GAINESVILLE — Longtime Bartow attorney John Frost knew Walter Clayton Jr. long before Florida coach Todd Golden had heard of his future All-American guard.
Being a diehard Gators basketball fan dating to the early ’60s and a prominent booster, Frost wanted to make sure Golden didn’t miss his chance to bring Clayton home.
Every school in the state, save Stetson, passed on Clayton, a native of Lake Wales, coming out of Bartow High School. The snub led Clayton to Iona, located New Rochelle, N.Y., coached by Hall of Famer Rick Pitino.
Frost felt his alma mater had whiffed.
To make sure it didn’t happen again, Frost befriended Scott Golden, a fellow barrister, shortly after UF hired his son in March 2022 to replace Mike White.
Before long, Frost made his pitch over dinner at a high-end Gainesville steakhouse, where he and his wife, Terry, wine and dined the new coach and his wife, Megan.
“I didn’t know him like that well yet,” Todd Golden recalled Monday. “We’re talking. He goes, ‘There’s a player from down in Bartow that I think you got to look at.’ I just figured he was just a donor …”
After closer inspection, he realized Frost, and more importantly Clayton, was the real deal.
“He had goofy hair. But I’m like, ‘He’s a shotmaker,’” Golden said of Clayton. “Low level, though … numbers are good. So I’m like, I’ll track him.”
Frost was confident Clayton would do the rest.
“We watched Walter all the way through high school,” he told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.
Golden soon saw what Frost did: “This guy is good.”
When Pitino left for St. John’s, Clayton also was available.
Even with blue blood Kansas in hot pursuit, Clayton’s choice was clear, yet also complicated: home or Pitino.
A spring visit to St. John’s further complicated matters.
On Easter Sunday, Golden received a phone call from Clayton’s mother, Cherie Foster.
“[She] calls crying, ‘I’m just so worried he’s going to stay up there,’” Golden said. “‘He had a great time at St John’s.’”
Golden immediately contacted lead recruiter Korey McCray commandeered a University Athletic Association plane and headed to New York to make their final pitch to Clayton over dinner.
A confusing twist awaited in the New York City suburb.
Clayton planned to bring along St. John’s associate head coach Steve Masiello, a longtime Pitino lieutenant at Louisville.
Golden remembered the nerve-racking scene at the restaurant.
“Walt’s not saying anything,” he said. “He’s like, ‘He’ll be here in 30 minutes.’ We’re like, ‘Okkkk ….. ‘He’s like a big brother to me. I lean on him.’”
Before long, though, Clayton made his intentions clear.
“‘I’m coming to Florida. I just want you guys be able to ask him any questions about me that you might have,” Golden said. “I’m like, ‘Are you serious?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I’m coming home.’ I’m like, ‘Heck, yeah.’
“It was a crazy day. I’d say that Easter was important to the return of Florida basketball.”
Few were more excited than Frost.
The 82-year-old’s firm has been a corporate sponsor of Bartow basketball for two decades. Frost used to serve as color analyst on WWBF-FM for football and baseball games. His daughters went to school there.
Yet, no connection runs more deeply than his to Florida basketball. Frost’s first date with Terry was at a 1963 game at Alligator Alley, the nickname for Florida Gymnasium — the Gators’ homecourt prior to O’Connell Center.
Frost isn’t quite sure how Florida played.
“Too nervous, first date,” he said.
Good thing for Frost’s Gators Clayton doesn’t follow suit.
The senior point guard’s two 3-pointers during the final three minutes spearheaded a 77-75 come-from-behind win Sunday against two-time defending national champion UConn in the NCAA Tournament’s second round.
“He’s got ice in his veins,” Frost said. “You saw the two shots. Most people wouldn’t take that shot … unless you really are confident. He is confident. He’s been a leader.
“In high school, he willed them to two state championships.”
Golden and Frost hope one more is on the way for Clayton: this time for a national championship.
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 4 Maryland
When: 7:39 p.m., Chase Center, San Francisco
TV: TBS or truTV
Originally Published:
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