By Cary Shuman
Ethan Day attained the 1,000-point career milestone in the most spectacular of all fashions last February, scoring a school-record 65 points to land right on the magic number.
Friday night at the Roland Merullo Fieldhouse before the varsity’s season opener, Day was recognized for his achievement with a banner ceremony. Ethan had the honor of unveiling the new banner, becoming only the third player in school history to accomplish the feat. Sal Bottari (1987) and Trae Weathers (2011) are the other RHS players on the 1,000 Point Boys Basketball Honor Roll.
“It means a lot and it’s great to be back at Revere High and in this fieldhouse,” said Day.
Day, who is 6 foot, 2 inches, developed into one of the top players in the area after scoring only two varsity points during his freshman year. He averaged 7 points per game as a sophomore before exploding for 20 and 25 points-per-game averages in his junior and senior seasons. He was named the Greater Boston League co-MVP last season.
Day credited Revere head coach David Leary for his development into an All-Star player and what many observers considered “a scoring machine.”
“Coach Leary was my coach for all four seasons,” said Day. “He’s a great guy and a great coach. He always wants you to do better.”
Leary praised Day for the achievement.
“It’s a pretty cool thing to be only the third boy in the history of the school to reach 1,000,” said Leary. “And the way in which he did it in our last game – he needed 65 going in, and we never thought it was a real thing. But we wanted to try for him, and his teammates did a great job getting him the ball, but Ethan had to do the work and hit his shots, so it was pretty amazing.”
Revere Athletic Director Frank Shea has a connection to all three of the school’s 1,000-point scorers.
“I grew up and played Rec basketball with Sal Bottari, I was coaching at Masconomet when Ricky Hayes was the coach and Trae Weathers got his 1,000th point, and obviously I was the athletic director when Ethan Day scored 1,000 points. It was just amazing the way Ethan did it – it’s incredible that he landed right on a grand,” said Shea.
Day, 19, is studying Criminal Justice at North Shore Community College. He hopes to do some coaching following his college academic career. “I like basketball a lot and I can see some coaching in my future,” said Day.
