By TAFT COGHILL JR.

As a 6-foot-2 center for Caroline High School's 1978-79 basketball team, Edward Anderson's claim to fame was winning the game-opening jump ball over Harrisonburg's 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson in the Region II playoffs.

Sampson went on to star at the University of Virginia and in the NBA before injuries derailed his career, while Anderson's playing days ended in Caroline.

"I stepped on his foot and stole the tip," Anderson recalled with a laugh. "But everybody was like, 'That kid can really get up.'"

Anderson's son, Justin, doesn't need such luck to impress.

The Spotsylvania Middle School eighth-grader, who starred for Courtland High School's junior varsity basketball team this past winter, is considered one of the nation's top five players in his age group.

The 14-year-old stands 6-foot-5, is freakishly athletic and has drawn attention from avid basketball followers across the country for his play on the AAU circuit.

"I would say right now, he's a little unusual for his age," said Justin's AAU coach, Robbie Williams, who has tutored Allen Iverson, Joe Smith and Alonzo Mourning, among others, in the Hampton-based Boo Williams program. "Physically, he's so gifted. He may be one of the most gifted young players I've seen in the last 10 years."

'Sky's the limit'

It was just last year when Edward Anderson realized his son had the potential to be a special player.

When the family lived in Westmoreland County before moving to Spotsylvania, he coached Justin in Parks & Recreation leagues and in AAU, but had no idea the type of prospect he would become.

That was until he watched Justin one day at a local gym.

He said Justin was messing around when he threw down a two-handed dunk and his elbows peeked over the rim.

"When I saw him do that in the seventh grade, I said, 'You know what? I think my coaching has peaked for him. I'm going to have to put him into another program where he can learn and develop," Edward Anderson said.

Justin joined the Richmond Squires AAU team and was later the only eighth-grader in the nation invited to a freshman All-American camp in Chantilly.