The History:

Tim Heath and Eva Patterson-Heath of Red Springs, NC actually founded the Robeson Rockettes which has been the identity of the Angel Elite basketball program for 5 years. They started in 1999 fielding a team that consisted primarily of Red Springs  High School players. The first group they had lost to a team from Raleigh by nearly 100 points. Those same girls took Red Springs HS to a Regional Championship and a trip to the State finals in 2003. Angel Elite decided to work together to expand the program to include girls from other areas. The first team we fielded in 2001 consisted of girls from our region and went 20-12 winning 3 tournaments. In 2005 we wanted to see if we could field competitive teams exclusively from Robeson County. We were able to field 4 teams (all competitive) with our 14 and under team actually finishing fourth in the AAU Eastern Regionals playing in the powerful Charlotte region. With that finish, that team qualified for the AAU Nationals for the third consecutive year. Over the years, our women’s teams have qualified for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championships 3 times; the Youth Basketball Association of America (YBOA) national championships five times, and two teams have qualified for the United States Basketball Association (USBA) national tournament.  Also in 2005, Glen Patterson approached Angel Elite about adding his 12 and under boys team to the club. That team completely dominated the Youth Basketball of America (YBOA) State Tournament and brought Angel Elite’s first Basketball state championship back to Robeson County.


Coaches for the program over the years have tallied over 50 years of high school coaching experience including two state championships and 6 trips to state championship games along with 12 years collegiate basketball experience.

• 2007 Highlights
  • 16u-Hoops and Dreams runner-up
  • 13u-Hoops and Dreams 3rd place
  • 16U-YBOA Regional runner-up
  • 13U-YBOA Regional runner-up
  • 15U-YBOA Regional-3rd place
  • 10U-YBOA State qualifier
  • 13U YBOA State Tournament-3rd place
  • 15U YBOA State Tournament-4th place
  • 13U, 15U, 16U all participated in the prestigious Deep South Classic Tournament
  • Jensine Alvarez and Nicori Sinclair were both selected to attend the Adidas Jr. Phenom Camp in San Diego, CA
  • Jensine Alvarez won the defensive MVP at the Adidas Jr. Phenom Regional Camp held in Charlotte, NC
  • Nine of ten starters in the Robeson County middle school championship team participated in Angel Elite program events
    
    
• The 2006 girl’s Robeson Co. junior high school championship game between Lumberton and Fairgrove featured 7 Angel Elite players with the 3 leading scorers all playing for Angel Elite.
• 5 of The Robesonian All-County girl’s basketball team members are participants in the Angel Elite Sports program.
• 2006 YBOA Regional results: Angel Elite 16s-1^st; 15s-2^nd; 12s (white) 4^th; 14s-7^th

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COACHING STAFF:

Eva Patterson-Heath: Head Coach of Red Springs H.S.; 2006 North Carolina High School Athletic Association Female Coach of the Year, 18 Conference Coach of the Year Awards in Basketball and Cross-Country, 3 County Coach of the Year Awards, 1 Fayetteville Times Region Coach of the Year Award, 3 North Carolina High School Athletic Association Awards, 2005 Lumberton Alumni Chapter Kappa Alpha Psi Achievements in Community Service Award, 1999 Educator of the Year Award Robeson County Black Caucus, Red Springs High Teacher of the Year, 1997 & 2006; Red Springs High School Head Coach 21 years, 436 wins 112 losses, 14 student-athletes received college scholarships, 95% of student-athletes attend college, 7 participants in the North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star game, 3 County Players of the Year, 1 Region Player of the Year.

Danny Graham: Coach Graham has an overall record 282-112 and is 161-49 at Lumberton High. He led the Lumberton High Girls team to the 2001 N.C. State Championship and a 2002 runner-up finish. He has been named Robeson County Coach of the Year 4 times and Cape Fear Region Coach of the Year 3 times. He was the East-West All Star Coach in 2005 and the North Carolina vs. South Carolina Coach for 2007. He coached 2 region players of the year and 5 players who have made the Cape Fear All-Region Team. Coach Graham has coached 11 girls who have graduated from Lumberton High and played college basketball.

Abdul Ghaffar: Four year basketball letterman at UNC Pembroke, starter on the 1990 Carolina’s conference Championship team; 2 year letterman in Track at UNCP, coached AAU/travel basketball for 7 years. Graduated with a BA in Public Relations from UNCP and an M.S. in Recreation Management from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

James Williams: Coach at Orrum Middle School. Joined the Angel Elite staff in 2005.

Tim Heath: Graduated from Fayetteville State University in 1976 with a B.S. degree in Sociology. Was a football letterman at FSU.  Tim continued to achieve success in his chosen career, serving as football coach and Head Basketball coach in large public high schools in southeastern North Carolina and south Florida.  He holds an M.A. degree from Fayetteville State University in Administration and Supervision (’91) and has served as assistant principal and principal in public schools in the Cape Fear Region.

Redean Cotton: Redean played East Bladen High,  then received a scholarship to play at UNC Pembroke.  After her collegiate years she volunteered with the Robeson County Recreation Dept. for many years.  She was an assistant coach at South Robeson High for the 2002 - 2003 season. She is now the Basketball Coordinator for Angel Elite Sports, were she coaches the 14-15 year old girls.

Redean is an active member of her church Faith Community Church, were she is a youth leader and Sunday school teacher.  She is also youth advisor for the NAACP youth chapter in Lumberton .  “I have found that one of my calls in life is to serve others and it is truly a blessing to see the fruits of your labor, says Readean. 

Ken Spencer: Head coach of Marlboro County HS in Bennettsville S.C. Spencer has led his team to 3 S.C. State class 4-A Championship games winning one state title.  Spencer has sent a number of players around the country to play college basketball including Georgia Tech and Florida State. Spencer has coached with Angel Elite since 2003.