STILL WORTH WATCHING : Five Years Later, These Athletes Are Fulfilling Their Early Promise

In the past few years, the names of thousands of prep athletes have appeared in this newspaper, but none has earned more attention than Schea Cotton, the all-everything basketball player who has provided plenty to watch and write about during his prep career.

But even before Cotton set foot on a high school campus--first at Bellflower St. John Bosco High, then Mater Dei, then back to St. John Bosco--he caught our eye. On Jan. 30, 1991--exactly five years ago to the day--The Times Orange County published a “Kids to Watch” package under the premise that the youngsters profiled would be making headlines by the time they reached high school.

Cotton was the featured athlete back then, too.

Selecting the kids meant talking with local club coaches, combing areas of the county known reknown for the strength of their particular youth programs, and plain old guessing.

We did pretty well. It wasn’t difficult finding most of these athletes five years later, as most made good on their promises.