CHARLESTON, W.Va. — George Washington High School senior Jon Elmore comes from a West Virginia basketball dynasty. His grandfather, Gay Elmore, played for WVU. His father, also named Gay, played for Virginia Military Institute. Now his older brother Ott is playing for VMI. The hard court is a family affair and Jon is no slouch. He’s the states leading scorer this year.
“I believe so. I try not to worry about that.”
He’s more concerned with helping his team win. Their record this season 19-6 and he helped lead the George Washington Patriots to the state Boy’s Basketball tournament in Charleston this week.
“I want to win the championship. I haven’t won one the first three years of high school and I’m trying to go out with a bang,” he said.
Unfortunately that road ended Thursday with a Huntington victory over GW 72-64. Elmore had 40 points in the loss.
Elmore’s road to the state tournament took a lot of twists and turns. He played his freshman and sophomore years at South Charleston. Then he decided he needed to attend a prep school if he wanted any shot of playing in college. So he headed south to Christ School in Asheville, North Carolina, a basketball powerhouse, for his junior year.
He’d already started his senior year when he got the news he’d been waiting for. Jon signed on the dotted line to play college ball at his dad’s alma mater, VMI. Two days later he was headed back to Charleston.
“Once I committed to VMI, my heart just wasn’t in [Asheville] anymore,” he explained. “I just wanted to be home with my family.”
A week later he join GW coach Rick Greene and the team to start the 2013-2014 season.
“Yeah! It was like Christmas early,” described Greene.
The coach said Jon is not only a good athlete and students but also a good kid. He’s proven it out on the court.
“He doesn’t care if he takes a shot. He just wants to do whatever it take for us to win,” stressed Greene. “Anymore that’s really rare.”
So how did his fellow players feel about a star player like Jon joining the team? Elmore said he’s always felt just like one of the guys.
“It was actually great! They all accepted me and they gave me the ball right away to play point guard,” he said. “They just kept playing their game and really didn’t change anything up.”
Jon stressed the one thing he’s really looking forward to next year is playing side by side with his brother at VMI.
“That’s going to be awesome. That was a big factor in my decision to go to VMI!”
His dad Gay is of the same mind.
“I have two sons. They’ve both played in the state tournament. They’re both going to VMI. I’m just tickled pink,” he beamed.