[2] He attended Simon Gratz High School along with his older brother Rodney[3] and was consistently ranked among the top recruits of his class.
[2] In the 1985 Philadelphia Public League Simon Gratz lost 69 to 70 in the semifinals against Southern, led by future college star Lionel Simmons.
[7] In his junior year he averaged 31.8 points, 15.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks; Gratz again lost to Southern in the semifinals despite a 33-points, 17-rebounds performance by Shorter, who also shot 14 for 15 from the field.
[10] Despite the opportunity to pass the record on his senior season, Shorter had been having issues with his GPA and he and his teachers were worried that he would fail to achieve the minimum SAT score required to attend college.
[16] Despite a possibility to attend other schools like Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where other players went after failing the Division I academic requirements,[3] he decided to work out on his own, focusing on weight training,[16] ball handling and jumpshooting.
Throughout his college career he showed a consistent ability to draw fouls (he was 1st in free throw attempts in 1989 in the Big East and 1st in the NCAA in 1990).
[20] After a brief passage at French club Pau-Orthez (5 games), Shorter signed for Andino in the Argentine Liga Nacional de Básquet, where he led the league in rebounding with an average of 13.2.