CORAL GABLES – Abby Ward remembers getting a call earlier this year from McDonald's. She thought it was one of the local restaurants trying to see if she could recommend one of her students for a job. She was way off!

What McDonald's was calling about was not employment flipping hamburgers or getting a fish sandwich ready for the fryer. What they wanted from this legendary high school basketball coach was to invite her to take part in an elite event that has been putting talented high school athletes and coaches in the spotlight for 32 years.

On Apr. 1, University of Miami's BankUnited Center was to play host to the best girls and boys high school basketball players in the country. The McDonald's All-American Basketball event has been a tradition each spring that has opened the doors for some of the best talent in the country, and Ward was selected, along with assistant coach Jermaine Hollis and Patricia James of Boyd Anderson to head up the East team for the girls.

With colleges such as North Carolina, California, Notre Dame, Duke, UConn, USC, Florida, FSU and Miami represented in this game, the talent was to be as good as you get at this level, and the honor to be a part of this once in a lifetime week, was too hard to pass up.

"I couldn't say yes fast enough," Ward recalled. "At first I thought it was someone was using me as a reference for a job. Many of my students usually give me as a reference. But I soon found out that it was much more than that."

While the honor was something that every high school coach hopes for, this is something that was truly way overdue for Ward, who has spent a lifetime perfecting her craft.

Having known her for the better part of two decades, this is something, in my opinion, that should have happened years ago. This is not one of those coaches who has just done well in her career. Ward is a legend in every sense of the word. She has built programs, molded careers and influenced so many lives along the way.

She took a South Broward girls program that had been a laughing stock in the county for years and turned the Lady Bulldogs into a power. One that continues to command respect years after she left and turned the program over to longtime assistant and friend Richard Walker and Sharlene Ferguson.

What Ward did at South Broward was give her teams a sense of what it took to take things to another level. Her players went on to schools such as St. John's, the University of Miami, Texas A&M, UCF, FIU and countless other schools. She taught every players in her program that off season was where everything mattered, and winning summer national titles would go a long way in determining what would happen during the season.

South Broward's girls teams became the blueprint of what a basketball program should be like. From summer to spring, the commitment Ward demanded from her programs paid off, and by the time she had left to start a new program at Monarch High in Coconut Creek, her hands were all over South Broward's future state titles as Walker and Ferguson continued to follow that formula of hard work and never ducking any opponent – statewide or nationally!

Two years ago, Ward came back to South Broward, and while the girls continued to win, this impressive coach had other things in mind. She took over the boys team, and while it came as a surprise to many, those who knew her, understood that some of her best work in the past had come as a coach of a boys AAU team with athletes such as Kenny Boynton Jr., Ray Shipman, Raymond Taylor, Ryan Becker, Victor Marc, Torrance Moise, Jamal Lane, Jerron Granberry, Bryce Clark, Drajon Conner and many others.

Having followed Ward in the early years of her coaching and then seeing her on the bench for the East's one-point loss to a talented West squad last Wednesday night, it brought back so many positive memories. While coaching 12 of the best players in the nation would be overwhelming to some, you have to remember where Ward came from and the players she touched over the years – such as Telisha Warner (St. John's), Tamara James (University of Miami) and Toccara Williams (Texas A&M).

"Not much you can do in just a few days," Ward said about the all-star event. "You have so many rules to go by, and every player has to be on that court during the course of a game."

Still, you could see Ward getting excited, jumping off the bench, wrenching her body in all directions as stars such as Notre Dame-bound Skylar Diggins, South Carolina commitment Kelsey Bone and local standout Erica Wheeler (Rutgers) of Parkway Academy had tried to establish a tempo.

"These players are among the best in the country, and having been around this level of athlete for so many years, the best thing to do is to let them play the game," Ward explained. "But being the type of person I am, you still want to compete hard."

While the game went back and forth down the stretch, the East's hopes came to an end when Connecticut-bound guard Kelly Faris, who was fouled beyond the three-point line, missed the last of her three free throw attempts with one second left.

Diggins, who keyed the East's rally, led all scorers with 18 points. She shared co-MVP honors with guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (North Carolina), who was the only player to record a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

''This is a team of All-Americans, it was definitely fit to be a great game,'' said Diggins, a 5-9 star from South Bend, Ind., who also won Monday night's girls' three-point contest. ``Everyone of us has heart and nobody wanted to give in. It turned into an amazing game the last few minutes.''

Trailing 67-60, Diggins nearly mounted a miraculous comeback by herself.

After hitting a three-pointer with 1:18 left, she stole a pass in the lane and converted a three-point play when she made a layup and hit her free throw after being fouled by Eliza Pierre with 55.9 seconds left.

Two turnovers later, the West went back up by three when Gennifer Brandon (California) hit a layup with 15 seconds left. Faris then drew a foul with two seconds left attempting a three-pointer. But her final free throw attempt hit the back of the rim and bounced away.

Wheeler, who led Parkway Academy to back-to-back titles and finished as the runner-up for the Miss Basketball Award in Florida, finished with three points on 1-of-5 shooting, a rebound and assist.

As for Ward, she returns to coaching the boys, but for that one night, when ESPN-U cameras were rolling, she returned to where it all began, and she left the BankUnited Center with that trademark smile. One that has filled the landscape of winning basketball for decades!

You can reach Larry Blustein via e-mail at FloridaKids1@hotmail.com. He can also be heard every Thursday night (9-10) on the Miami Dolphins High School Gridiron Report on WQAM (560 AM).