting Network), became the youngest American man in three decades to advance to the U.S. Open semifinals in 2023.

So there you have it, a list that would be considered “among the top 10” of all time.

One could easily make a case for Joel Embiid, who is one of the top 10 players in the NBA this year, and Alachua County’s first-ever Mr. Football, Creed Whittemore.

Embiid, who is from Cameroon (Central Africa), didn’t start playing basketball until he was 15 years old. He came to the United States and played for Montverde Academy’s JV team but transferred to The Rock in Gainesville so he could get more playing time.

During his senior year (2012-13), Embiid led the Lions to a 33-4 record, and they won the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association (SIAA) state title. The 7’ center jumped from No. 100 on ESPN’s recruiting list to No. 6, signed with Kansas, and was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year his first year after setting the KU freshman blocking record with 72 blocked shots.

He won the NBA’s MVP award in 2023 with the Philadelphia 76ers and if it weren’t for injuries, he was on pace to become the second player, alongside only Wilt Chamberlain, to have more points than minutes played. This past October NBA Rank had him their top 10 of the best players in the league.

Whittemore led Buchholz (10-3) to its second straight state semifinal appearance in 2022 by completing 179-of-305 passes for 2,693 yards with 35 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He rushed for 1,285 yards (8.29 yards per carry) and 17 TDs.

The Mississippi State signee, who also had six interceptions on defense his senior year, was dubbed “Alachua County Superman” by a Florida Times-Union sportswriter and became the first Mr. Football winner from Alachua County.

“Guys like Tim Tebow, Daunte Culpepper, Derrick Henry, I saw a bunch of names I knew so it’s cool to be on that trophy,” said Whittemore.

You could also make a case for Santa Fe’s (Alachua) Jalyn Stout, who won two Miss Volleyball awards and back-to-back state titles, or Buchholz pitcher Andrew Miller, who starred at North Carolina followed by 16 seasons with seven Major League Baseball teams and was MVP of the 2016 American League Championship Series for Cleveland.

Other notable honorable mentions include Florida Mr. Basketball Orien Greene, swimmer Allison Wagner, Anthony Richardson, selected fourth overall in the 2023 NFL draft, Clinton Portis (GHS, Miami, NFL), Doug Johnson of Buchholz, who was drafted in the second round (64th overall) of the MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays in 1996 and signed with the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent.

Ricky Nattiel (Newberry/UF/NFL), Ryne Malone (PKY), Lamar Thomas (Buchholz/Miami/NFL), Fred Marion (Buchholz), Ian Scott (GHS/Florida/NFL), Rodney Mullen (PKY – was once one of the world’s greatest skateboarders, was around Tony Hawk’s level), Adrian Peterson (Santa Fe HS/NFL), Mike Peterson (Santa Fe High School/UF/NFL), Mike Nattiel (Newberry/UF/NFL), Willie Jackson Jr. (PKY/UF/NFL), Harold “Gator” Hoskins (Eastside/Marshall/NFL), Ivy Joe Hunter (Buchholz/Kentucky/Patriots), Freddie Lee Solomon (Santa Fe/South Carolina State/NFL – Philadelphia Eagles, 1995-98), Tracy Ham (SF/Georgia Southern/CFL Hall of Fame), Terry Jackson (PKY/UF/NFL), Scottie Wilbekin (The Rock/SEC POTY at UF), Robert Baker (PKY/Auburn/NFL), Travis McGriff (PKY/Florida/NFL), Valerie Flournoy (PKY), who won the Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Track award in 2005, Marvin Pope (Eastside/Central State University/CFL), the list goes on and on.

It’s a tough list to make a top 10, which is a tribute to all of the great athletes of the last 200 years in Alachua County.

I also want to send a special shoutout and honor all of the Alachua County coaches who helped in the development of these great athletes.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.