Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Beaver Falls' Lance Jeter: Boys' Athlete of the year.

After growing up and listening to stories from his mother and uncles, Lance Jeter can tell you about the great Midland High School basketball teams in the 1960s and '70s. He can name some great Aliquippa athletes over the years and tell you about the glory days of the Blackhawk basketball program.

For a teenager, Jeter has a good grasp of Beaver County's rich high school sports history. The funny thing is, now he's a part of it.

Jeter graduated from Beaver Falls High School in June. He left behind a truckload of great memories in football, basketball and baseball. And now he adds this to his own legacy: Post-Gazette High School Male Athlete of the Year.

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"He may not be in a class by himself as far as athletes in Beaver County history," said Beaver Falls coach Doug Biega. "But it doesn't take long to call roll in his class."

The Athlete of the Year award is the highest honor for an athlete in the WPIAL and City League. Central Catholic's Dan Marino was the first winner in 1979. Among other winners were Penn Hills' Bill Fralic, Brashear's Major Harris and North Hills' LaVar Arrington.

Years from now, people might talk about Jeter in the same reverent manner they do some other great Beaver County athletes. They might talk about how he was one of the WPIAL's top receivers this past season, catching 48 passes in nine games for 793 yards. They might talk about this 6-foot-3 basketball guard who scored more than 2,000 career points and made umpteen game-winning shots. Or they might talk about how he tried baseball this spring for the first time in his high school career, became the starting shortstop, batted better than .300 and had a walkoff grand slam in one game.

Just don't expect Jeter to talk much about all his great moments.

"I don't know if I could pick out the one or two best," Jeter said. "To be honest, the thing I'll remember most is just playing with my teammates and how this group of seniors, we played together really since elementary school."

But it was obvious before Jeter got to elementary school that he and athletics were made for each other. Jeter's mom, Joy, a former Beaver Falls girls' basketball star, was a single mother, raising Lance in a housing project in Beaver Falls.

"Even when he was little, he was always dribbling a basketball or carrying around a baseball bat and swinging it," Joy Jeter said. "There was a playground court there, and Lance would always go to that court and play with older kids. He was maybe 9 or 10, but he'd play with kids four or five years older. They would always pick him on their team because he could always shoot."

Joy, Lance and his brother, Ramone, eventually moved out of the housing project. Lance made an impact at Beaver Falls as a freshman, gaining a starting job on the basketball team and averaging more than 15 points a game.

As a junior, Jeter helped Beaver Falls win WPIAL and PIAA basketball championships. His performance in the 2005 WPIAL Class AA title game against Aliquippa will live in Western Pennsylvania basketball lore. He scored 37 points and banked in a 30-foot shot at the buzzer in the third overtime to give Beaver Falls a 79-78 victory against Aliquippa. Jeter also made a long 3-pointer at the end of regulation. A few weeks later, he beat Aliquippa with two free throws and a steal in the PIAA semifinals.

This basketball season, he had a few more game-winning shots and beat Aliquippa in the PIAA quarterfinals with a pass that set up the winning basket in the final seconds. He led Beaver Falls to the PIAA championship game again before it lost to Prep Charter.

Jeter averaged 20.2 points a game this season and finished his career with 2,243 points, 13th-best in WPIAL history. In his four years as a starter, Beaver Falls was 102-19.

"Lance was the leader of a great group of kids," Biega said. "He didn't do all this by himself, but he was the linchpin."

Jeter had a few Division I scholarship offers for basketball, but decided to play football in college, signing with the University of Cincinnati as a receiver. He already is at Cincinnati, taking classes and working out with the football team.

But he can't get basketball out of his blood. In the middle of last week, he was playing some pickup basketball games.

"I think things are going to work out in football," Jeter said. "But down the line, who knows? I might want to give basketball a try. It will be hard for a little while because I'll miss basketball."

While Jeter is in the Queen City now, he is king of Beaver Falls.

"I love the kid to death," Biega said. "I don't know if I've ever been around a more humble kid. I'll miss coaching him. You're going to miss reporting on him. We're all going to miss watching him."