Getty Former Eagles QB Donovan McNabb will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Thursday evening.
Donovan McNabb retired from football in 2011, but he was the man during his playing days with the Philadelphia Eagles.
He set some records too.
McNabb is the bird’s all-time leading passer with a total of 32,873 yards.
McNabb is also the Eagles’ winningest quarterback with 101 victories. Philly honored Donny 5 McNabb by retiring number 5 jersey and putting him in the Philadelphia Eagles’ Ring of Honor.
Apparently, McNabb was also the man on the basketball court in high school during his playing days at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago, Illinois.
So who did Donny 5’s game resemble?
“I’ll give a name, Mitch Richmond,” Antoine Walker, McNabb’s former high school teammate told me on the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show.
SPRINGFIELD, MA – AUGUST 8: Mitch Richmond speaks during the 2014 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Symphony Hall on August 8, 2014 in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
“I would say Mitch Richmond. A big 2-guard. He was probably more athletic than Mitch because Donovan was REALLY athletic in high school; but can shoot the three, tough, get a bucket for you…he was a big part of my success in high school.”
A Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, Mitch Richmond is a six-time NBA All-Star, 1989 NBA Rookie of the Year and a member of the Lakers’ 2001-02 Championship team.
The Golden State Warriors’ fifth pick in the 1988 NBA Draft out of Kansas State, Richmond has a career average of 21 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in stops with the Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and the Lakers.
Antoine Walker says that Donovan McNabb played two sports in high school and he was quite good. “You know, I used to have to hold it down for about four or five games until he gets himself together from football,” he said.
“Because they were playing for a state title every year. But after that, we needed him. He was a terrific athlete. I tell everyone that Donovan could’ve easily played Division I basketball. Was he major Division I? No, but he was probably mid-major. He could probably be a mid-major player that could play real minutes and be a part of a real program. But Mitch Richmond, if I had to compare him to a pro would be him. I don’t want people to under look that he was just a football guy playing; it’s funny because in school, back then it was like, you wanted to go to college. I know now it’s different. Everybody wants to go pro. But back then, you wanted to go to college and we used to argue every day about college, about what school we were going to and Donovan said: ‘I’m going to be playing BOTH sports. If the school wants me, they got to take me with both sports.’ Got something for you that you didn’t know: You know Donovan was on the team when we won the National Title. Yeah. He was on the roster. He was on Syracuse’s roster. He was on the bench and he was dressed in uniform so yeah, he played two sports for a couple of years on the low before he decided to just – because that was a part of him going to Syracuse; he had to be able to play both sports. So a lot of people didn’t know that.”