Remembering NIC-10 basketball record-holder, who died at age 43

When Steve Goers closes his eyes, he can still see Joe Tulley. But he’s not pulling up for a jumper. He is running in the streets.

“He would run with the basketball beneath his arm in our neighborhood, going from his house to a nearby court to play. Not just once,” said Goers, a longtime Boylan coach whose 881 wins rank third in state history, “basically all summer when we weren’t playing.

“He epitomized what Boylan basketball was all about. He was extremely hard working. He didn’t need motivation. He had self-motivation.”

Tulley died Sept. 18, three weeks before his 44th birthday. He was living in Henderson, Nevada, with his wife, Rachel, and twin 13-year-old daughters, Susan and Brooklyn. He owned and operated a packaging distribution company.

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But in Rockford, he will always be remembered as one of the greatest players in Boylan’s grand history. Tulley was a three-time first-team all-conference pick for teams that went 88-10 from 1997-99. He is the second-leading scorer in Titans history with 1,724 points, trailing only Lee Lampley (2,419). He averaged 24.2 points as a senior, including a 54-point game against East that remains the NIC-10 record.

Joe Tulley, an All-State basketball player for Boylan who still holds the NIC-10 record for most points in a game with 54, died on Sept. 18, 2024.

“He was so fun to watch, such a good shooter,” his uncle, Mike Tulley said. “He was good from anywhere.”

Any conversation about the greatest shooters in NIC-10 history start with Lampley, Hononegah’s Ryan Hoover, who went on to play at Notre Dame and then played in various pro leagues for 16 years, East’s Sincere Parker, who made over 100 3-pointers as a junior and had back-to-back 30-point games in college last year at St. Louis, and Joe Tulley II.

“That’s pretty accurate,” said East coach Roy Sackmaster, who coached Parker and played with Tulley for two years…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/remembering-nic-10-basketball-record-180502124.html

Author : Rockford Register Star

Publish date : 2024-09-24 18:05:02

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