Head Coach: Tony Holiday
2026 Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
Category: Basketball
The 1995 Flint Northern Boys’ Basketball Team included: Mateen Cleaves, Antonio Smith, Robaire Smith, Torry Gist, Dionte Harvey, Terry Thomas, Khalil Hairston, Sherrod Schuler, Antoine Massey, Derrick Lee, Robert Garth, Bobbie Bain, Terry Brown and Leonard Williams. Head Coach Tony Holiday, and Assistant Coaches Tony Lee, Eric Harvey, Keith Smith and Darnell Hughley.
The 1995 Northern Boys’ Team is one of the best in Michigan high school basketball history. The ‘95 Vikings were city champs, Saginaw Valley champs, Class A District and Regional champs, and, of course, Class A state champions. Their road to the state championship included dominant playoff victories over Grand Blanc and Flint Central, as well as a 94-78 semi-final victory over Kalamazoo Central. In the state championship game, Northern defeated Detroit Pershing 86-64 after trailing by seven points at halftime. The victory was sealed with a 16-1 scoring run in the second half to give Northern its first Boys’ basketball state championship since 1978.
The Vikings were powered by a state-championship worthy performance from point guard Mateen Cleaves who scored 28 points, Antonio Smith with 24 points and Dionte Harvey adding 11 points. The 1995 state championship for Northern ended an eight-year streak of Class A state titles won by the Detroit Public School League, officially making Flint the new basketball capital of Michigan. Northern finished the year with an overall record of 27-1 and were ranked top 10 nationally by USA today.
1995 Flint Northern Boys’ Basketball Team’s players, coaches and trainers, you are the true definition of being “Flint Strong!” You have made Flint proud, welcome to GFAASHOF.
