East Hall basketball book available at Vikings home games

Almost two years ago Ray Adamson began posting a series of articles on an online forum about the best East Hall basketball games he'd ever seen.

Thanks to a combination of his unique knowledge of the Vikings, 40-plus years spent following the program and East Hall's tremendous success and following Adamson found himself overwhelmed by demand for more.

Beginning Friday night, East Hall fans may sate their appetite fully.

Adamson has published a book about those match-ups -- encompassing contests that range from 1973 to 2008 -- and will be present at the Vikings two remaining home games of the season to distribute copies of "Countdown of the Best EH Games."

"This is a not for profit endeavor," Adamson said. "If someone wants to make a donation to help pay for the costs of publishing I'll gladly accept, but I'm not charging for it."

Adamson said a book was the farthest thing from his mind when he began posting his thoughts on the "30 best games" he had witnessed in a long history of following Vikings hoops. But readers of the Georgia Varsity Sports Vent devoured the posts with relish and began to press him for more, leading to thoughts of something more substantial.

"It took on a life of its own," said Adamson, who is recognized as the Vikings' unofficial program historian. "If I was ever late posting the stories people would start asking me what was going on and when they were coming. And I had a lot of people who weren't East Hall fans and had no connection to East Hall asking for more. It was really kind of overwhelming."

Yet once Adamson, who began following the team when his mother was a bookkeeper for the school -- including a an 11-year streak of not missing a game that included his time as a student at the University of Georgia -- set about the task of putting the posts into book form it didn't take long to produce.

"I just had to get organized," Adamson said. "And this way people don't have to wait on me to post something on the Vent."

The book includes narrative sketches of outstanding games, players and coaches and will be available on Friday and Saturday at Valhalla -- the Vikings play host to Fannin County on Friday and Flowery Branch on Saturday.

"Very often people have asked me what's the best East Hall game I've ever seen," Adamson said. "This is a long answer to that question."

Adamson added that those interested that cannot attend the game may email him for a copy: [email protected].