With 17 years worth of tournaments, clinics, bounce-passes, pick-and-rolls, dog-fights, over-time thrillers and thousands of other memories to sift through, Herndon head coach Gary Hall goes back to his first year as head coach when asked about the most influential basketball players in Herndon High School's history. That is, of course, after Scottie Reynolds — a guard that led Herndon to its first regional title and AAA state finals berth under Hall this past season en route to being named a McDonald's All-American (first Northern Region selection since 1993).

"Anything you can say about Scottie, you can say about Randy," said Hall.

Who is Randy?

Randy Dodson, an explosive guard with what Hall called "the most beautiful jump-shot" was part of a dynamic duo that helped Herndon break an 18-year Great Falls District title drought in 1994. The other part of that duo was 6-foot 6-inch forward Brandon Richardson, who is still the only player ever to graduate from Herndon with over 1,000 career points and over 500 career rebounds.

"Even now the debate goes on," said Hall. "Who was better, Scottie or Randy?"

The mathematics are in favor of Reynolds, who passed Dodson this past season to become the all-time leading scorer in school history — a record that stood for 12 years.

As for Richardson, no big-man has touched his career rebounding and career scoring mark which saw him average 16 points and 16 rebounds per game in his senior season.

"I was more of an inside presence, a rebounder," said Richardson, who played his final game at Herndon with an ankle injury that swelled to the size of a balloon in the loss to Hayfield in the regional semifinals.

HALL, WHO ACCEPTED the position at Herndon High School 17 years ago, was a former assistant coach at South Lakes High School. He was also the freshman team coach and was hoping that Dodson — who was already playing travel league and house league basketball in Reston — would be wearing Seahawk blue and green by the time he was a freshman.

"I was an assistant coach at South Lakes and Randy used to always come to the South Lakes basketball camp," said Hall. "It wasn't hard core recruiting, but we always used to say 'hey Randy, those houses in Reston sure are nice."

When Hall got the job at Herndon, things changed.

"My first phone call was to Randy," said Hall. "I said 'remember all that stuff I was talking about at South Lakes? Forget it.'"

Hall managed to get Dodson and a group of eighth graders that hadn't lost a game in the Fairfax County house league since they were in fifth grade, to sway towards Herndon.

But it would not be until that eighth grade year that Hall and Dodson would find what Hall called "The missing piece."

RICHARDSON MOVED to Herndon in his eighth grade year and joined up with Dodson's house league team. The minute Hall saw Richardson, he knew he was special. "I go and watch them play because you know that is going to be the future of your program," remembered Hall. "They are winning and there is a loose ball. Brandon goes diving into the bleachers and has no regard for his body. I asked him after the game, I said to him, 'You are winning, what are you doing?' He's like 'Coach I just hate to lose.'

That moment might mark the start of an era of basketball success at Herndon High School that is personified by Richardson's extra effort — a trait that Herndon fans find common in the Herndon gymnasium known as the 'Hornets Nest.'

"People sometimes ask me, 'coach why do your teams play so hard?'" said Hall. "It's not something that I did, it's something that Brandon and Randy Dodson created 17 years ago."

The numbers support Richardson's love for defense. He and a Dodson-led brick wall defense held six opponents to 50 points or less in 1994. They held South Lakes to 68 points with a '3-2 zone' defense that resulted in a 78-68 Great Falls District title victory — the first under Hall and the first for Herndon since 1976. It was not only the first for Herndon, but it was a bit of a first for the cross-town rival Seahawks (19-6), who had won six of the last eight Great Falls District titles.

"That's where we got that hunger and hard-nosed defense that Herndon has," said Richardson, who tallied 16 points and 14 rebounds and three blocked shots in the title victory. The Hornets won three consecutive district championships after that season and have been a contender in every year that has followed.

"1994 was the year that catapulted the great basketball consistency at Herndon," said Richardson, who now works as a project accountant at Nortel Government Solutions and lives with his wife and three children in Cross Junction (near Winchester).

Richardson, who went on to play at St. Francis College before transferring to the University of South Carolina Aiken, remembered unorthodox practice rituals like running sprints with bricks in hand while Hall remembered Dodson's obsession with getting stronger. "He was fanatical about getting stronger," said Hall of Dodson. "And doing everything to get an edge. We had no weights, so he used to throw things in a pillow case and do curls."

DODSON, WHO NOW lives in California, averaged 21.7 points per game in his junior year and hit a bit of a low with 17 points per game nearing the postseason of his senior year. Dodson heard that Marshall coach Mike Oblinger had asked why his average was down. In fact, Hall made sure that Dodson knew that Oblinger had asked that very question prior to their match-up with the Statesmen.

"He was a scorer," said Richardson of Dodson. "You wouldn't know he was out there unless he was scoring. He was real conservative and quiet compared to me."

Dodson was loud that night against the Statesmen.

He responded to Oblinger's questions by delivering a 41-point performance that, at that point, was Herndon's all-time single-game scoring record. He went on to East Tennessee State University in his first two seasons of college after a recruiting period that Hall said inflated to a point where over 100 schools were courting him.

Dodson started 25 of the Bucs' 27 games as a point guard and led the team in assists (85) and free-throw percentage (.823) in the 1995-1996 season. He finished with 372 career points and 131 career assists.

Randy Dodson is 77 in a survey of the area's Top 100 Athletes by Connection Newspapers in 2000.