One state with two state champions.

That’s the way it was in Virginia.

Until 1969, public schools athletics in the state were regulated by two umbrella agencies.

The Virginia High School League (VHSL), based in Charlottesville, coordinated activities of white schools.

The Virginia Interscholastic Association (VIA), headquartered at Virginia State University, was the governing body for African-American schools.

Because of the racial divide, many Richmond basketball fans never saw — or hardly even knew of — arguably the best team in area history.

During the 1967-68 season, the final year VIA conducted state championships, Maggie L. Walker High School in Richmond was the top team.

In what was Coach Stretch Gardner’s final season on the sidelines, the Green Dragons went 30-1 en route to the Group 1 (largest schools) title.

The team’s only loss was to Cardozo High School in Washington.

In the final VIA championship game, held at VSU’s Daniel Gymnasium, Maggie Walker bested Norfolk’s Booker T. Washington High School featuring 6-foot-8 Purdue University-bound William Franklin.

“I remember coach (Gardner) telling us that if we won States, he just might retire,” recalled guard Cravelyn Williams, Walker Class of 1968.

“At the time we thought he was joking. But we won States and, sure enough, Coach Gardner did retire.”

The victory over Booker T. Washington was Coach Gardner’s 536th win in a glorious career that began in 1940 at 1000 N. Lombardy St., Maggie Walker High School.

“One thing I remember about the win over Booker T. is that we all shaved our heads before the game,” Williams recalled with a chuckle.

“We all went bald the last game. We didn’t know for sure at the time it would be the end of the VIA … but we thought it might be.”  

It signaled the end of an era in more ways than one.

Starting with the 1968-69 season, Maggie Walker — along with

crosstown rival Armstrong High School, Richmond’s other African-American high school — left the VIA, which had begun phasing out several years earlier, for VHSL.

The still all-black Green Dragons won two VHSL crowns, in 1971, starring Richard Jones, and in 1976, with Clyde Austin as the headliner.

Coaching the 1971 and 1976 squads was Pierce Callaham, who had been Coach Gardner’s assistant.

The 1967-68 Dragons would be hard to match by any team from any era.

“We’d be right up there,” said Williams of the elite teams over the decades. “We averaged 92 points and that was with no 3-point shot. And we only gave up an average of 64 (points). All our starters averaged double figures.”

Sad to say, the Maggie Walker Green Dragons were well-nigh invisible to the white world. Even by 1968, there was virtually no interaction between black and white schools. 

Other Richmond schools, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall and George Wythe, were almost all-white until about 1970.

John F. Kennedy High School opened in 1967 with a majority-black enrollment but was never in the VIA. Huguenot High School was a predominantly white Chesterfield County school until 1970.

Williams has served as an assistant under Coach George Lancaster since 1989, aiding Highland Springs High School to state titles in 2003 and 2007.

“If I had to compare the old Dragons with any team since, I might pick our (Springers’) 2007 team with Brandon Rozzell and Jamar Abrams — a similar kind of balance.”

The 1968 Dragons were deep, talented and oozed with confidence and pizzazz.

“Coach warned us against showboating,” Williams recalled.

Four of Coach Gardner’s starters went on to college prominence.

Williams, also a terrific tennis player, signed with Virginia Union University and became a standout under Panthers Coach “Tricky” Tom Harris.

David Franklin, the Dragons’ 6-foot-7 inside force, went on to stardom at East Carolina University.

Point guard Gerald Smith signed with Norfolk State University and helped the Spartans to two CIAA crowns.

Forward Jesse Dark, a 6-foot-4 all-round talent, went on to sparkle at Virginia Commonwealth University and later played for the New York Knicks.

Robert McCray, a 6-foot-3 forward, had several college offers but chose not to attend college.

The Maggie Walker team practiced in a shoebox-sized, upstairs gym on campus, but played most games at VUU’s Barco-Stevens Hall or the Richmond Arena.

Armstrong High School and Peabody High School of Petersburg were the local foes, but the Dragons played a statewide schedule, with games stretching from Hampton Roads to Roanoke. 

The Dragons drew raves among black Richmonders, and college scouts of all colors, but received little coverage from white media.

It was also during that time the annual Black High School National Championship was discontinued at Pearl High School in Chattanooga, Tenn. By 1966, Pearl High was playing in Tennessee’s integrated organization.

Armstrong High School, led by Don Ross and Charles Bonaparte, had finished second at the Nationals a few years earlier.

“Our state champ had always gone to Nationals,” recalled Williams. “It’s something we really looked forward to, but never got the chance.”

Williams will always wonder if the 1968 Dragons might have been national champs.

Instead, he’ll have to be satisfied with a state title … or, unfortunately, because of the way things were back then, half a state.