Once upon a time, there was an Augusta-area kid who made the cover of ESPN Magazine during one of the collegiate sports calendar’s most talked about events — the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
We call it “March Madness.”
That kid’s name? Ty Shine.
Maybe the first name doesn’t ring a bell, but that last name should.
The Shine family has a basketball legacy in Augusta that runs about as deep as a “Cinderella” college basketball team’s journey to a national championship.
And, by every account we’ve heard, that legacy began with Ty.
Born and raised in Augusta, he spent his first three years playing for Richmond Academy before making a move to Withrow High School (Ohio) for his senior year and 1997 graduation. But things back in the late 1990s weren’t like what they are now.
Whereas today’s standout high school stars may travel across the country to finish their high school careers at prestigious prep school programs for the sake of playing against the nation’s best, Ty Shine’s reason for leaving was far less sexy.
“I had to get my core (grade point average) up,” Shine said. “That school allowed me to retake some classes, so that’s what it was.”
It helped that Withrow was a solid high school basketball power as well. But make no mistake, Shine didn’t need a prestigious prep school to cement himself as one of the nation’s top prospect.
By the time he matriculated to Cincinnati for his final year of high school, he was already well on his way to a college career that eventually landed him to then-Big East Conference power Seton Hall.
That’s where the ESPN The Magazine cover shoot happened. That’s where the Washington Post showed up to do a story on Shine’s career path — a story that published on this exact day 24 years ago, not long after Shine stepped in for the injured Shaheen Holloway and used a 26-point performance, complete with a game-winning 3-pointer with 18.9 seconds left in overtime, to lift a No. 10 seed Pirates squad over second-seeded Temple, coached by the legendary John Chaney in the 2000 NCAA Tournament.
Fast forward more than two decades, and on the opening day of the 2024 NCAA tournament, Shine posted a picture of his ESPN magazine cover on his Facebook page.
“Legends make their names in March,” he wrote, motivated by the nostalgia created by his own March Madness exploits.
More than two decades later, Ty Shine still basks in it.
“It’s a blessing, man,” Shine said. “I couldn’t have thanked God more for being able to do what I did then,” Shine said. “And I couldn’t have thanked God more for being in this type of situation I’m in now — to have a son that’s kinda interested in some of the things I was into coming up as a kid.”
That phrase “kinda interested” is quite the understatement considering Ty Shine, Sr. had the chance to watch his namesake son make his own tournament-time mark on the basketball court as he led Curtis Baptist to a South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) Division II state championship by knocking off Riverpointe Christian Academy, 62-57 on Feb. 24.
The younger Shine scored 24 points in the win and was named state tournament MVP. The performance was par for the course in a season where the 6-foot Shine led the Crusaders in scoring and assists with 19.3 points and 3.6 assists per game.
Not bad for a freshman, huh?
“To see his accomplishments this season, it was just an unbelievable feeling,” Ty Shine, Sr., said. “We do a lot of one-on-one work on his game together, and when we do our individual work behind closed doors, and I see those processes and the things he’s worked on take place in a game, it’s just a good feeling.”
JUST GETTING STARTED
Darrin Shine watched his two nephews, Derrick Shine, Jr. and Ty Shine, Jr. spar against each other in his half-court gym setup — the home of Shine Hoop Grind where he trains up-and-coming Augusta-area basketball talent.
Darrin’s son DJ — a two-time state champion at Augusta Christian before moving on to play his senior season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and signing a scholarship offer to Murray State — was also in the mix. And as the young trio took turns trying to score on each other, Darrin couldn’t help but smile.
That smile was a mixture of pride, irony and surreal nostalgia — the kind of feeling that comes when you’re witnessing a genuine full-circle moment.
While Darrin Shine watched, he pointed out Ty Shine, Jr. as the namesake of the aforementioned Seton Hall standout who also happens to be Darrin’s “big cousin.”
“That’s Ty’s son,” Darrin said. “His dad pretty much started the whole basketball thing for our family.”
Darrin referenced the Seton Hall-Temple game that boosted the Pirates into the Sweet 16. He recalls how “the whole city was watching.” Then Darrin began to wax reminiscent about the days when his big cousin Ty used to make Augusta-area crowds swoon back in the days when Richmond Academy and Westside were hardwood rivals.
“Man, those were the days when Westside had Ricky Moore and William Avery, and Thomson had Vonteego Cummings,” Darrin Shine said. “I remember how we used to go and watch those guys play against each other. Gyms would be packed. Everybody oohing and ahhing at what they were doing on the court. I was like 9, 10 years old then, and I fell in love with the oohs and the ahhs, and it made me want to play.”
Moore, Avery, Cummings and Ty Shine, Sr. — that was the Augusta area’s “big four” at the time.
Moore went on to play at UCONN during the Huskies’ championship era, while Avery landed at Duke and Cummings at Pitt. Because they were all playing east coast basketball in college, the Augusta Four were able to extend their high school rivalries from time to time whenever their college teams met on the court.
“During that time, I’m going to watch Ty. I’m going to watch William Avery. I’m going to watch Ricky Moore. I’m going to watch Vonteego Cummings,” Darrin Shine said. “Future NBA-talent guys right here in the city, and I’m seeing them as an 8, 9, 10-year old kid from Augusta, and I said, ‘If they can do it, I can do it too.’”
It, indeed, left an indelible imprint on Darrin, just in time for him to start making a name for himself on the old Tubman Middle School gym floor.
“I remember being at Tubman, playing in the middle school championship,” Darrin said. “I was a 7th grader, and we were playing Glenn Hills Middle who had the best team in the city at the time. I was just ahead of my time a bit. I was throwing alley-oops to my guys. I was a dribbler. I studied Tim Hardaway. I’d hit ‘em with the Tim Hardaway cross over, lob it up and my teammate would lay it in. Make the whole gym go crazy.
“I wasn’t but about 5-foot-4 at the time, and when I saw I could please a crowd, but was good and fundamentally sound at the same time and could make things happen in the midst of competition, I was like, ‘I may be on to something.’”
That “something” led to Darrin not only competing for championships in middle school, but also to a standout career at Richmond Academy. And that paved the way for him to follow in “big cousin” Ty’s footsteps as a collegiate player when he took a scholarship offer to Delaware State and eventually helped lead the Hornets to their first and only NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005 — a 57-46 loss to Duke in in the first round.
Since then, Darrin has carved a niche for himself as arguably the foremost basketball trainer in the Augusta area.
Owner of Shine’s Hoop Grind, Darrin has tutored some of the city’s current standouts at various points of their career — players like Derrion Reid, a 5-star prospect on his way to Alabama, Elijah Crawford, former backcourt mate of Darrin’s son DJ at Augusta Christian, who signed with Stanford in November, Westside point guard Demarco Middleton who just completed a third straight state championship run with the Patriots, Morgan State-bound Cross Creek point guard Michaela Bogans, considered one of the state’s best.
Not to mention Darrin’s own son DJ who will start his collegiate career at Murray State this fall. Identifying and developing talent is Darrin’s way of extending his career and giving back to the city that helped get him started.
“Having an eye for talent and developing that talent came from how I was brought up in the game,” Darrin said. “I think that started just by watching Ty and those other guys here in Augusta when I was young and just knowing how good they were.”
THE NAME HOLDS WEIGHT
Henry Shine. That’s the family patriarch, Ty Shine, Sr. says.
“He’s our grandfather, and he passed away when we were all young kids,” Ty Shine, Sr. said. “He’s the reason we all have this same last name. We got it from him, Mr. Shine. I’m proud, and I wish he could’ve lived to see how this name is getting carried on.”
The Shine family is a large one, containing three sets of twins.
“Darrin and Derrick are brothers, and their mom has a twin,” Ty Shine said. “My mom has a twin as well, but hers is a brother. We grew up in a household that was really into sports. Our uncles encouraged it and set the path. I was the big cousin at the time, and Derrick and Darrin, they all got the chance to watch me play.”
Once Ty and Darrin finished their playing careers, there was a bit of a lull in the Shine dynasty. But that lull didn’t last long.
Enter DJ, Derrick Shine, Jr. and Ty Shine, Jr. All Shines. All namesakes of their basketball playing fathers.
“When people hear that name, ‘Shine’ in Augusta, they automatically think, ‘Oh, you must be a hooper. If you got that name Shine, you gotta hoop,'” Darrin said.
Derrick and Ty Jr. just finished their freshman seasons at Cross Creek and Curtis Baptist, respectively. And the Murray State-bound DJ got his high school start at Augusta Christian.
And now the older Shines get the privilege of watching the next generation of legacy bearers emerge on some of the same courts that they and those stars of the 1990s played.
“It feels good, because I’ve been there to see all of them come up,” Darrin Shine said. “And I’ve been able to help them grow in the game. It translates from youth and rec ball to where they’re at now. High school, this is the real deal because it’s paving the way to college. You want to be at a certain pace development wise and skill wise when you reach the ninth grade, and they’re there.”
He’s talking specifically about freshmen Derrick Shine, Jr. and Ty Shine, Jr. — both young players who developed their love for the game early by watching the ones who came before them.
“I used to watch my dad on YouTube,” Ty Shine, Jr. said. “The Seton Hall-Temple game in the Sweet 16. When Shaheen Holloway, who coaches them now, was on that team. Yeah, it’s pretty crazy to watch and know that’s my dad.”
Because of that, his father never had to force the game onto his son. It came to him naturally.
“When you got a kid, they’re gonna inherit what they constantly see at a young age,” Ty Shine, Sr. said. “He’s seen this stuff, watching games on YouTube, on TV. You might think they’re real young and not picking up on it, but when they just see it constantly, they’re going to pick up on it. He had the basketball goals and rims in the house. It wasn’t anything I pushed on him. It came naturally for him.”
“I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” said the younger Ty Shine. “He helped me by putting me in rec leagues and [YMCA] leagues, and then I played AAU ball, then high school, and it felt great for me to win that state championship.”
Derrick Shine, Jr. said it all began for him by watching his dad coach.
“When he started an AAU team, and I was looking at the players, I wanted to have that same love for the game,” Derrick said. “And when I was young, he had me playing up. I was in first grade, and he had me playing against third graders. I was confused because I thought I was gonna play against kids in my grade, but these kids were a lot bigger than me, and I was trying to figure out what to do against them.”
Fast forward to his high school debut against a Class AAAAAA Grovetown team just two seasons removed from a state championship. Derrick came in the game off the bench, scored 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and helped Cross Creek to a 64-57 win.
Derrick went on to be a regular contributor for coach Lawrence Kelly’s Razorbacks squad – the same program that’s won two of the last four Class AAA state championships.
“I’m glad my dad pushed me the way he did,” Derrick said. “It’s definitely paid off.”
For DJ Shine, Darrin’s college-bound son, seeing his dad’s success at Delaware State and knowing his father got to showcase his talents on the Big Dance stage against the bluest of college basketball bluebloods just added more credibility to what he was already learning from his dad.
“Really, it was a couple of years ago when I’d seen my dad’s clips from high school, prep school and college, and I watched him and saw how good he was and analyzed what he did that I should add to my game,” DJ said. “I always listened to the things he said to me. But seeing him doing it gave me that extra boost that said, ‘Yeah, he knows what he’s talking about.’”
It’s not lost on the three youngsters that they carry a name and stand on legacies that reverberate across the Augusta basketball scene.
“In Augusta, you know that Shine name means something, and it makes you want to be the best in Augusta and really try to live up to that name,” DJ said. “Of course it makes you nervous, but in the game, those nerves go away, and you just want to play the game and prove you’re the best.”
Said Derrick Shine, Jr: “With that name being very popular, you gotta tough up and do what you gotta do. I’m nervous sometimes, but then I just think of the last name and I represent.”
They also realize that their opponents know that name too.
“It makes people try to play harder and have something against you,” DJ Shine said.
Derrick Jr. and Ty Jr. both have seen and felt some of that extra aggression on the court.
“You feel it and hear things people say, and it just makes you want to go at them harder and get the best of them,” Derrick said.
“There’s definitely a lot of haters out here,” said Ty Shine, Jr. “You just have to lock in and go play.”
Both Darrin and Ty Shine, Sr. say that’s something they’ve worked to prepare their young ones for since the day they really began to show promise on the court.
“That’s just kind of how it’s gonna be,” Darrin said. “Just being the best player or one of the best players alone is going to make people want to come at you. The name doesn’t make it any better, because you’ll hear little comments like, ‘Oh, they’re supposed to be good. Their dad or their uncle trains them all day. They’re supposed to be good.’
“But I tell them, that’s just life. Things and people come at you rough, and you just gotta get through it. If you want to be that guy, you gotta be ready and prepared to get through whatever comes your way.”
For that reason,Ty Shine, Sr. is constantly stressing focus to his young son.
“I just tell him that we’ve got a bigger picture for your life and career at hand,” he said. “I tell him not to get too caught up with the local things going on. I want to put my son in a situation where he’s getting exposure that will lead to him being on the college level. I just try to keep him focused on the big picture.”
THEY’VE GOT NEXT
All three of the younger Shines have benefited or are benefiting from the AAU circuit with Ty competing with the Adidas 3 SSB Team. DJ got a lot of his looks from starring on the Adidas circuit as well.
The trio of cousins have done their research and drawn inspiration from the local legends of the past as well as current standouts like Reid and Crawford. But they also find camaraderie and friendly, but intense competition amongst themselves.
When asked who’s the best among the three, DJ answers by reporting a score.
“I beat Ty 43-3 once,” DJ quipped.
“Nah. That didn’t happen like that,” Ty responded. “They can’t guard me. Neither one of them.”
“As a ninth grader, DJ, your ninth-grade self couldn’t beat me,” Derrick said.
“I was stronger and taller,” DJ replied.
“But you wasn’t bigger though,” Ty shot back.
The banter drew a hearty chuckle out of Darrin, but it also gave him the chance to talk about why each of them have skills that can not only make each other better, but perhaps make them better than their fathers.
“It’s situational,” Darrin said. “I’m looking at their age, basketball IQ, style they play. Derrick is a true point guard. Ty makes good [point guard] plays too, but he’s more of a scoring guard. DJ wants to be a two guard, but he’s a point guard. He can shoot. Derrick, yeah, he’s gonna make the play that sets the table for everyone else.
“They bring different things to the table. Now I just gotta get them to play defense at a high level at all times.”
That last part about the defense made the Shine cousins laugh and groan, but the point was well taken. They know it only gets more difficult with each level they ascend.
“When they go to college and they’re on their own, will they make the decision to stay in the gym and go to practice on their own,” Darrin said. “When you’re at that place where everyone is basically the same kind of talented, it’s hard work that’s going to outweigh talent.”
Derrick says he’s already embracing it.
“If you really want to play at this level, once you get like 13, 14 years old, you gotta be able to go to the gym and put the work in for yourself,” he said. “Nobody can force you to do it at that point.”
Meanwhile, Darrin says he sees things in DJ that he didn’t have, and Ty Shine, Sr. says his son is on a track to surpass him one day.
“At this age, I think I was a better player, but my son is definitely way more skilled,” he said. “I had mentors growing up like Chuck Graham. He played for Richmond Academy and then Florida State. He showed me how to work out and things like that. But I only had Chuck for a couple of weeks out of the summer. I’m with my son 24-7. I show him things NBA coaches have taught me. I feel blessed to be able to instill that in him.”
And while each father has their own specifically tailored interest in their son, they also heartily root for each other to succeed, as well as other talented ballers in the Augusta area.
“If people see the drills and videos and things I post of my son, and they think it can help them out, I don’t have a problem helping them out, whether family or otherwise,” Ty Shine, Sr. said. “If one kid from this area makes it to the top from here, all of them make it.”
Gabriel Stovall is sports editor for The Augusta Press. He can be reached at gabriel@theaugustapress.com. Follow him on X (Twitter), Instagram and Threads: @GabrielCStovall.
