Bob 'Posey' Rhoads
Bob 'Posey' Rhoads is one of the most prolific scoring machines ever to grace the basketball courts of Mercer County.
The current Slippery Rock High basketball coach had a shooting touch during his playing days from 1964-67 at Mercer High School that has been rivaled by few anywhere at any time.
He helped Mercer to back-to-back state titles in 1966 and 1967. In his junior year (1965-66) he was the leading rebounder on the team and the second-leading scorer. He was a second-team All-State pick that season.
In a spectacular senior year, he was leading rebounder and scorer on the team and was first-team All-State as well as an honorable-mention All-American.
His senior year he popped the nets for 816 points, averaging 30.2 points per game. The total was highest for a single season in county history until West Middlesex's Rick Ladjevich scored 827 in 1989-90.
Posey is the only local player ever to break 50 points twice in a career, scoring 50 against Rocky Grove and 51 against Coraopolis, both in his senior year.
That same year he won the annual Hoyle Award and was voted "Most Popular Player'' at the Hoyle tournament.
For his high school career, he scored 1,516 points, currently fourth-best all-time in the county. He also competed in track in high school.
He went on to a brilliant basketball career at Wake Forest University where he was a three-year starter. He was the defensive captain in 1971 and won the school's "Scholar Athlete Award'' that year.
Posey played professional basketball from 1973-77 in the Australian National Club League in Melbourne, Australia. He was the league's leading scorer in 1975 and was in the Top 10 in scoring every season.
He won "Player of the Match'' awards six times during national tournaments. He was one of 10 Americans selected to train and play against the Australian Olympic team in 1976.
From 1977-80 he served as director of coaching in the Napier Basketball Association in New Zealand. He was player-coach of the 1978 and 1979 National Club Finals runner-up teams and won "Player of the Match'' four times in the national tourneys.
He also coached the 1978 women's national club finals champion, winning Coach of the Year honors, and later coached the women's national runner-up team. He was the New Zealand women's national team coach.
Other coaching positions he held were: 1984-86, head coach at Thiel College; 1986-94, assistant coach at Slippery Rock University; 1994-95, head coach at Slippery Rock U.; and from 1995 to the present, head coach at Slippery Rock High School.
He also has coached soccer for youngsters in the Slippery Rock community.