FAIRHOPE, Alabama - 2003, a basketball odyssey. It was not a famous work of science fiction, no Hollywood blockbuster—so far—but the Fairhope High basketball Pirates of 2002-03 were a masterpiece.

Even though they fell short of coast-to-coast perfection by falling in the regional round of the post season to West End High, their undefeated, 32-0 regular-season run was a spectacular feat in the sport of high-school basketball. That journey from zero to 32 “W’s” and the reality check of that 1 big “L” will be commemorated Tuesday and those who made it happen will be honored at Pirate Gym before the 2012-13 Pirates host the Foley Lions in an important 6A Area 3 showdown.

Players will be recognized for their contribution to FHS and to local hard-wood history 10 seasons ago with many of them attending the pregame ceremony with former Pirate coaches Curtis Brodie, Fenton Jenkins and former head coach Ralph Watson beginning about 7:15 p.m.

“It was an amazing year,” Watson said, now the head coach at Bayside Academy. His sons—Rushing (a senior) and Davis (a freshman) play for the Pirates.

He can’t pinpoint exactly why and how everything went so well so long before it finally went so wrong 10 years ago, but he has some ideas.

“I wish I could’ve bottled it,” he said with a big smile and a slight shake of the head. “No, they were just a group of special young men with extra special talent and they played together like they were—you know— reading each other’s mind sometimes. We had lost some very good players to graduation and some of the guys who came back had not had a ton of court time. I remember Curtis and I talking about what kind of team we might be able to put together. We knew we had some good ones but I don’t think anybody said, ‘Oh, yeah, we’ll go 32-0. No problem. Piece of cake.’ But they did.”

The players were: Sean LeBlanc, Joseph Gill, Kevin Gray, Chuck Hartley, Brian Hixon, Patrick Hogan, Micah Mesler, Skylar Miller, Sullivan Mills, Fred Rhodes, Kaleb Smith and Alan Whitney. The team manager was Ramone Black. The scorekeeper was Wayne Tait. Whitney was a senior transfer from Alma Bryant that year, other than that, Watson said he knew little about him. But the former Bayou Hurricane quickly filled the sails for the Pirates with brilliant individual and team play.

“At first you worry a little about working a new kid in, especially when you don’t know exactly what kind of system they might be used to,” Watson said. “Even though you see they have the size needed inside and as coach you can never have enough big kids. But one work out with our program and then we saw what he could do, shoot threes, drive to the hole, rebound and block, pass. Then we didn’t worry as much about the new kid and of course, he was such a great kid, fit right in. Alan was a great addition to the team, but they were all so talented. Skylar Miller was amazing, Chuck Hartley was a great shooting guy, Joseph Gill, Kevin Gray, Patrick Hogan, Micah Mesler, Fred Rhodes, Kaleb Smith, Brian Hixon, Sullivan Mills, Sean LeBlanc. Oh, yeah—I remember all, all great players, great young men. But what really got the job done night in, night out, was the defense. Those guys hustled themselves sick. They made a lot of good teams look silly.”

Former Fairhope player, now head coach at Baldwin County High Lorenzo Hunter said even as an opposing coach it was an exciting time, especially since he had played for the Pirates.

“This was a magical year for my alma-mater,” he said. “Even though I coach at a rival school, it was hard not to cheer for the accomplishments of coach Ralph Watson and the ‘02-‘03 Pirates. The 32-0 record is a feat that will probably never happen again and it’s great that those guys are being honored. So from all of my '85 classmates, we say ‘Go Pirates.’”

Watson added that the early wins were not too surprising, but by mid-season the streak of victories had taken on a life and a following.

“We were packed. Wherever we went. Everybody wanted to see us keep winning or knock us off. I think we—by that time, late December, early January — we were really benefitting from our own confidence. It was exciting, but we were really just playing great basketball, very unselfish team ball and we were having fun. And when you’re doing that things tend to go more your way. But I was not really all that sure about how good we were until about then, Dec. 31, about half-way through the season. We won the Freeport (Niceville, Fla., area) tournament on New Year’s Eve. We beat some really good teams then and we were something like 16 or 17 and 0. That’s when I kind of said, OK, we’re pretty good.”

But West End handed the Pirates the only loss that year in single elimination region play and went on to the final-four state tournament. The 5A state champion that year would be Wilcox Central.

Robbie Robertson, now the head coach at Fairhope was coaching at the junior college level at Marion Institute during that season. He left to coach at McGill-Toolen the following year.

“I remember that year very well,” he said. “I came down to the Mitchell Center and saw them get beat that last game and it was a shock. They had been playing so well. But what I really remember is that’s when I got to know coach Watson a little bit more. And even in that defeat, I was so impressed with how he dealt with that and the way he handled the kids and that whole season. It really opened my eyes. After that I went back into coaching high school at McGill and got to know him a lot better and I just have continued to have enormous respect for him in the profession and just as a person. He’s really been like a mentor to me and a lot of other coaches and I think he’s a great teacher. But it’s going to be a special night for a special team and coach and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Watson and Brodie, who coaches the Bayside junior varsity, have the night off Tuesday and are looking forward to the reunion.

“It’s going to be fun to see those guys again,” Watson said. “I know they’re all facebooking and trying to get everybody back. I think a couple of guys can’t make it, maybe. But we’re looking forward to seeing as many of those guys as we can again. That’s a team worth celebrating. To win 32 in a row is hard to do.”