The alumni and current students of Morningside High School came together for their annual Ole School vs New School Basketball game on Saturday. The annual event was a bittersweet occasion as Morningside will be closing at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
Inglewood mayor James Butts along with councilmember Dionne Faulk and Inglewood Unified School District county administrator Jim Morris were in attendance. They hope that Morningside Alumni continue this annual event.
“If we have the opportunity to have these memories go on then we should do this as long as the building stands,” Butts said. “It’s about community and maintaining our history and our memories.”
During the event, former members of the Monarchs girl’s basketball team were honored. Morningside won CIF State titles in 1989 and 1990. Last season, the Monarchs reached the third round of the Division 5A Southern Section playoffs.
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The Olde School vs New School basketball game was created by Meran Matters of the Morningside Monarchs Alumni Association (MMAA). They also had a sock-hop celebration to connect younger alums and current students with a tradition from older alumni.
“It’s one big family of warmth,” said MMAA member Ta Launa Beverly. “Every year, everybody comes out and they support either the old school alumni or the new school, the kids.”
Jonteyn Prewitt, who was president of the 1997 class, competed with three other family members in the women’s game. One of whom was her daughter Mishari, who graduated in 2023.
“It’s very significant to me because this marks the last time that we will play on our home gym as Monarchs,” Prewitt said. “It’s very emotional; before the game, I cried.”
Kameisha Prewitt played along with Prewitt on the women’s Olde school team. During her time at Morningside, Kemeisha was a teammate of Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. She was on the team that won the State title in 1990. The team was led by Frank Scott.
“He had that mindset of making sure that we played hard and we understood the game,” Kameisha said. “We knew what defense to run, we knew what offense to run.”
Morningside made four consecutive CIF State championship appearances from 1988 to 1991. The alumni who helped the Monarchs contend, including Jojo Witherspoon, Melinda Cook-Burton, and Tamara Gooden, reminisced on their teammates and their playoff run.
“Those teams, coach Scott made sure that the older players came back,” Witherspoon said.
The New School women’s team won 26-18 while the Olde School men’s team won 76-75.
“It’s a good school, I’m sad to see it go, it should have still been here,” Mishari said. “No reason to tear down this school.”
Morningside alum and Showtime Laker Byron Scott also attended to spend time with his peers. New School men’s team member and class of 2018 alum Brandon Williams was happy to be in his “old stomping grounds.”
“Coming here helped me realize a lot of stuff that I wanted to do in life and grow mature,” Williams said. “The coaching staff here, they raised me; they taught me right.”
The MMAA has been working to get funding for the senior activities for the 2025 class. The Clippers Foundation recently donated $117,600 to pay for the final Morningside graduating class.
“The Clippers organization is amazing,” said MMAA care coordinator Cinder Eller-Kimbell. “I appreciate them coming in and stepping up and doing what they said that they were going to do.”
