Channel 5 Eyewitness News (March 9, 2016)
Minneapolis North Community School’s boys basketball program was as powerful a powerhouse as you’ll see in prep sports. In 23 years from 1980 to 2003, the Polars made fifteen State Tournament appearances. They finished as runners-up three times and claimed five State Championships in 1980, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2003.
The teams from ’95-’97 are regarded among the most talented, if not *the* most talented, in Minnesota high school hoops history. Point guard Khalid El-Amin, who later led UCONN to a college championship, was the leader. It would have been hard to imagine after that most recent State trip in 2003 that Minneapolis North wouldn’t return for 13 years. It also would have been hard to imagine the school would shut down. In 2010, that was the proposal from Minneapolis Schools’ Superintendent. With enrollment depleting and academic standards slipping, the school that had truly served as a “Community School” since 1888 was on the chopping block. READ MORE (AND WATCH)…