[1] It was part of the Parade All-American series that originated with boys basketball before branching to other sports.
[2][7] The following year, 20 players were selected and participated in the first annual Parade All-American high school game.
[9] Fifteen years later, Earl Jones became the next sophomore to earn first-team honors,[10] and subsequently joined Abdul-Jabbar as the first two players to be named to the first team on three occasions.
[16] McLaughlin described the selections as mostly Division I college-bound players that had a stellar senior year in high school.
Additionally, Parade differentiated itself from most other All-American teams by not focusing solely on a player's standing among college recruiters.