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In order to have a big season, the Centralia Orphans needed a big year from a big man and that was precisely what they received from 6-foot-9 Luke Sharp, a 2019 inductee into the Centralia Sports Hall of Fame.
His senior season in 1998 capped a career that saw him score 1,150 points — 10th all-time in CHS boys basketball history — while averaging 20 points and nine rebounds per game as the Orphans posted a 27-6 record and made it to the Elite Eight of the Illinois High School Association state tournament for the first time in 34 years.
After working his way into considerable playing time as a sophomore, Sharp averaged 13 points and eight rebounds a game as a junior as Centralia went 22-7, and won the South 7 Conference for a fourth straight time but were edged out in the sectional finals by Mount Vernon.
Then came the 1997-98 campaign.
“We had nine seniors on that team, and after not going as far as we wanted the year before, we were ready to put in the effort and work to make a statement,” said Sharp. “It was definitely a group effort.”
Sharp averaged 18 points and eight rebounds in four games at the Belleville West Thanksgiving Tournament as the Orphans got off to a 4-0 start, and in the Players’ Casino Shootout at Metropolis, he went 8-for-8 from both the field and line in totaling 24 points in a win over Graves County (Ky.).
A week later, the undefeated Orphans met Cape Coral (Fla.) Mariner and All-American guard Teddy Dupay at the Kiel Center in St. Louis.
Dupay scored 46 points as Mariner won the game but Sharp made a name for himself with a 30-point effort.
From there, he collected first team honors at the Centralia Holiday Tournament as the Orphans downed the Rams in the first-ever meeting between the two in the finals of the CHT, and was also a first-team selection at the Salem Invitational Tournament.
After the Orphans closed the regular season as Sharp netted 29 in the season finale versus Marion, it was on to the postseason where Centralia won the regional, a sectional semifinal and advanced to the title game versus Mount Vernon, the teams’ fifth meeting of the season.
Before a packed house at Salem, Sharp converted a three-play with 6.9 seconds left in the overtime to break a tie and account for the winning margin in a 70-67 victory.
From there, it was on to the super-sectional at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where Sharp had 14 points and seven rebounds in a 51-41 victory over East St. Louis Lincoln and future NBA player Darius Miles.
The season ended with a loss to Galesburg in the state quarterfinals at Peoria but it was one to remember for Sharp and the Orphans.
For the season, he shot .636 from the field, .747 from the line while earning First Team All-South Seven Conference and team Co-Most Valuable Player honors, Special Mention All-State by the Champaign News-Gazette and Honorable Mention by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.
“I couldn’t have been in a better program,” said Sharp. “Looking back, it was as atmosphere like “Hoosiers” with a packed Trout Gym and so much support from the community.
“All the credit for that season has to go to my teammates. We didn’t get the finish we wanted, but we had great camaraderie on that team. And to be able to play on a stage like the state tournament is something I’ll always remember.”
After receiving a flood of college offers, Sharp decided on Eastern Illinois University, and a freshman, had 15 points versus Evansville in one of his first collegiate games before a shoulder ailment hampered his career.
Sharp also played baseball at Centralia, and during a junior season in which he batted .308, he swatted a walk-off, three-run homer against O’Fallon in a game in which the Orphans trailed 2-0 entering the last of the seventh.
“If basketball hadn’t worked out, I would have played baseball,” said Sharp.
Today, he’s the Water Treatment and Wastewater Pumping Supervisor for the Chicago suburb of Lombard and the ties to Centralia are still there.
“I coach my son in basketball and I still incorporate some the play that coach Moss ran,” said Sharp. “Even today when people find out I went to Centralia, they say ‘Then you must have been an Orphan and I bet you played in the Holiday Tournament.’
“Looking back, there’s no way I could have ever guessed how all this would turn out and the opportunities I’d have. I’m humbled and honored to be able to go into the Hall of Fame.”
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