The Remarkable Skeeter Swift,
Alexandria’s Basketball Legend
By HARRY COVERT
They call him the "Sultan of Swish" in Tennessee.
Growing up they called him "Skeeter."
Today, he’s the "Legend" of Alexandria.
He’s earned the titles.
Actually, Harley "Skeeter" Swift grew up on the streets of Alexandria. At about 10, before he had a two-wheel bicycle, he pulled a little red wagon up and down Washington, King and especially Lee Streets, a little tyke going from "pillar to post." He always had a basketball.
Skeeter Swift’s remarkable career is being recalled in a biography I’m writing. It’s called, "Skeeter: The Legend of Alexandria." I’ve researched his life extensively, interviewed many of his high school friends and companions, who today are leaders of the community. We’ve prepared a 15-chapter book.
I’ve known Skeeter for many years. He is a living legend of his hometown, in Tennessee, his adopted state, and throughout high school, collegiate and professional sports circles. His story is a remarkable one.
Swift fell in love with basketball as a mere boy. He literally dribbled the ball everywhere he walked in Old Town. The remarkable thing is his basketball prowess began on a cobblestone alley. Every day for three and four hours "I’d dribble, dribble and dribble on cobblestone."
The alley still stands today next to the Burke and Herbert Bank building on Fairfax Street. It’s called Swift Alley.
It’s not named for Skeeter, even though it should be. In fact it’s named after his parents, who at the time operated a popular bar, which Skeeter describes as a saloon.
Today, at 62, Skeeter Swift has had a stellar athletic career as a player and as an outstanding high school and collegiate coach. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn. He still has family residing in Alexandria.
"Rain or shine, I’d just practice and practice," Swift recalls. "I learned what to expect from the ball when I tried to dribble on a cobblestone. Then I’d dribble as I pulled my wagon. I loved basketball."
A few years later, Skeeter received a bicycle as a Christmas present. He was a familiar sight around Old Town, this growing hulking boy with the ball in the basket. He wiled away his days, all year around and in all kinds of weather, at the Lee Street playground, shooting and dribbling.
"I developed a dead-eye, jump-shooting all over the court. Nobody could beat me. I could shoot the ball." He honed his skills so well he turned it to an advantage by "earning extra money" from young basketball players from all over northern Virginia, Greater Washington and in Prince George’s County. "They all wanted to test me. I always won." As someone said, "it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it."
As a teenager he grew to 6-feet-3. He could play basketball better than most. He was not the big center on the team but a guard – a 200-plus pound guard and he could shoot.
Without question, Skeeter put George Washington High School, now a Middle School, on the sports map of Virginia and Greater Washington. He was highly recruited by Virginia colleges. He chose East Tennessee State University because of a full scholarship. "I wasn’t a very good student then, but I learned," he says.
And learn he did. Skeeter could dribble and shoot and "showoff. I had to be a showman." He was not only a great player but an outstanding entertainer. "I had to be at East Tennessee. For the first time in the school’s history, we filled the gym with fans."
Skeeter didn’t let the fans down. He became a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference player at East Tennessee State and the Player of the Year in 1968. He was elected to the ETSU Hall of Fame in 1982. When he was first recruited by ETSU, the coach thought he was a football player because of his size.
He’s in many Halls of Fame and has been honored by numerous groups in Virginia, including the Alexandria Sports Club.
Many old-time Alexandrians still remember the 1965 high school football game when he drop kicked a field goal and George Washington High School defeated Annandale. Few people had ever seen a "drop kicked" field goal, which is still legal today. Most recall his legendary performances on the basketball court at Tulloch Memorial Gym of George Washington High School in the early 1960s.
Skeeter Swift put East Tennessee State University on the national map with his basketball playing days. He went on to become a star in professional basketball where he scored over 3,000 points in his career and today ranks as one of the top 10 free-throw shooters in the American Basketball Association, now the National Basketball Association.
He has been an outstanding coach, teacher and speaker. As a coach at Oak Hill Academy, he won a national championship. © Copyright 2008 Harry Covert.
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