How Did Schrempf End Up In Centralia?

In a previous post, we included an All-Star team of the best NBA players to come from Washington high schools. One of them was Detlef Schrempf, who of course wasn’t really from Washington, but spent his senior year at Centralia High School. Which must have been like having Beyonce star in your high school’s musical.

Can you imagine Schrempf playing at the 3A level against teams like Burlington-Edison, Clarkston and Timberline? Those are the schools Centralia defeated en route to the 1981 state title.

How did a German who grew to 6-foot-9 end up in Centralia en route to being a first-round draft pick and three-time NBA All-Star? According to a he was an exchange student and was discovered there by Washington coach Marv Harshman:

In fact, when Harshman first saw the 6’7″, 175-pound Schrempf play as an exchange student at Centralia, the coach was unimpressed. “He wasn’t a prospect. He was a suspect,” says Harshman.