Harley “Skeeter” Swift grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and is remembered as always having a basketball with him everywhere he went. He played the sport at George Washington High School were he earned first team All-State, and MVP Northern Virginia in both his junior and senior years.
As a senior, he was a high school All American. He was highly recruited by Virginia colleges, but he chose East Tennessee State University where he received a full basketball scholarship. At 6′ 3′ and 200 plus pounds when he was first recruited by ETSU, the coach assumed he was a football player.
Skeeter excelled at East Tennessee where he played from 1966-1969 and became a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection, and the Player of the Year in 1968.
In his junior year, he helped lead the university to a 19-8 regular-season record and into the NCAA Tournament field of 32 teams, where they upset fifth-ranked Florida State in the first round.
During his senior year, he averaged 21.7 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Throughout his playing days at ETSU he was referred to as the glue that held together the most successful basketball team in Buccaneer history. Swift ranks sixth on the Bucs career points list with 1,367 points, and ranks third in points per game for a career 17.9 average.
Skeeter Swift put ETSU on the national map with his basketball play and in 1982 he was inducted into the ETSU Athletic Hall of Fame. He went on to become a professional star and played five seasons in the ABA; for the New Orleans Bucks where he was selected to the All Rookie Team, the Memphis Pros, the Pittsburg Condors and the San Antonio Spurs.
During his professional career, he scored over 3,000 points and today ranks as one of the top 10 free-throw shooters in the American Basketball Association, now the NBA. When his playing days were over, he coached the Elizabethton High School Cyclones and prestigious high school power, Oak Hill Academy. During his tenure, Oak Hill won a national private school championship.