Another Hoop Zone voting question

As I was making what always seem to be a futile attempt of cleaning up my desk, I came across an anonymous letter that was written to my news director by a concerned high school basketball fan. The typed letter was about a page long and did not have a number, number or any kind of address. I hope that this fan comes across this blog as I am more than happy to answer any questions or concerns our local sports fans have especially when it comes to how we determine our major award winners.

Here's just an excerpt of this letter so you get the point.

"I am writing this letter because of the Mister and Miss Hoop Zone Banquet. First of all, let me say that I believe that this is a good thing that you guys host. However, listening to the public, the coaches, the players and just the public in general, it has turned political. I believe that it is not fair for every kid. We the public would like to know what coaches vote - not that it's is sent to 18 coaches and 2 media employees. We would like to know who these coaches and media people are because it seems that Myrtle Beach must have a horse shoe planted somewhere. Are most voters from that area?
... Myrtle Beach has won Miss Hoop Zone four years straight, Mr. Zoneman 2 years in a row!!! I believe in being air and impartial especially when it involves kids."

From a concerned citizen

I just want to reiterate the process when it comes to voting for Mister and Miss Hoop Zone. The ballot has a first, second and third place vote. A first place vote is worth three points, second is two points and a third place vote is one point. I have absolutely no problem revealing who the list of people who cast a ballot, however I do not think it is proper to reveal who they voted for. Just know that a vote can not be cast for your own player. The two media members are no big mystery here - Mark Haggard and myself have that dubious distinction.


Mr. Hoop Zone Balloters

WEST FLORENCE - Byon Shoemaker
MULLINS - Mark Gerald
LAKE CITY - Willie Thomas
GEORGETOWN - Stitch Walker
DARLINGTON - Ken Howle
HEMINGWAY - Barry McFadden
TIMMONSVILLE - Gerald Wright
AYNOR - Myron Gerald
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH - John Trussell
MARLBORO COUNTY - James Pate
CHERAW - Tony Boyer
ANDREWS - Kevin Branham
WILSON - DeAndre Scott
SOCASTEE - Tommy Johnson
CONWAY - Michael Hopkins
MARION - Pete Ellis
CAROLINA FOREST - Brian Brunson
KINGSTREE - Winston Williams
WPDE Sports: Rich Chrampanis
WPDE Sports: Mark Haggard

Pee Dee voters: 12
Grand Strand voters: 6

By Class:
4A: 3
3A: 7
2A: 6
1A: 2

Miss Hoop Zone Balloters

MYRTLE BEACH - Brian Kiper
MULLINS - Fred Senter
CAROLINA FOREST - Stacy Hughes
KINGSTREE - Sonya Burgess
DARLINGTON - Jesse Barber
MARLBORO CO - Nikita Collins
DILLON - Johnny Dew
TIMMONSVILLE - Perry Stokes
MARION - Leon Sturkey
HEMINGWAY - Sonya Thomas
HARTSVILLE - Pat Hewitt
LAKE CITY - Charm Eaddy
WILSON - Ann Talbert
AYNOR - Matt Burke
SOCASTEE - Marty Jacobs
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH - Jude Hunt
WEST FLORENCE - Kevin Allen
SOUTH FLORENCE - Lisa Jones
WPDE Sports: Rich Chrampanis
WPDE Sports: Mark Haggard

Pee Dee voters: 13
Grand Strand voters: 5

By Class:
4A: 4
3A: 7
2A: 5
1A: 2

A couple of notes here. First of all, every coach is a varsity head coach and the list has all the experience you can ask for when it comes to our area. These coaches know about the AAU circuit, as well as individual and team performances. There is no specific criteria for Mister or Miss Hoop Zone. We simply ask, "Who's the best player in the area". As you can see, there are plenty of Pee Dee voters and I think we have the right balance.

Back in 2008, the voting was extremely tight for both Mister and Miss Hoop Zone. After taking the 20 ballots, I didn't feel comfortable so we took the daunting task of contacting all 34 boys and girls head basketball coaches and took every ballot to make sure we got it right. In that year, Kinard Gadsden-Gilliard of Georgetown narrowly beat Tashan Fredrick, Eric Smith and Lashay Page and Ashley Clarke of Myrtle Beach edged out Rubylee Wright of Latta.

If I ever feel the balloting is up in the air, I would do that again. It took a lot of extra man hours, but we put in that extra effort to make sure we got it right. The bottom line is that we care about the process and we have no agenda. Back in the beginning, Marlboro County won three straight Zonemans with Tymere Zimmerman and Syvelle Newton. Many folks thought we were biased to our friends in Bennettsville back then.

If you look at the list above, that is a group of respected veteran coaches. Why did we choose them? Some of them are year in and year out voters that have earned not only our respect but the entire area's. We also try and make it a point to get balloters that have had successful seasons. We also try to make sure that we have a coach who has a Mister or Miss Hoop Zone contender. On the girls side, we had Darlington, Hartsville and Myrtle Beach to ensure that all three coaches could not vote for their own player and not get an extra advantage.

We've given away 30 trophies (10 for the Zoneman, 10 Mister Hoop Zone and 10 Miss Hoop Zone). I wish that the Finalists who make the podium were given more overall respect as it's a major accomplishment to reach that stage. Right now, it's a Myrtle Beach run of award winners. Perhaps in the next five to ten years, another school will emerge.

If I thought enough people were interested, I'd love to do a behind the scenes look at how exactly Mark Haggard and myself put the entire show together. It's something that we don't just throw together. We take time to not only pick 40 outstanding players, but then do a truly unbiased voting process that selects our winner. The die hard high school fans would probably enjoy Mark and I going back and forth for endless hours in the fall and winter as we pick these teams. It's something that we really care about and really have fun doing.

I hope this answers some questions. I would like to thank all of the coaches above for helping us this year.